Netflix's Lady Dynamite

OH great. I like some of her standup so I'll have a look see.

The Target commercial parody is a riot. I don't remember her because I don't watch commercials, but apparently she was known as the crazy Target lady, a Flo-like character in a series of commercials.

I'm watching it and I'm not sure if I love it or not. What an unpredictable show. Bizarre, funny, painfully emotionally raw, and batty. Yeah, I guess I'll keep watching. Maybe I should be high while watching it? I love the man who plays her manager! He was the father in In a World and on Hulu's Casual.

Anyone else watch this? The bf and I tried to watch and turned it off after 5 minutes. I know it's gotten raves, but is it a show that you'll like if it doesn't grab you right away? Because what I did see seemed really not in line with my sense of humor at all. And I do like Kimmy Schmidt and Crazy Ex-Girlfirend, both of which the OP mentioned.

It is dark comedy that grows on you. I love it.

It took an episode or two to get into it, but once you figure out what the show is doing, it's really pretty great. I love the fake sophisticated lady voice she uses in the Brandon Routh episode. Speaking of former Supermen, Dean Cain shows up, too, looking puffy.

Enough with the chick stuff on Netflix. Where the bro content?

I watched it through and thought it was unique and very funny. She's unusual in that she's crazy or odd, but not narcissistic or unsympathetic. That's what makes the show rather sweet too.

Let's cut to the chase- is it as unfunny, difficult to sit through and wildly overpraised as Grace & Frankie?

Great cast! The chick who plays Karen on Veep is in it as her new age assistant. The actor who plays her manager was also in the Coen brothers' movie A Serious Man. Pretty much love most of it...

She depresses me for some reason and I wanted to like it but just is not funny.

She's had actual mental problems that she's still fighting, maybe that's why it seems sad to you. When she makes fun of life in a mental hospital, she knows what she's talking about.

I love the show, but boy is it relentless.

[quote]The bf and I tried to watch and turned it off after 5 minutes.

Is that really enough time to determine whether you like a show or not?

I don't like Kimmy Schmidt, I do love Grace & Frankie, and I very much like Lady Dynamite. Not sure if that helps you gauge whether to go on my recommendation of the show. It's well written, bonkers, sweet and nuts. Animals talk sometimes and Mira Sorvino, whom I detest, does okay in the show as Maria's friend back home in Minnesota.

I watched three episodes and stopped. It is a little to 'meta' for me, but maybe I'll try to get back into it again.

The lead actress's baby voice is a bit grating to me.

Ana Gasteyer was pretty funny in it.

The 'talk to ' stuff with other comics telling her not to do stand up, etc throws off the vibe. It just feels like an odd combination of sitcom and reality show that didn't work so much for me.

I knew nothing of Maria Bramford until I read an Onion AV article about her about six weeks ago. That prompted me to listen to 2 of her comedy albums that were available on Amazon Prime Music. I really, really enjoyed them and laughed a lot. Then I actually purchased two more downloads of different comedy albums. Again, great stuff. Original and very funny.

I didn't love the first episode of Lady Dynamite, but I did really like subsequent episodes. I've watched the first seven episodes and generally really like it. But, as for the show and her comedy, I could totally understand why people wouldn't like it. Again, the show is generally very good, but among the people I know who watch it, it's become the prototypical "it's genius, and if you don't like it, you're just too stupid and unsophisticated" show.

My partner and I saw her stand-up comedy in Minneapolis several years ago. I laughed so hard that my face hurt. I had tears rolling down my cheeks for 2 hours. I have never laughed that hard. She is incredibly smart and funny.

It's a unique, interesting show. I gave up after 5 episodes. I can understand why people find her depressing. There are some funny bits.

I really liked it because it was so odd and off-beat but I think you [italic]really[/italic] have to like her to enjoy the show. The first time I saw her she was doing a short routine on "Louie" and I thought she was funny and interesting.

It probably helps if you've had your own dance with mental health issues to appreciate her/the show.

To keep the score tab running -- love Kimmy Schmidt/could not stand Grace & Frankie (was out after a couple of episodes, and I love both Jane and Lily.)

I love her stand-up but I can understand how her mental issues could be off-putting. When she first started talking about them in her act I wasn't sure is she was being honest or trying to create a character. I'm the last person in America without Netflix, though, so I haven't seen the show yet.

She is clearly mentally ill (which she fully admits and frequently explores) and there are moments of brilliance and sad humor, but it is hard to get through.

