''Lady Dynamite'' is an American comedy television series starring

Maria Bamford Maria Bamford (born September 3, 1970) is an American actress and stand-up comedian. Her work often uses self-deprecating and dark topics, including her dysfunctional family, depression, anxiety, suicide and mental illness. Her first comedy alb ...

, and is loosely based on her life. It was created by Pam Brady and Mitch Hurwitz, on

Netflix Netflix is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service. The service primarily distributes original and acquired films and television shows from various genres, and it is available internationally in multiple lang ...

. The twelve-episode first season was released in its entirety on May 20, 2016. The series was renewed for a second season on July 27, 2016. The second season premiered on November 10, 2017. On January 13, 2018, the series was canceled after two seasons.

Premise

Stand-up comedian/actor Maria Bamford (portrayed by herself) moves back to

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

after spending six months away in recovery for

bipolar disorder Bipolar disorder (BD), previously known as manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by periods of Depression (mood), depression and periods of abnormally elevated Mood (psychology), mood that each last from days to weeks, and in ...

and attempts to build up her life from scratch with the help of her agent Bruce Ben-Bacharach (

Fred Melamed Fred Melamed (born May 13, 1956) is an American actor. After spending most of his early career primarily as a renowned voice over artist, and occasionally playing small roles in films, notably in seven films directed by Woody Allen, he establish ...

). Throughout the entire first season, flashbacks are employed to gain an insight on Maria's backstory and her relationships with her family and friends.

Cast

Main

as Maria Bamford, a fictionalized version of herself ** Bamford also provides the voice of Blueberry, Scott's dog *

as Bruce Ben-Bacharach, Maria's manager *

Mary Kay Place Mary Kay Place (born September 23, 1947) is an American actress. She is best known for portraying Loretta Haggers on the television series '' Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman'', a role that won her the 1977 Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Suppor ...

as Marilyn Bamford, Maria's mother * Ólafur Darri Ólafsson as Scott, Maria's boyfriend (season 2, recurring season 1)

Recurring

* Ana Gasteyer as Karen Grisham, Maria's agent * Ed Begley Jr. with

Kurt Braunohler Kurt Braunohler (born February 22, 1976) is an American comedian and co-host of the podcast ''Bananas'' on Exactly Right Podcast Network. He was previously the host of IFC's comedy game show '' Bunk'' and has appeared on Comedy Central, ''This ...

(season 2, flashbacks) as Joel Bamford, Maria's father * Lennon Parham as Larissa, Maria's friend * Bridget Everett as Dagmar, Maria's friend * Mo Collins as Susan Beeber, Maria's childhood friend *

Dean Cain Dean George Cain ( né Tanaka; born July 31, 1966) is an American actor. From 1993 to 1997, he played Clark Kent / Superman in the TV series '' Lois & Clark: The New Adventures of Superman''. Cain was the host of '' Ripley's Believe It or Not! ...

as Graham, Maria's ex-fiancé * June Diane Raphael as Karen Grisham, Maria's realtor *

Jenny Slate Jenny Slate (born March 25, 1982) is an American actress, stand-up comedian, and writer. After early acting and stand-up roles on television, Slate gained recognition for her live variety shows in New York City and for co-creating the children's ...

as Karen Grisham, Maria's life coach * Kenny and Keith Lucas as themselves * Yimmy Yim as Chantrelle, Bruce's assistant * Kyle McCulloch and

Piotr Michael Piotr Michael Walczuk (born March 27, 1988), known professionally as Piotr Michael, is an American voice actor and comedian. He is known for his role as Yoda in various ''Star Wars'' media, primarily the television series '' Star Wars: Young Jedi ...

as the voice of Bert, Maria's dog

Guest stars

Background

Concept and development

The show came to be when Mitch Hurwitz approached Maria Bamford and asked her if she had an idea for a series, reportedly in 2013. Part of the pitch was telling a story about a

mental breakdown A mental disorder, also referred to as a mental illness, a mental health condition, or a psychiatric disability, is a behavioral or mental pattern that causes significant distress or impairment of personal functioning. A mental disorder is ...

. The project was no more than talks for years. Later, Hurwitz attached Pam Brady to the project to write and direct. Bamford described this process as "extremely slow". The use of

nonlinear narrative Nonlinear narrative, disjointed narrative, or disrupted narrative is a narrative technique where events are portrayed, for example, out of chronological order or in other ways where the narrative does not follow the direct causality pattern of the ...

in the show was part of Bamford's pitch. It is used to portray the different mental states people can go through, and also how they overcome it. In that way, the show's flashbacks serve as "a reminder of that journey." Bamford describes the show's narrative structure as "''

Bloodline Heredity, also called inheritance or biological inheritance, is the passing on of traits from parents to their offspring; either through asexual reproduction or sexual reproduction, the offspring cells or organisms acquire the genetic infor ...

'', with me." Bamford, who is a stand-up comedian, decided not to use stand-up comedy as a device in her show. When asked about her decision, she explained: "Even though that is a reasonable way of telling the story, I do have a self-conscious feeling of "I don't want to see the same thing over and over"". This decision is depicted in the pilot episode of the series.

