John Mulaney on His Unconventional Jet Lag Hack and the ‘Greatest Thing’ Wife Olivia Munn Taught Him to Pack

John Mulaney may have discovered the ultimate hack to traveling with children. His keen knack for seeing the world through a playful lens transforms even the most mundane aspects of travel into a fanciful adventure for his 3-year-old son, Malcolm. On a recent weeklong daddy-and-me trip to Ireland, the duo donned sports coats and tweed hats to board planes, hunted for green apples in hotel gyms, and fueled up on Irish pub food for energy to chase leprechauns. 

“So many things about traveling with kids can be very fun if you just tell them, we can do this at home, but here at the hotel, they’ll get frustrated if we don’t finish our rice and wear this cardigan I bought you that I want to see you in,” the 43-year-old comedian told Travel + Leisure. “There is a greater ‘they’ on the road. At home, they know that there’s no authority, even their parents.”

Luckily for Malcolm and his 1-year-old sister Méi, their entire family, including mom Olivia Munn, spends much of their time on the road with dad as he continues his Mister Whatever tour with dates across the U.S. into April. 

John and Malcolm by the waterfront in Ireland.

John Mulaney

Mulaney looks forward to taking the kids on more international adventures, especially to Japan and Vietnam, but for now, they’re racking up the miles on domestic travel. And no part of the country means more to the Chicago-born writer than the Midwest, where he grew up. 

“I’ve always admired that Chicago’s happiest at five on a Friday,” he said. “It’s like, we did enough days that we can build up to this moment to do this again.”  

Fittingly, it was that mentality that drew him to Years, a non-alcoholic beer that feels like “what you have in a cooler in Michigan in July that isn’t fancy, but is a great Pilsner.” After a public relapse in 2020 that he deftly turned into the Emmy award-winning special “Baby J,” he was so thrilled to discover the product that he became a co-owner. “I’m so happy there’s something in the non-alcoholic world that you can drink a bunch of, crumble up, and throw,” the sober star said.

Understanding the minutia of what makes a culture click like that has always been Mulaney’s superhuman skill, as seen in his 2024 six-night live Netflix special Everybody’s in L.A., where he lives now. 

His advice to first-time visitors: “Don’t give up—it can’t possibly make sense at first,” he said. “I would get a map of Los Angeles, not to not get lost, but just to have a sense of it, or else you’ll constantly be wondering if you’re leaving L.A. when you’re not.”

For the fresh Californian, it’s all about getting into every corner to understand its rich diversity. He said to spend a day in the San Fernando Valley, hitting Ventura Boulevard near Laurel Canyon, and dining at a sushi spot in Tarzana. Also on his recommendation list: Chinatown, Koreatown, and Long Beach. 

“It’s less landmarks and more neighborhoods,” he explained. “There’s never going to be a Times Square or Washington Square Park—there are the LACMA light posts, though we’re not standing around there. Just drive around listening to the Chinatown soundtrack. There’s a reason it’s a quintessential L.A. movie—it really syncs up.” 

With John Mulaney

Go-to hack for jet lag?
Never adapt to any time zone. Stay in the time zone you’re used to.

Favorite hotels?
Claridge’s in London and Hôtel de Crillon in Paris. At Nobis Hotel in Stockholm, I had the stately room of a princess, like an extremely frilly, four-poster bed. It was very funny and fantastic. 

Go-to airplane snack?
I’m big into adding Ritter Sport chocolate into trail mix. And I don’t eat chips, but I like pretzels. 

Favorite comedian to travel with?
My best friend, Dan Levy, is the best travel buddy. But he packs impractically with a lot of jackets. He also wears very large Dr. Martens that don’t work well under the seat in front of him, so he’s always uncomfortable.

New York City recommendation from SNL’s Stefon for 2025?
I feel like we’re getting back into a Stefon time. Bloomberg was rough. Stefon’s nightlife was on the run. For 2025, he’d say, The Museum of Slime [Sloomoo Institute] during a power outage with no working facilities.

Prior to his SoCal days, Mulaney had a significant stint as a New Yorker, a city he still looks to with starry eyes: “I can’t imagine visiting New York and not liking it.”

While his top tip is to take the subway (“I’m not saying it’s nice, but you don’t want to sit in Manhattan traffic”), he does admit things change when the visit is upgraded into a move. “It will be like you spent a week with a great, fascinating, exciting person, and then you moved in with that person, and they punch you in the stomach right away,” he said. “Suddenly, the steps that you jumped up so effortlessly are higher, and it feels unfriendlier. But then it clicks.”