She's WAY more talented than Tig Notaro could ever hope to be, BTW.

I just watched three more episodes. Now halfway through season one.

There is a lot that is funny about it, but I don't think it's something you can really binge watch. It is laced with a lot of sadness and darkness.

I'm not expecting a season two. Was it renewed ??

I thought the guy who played Graham was hot in a fit fat way ...........and then realized in the episode with his kids that it was Dean Cain ............. wow, he did kind of go to seed ..... but still in a kind of hot way.

Netflix hasn't announced renewal yet, but I'm reading that it's not unusual for them. If renewed, the 2nd season isn't expected until next fall. It takes a long time to produce this kind of show.

I've loved the Bammer for years now, but even I found it hard to get into this show at first. It wasn't until I was probably halfway through the season that I started really appreciating it. The last few episodes are bizzare and hilarious.

I think going into it you should realize Maria's pretty much always been a pure stand-up, rather than a writer like Tina Fey or something, and it really shows in Lady Dynamite. It's not exactly a "sitcom" per se, so much as just her way spilling a slightly fictionalized version of her guts in a funny way.

She sounds like Frenchy.

She is doing sort of updated Robin Williams and Andy Kaufmann.

Thanks, OP. I binged it the day Netflix put it up and have been waiting for someone to start a thread! It took me about 2 episodes to get into the groove of the show, but I enjoyed all of the characters so much that I thought was still hilarious and touching before truly getting it. I love her sophisticated Diane alter ego! Mo Collins is great as her toxic best friend from Duluth, and who wouldn't want to have hapless Bruce Ben-Bacharach on their team? And Mary Kay Place as her mother is a treat. It is very much a Kurt Vonnegut style mind trip with the 3 (hilarious) Karen Grishams, talking animals, and a story told on 3 different dimensions. I love it.

I've been following Bamford's career almost from the beginning, having seen her on Conan back in 1999, and then on Premium Blend and other stand-up shows for a while. I really, really liked her, she was always so nervous and shaking but powering through her sets. She did that great "Diane" voice even back then.

For whatever reason I didn't try to find out why she seemed to disappear right around 2009 or 2010 except for appearing in the Target ads. I only found out why she disappeared when I listened to her podcast with Marc Maron a few years ago and found out she'd had the breakdown. (And was Maron just a resentful, angry little shit in those early WTF podcasts or what? Jesus, that guy.)

I can't explain why, exactly, but I feel like watching her is kind of taking advantage of her? I just keep thinking back on that 20-something stand-up newbie in the 1990s who I thought was bravely getting through her stage fright and now realizing it was serious mental illness that has been a struggle for her. I dunno, it's hard to explain.

Finished the season this week. A lot of laughs actually, but I can understand the trouble I had with binge watching it and getting through it in one sitting.

Maria gets under your skin and is hard to 'be around', as I'm sure is the case in real life and with many people with mental illness issues.

But I would tune in for a second season ........and take my time again working through it.

She's clearly well liked in the industry if she can have a debilitating illness and come back from it to get her own Netflix show and special. And the amount of cameos was very surprising.

It's hard to binge watch the show but I loved it. Didn't one of the characters in the show say, "You're hard to be around?" What is unique about her and her character is that crazy people scare the shit out of me if they can run cruel, which can happen. Maria's character is not cruel. She's very tender. In one scene her manager offends her by saying, "I don't have time for your shit right now" and later apologizes, and it's all done with care about other people's feelings.

The woman who plays the crazy realtor is excellent. She's also the more interesting daughter on Grace & Frankie.

I binge watched the show in one day. It's great, with lots of excellent actors, particularly Ana Gasteyer as the agent. Very funny.

I've been very fond of Bamford for many years. I know a number of mentally ill people and I like how she is presenting her life.

I'm one of those people who is bored with old formulas, so I loved this show.

The dog stuff was sometimes a stretch, but worked over all. Just a snippet too long at times.

I hope there is another season.

r33 here, and I want to make it clear that I often laughed so hard that I had to pause or rewind the show. Lot's of unexpected moments.

I laughed a lot too.

I listened to the theme song every time because I liked the end where she said 'I'm a terradactyl and then shouted out at the end 'Corn !'

I have this on the back burner to binge on a bad weather day. I really loved her stand up years ago and I'm glad to see her coming back after what she went through.

R31, I think she is really well liked. The few times I've seen her interacting with other comedians they seem to be in awe of her voice skills and bizarrely hilarious quick wit. And she seems genuinely nice.

r36 She has the uncanny ability to sound like completely different people. I think Mel Blanc is her near equal in that regard. Some other mimics have had that eerie ability.

