New York Times Magazine's 6th Floor blog recently featured a magazine preview piece on John Mulaney to help promote his upcoming Comedy Central stand-up special New in Town (and their "magazine," I suppose). It's surprisingly informative for an excerpt, offering peaks into John's SNL audition and some back story on the hilariously flamboyant New York City nightlife correspondent, Stefon, which may owe his existence in part to… Ben Affleck?:

"In 2008, Ben Affleck was hosting and we did a sketch with Affleck and Bill [Hader] as Stefon. Without saying who they were based on, they were two brothers who made action movies and one of them had undergone some changes. Affleck really liked it – I think he knew it was weird, but he was a real champion of it, which was nice."

I haven't had reason to thank Ben Affleck for anything since he did Gigli! Obviously he recognizes brilliant absurdist humor when he sees it, like a true artiste.

Watch some of John Mulaney's stand-up below to whet your whistle ahead of his one-hour special, which premieres Saturday at 10/9c.

(Photo by Andrew H. Walker/Getty Images)