Men's Health caught up with John Mulaney recently to ask him about the secrets to his success. The stand-up comedian and SNL writer obliged with some actual-ish real-ish counsel on work ethic, perseverance and physical well-being, albeit with his own hilarious brand of humor:

"You can do good work simply staying up all night and eating nothing but junk food, but probably not in the long term. I think Saturday Night Live has probably taught us that. I have a trainer now and I work out twice a week with her. That's right, I said 'her.' I couldn’t handle the shame of working out in front of another man."

Aha! I think John Mulaney just helped me figure out how to finish my screenplay about a screenwriter who can't finish his screenplay because of his Twinkie addiction. He gets a female personal trainer who inspires him with kettle balls! I can almost taste the Academy Award. And this box of Twinkies.

John Mulaney's new stand-up special, New In Town, is now available and highly listenable! Buy it!

By Mike Henneberger

The South by Southwest festival is right around the corner, one month away to be exact. And while SXSW–one of the biggest festivals in the country–still only touts itself as a film/music/interactive festival, stand-up comedy has always managed to sneak its way into the fest like, well, someone who can’t afford to buy a pass. Well, Austin has taken note, and the Moontower Comedy Festival is taking advantage of SXSW’s delay in announcing this year's full lineup.

From April 25-28, the Moontower Comedy and Oddity Fest will spread out across 12 venues in Austin, TX with more than 200 performances from over 60 comedians. This week's additions to the 40 acts that had already been announced include Andy Kindler and John Mulaney. They join a list of familiar names like Seth Meyers, Aziz Ansari, Hannibal Buress, Maria Bamford, Mary Lynn Rajskub and Steven Wright. The lineup also includes some Texas comedy titans like Brendon Walsh, who appeared on John Oliver’s New York Stand-Up Show last year, and Live at Gotham alum Bryan Gutmann, Paul Varghese, and Lucas Molandes.

Early bird tickets sold out in three hours, but presale and VIP passes are still available online. You can also follow the fest on Facebook and Twitter to find out when more performers are announced.

John Mulaney's recent Comedy Central special, New In Town, is garnering a lot of critical acclaim, and for good reason. Slate Magazine has smartly taken notice of this fact and interviewed the SNL writer/comedian recently, reinforcing the fact that it's pretty tough not to like this guy's material. The interview digs into a multitude of topics, including Mulaney's predilection for Law & Order: SVU:

"If they have arrested somebody before the half-hour, that is not the person, because they can’t prosecute someone for 45 minutes; they can only prosecute them for a half-hour. If they’ve arrested someone at the half-hour, it’s probably the person. But if they arrest someone early and go to trial, there’s a major twist coming, maybe that person is taking the rap for their dad who actually did the murder, or maybe vice versa, they’re taking the rap for their kid."

Valuable analysis, indeed. Ice-T's enigmatic and complex acting performances often leave me wondering just what is going on (literally). The guy who humped a fridge in Wet Hot American Summer is equally magnificent. And I can't shake the feeling that the killer is always John Munch. One of these episodes, the other shoe is gonna drop…

Pick up your copy of John Mulaney: New In Town here.

Don't look now, friends, but there are just two shopping days left until Groundhog Day. Fortunately, nothing says, "I love you, and I love rodent-based weather prediction," quite like the gift of John Mulaney: New In Town which is available today on DVD, CD and iTunes.

You can sample the special and buy it with this handy embeddable widget:

Writer/comedian John Mulaney's been a self-promoting maniac lately. His Comedy Central one-hour special, New In Town, just premiered this past Saturday, and the corresponding album and DVD hit stores tomorrow! (Preorder from iTunes here.) It's a wonder he found any time to sit down for this NY Mag interview. Here's a taste:

Which do you prefer, the old Times Square or the new Times Square?
I would like to see a merging of old and new Times Square, where gay cowboy hustlers cruise through the M&M store.

What do you think of Donald Trump?
Buy my first album The Top Part to hear my thoughts on him. I took on Trump in front of tens of people.

What do you hate most about living in New York?
There are no good restaurants.

Who is your mortal enemy?
Andy Samberg. We bicker night and day, but it might just be because I'm in love with him. Sigh.

When's the last time you drove a car?
I'm driving as I type this.

There's lots more where that came from.

Unlike many of my peers, I was actually not bullied in school. Hard to believe, I know, but it's easy to be popular when you're captain of the varsity long-term memory-repression team.

John Mulaney, on the other hand, was bullied and for some things that might surprise you, as he explains in this clip from his new special.

John Mulaney: New In Town premieres tomorrow at 10/9c.

In this appearance from last night's Conan, John Mulaney wishes he could watch four straight hours of Ice-T on Law and Order: SVU. Well, I wish I could watch four straight hours of John Mulaney doing his impression of Ice-T on Law and Order: SVU. I wonder if somewhere out there, someone wishes they could watch four hours of me wishing I could watch four hours of John Mulaney's Ice-T impression.

John Mulaney: New In Town premieres Saturday at 10/9c.

New In Town, the title of John Mulaney's upcoming stand-up special, is a reference to one of the bits in the set. But did you know there's a second meaning? There is, and in this web-exclusive video, Dan Mintz investigates to get to the bottom of this long-held secret. It's basically The Da Vinci Code with more convincing wigs.

John Mulaney: New In Town premieres Saturday at 10/9c.

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.

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Voting is at the heart of America's democracy. And that heart is a withering, decaying muscle, barely able to pump blood to its feeble limbs. On the other hand, no it's not. Voting is great, and America is great! Sorry, I get schizophrenic when I have to make tough decisions. I'm trying to choose which comedians to Watch, Like and Follow in order to vote for them in this week's Stand-Up Month competition. The winners will have their specials air this Friday starting at 9/8c.

This week, you can choose between Patton Oswalt, Louis CK, Paul F. Tompkins, Pete Holmes, Anthony Jeselnik, Amy Schumer, Julian McCullough, Sheng Wang and Kristen Schaal. Here's one of my favorite clips from Patton…

It's like Sophie's Choice if I actually knew what Sophie's Choice was about. It's about World War II or something, right?

For more stand-up, don't miss the premiere of John Mulaney: New In Town Saturday at 10/9c.