Today, my guest is comedian John Early, whose excellent new movie Maddie’s Secret – which he wrote, directed and stars in – is now in theaters.
I love those moments where my conception of who an artist is radically changes. For me, that happened with John Early a few months back when I first saw Maddie’s Secret.
Prior to that point, I knew Early from social media, chat show appearances, shows like Search Party and movies such as Stress Positions and Beatriz at Dinner. His comedic persona was heightened, absurdist, ironic and often self-deprecating, and he was always extremely fun to watch in whatever I saw him in.
But in retrospect, because Early’s characters tended to be big and (self-consciously) kinda self-involved, I realize I fell into the trap of simplistically misunderstanding who he was and what he did!
As a result, Maddie’s Secret surprised me in the best way. In the film, Early plays the title role, a young woman who’s plucked from obscurity to be a food influencer, a twist of fate that triggers an old eating disorder.
For all that Maddie’s Secret has comedic beats, it’s first and foremost Early’s loving personal take on old Movies of the Week and female-centric melodramas. It’s a film of genuine depth that treats its characters and subject matter with the utmost respect, and it’s sincere – and dare I say even earnest? – in a way that feels extremely refreshing in this moment.
As a performer, Early utterly embodies Maddie, making her feel fully rounded and true. And as a writer-director, he is impressively assured in his stylistic vision and his storytelling.
In preparation for my chat with Early, I visited and/or revisited a bunch of Early’s work, including his 2023 stand-up special Now More Than Ever and his 2022 skit-driven hour Would It Kill You to Laugh, made with his longtime best friend and creative collaborator Kate Berlant. Berlant leads a stellar supporting cast in Maddie’s Secretthat also features Connor O’Malley, Claudia O’Doherty, Kristen Johnson and Vanessa Bayer.
I got to chat with Early on the day Maddie’s Secret hit theaters and had an engrossing and often very funny conversation with him that touched on: my favorite anagram of all time and its deep relevance to his life, the pros and cons of death by anvil, why his shoes are his superego, falling in “friend love” with Kate Berlant, the specific confluence of things that put him in a “blissed-out golden retriever mood,” his tornado dreams around the premieres of Maddie’s Secret, and much, much more.
Maddie’s Secret is in theaters now and is one of my favorite films of the year, so go see it. John Early: Now More Than Ever and Would It Kill You to Laugh Starring Kate Berlant + John Early are both available to stream, and are really good too!
This episode was produced by Myron Kaplan and the theme music is by The Range.
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Next week on Nobody’s Ever Asked Me That, my guest is writer, director, actor and memoirist Desiree Akhavan …