Writing

Maria Bamford was involved in the writing process, but she did not write any episode herself. In spite of the show being based on Bamford's real life, the writers had freedom to modify her experiences for creative purposes. For example, in the pilot episode, Maria puts a bench in front of her house in an effort to promote a sense of community in her neighborhood. This idea came from Bamford's real life. Even though she did not take a hands-on approach in the writing of the series, she was in the writers' room often, to discuss ideas and "hang out" with the writers. Writing credits include Kyle McCulloch, former ''

South Park ''South Park'' is an American animated sitcom created by Trey Parker and Matt Stone, and developed by Brian Graden for Comedy Central. The series revolves around four boysStan Marsh, Kyle Broflovski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormickand the ...

'' writer, and Jen Statsky, former '' Parks and Recreation'' and ''

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon ''Late Night with Jimmy Fallon'' is an American television talk show broadcast by NBC. The show was the third installment of the '' Late Night'' franchise. Hosted by Jimmy Fallon,

'' writer.

Directing

Former ''

Arrested Development ''Arrested Development'' is an American satire, satirical television sitcom created by Mitchell Hurwitz. It follows the Bluths, a formerly wealthy, dysfunctional family and is presented in a Serial (radio and television), serialized format, inco ...

'' collaborators Max Winkler and

Andrew Fleming Andrew Fleming (born March 14, 1963) is an American screenwriter, film director, television producer, television director, film producer, actor, and television writer. He directed and wrote or co-wrote the films '' Bad Dreams'', '' Threesome'', ...

directed episodes for ''Lady Dynamite''. Robert Cohen,

Academy award The Academy Awards, commonly known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit in film. They are presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences (AMPAS) in the United States in recognition of excellence ...

-winner

Jessica Yu Jessica Yu ( zh, c=虞琳敏, p=Yú Línmǐn) is an American director, writer, producer, and film editor. She has directed documentary films, dramatic films, and television shows. Yu won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Short Subject ...

and Ryan McFaul also directed episodes.

Episodes

Series overview

Season 1 (2016)

Season 2 (2017)

Reception

The first season of ''Lady Dynamite'' has received widespread acclaim from critics. On

Rotten Tomatoes Rotten Tomatoes is an American review aggregator, review-aggregation website for film and television. The company was launched in August 1998 by three undergraduate students at the University of California, Berkeley: Senh Duong, Patrick Y. Lee ...

, it has a rating of 94%, based on 31 reviews, with an average rating of 8.2/10. The site's critical consensus reads, "Maria Bamford's ''Lady Dynamite'' is a vibrant, subversive, sweet, meta-fictional ride - but also a courageous, boundary-busting and ultimately deep portrayal of a troubled psyche." On

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

, the season has a score of 85 out of 100, based on 15 reviews, indicating "universal acclaim". The show has garnered attention because of its depiction of mental illness. ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' described the show as " avingits own bizarre-sincere voice and its own dream logic" and "something else, in a good way: a journey to the center of Ms. Bamford's mind that dives through fantasy after loopy fantasy and emerges with something real." About the show's style, ''The New York Times'' noted that "The show's creators, Pam Brady (''

'') and Mitch Hurwitz (''

''), have constructed a multipurpose fun house; we jump about in time and flit from meta-show to memoir to hallucination." '' Variety'' described Bamford's performance saying that "the actress and comedian, whose presence has rarely been used as well as it is here, manages the neat trick of being both believably guileless and winningly sharp." ''Variety'' also praised the show's guest stars, stating: "the entire show gains a great deal of energy from a varied array of game guest actors, including

Mira Sorvino Mira Katherine Sorvino (; born ) is an American actress. She rose to stardom with her performance as a prostitute in the comedy film ''Mighty Aphrodite'' (1995), which won her both an Academy Award and a Golden Globe for Academy Award for Best S ...

Patton Oswalt Patton Peter Oswalt (born January 27, 1969) is an American stand-up comedian and actor. His acting roles include Spence Olchin in the sitcom ''The King of Queens'' (1998–2007) and narrating the sitcom '' The Goldbergs'' (2013–2023) as adult ...

, Ana Gasteyer, Brandon Routh, and Bridget Everett, all of whom appear delighted to be in Bamford's playfully serious orbit." Critics have compared the series to '' Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt'', ''

Community A community is a social unit (a group of people) with a shared socially-significant characteristic, such as place, set of norms, culture, religion, values, customs, or identity. Communities may share a sense of place situated in a given g ...

'', ''

Review A review is an evaluation of a publication, product, service, or company or a critical take on current affairs in literature, politics or culture. In addition to a critical evaluation, the review's author may assign the work a content rating, ...

'' and ''

BoJack Horseman ''BoJack Horseman'' is an American adult animation, adult animated tragicomedy television series created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg. It stars the voices of Will Arnett, Amy Sedaris, Alison Brie, Paul F. Tompkins, and Aaron Paul. Set primarily in ...

'' because of the way it uses meta-humor, absurdist humor and how it deals with

mental health Mental health is often mistakenly equated with the absence of mental illness. However, mental health refers to a person's overall emotional, psychological, and social well-being. It influences how individuals think, feel, and behave, and how t ...

Accolades

References

External links

* * {{Netflix original ended series (2012–2018) 2010s American black comedy television series 2016 American television series debuts 2017 American television series endings Fiction about bipolar disorder American English-language television shows Netflix original programming Metafictional television series Nonlinear narrative television series Surreal comedy television series Television series about actors Television series about show business Television series created by Mitchell Hurwitz Television series created by Pam Brady Television shows filmed in Minnesota Television shows set in Los Angeles