Loosely centered around the real life of Dave Burd, more commonly known as rapper Lil Dicky, FX’s Dave wrapped its third season this week, and the finale had some wild cameos including Drake and Brad Pitt.
Mainly focused on Burd’s experience during his “Looking For Love” tour throughout various cities across the U.S., season 3 chronicles his outlandishly fun journey as he genuinely seeks love and purpose alongside his friends during their transnational excursion.
Joined by his eclectic, yet undeniably supportive crew once again, which consists of GaTa, Elliot, Emma, Ally and Mike, each character undergoes their own set of trials and evolution as Burd continues to make sense of his status as a blossoming celebrity and everything in between that comes with it.
Some of this season’s core motifs include unpacking the topic of mental health, regional cultural distinctions, satirical examinations of modern-day celebrity culture, the ever-shifting dynamics of relationships and much more.
Replete with a series of unexpected cameos and off-the-wall hijinks, season 3 is truly a wild ride from beginning to end that is equally hilarious as it is astonishing.
To cap off the season, Shadow and Act spoke with GaTa about his favorite moments from the season, what he’d like to see out of a potential fourth season and more.
This season, Dave was on tour and it was a wild adventure to say the least. There were a lot of memorable moments of course, but what would you say was your favorite episode to shoot from season three and why?
My favorite episode to shoot would have to be the Brad Pitt joint [for] the finale, because it just goes to show me that anything is possible when you work hard. You can be in situations that you wouldn’t even imagine and just to be working with someone on that level just made me be more confident in myself because I’m a new actor. I never went to any acting classes or anything like that, so just to be able to perform on that level next to him made me feel great.
And of course, the Rick Ross episode in Atlanta. That’s one of my favorite rappers. I’ve been looking up to him for a long time, so to be able to talk about lemon pepper pizza and old school cars and jewelry and stuff like that, it just made me feel good to be in the same room with him soaking up that energy was dope.
What percentage of your character would you say is actually you? Sometimes it is hard to tell the difference — it is really seamless.
Man, I’m more official and authentic than a Mitchell and Ness bro. Like yo, that’s me. Like every time you see me on screen, that’s really me because I’m channeling from my real personality. It’s a God-given blessing that I get to play myself. People probably think that that’s easy but it’s really not, because like I said, I’m on TV, so I’ve gotta filter out a lot that I probably wanna say. I don’t wanna be too offensive. Because you know when you are with your boys and your family and stuff, you can say whatever and 9/10 when I’m on TV, I’m saying whatever but I’m just playing a little heightened version of myself. I guess, but that’s why it’s so organic man, because I guess I’m naturally talented. I’m funny and I had a lot of struggles growing up, so that’s why you can see the passion scenes and tears and stuff because I’ve been through a lot in childhood. Even now, I still go through a lot of stuff today. I’m glad that I get to be me. It’s dope.
It seems like this season kind of examines the lives of Americans from different walks of life. I’m curious to know whether this was intentional or it was just a matter of coincidence.
You’ve gotta give all that credit to the writers, man. Whether it was intentional or not intentional [it is] phenomenal writing. I’ve been out there on the front lines with them for the strike and stuff. I feel like the writing takes this show to the next level. I consult here and there, but they pick and choose what stories they want, what scenes they want, even some of the jokes. Even though we get the beauty to improvise, they always give us something good to go off of. I think that they’re doing a great job and I love working with everybody that’s attached to the show, man. That’s why you get to see those different levels– people in Mississippi act this way or people in Philly are like this– we’ve got a different variety of people in that writers’ room.
I think that that is a major part of the appeal of the show. There are just so many different perspectives.
Going back to your acting, you said you don’t really have that much formal training, so how do you feel like your acting has developed over the seasons from season one to now?
To be honest with you, in season 1, I was nervous. This was my first time being on set with this many people and this many cameras, so I was nervous. I still take that sense of nervousness and caution and the butterflies in every take I do just because I wanna be that good. But honestly, I can tell you I’m very comfortable with my craft now. Like as I watch season 1 and then I watch season 3, I can tell you that I’m way better. My skills are phenomenal. That’s why I’m a natural talent. I naturally possess the talent of being able to perform in front of the camera and not break down to the point of where you see it. I just pick up on little skills from set to set. Working with all these great actors and stuff like that. They just make me feel more comfortable. I just love my delivery. To be honest with you, I feel like I’m one of the best actors to be honest. Like, I don’t feel like there’s not one scene that I can’t do and no emotions that I can’t display. I feel great and I appreciate that.
There were a lot of cameos this season– do you happen to have a favorite one?
Don Cheadle was one of my favorites. When he farted in the bathroom, I was like, ‘Oh my God, I can’t believe we’ve got Don Cheadle in here doing this.’ I love Rachel McAdams. Usher. MGK. Megan Fox– like everyone we had on the show. I still can’t believe it sometimes but when I sit back and look at it, people are saying this is the best show. I still can’t believe it sometimes but when I sit back and think about it sometimes and when Dave reaches out to them and they say they want to be a part of it, it just makes me feel like we have something precious. We have something that’s good. It’s gonna be beneficial to the culture. That makes me feel good bro. That these people want to be attached to the Dave brand and want to be a part of the show.
So though season 4 hasn’t been confirmed quite yet, have you heard any rumblings? What are some things that you would like to see from the show should it return for another season?
There’s nothing personal that I would want to see from the show. There are just more goals that I have as an actor. Maybe so, just being more involved too because right now I’m a consultant [and] an actor [on the show]. But maybe one day, I get to direct an episode. Who knows? There are just certain little things that I want to see. I wanna just keep pushing ahead and I wanna keep telling our story. As long as I get to inspire people, I’m happy man.
On another note, I was doing a little research and I noticed that you and ScHoolboy Q grew up together.
Oh yeah, Quincy Hanley. That’s my boy. We went to Audubon Middle School and Crenshaw High School. That’s one of my patnas right there. I’m happy for him and all of his success and everything that he’s done for hip-hop culture. I love the label that he’s on TDE. I’m a fan of Kendrick. And just to be able to say, I have songs with Kendrick Lamar before he was Kendrick Lamar. I’ve got songs with ScHoolboy Q. It’s just dope man. When I look at my resume, I just really be thinking I’m just blessed but I’ve also gotta give credit to myself because I never gave up. I fell a lot of times. Fall down seven times, get up eight. And I always had hardships but I always pushed through. And I’m just so grateful for the support that I get. The love that I get. I’ve got a concert tomorrow in L.A. and it’s sold out. And I still can’t even believe it. It’s dope to be able to chase your dreams.
That’s super dope. I’m a mega fan and when I saw that during my research process, I was like “wow, it’s really a small world.”
Did you do your research and know that I really got songs with Lil Wayne?
Oh, nah. I didn’t know that.
You see, I said that back in season 1, the first episode. I said “man, I got three songs with Lil Wayne on my laptop.” That’s true. Yeah, so you’ve gotta do your research bro. I’ve got some stuff out there.
I’m definitely gonna check it out. Thank you for taking the time to speak with us.
No doubt bro, thank you for pushing the Dave brand and letting people know that it’s a great show and doing what you do. I appreciate you fam.
Season 3 of Dave is streaming on Hulu.
