What to Watch: Dick Bunny
When you hear the term “mom brain”, you promptly imagine a frazzled mom, hair askew, wiping spaghetti sauce from the half-clothed baby in her arms. Or the more recent trope—one who wishes to be her childless self and navigates motherhood through sarcasm and park wine. But, rarely do mom-coms delve into identity, isolation, and the mental re-wiring that happens after birth. Nor do they capture the best part–that if you can stick the landing in this new world, it has a joy that will crack your heart wide open.
DICK BUNNY, dives into the latter with hilarious candor, due to the brilliant direction of seasoned comedy director, Katie Locke O’ Brien (NBC’s Ghosts, A.P. Bio, The Santa Clauses, The Wonder Years). Through magical realism, O’ Brien deftly explores with comic specificity, allowing audiences to enter the mind of a mom ensconced in the fever dream of early childhood. Cinematographer Mariscela Mendez’s imagery perfectly captures the darkly comic landscape with easy splendor. To visually take audiences into the “mom brain” phenomenon the show fills it with puppets–anxious soup cans debate, screaming sheep demand caffeine, and Gwyneth Paltrow urges, “dream big, but always in beige or neutrals”.
DICK BUNNY, starring, Drew Droege (The Circle, Key & Peele), Kim Griffin, Betsy Sodaro (The Out-Laws, Hubie Halloween, The To Do List), Kate Miccuci, Grasie Mercedes (Grand Crew), and Sheila Carrasco (Ghosts, The Good Place), follows what happens when a sleep-deprived mom finds a mysterious children’s book on her doorstep. When she falls asleep preparing for a night out, the sarcastic, Beatrix Potter-esque man-rabbit comes to life. He pushes her to examine why she is trying to be the perfect mom, when they both know she is incapable of tying that yam fiber baby wrap.
This is a show for moms, created by moms. The female-led project employed women both in front and behind the camera. The goal was to create a truthful, hilarious, show that would help other “mom brains” feel less alone. With the addition of Dick Bunny as a comedic foil, all audience members are given permission to be themselves in the face of society’s outsized expectations, which, in the words of Mr. Bunny are “absolute Bollocks”.
