John Mulaney Weighs In on 2026 Rock Hall Inductees Ahead of Saturday Ceremony
Comedian John Mulaney spent 90 minutes dissecting the 2026 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame class from a Fort Worth hotel room. He calls it a great mix, defends Iron Maiden's absence and argues the Hall should reward its critics. The ceremony is November 14 in Los Angeles.
John Mulaney has many thoughts on the 2026 Rock & Roll Hall of Fame inductees, and he shared them over 90 minutes last month from a hotel room in Fort Worth, Texas. The comedian, actor and talk-show host was on the road with his Mister Whatever tour.
The induction ceremony takes place Saturday night, November 14, at the Peacock Theater in Los Angeles.
A yearly obsession
Mulaney has been earnestly obsessed with the Hall for years: who gets in, who does not, who shows up. He first discussed it in an interview in 2018 and planned to make it an annual habit.
"Covid and some personal problems got in the way," Mulaney deadpanned last year. "Hey, listen, I'll make this an annual thing now." He has made good on that.
In January he starts Mulaney Takes Manhattan, a nine-show run in New York. It opens at the 150-capacity Comedy Cellar and ends at Madison Square Garden, with the venues growing larger along the way.
Reward the critics
Mulaney's standing grievance is Sonic Youth, who again were not even nominated. Kim Gordon recently called the Hall a "meaningless construct."
Mulaney sees a bias against artists who have publicly said the institution is lame. He argued that people who say the Rock Hall sucks "should almost get special consideration." His reasoning: "We shouldn't reward good behavior."
He is not wholly cynical. Hall chairman John Sykes has called induction "music's highest honor," and Mulaney said he did not want to front any cynicism about it. He was moved when Radiohead went in, he said, recalling guitarist Ed O'Brien wishing bandmates Thom Yorke and Jonny Greenwood were there to see how big a deal it was.
On this year's class
Mulaney called the 2026 class "a great mix." He said it may not be an exciting list to read, but he expects a great ceremony. Iron Maiden, he said, "is going to be a huge moment."
The band will not attend, because they will be on tour. Singer Bruce Dickinson said, "I can't even summon the energy to be vitriolic about it." He added that it is nice many people are happy for the band, but "it's not something we're bothered about."
Mulaney found that reaction interesting. He joked that some artists stay angry long after the Hall comes around, imagining Led Zeppelin still wondering how anyone could give them bad reviews.
He also revisited his 2018 bit about inductees' speeches. His point was not that they were ungrateful but that they "couldn't have tried less," though they knew the honor was coming for months.
He put part of that down to generation. Many figures from the 1960s and Seventies, he said, were not ready for TV and arrived with business and artistic gripes that had to play out onstage.
