The Pitch: Over its first two seasons, FXX’s Dave has slowly grown from an easily-dismissed riff on Atlanta, starring a blinkered white rapper (Lil Dicky, aka Dave Burd, playing himself) who spits about his tiny freaky penis, to a curiously insightful and poignant exploration of one man’s self-absorption. (The dick jokes, blissfully, remain unsullied.)
After all, it’s Dave’s hustle, and his surprisingly nimble bars, that lend him what measure of success he manages to eke out in a business all too aware of his foibles — up until he says the wrong thing, or flies too close to the sun, or crumbles against Personal Crisis #25. But Season 3 sees him at the closest he’s ever come to rap stardom, hot off the heels of a triumphant performance at the VMAs alongside best friend and chaos agent GaTa (Burd’s real-life bestie, playing himself) — maybe the closest Lil Dicky’s come to true growth.
Wanting to strike while the iron’s hot, Dave and his crew — GaTa, sadsack roommate-turned-manager Mike (Andrew Santino), childhood pal and producer Elz (Odd Future’s Travis “Taco” Bennett), and longtime friend/music video director Emma (Christine Ko) — start revving up for the next state of Dave’s career, from cross-country tours to music videos about Dave’s “romantic origin story.” Still, no matter how much fame is thrown Dave’s way, there’s always the risk of a fall from grace, often by his own neurotic, self-sabotaging hand.
Tired of Sex: The season opener, “Texas,” is a quick-and-dirty breakdown of the effect this newfound fame is having on Dave. Opening with a music-video-styled hookup with a fan in a hotel room, Dave tries to reap the benefits of a life on tour — “this is life when you’re young and wild” — only to freak out that he lost the condom inside her.
She doesn’t care; even after they finish, she’s more concerned with getting a postcoital selfie with him. It’s clear he’s still reeling from his breakup with Ally (Taylor Misiak), last seen aghast at Dave’s insistence on using a heartfelt song about their breakup for his debut album against her wishes. He’s tired of sex — he wants to fall in love.
In the meantime, Dave finally has fans, which is what he always wanted. Trouble is, those fans always want something from him; even the giddiest and most harmless among them are looking to break out into the industry and hope for his help or advice. And it’s his desperate to escape from the artificiality of touring that sends him down a Texas-sized descent into darkness, chasing after a cute girl who comes to one of his gigs who claims she’s never heard of him before. Hijinx ensue, most of them involving Dave running from one crisis to another clad only in a “Scroguard,” a flesh-colored sexual safety device that basically amounts to Spanx with a hole for your dick.
Dave (FXX/Hulu)
