CABLE | Meet 'Dave' – Lil Dicky Chases His Rap Dreams on FXX

"I'm actually one of the best rappers alive."

FX Productions

FXX's simply titled Dave, an autobiographical sitcom about the fictionalized life of comedian Dave Burd (aka YouTube rapper Lil Dicky), feels surprisingly fresher and much more amusing than the well-worn basic concept of trying to "make it big" has any right to be. This is mostly thanks to Burd's jovial everyman energy as an unlikely vessel for someone looking to break into the rap game and music business from the fringes of viral internet fame.

Co-created by veteran Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm producer Jeff Schaffer, Dave mines the whole up-and-coming hustler vibe (think a small-scale Entourage or full-on comedic version of Atlanta) mixed with Burd's amiable version of the self-mocking outcast moniker Larry David has so notoriously perfected.

Schaffer makes sure to play up Burd's natural discomfort as a neurotic Jew/white guy with his wild rap dreams and odd seeming career choice as an online music video sensation (as he actually is in real-life) struggling to gain any respect or legitimacy in the very dysfunctional music industry.



Other comedians, comic actors, and real-life rappers weave in and out of the supporting cast nicely including Taylor Misiak and Andrew Santino as Dave's supportive girlfriend and roommate/manager. They, alongside a fun string of guest stars and cameos, add a more fleshed out, fully-realized impression to Lil Dicky's sometimes surrealist musical world.

Burd makes Dave such an easy watching treat thanks to his humility and self-deprecating ways. It also helps that he wisely stretches his rap talents and underplays just how gifted a hip-hop performer he really is. Dialling down (or up as needed) his Lil Dicky persona and growing who the fictional Dave Burd is on screen in the context of a traditional half-hour comedy makes for a fun yet familiar story of chasing fame.

Dave's ten-episode first season airs weekly on FXX.


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