Dave Paulson

dnpaulson@tennessean.com

Standup comedians might not be eager to add Murfreesboro, Tenn. to their tour schedule after hearing John Mulaney's story on Wednesday night's episode of "The Tonight Show."

The comedian and actor was telling host Jimmy Fallon about his earliest days as a touring standup and jokingly referred to a gig in Murfreesboro as "the worst night of my entire life."

In Mulaney's defense, the show sounds like a nightmare. He was performing outdoors at a campground, next to a beer truck "on a couple of two-by-fours lying in dirt." But Murfreesboro residents should be proud to know that their hecklers are the most eloquent Mulaney's ever encountered.

"One guy yelled from the back what is the best heckle I've ever heard in my life. He yelled, 'Excuse me, sir. I think I speak for everyone here when I say that we would enjoy silence more than the sound of your voice.'"

Middle Tennesseans probably won't enjoy the way Mulaney mispronounces the town's name — sounding like "Murf-reers-boro" — though he insisted to Fallon that he was pronouncing it correctly.

"I think it was named by a dying Confederate general as he barely sat up in bed, eating mashed potatoes," he said.

Mulaney, a former writer for "Saturday Night Live," stars in the new sitcom "Mulaney," which premieres at 8:30 p.m. CT Sunday, October 5 on Fox.