Major spoilers for the “Dave” Season 3 finale below.
It’s always shocking to see megastars like Brad Pitt and Drake appear on television, but it’s even more surprising to see them on “Dave,” FXX’s comedy about an aspiring rapper by the name of Lil Dicky. As huge as these stars are, securing them was “really not that complicated,” according to series creator, writer, executive producer and star Dave Burd.
“Drake, Brad [Pitt], Rachel [McAdams], they all watch the show and love the show, you know? So it just took me reaching out to everyone and pitching them,” Burd told TheWrap.
In “Looking for Love” Brad Pitt plays a version of himself who stars in Dave’s (Burd) music video for his new song, “Mr. McAdams.” What starts as a starstruck day for the rapper transitions into pure horror as Brad and Dave find themselves taken hostage by one of Dave’s fans, played by Tenea Intriago. The episode morphs into an examination of idol worship and the terrifying trappings of fame as Dave and Brad are literally trapped via gunpoint in Dave’s grand mansion.
“I wanted someone — I wanted Brad. Really not even someone, but I wanted Brad to be my shepherd through this process,” Burd said. Part of the reason the rapper wanted Pitt was because he knew the A-lister understood the fear of having a stalker “You can’t get more validation and fame than Brad Pitt. He’s achieved, he’s like at that top of the mountain top, and he just inherently is this very wise man.”
According to Burd, Dave’s Super Fan is meant to be a “sick twisted mirror” of the ways Dave carries himself. “There’s obviously tons of mirroring behavior in the way I see Drake and the way that she sees me and the way I see Brad and the way she sees Brad,” Burd said. But even though the episode veers sharply into horror, Burd described Pitt as “a beacon of comedy.”
“There were times where he was laughing at the absurdity of the lines,” Burd said before clarifying that Pitt was “down to play such ball with the comedy” and “really trusted” Burd’s vision. “He killed it. I think he really did a tremendous job. Obviously, he kills everything he does, but I think this is a little unexpected.”
As unexpected as Pitt’s cameo is, it’s nothing compared to “Looking for Love’s” final moments. All season long, Dave has been obsessing over two nearly impossible things: finding his wife and collaborating with Drake. As he travels to West Africa to visit the elephant his ex adopted for him, it seems as though Dave will finally reunite with Robyn (Chloe Bennet). Instead, he asks Drake if the superstar can teach him how to love himself. (For the record, Drake says no.)
Burd says that the scene with Drake could have been eight minutes long. “Obviously, he’s the best rapper of our time, but just as a comedic actor and just an actor in general, I was really blown away,” Burd said.
Yet as silly and unexpected as this cameo may be, it reflects the core evolution of this season. After years of trying to become famous on his terms, every version of Dave and Lil Dicky is now at the level where Drake — someone who was on a poster on Lil Dicky’s wall when he was still making mixtapes in San Francisco — will return his DMs.
Burd has no illusions about his relationship with the rapper. “Without the TV show, I don’t think Drake’s coming up to me and being like, ‘I love you,’” Burd said. However, he did reveal that Drake once called “Dave” “one of the more important shows of our generation” and said that he wanted to be part of “more things” involving Burd.
“It’s not like I like have these absurd social connections that make them all like me, interpersonally,” Burd said. “I’ve never met Rachel [McAdams] or Brad prior to this. And it just speaks to the quality of the show. This show, I think, sometimes has a tendency to get overlooked. And when when people like Brad Pitt, who is like at the absolute top of the filmmaking pecking order — he’s like the biggest movie star of our time, doesn’t even do television. Hasn’t done it like 30 years since like ‘Friends’ — is on set taking direction from me. [Editor’s Note: Brad Pitt’s most recent TV appearance was in 2020 when he appeared on “Saturday Night Live”] And I’m like, ‘Man, he’s gonna go from this to talking to Tarantino next, to like the Coen Brothers. It’s very validating for me as a filmmaker.”
This is also far from what Burd and his co-star GaTa see as their peak. “I got a ton ideas, just to show that I’m more mature and stuff like that and just growing up as a person as a man,” GaTa, who stars in the series and serves as a consulting producer, said. “If we get the opportunity is gonna be dope.”
The series has yet to be renewed for a Season 4, but if it is, “I’m prepared, I’ll tell you that,” Burd said. “I feel like a lot of people are like, ‘How are you going to top that? What more can be done?’ And luckily, I don’t feel that way.”