I'm watching this now and it's absolutely delightful. Like the above poster said, I'm bored with the same old sitcom stuff and this is something different, I love the way the series is set up and Bramford is hilarious. My favorite ep so far is the one where Maria keeps doing her "rich lady" voice, and that Pussy Noodle commercial was a riot.

And I always love seeing Mary Kay Place when she pops up in something.

R37, yeah and it's not just that the voices are completely different, it's that she conveys a whole personality/type with them. Mel Blanc is a good comparison.

r36 that clip is funny. I love the voice she does for the office co-worker. We've all known women with that kind of irritating voice.

Oh man, that clip is great. Thanks for post R36. Original and funny. I love her.

I like her stand-up comedy, nearly all of which I have heard on the radio, and with that I had high hopes for the TV series. It's odd, and somehow off, and some big part of that is that she is funnier on radio than on tv. The same qualities are there: the nervous, twitchy, sly, sad, smart, layers of self-aware weirdness, but somehow it doesn't work for me in a visual medium.

If I were not familiar with her primarily through radio, I expect I would like the tv series much more, but it falls a little short to my ear - and eye.

I'm enjoying it, too — and I agree that the first episode is probably the weakest. When the show gets surreal, it reminds me a bit of "Strangers With Candy" and Jerri Blank.

The takeoffs on Target motivational speeches were brutal and hilarious, and I loved the hack Hispanic comic "Gordo Gonzalez and Farty Pantalones" (was that supposed to be Gabriel "Fluffy" Iglesias)?

I laughed my ass off at the Shampoo commercial that opened the first episode, but then the rest became a little too "all over the place" for me.

Ten episodes of the new season drop November 10 on Netflix. It's getting good reviews (A- by AV Club) so that's encouraging.

I'll be watching because of Ana Gesteyer's getup in this shot alone. I mean, just look at her! She's also great on People of Earth and really needs to star in a proper movie comedy soon. Impeccable timing and (micro)facial expressions even Cate Blanchett would be envious of.

Ana Gasteyer is always funny in everything she does, she was SO underrated during her time on SNL.

Omg I’m son excited for the new season. Wasn’t sure we were getting one. Bring on the Karen Grishams!

I just watched the first two eps and so far it's even funnier than last season.

Just saw the first episode and was crying from laughter not even ten minutes in. Self-driving cars and other pop cultural references feel so fresh and current, and it does this job even better than Difficult People. Ana Gesteyer is killing it! Just one quote of hers to get you in the mood:

[quote]I was heading home from the Westworld season 3 premiere party. You wanna know what's at the center of that fucking maze? BOREDOM!

Also, Maria is very brave for going totally naked a minute into the second season.

Loved Ana Gasteyer with her two Teslas.

"Hundred thousand dollar PIECE OF SHIT!"

R50 Ha, that line just about killed me!

I loved that she's using her other Tesla to pick up cream for her.

The second season is ok. Some nice guest stars (David Spade, surprisingly). I guess for me the whole show comes to a screeching it's about her relationship. On one hand it works as a great contrast to all the over the top crazy stuff and character on the other hand it's just fast-forward filler.

Cancelled. Fuck!

So bummed it’s cancelled but it sounds like it was more than she could handle.

R54 Yes, I got less angry after reading that part.

I've always loved her stand-up.

What a wildly imaginative, exceptionally weird and funny show! I'm finally seeing season 2 with my Netflix free preview. If you love this show too, and alt-comedy in general, please recommend other funny shows that might be on Netflix. Thanks.

Such a little gem of a show. Sad it’s cancelled.

Season 2 was better, Space Nuts, Duluth 1987, the weird future segments. Mo Collins as monster cyborg trying to rape her husband. No one has another little alt-comedy gem to recommend?

Checklist!

Your cradle to grave SUPERstore!

Bi polar people are a nightmare. But MB is portrayed as quite innocent and unoffending in this show. If there's anyone she pissed off along the way I guess it was innocuous. That said, the show is funny and the agent is my favorite character. I'm almost done with season 1.

Yes , R61, Bruce Ben-Bacharach is a treasure. Love him.

Holy cow ---

[quote] I listened to the theme song every time because I liked the end where she said 'I'm a terradactyl and then shouted out at the end 'Corn !'

Someone explain that to me. I don't understand the joke/reference.

Thank you.

I love it.