John Mulaney says he was investigated by the Secret Service over joke 'that was not about Donald Trump'
The comedian was determined to not be a threat to anyone
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}John Mulaney says he was investigated by the Secret Service after making a joke that many believed was a threat against President Donald Trump.
The stand-up comedian hosted “Saturday Night Live” twice in 2020. On Tuesday’s episode of “Jimmy Kimmel Live,” Mulaney, who previously wrote for the popular NBC sketch series, revealed that he was investigated by the U.S. Secret Service over a joke he made during his first hosting gig of the year.
“In February, I did a joke that was not about Donald Trump,” the comedian explained. “The joke was about how it was a leap year and the leap year was started by Julius Cesar to correct the calendar, and another thing that happened with Cesar was that he was stabbed to death by a bunch of senators because he went crazy. And I said that’s an interesting thing that can happen.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Although he didn’t mention the president by name, it didn’t take long for people to connect the dots and understand what the comedian was hinting at. He told the host that he soon got a call from the Secret Service informing him that they were looking into him as a result of the joke.
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“What also happened was, there’s a service that operates for the president and it’s a secret. They’re a secret service and they… they investigated me and I guess they opened a file on me because of the joke,” he explained. “Am I stoked that there’s a file open on me? Absolutely. Did I enjoy it at the moment? Not so much.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}John Mulaney was investigated by the Secret Service. (Kyle Dubiel/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank via Getty Images)
The star says that the agents he spoke with were pretty understanding that he was not a genuine threat to anyone.
“They were very nice in the interview,” he told the host. “In terms of risk assessment, no one that’s ever looked at me thought I registered above a one.”
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}He was, however, asked if there’s anything else they should know about such as postings about Trump online they would find, “rants or manifestos” specifically.
“I said no, I have bad writing habits,” he said. “I could never pound out a manifesto.”
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{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Although Mulaney was allegedly cleared by the Secret Service, he fears he didn’t help his case any by neglecting to disclose that he and his wife rented an apartment in the D.C. area around the same time since she was working on a project for the Smithsonian there.
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“After telling the Secret Service that they had nothing to worry about, that I had leased an apartment for one year in Washington D.C.,” he joked. “And that apartment was across the street from the Secret Service building. So, it had a planned vibe to it.”