John Mulaney has a message for Arcade Fire: "Get outta here."
The comedian and talk show host recently appeared on the podcast Conan O'Brien Needs a Friend, and he complained about the band's performance at Saturday Night Live's 50th anniversary afterparty, saying that Arcade Fire ruined his conversations. "I wanted to get a little spray bottle of water and just scoop them off stage," he told O'Brien. "I was so mad."
Mulaney's objection to Arcade Fire doesn't seem to be specifically about the band's music (or the allegations against frontman Win Butler), but rather that they were too loud and spoiled his conversations at the party.
"I got beef with that party again," he said. "The 40th and the 50th [anniversary parties]. Everyone's trying to talk, and these musicians get up and start playing, and it stinks. I want them off the stage. They're so loud. We can't have conversation. We all want to sit and stand in various areas talking poorly about our contemporaries. And you're out there trying to do an Arcade Fire?! Get outta here."
He added, "What about us looks like we want to move our bodies and dance? We're all tired and we want to speak lovingly, but poorly, of our contemporaries, coworkers, the show as a whole."
This isn't the first time Mulaney has been mad about the music at an SNL afterparty, since he even complained about a supergroup performance featuring Prince and Paul McCartney in 2015.
He said, "Remember at the 40th that — who's that guy — fucking Prince gets up. Everyone talks about this like it's the greatest night in New York history. It stunk! They sounded like a wedding band. It was Elvis Perkins, Paul McCartney, y'know, maybe [Dan] Aykroyd. All of them just playing at once, loudly. And then Prince got up and we had to act like that was a big deal. I just wanted to talk shit with Bobby Moynihan."
Mulaney continued, "It's so not what this is about to me. Loud guitars. I was really mad. And then when I was them start to plug in at the 50th, I left. I said, 'I can't do everything.' I know how to make a good party: we would lower the music, and we would all quietly say slightly negative things."
Mulaney noted that he ended up hanging out on the couches in the lobby, while O'Brien also walked away from the music and headed to the bar area.