The Broadway alum has had the unique perspective of seeing NYC through wide-ranging vantage points. “I did all of New York, from the grimiest to the ritziest—like I went to a black-tie party in the Rainbow Room for the SNL 40th, and I bought drugs on the worst riverside spots in Williamsburg. Up and down, it’s great for all of it.”

For five years of his Big Apple tenure, Mulaney worked as a writer for Saturday Night Live at 30 Rockefeller, admitting it was “tricky” to find a place to go for lunch, often heading to modest Chinese restaurant Wu Liang Ye. At one point after Wednesday read-throughs, Jason Sudiekis started the routine of going to The Round Table at The Algonquin Hotel, the historic hang-out of the literary elite like Dorothy Parker.

“But the most fun thing was to not go near SNL and go uptown to Dinosaur Bar-B-Que in Harlem,” Mulaney said, crediting writer Jim Downey for initiating the Wednesday night tradition of an “impractical caravan up to Dinosaur.”

The Chinese food, barbecue, and literary inspiration may have fueled some of Mulaney’s greatest SNL trademarks, from the Weekend Update character Stefon he created with Bill Hader to the “Mulaney Musicals” that first debuted in 2018, when his six-time hosting streak began.

Arguably the most iconic was the travel-themed “Airport Sushi” from 2020, poking fun at the then-decrepit LaGuardia International Airport (LGA), which “was at a particular moment where it was old, but being renovated, which made it old and horrible.” Among its “great indignities” were exposed ceiling wires and the lengthy walks to Uber pick-up zones.

But then the food options took a turn. “You’ve got this dilapidated, under-renovation airport trying to introduce finer foods,” he said of Cibo-type concessions stands hawking hazelnuts, Chobani yogurt, and four-row California roll sushi. “That was such a moment in time because LaGuardia was failing on every level.”

What a difference five years has made, as LGA has since been named Skytrax’s best regional airport in North America, among many feathers in its cap.

“I went there a few weeks ago, and it’s so nice you couldn’t parody it—I was actually mad at it,” the funnyman said. “This is an airport where we’re getting on 15-minute plane rides to Boston and flights to JFK. This isn’t like a hanging-out or forever airport. We’re not arriving four hours early for international flights to make use of the food court. It’s like a parking lot hanging up beautiful artwork.”

Even so, Mulaney continues jetting around the country, building up to his biggest show yet on July 11, 2026, when he’ll become the first comedian to ever play at his hometown stadium, Wrigley Field.

With all this success, Mulaney is learning to slow down, let go, and be a little more “Mister Whatever.” That approach has helped him hone in on the moments that matter, like touring with fellow comedians Fred Armisen, Nick Kroll, and Mike Birbiglia.

“We were in a van together, and I thought ‘this is as good as it gets.’ There’s nothing as fun as this!” And what exactly happens in between stops? “Almost nothing, we’re all like 50!”

From left: Zach Galifianakis, Mike Birbiglia, John Mulaney, Nick Kroll, and Fred Arminsen in Vancouver.

John Mulaney

That easygoing attitude has also translated to his packing style. “It’s not that I’ve gotten it down to a science—I’ve gotten not caring down to a science,” he said. “There’s gonna be a Target, so enough with the ‘I don’t have soap.’ Don’t have a charger? Go to the hotel front desk and say, ‘I lost my charger. Can I look through the lost and found?’ and you’ll get five chargers!”

Ultimately, it all comes back to family. “I’ve gotten much neater at packing clothes because Méi Méi is in her crib, Malcolm’s sleeping in bed with us, so I have to be able to find my suit for the show during nap time or what I’m going to sleep in pretty quietly,” the dad of two said.

He’s also honed in on the must-pack items in his Away tote, opening it up for us over our Zoom call to reveal wipes, sleep masks, power cords, paperback books including Akil Amar’s “Born Equal” (he launched his Mulaney Reads book club this summer), his pass to the Mark Twain Prize event (held back in March), Benadryl (“I believe you should try to knock yourself out as much as possible”), and a Polaroid of him and Olivia snapped by a Montreal restaurant.

But right on top of everything is another golden hack for family travel: a roll of blue paper tape. “Kids can play with this for so long—you can tape around their meal tray and make little things that they can play with,” he said.

As he digs further into his packing list, he chucks everything aside. “One of the greatest things Olivia Munn has ever done for my life is to pack an empty hot water bottle that you have the stewardess fill with hot water on the plane,” the Peabody winner said. “I’m definitely here to celebrate Years, but if this article only becomes that tip, I’d be happy. It is absolutely great!”