Lady Dynamite

At the beginning, I thought this show was, as people have said here, "derivative" and only marginally funny. Kept it on because I was doing something and didn't have the free hands to turn it off. I had a few chuckles and wasn't expecting much. But every single person on the show is a great comedian and/or actor, and the situations are novel. By the end of the second episode it had gained momentum, I was won over, but switched to The Americans. Then I woke up today and it was the only show I wanted to watch, for some reason it stuck with me. (Probably because it brings up memories of when I was in the music business and how people treated each other, and times when I made great money but walked away, but this time I'm laughing.) So I put on episode 3 and I've been laughing my ass off ever since. It gets funnier and funnier at each new episode!

I came onto IMDb just to find out more, and see there is a contingent for whom it isn't reaching. Well I would say, maybe you have to watch a few more episodes. But I'm someone who loved BoJack Horseman, Action, Party Down, Extras. Also, there are so many funny details that people might not get -- like the Minnesota hair when she flashbacks to Duluth, or the "Latin" saying on the wall of the church. When I see the flashbacks, I'm laughing already, before anyone opens their mouths.

I saw Maria Bamford's stand-up special for Comedy Central years ago and loved it, she explains a little about herself in it and so I had a slight background knowledge of her, but didn't know anything about the show. The first episode was a little hard to follow, but it's supposed to be that way. As you keep watching, you get what she's going for and it's awesome. I think it's too awesome and too deep for some people, hence the stupid reviews like: "it's a failure"-to that I say "you're a failure, butt-face, just because you're not smart enough to get the joke doesn't mean it's not funny." Anyway, it's like she/they-(the cast is amazing and so talented, the fact that she got so many well-known people in the show tells you that she's genius, it takes a great comedian to make other comedians laugh)-zoom in and out on life stuff. Some of it is like big-picture, meaning-of-life stuff, some of it is about things a lot of average people struggle with, like doing too much or not being able to say no, and some is really specific issues that everybody may not relate to-like what do you do when someone you're dating dies and you have to be a part of their funeral but you really don't know them well? What do you do when you realize you thought you were dating someone and they had a totally different goal/idea of the relationship? And Maria takes those topics and comments on them in her unique and hilarious way. And she works in stuff about mental illness as well, which is honest and brave and ground-breaking, and also hilarious. It's hard to explain, but really this show is about everything and nothing all at once and it's a work of art.

Side note: Some people might feel uncomfortable about the frank discussion of mental health issues, psychologists, psychiatrists, and medications, but I think those are things a lot of people deal with in real life and real life things can be the basis for the funniest jokes. She is of course exaggerating about some things in the show, so don't think she's like a total nutcase in real life, sometimes art imitates life and sometimes art is just a total work of the imagination. It seems to me she is incredibly ordinary in the way she does her life, she just deals with different issues than some people, and she's also incredibly amazing in how she is brave enough to discuss those things openly, and she must be very emotionally intelligent and wise to have done the treatments she has and to avoid hiding her issues, because what it takes for a person to be successful in anything is self-awareness, honesty, and a willingness to ask and accept help when they need it. Athletes don't make it to the Olympics on sheer talent alone, and people with illness-physical or mental, short-term or chronic, don't make it to a place of wellness and balance without self-awareness, honesty and help. But that is a very hard-learned lesson and it takes time to get to a point of clarity about this, Maria has obviously done this with her life and she's sharing her wisdom with this show. I appreciate it, and I get it. And no, I'm not mentally ill-not that there's anything wrong with that ;)

It's hard to describe what this show is, so many levels of comedy and drama, but it works.

Maria Bamford suffers from bipolar disorder, and this show is a semi-coherent fictionalized depiction of her life, how her career operates, her family, and the various people she interacts with in the entertainment industry.

Flitting back and forth in time, each episode covers a specific narrative, should she date this guy, is she going to get the big movie role, is she objectively funny, etc., but each is framed in the roller coaster of emotions that make up her mental state. When she's manic, it's a little off putting, and when she's depressed, it's sad, but her support system of friends, parents, agents and various helpers sort of keep her on track, sort of.

For those unfamiliar with Maria, dial up one of her standup shows so you get some feel of who she is before you dig in to this show. She is about as "alt" as "alt comedy" can be, but she has crafted a stage show and a persona that are truly endearing and entertaining.

Unlike other entertainers who suffer from mental illness and hide it, Maria embraces it, and this show to some degree gives us the world seen through her eyes.

I happened to love this show and have rewatched several episodes and I laugh every time. Maria is truly a complex individual. She's got absurdist humor with a touch of black comedy so if you don't appreciate that, please don't bother watching. She doesn't seem to try to sell any kind of wokism as some reviewers indicated, she just wants to be a decent person to the characters she encounters. The theme song refrain is "I don't know what I'm doing, more than half of the time". Maria struggles with mental illness but it isn't the defining characteristic of her personality. She simply understands that there is really no RIGHT way to deal with this messed up world. Personally, I find her social commentary on the show absolutely BRILLIANT.

For those advising others not to watch: just because you don't get it doesn't mean "IT" isn't there.

If I were to watch this show as a comedy, I would have found it incredibly irritating and outrageously offensive. The show isn't funny, and I don't think it's really supposed to be. It's actually quite sad and deep.

It's about struggling with bipolar disorder. As someone who struggles with mental illness myself, I find it fascinating. It's like looking through someone else's eyes. I find that the structure of the show how things transition and connect is very reflective of how my own mind works.

My recommendation: If you want to better understand what it can be like to live with a mood disorder, watch Lady Dynamite. Don't watch it as a comedy though; watch it as dark, serious drama.