Thursday 6 June 2024

The Marvellous Mrs Maisel (2017 - 2023 Amy Sherman-Palladino)

'Goyish' = I think non-Jewish, a term coined by Lenny Bruce, see here. So some of his bits are taken from actual transcripts, and that may apply elsewhere, but you can only marvel at all these stand up routines having been written for the show. On Season One, anyway, Amy wrote all of Midge's routines.

"You look wet and out of focus, like a Doris Day movie."

"You guys do know we speak mumble fluently?"

Season 1 finale is dedicated to Don Sherman, 'the first of the sit down comics', Amy's father who was a small time comic in Greenwich Village in the early sixties. 

Lovely stuff in Season 2 where Abe unexpectedly starts fitting in well with Rose in Paris. And funny stuff involving Joel trying to figure out his parents' complicated system of 'treasure maps'.

Had totally forgotten the moment Midge starts her performance in the Catskills only to find her father in the audience - she gamely forges ahead, but... Susie: "Are we in trouble?"


GG's Liza Weil turns up in series three - I thought playing Carole King! But in fact it's Carole Keen. Sterling K Brown's also in this one.

Loved the way Midge's WASP friend Imogene (Bailey De Young) - in one of those brilliantly funny calisthenics classes - makes Midge realise that Susie has earned nothing from her and fully deserves other clients. It was around here I wondered whether the whole story had been worked out on day one. Also loved Susie ripping apart Sophie Lennon (Jane Lynch) after her failure in 'Miss Julie'.

Brian Tarantina who plays Jackie died of an accidental overdose before season 4. Amongst other films he was in Uncle Buck.

Reid Scott, from Veep is the TV show presenter Midge goes to work for. And Jackie Hoffman is familiar to us from Only Murders in the Building.

I think my favourite episode from all seasons is 'The Testi-Roastial' in which we learn how great Susie's career has been (and why she and Midge fell out). This features another Gilmore Girls alumnus, Sean Gunn (who played Kirk), as the toastmaster (or whatever you call it, compere, I don't care).

But the moment that perhaps stuck most in the mind was this - 

- and I think for me, Alex Borstein steals the show.

"Tits up."

No comments:

Post a Comment