• by Adam Buckman , Featured Columnist, March 2, 2020

The ads you may have seen lately featuring a curly-haired man bursting out of the fly hole of a pair of underpants can now be explained. That's what we’re here for.

The subway station posters and bus stop billboards are for a new comedy series coming this week to FXX called “Dave” that is basically a series about a man's penis.

While contemplating the writing of this TV Blog, I almost wrote that this penis comedy is the first of its kind. But then I remembered it is not since there have been others. The HBO comedy called “Hung” (2009-11) was one, for example.

Clearly, TV has lost all of its former ability to shock us with the contents of its shows. Which is not to say that this Dave character displays his private parts for all to see in this self-named comedy series.

He does talk about his penis incessantly, however, beginning with the very first scene of the premiere episode of “Dave” in which he describes his penis in excruciating detail.

“Dave” is Dave Burd, 31, (pictured above) a rapper/comedian from the suburbs of Philadelphia who is already reasonably well-known by his rap name Lil Dicky. A great deal of his act (consisting of rap and stand-up comedy) has to do with the size of his, well, lil dicky.

In the show, the character is a well-meaning, unemployed man who dreams of becoming the world's greatest rapper -- an ambition you assume is highly delusional throughout most of the first episode of “Dave” since we never hear him rap or see him perform in any way.

Then, near the end of Episode 1, he suddenly busts it out and his rhymes are dope. This scene, in which he impresses a veteran L.A. rapper and his retinue in a music studio, is well worth waiting for.

For me, it had the effect of turning the whole show on its head. I will also admit that the show was growing on me anyway by the time this scene turned up near the premiere episode's conclusion.

By then, this show had already emerged as a new, modern comedy that was actually funny. In the final analysis, “Dave” is a comedy for mature audiences, and also immature ones.

“Dave” premieres Wednesday (March 4) at 10 p.m. Eastern on FXX, and the next day (Thursday) on FX on Hulu.