Lil Dicky’s up to his old tricks in the third season of “Dave” but this time – dare we say it – he’s a bit vulnerable.
Now on tour (with friends like GaTa), he’s encountering parts of the United States that aren’t so friendly toward a rapper with body issues. In Texas, he meets store clerks who are armed, nurses who are calculating and a bunch of good ol’ boys who just want to get into his pants.
The first episode of the new season is eye-opening (and risqué) but it’s also a look at the Dave (Dave Burd) behind the Dicky.
Dave Burd and Taylor Misiak talk relationships in "Dave."
Here, Burd (who also produces and writes) opens another vein and reveals a guy who just wants to be loved – not by fans but by someone who actually cares for him. He goes looking for that love (in all the wrong places) and discovers disease and humiliation are lurking.
Luckily, he has those sidekicks who made the first season sing and were noticeably absent in the second. GaTa, the would-be superstar, is along for the ride, dispensing advice that never dawned on Dave.
The dynamics are good; the feel is very much “Atlanta.”
When a nurse invites Dave over to a friend’s house, the outsider gets a crash course in something called “hot seat” and the true motives of a fan. There’s a David Sedaris kind of awareness here that shocks as often as it amuses.
Written by Luvh Rakhe and Randall Valdez Castillo, that third season opener shows a Dave who’s not as cocky as he was in the past. When a bar patron asks him who’s in his contact, he naively confesses, “Alfonso Ribeiro.” When he’s trying to protect himself in the bedroom, he seeks advice from the internet. And when he’s caught running down a street almost naked, he’s as childish as the kid who dreamed up Lil Dicky.
Director Brian Lannin isn’t afraid to put Burd in awkward situations and watch him squirm. Burd’s also not afraid to flash a little skin.
“Dave,” season three, is as raunchy as you remember but also a bit telling. As he makes his way around the country, look for his world view to change. Sometimes, the more you see, the less you know.
“Dave” airs on FXX and Hulu.
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