John Mulaney Has David Lee Roth’s Bluegrass Album on Repeat

Let’s say you’re running a little bit hot tonight. You can barely see the road from the heat coming off it … you reach down between your legs and ease the seat back … to get your pristine copy of 2006’s Strummin’ with the Devil, a bluegrass album of Van Halen songs created under the tutelage of David Lee Roth. The record is now a personal favorite for John Mulaney, who told Rolling Stone in a new interview that he, Bill Hader, Fred Armisen, and Jimmy Kimmel are in a group chat dedicated to gossiping about the hard rockers. “I like Van Halen a lot and I like Diamond Dave’s bluegrass album of covers,” he said. “I’m embarrassed to say, it’s kind of in my shuffle.” Of the quartet’s thread, Mulaney added, “interviews with Alex and Eddie Van Halen about David is the platonic ideal.” (Mulaney also has a separate group chat with Kimmel and Nick Kroll about Kiss, where they “mainly” trade thoughts about Gene Simmons’s questionable business endeavors.) Mulaney tried to get Roth as a guest on his Everybody’s in L.A. live show last year, but the vocalist rejected every idea presented to him, including being a bandleader. “I should just call him up and say ‘Let’s party,’ and he might show up,” Mulaney joked at the time. Donald Fagen, how about you?

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