How did I not know the second season of Dave was out on iPlayer? In 2020, the first season blew me away, and provided a few days welcome respite as we hungrily gobbled it during lockdown.

Telling a fictional account of Dave Burd’s alter-ego, real-life rap star Lil Dicky and his rise in the rap game, here was finally the true successor to the Curb crown. I don’t write that lightly. In fact I write it a little bitterly, myself being one of the many wannabe pretenders to the throne who’ve sprung up over the last decades.

Dave may have had some help in his quest, his co-creator Merlin figure, Jeff Schaffer, having written and produced for both Seinfeld and Curb Your Enthusiasm, but it doesn’t make his accomplishment any less impressive.

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Lil Dicky

Not content with having already made it to the upper echelons of the music industry, with hits across the world, how did this Jewish rapper armed seemingly with only a one-joke moniker do it? Honesty. Honesty about his naked ambition. Honesty about his insecurities. Honesty about his sexual failings. Even honesty about his talent. To hear someone so openly and unashamedly praise their own abilities might come across as boastful, but it’s part of the comedy package, and the fact is, the boy can spit lyrics.

The boy can also write a sitcom too, knocking it out the park on his first attempt. Being a comedian requires a strange combination of self-awareness, where the comedy comes from, and arrogance, to think anyone would care. Dave has both these characteristics at superhuman levels, which is probably not fun for those in his life, but it is fun to watch.

It’s also an interesting development in the Woody Allen Jewish archetype. Dave has all those qualities of awkward needy nebbishness, although modernising the schtick to incorporate baser elements of sex and drugs, but whereas Woody conceals his superiority complex in fear that it’ll repulse the viewer, Dave revels in it.

Taking a hit with likeability, the comedic payoff is worth it.

The first series dealt with Dave’s blinkered goal of securing a record deal, and losing his girlfriend Ally in the process. The second starts from a trickier place. Having somewhat made it and got what he wanted, he’s now creatively blocked and pining for lost, authentic love.

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Lil Dicky and Taylor Misiak

Narratively, the difficult second album was always going to be tough to pull off, but so far it’s promising. Trying to crack K-Pop in Korea, with his real hype man GaTa and roommate/manager Mike (Andrew Santino) takes a hilarious paranoid turn in a taxi where they all communicate via text so as to not alert the taxi driver. A put-upon intern is collateral damage in Dave’s mission for success.

Quips, asides, self-hate, self-love, it all comes thick and fast. Celebrities pop up playing themselves, but from GaTa and Dave, the backbones of the show, and particularly GaTa whose background of mental health problems was told in the first season’s finest episode, there’s also a lil heart to go along with the other body parts.