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Please Like Me: US reviews

Josh Thomas is being likened to "the Antipodean Lena Dunham" in US media for Please Like Me.

8plmJosh Thomas’ Please Like Me has now premiered in the US on cable channel Pivot and US press likes what they see.

The show has been promoted on buses and a billboard is hanging on the corner of Broadway and 30th in New York City.

Here are a few reviews:

SFGate:
But if the rest of Pivot’s offerings are as good as its original sitcom, “Please Like Me,” I’ll literally start using “millennials” with a smile on my face– my way older than 34 face, I may add. “Please Like Me” is the braindchild of Australian comic Josh Thomas, based on his own social awkwardness. Not a terribly new idea, but when it’s treated intelligently and enacted by a lovable sad sack named Josh Thomas, it can be irresistible. Now that we’ve used the M word, we have to use the L word. No, I don’t mean love, although I do love the two episodes of “Please Like Me” made available to critics. I mean L as in Lena. Because, yes, this show might just be what Lena Dunham would come up with if she were a gangly Australian comedian writing a series about emotional stasis among boys and “Girls.”

Chicago Tribune:
Thomas could have made “Please Like Me” simply an awkward coming-out comedy with stereotypical, one-note characters. But he’s crafted something deeper and more fulfilling. While Josh is exploring his new sexuality, pretty much by default, his needy family shakes him a little less gently out of his insular world. Josh has to move back home to care for his mom, Rose (Debra Lawrance), who attempted suicide. His dad, Alan (David Roberts), feels guilty about his ex while trying to please his new bride, Mae (Renee Lim). Josh’s religiously zealous Aunt Peg (Judi Farr) demands to help care for Rose. Josh’s family situation sets up a lot of cringe-worthy humor. He avoids dealing with tough emotions by constantly spouting quips that can be hilarious, touching and, again, genuine. “Please Like Me,” unlike the much-praised millennial comedy “Girls,” feels unpretentious and natural with fully-realized characters rooted in reality. The title suggests we like the show. I love it.

imagepivotMeanwhile an article in Slate.com noted,
“The Antipodean Lena Dunham is Josh Thomas, a 26-year-old who co-wrote the series and shares a first name and several biographical details with his main protagonist, whom he also plays. In the opening episode, Josh is dumped by his girlfriend, realizes that he’s probably gay, spends the night with a man for the first time, and discovers that his mother has attempted suicide—all in the course of 24 hours.”

He was also interviewed in Entertainment Weekly.
Twenty-six-year-old Australian comedian Josh Thomas has become the face of Pivot, the new network for millennials that launched today. Tonight at 8 p.m. ET, the cable channel, available in roughly 40 million homes, will marathon the six-episode first season of his Aussie import Please Like Me, a comedy he created, wrote, executive-produced, and stars in as Josh, a young man who moves back in with his mother after she attempts suicide and who is just realizing he’s gay. You can watch the first episode below and feel good about getting invested — a 10-episode second season has already been greenlit.

14 Responses

  1. @Jennome, I agree. I can barely understand Josh and have often puzzled at how someone born and raised in Australia can have such an odd accent. I did not realise he had deliberately chosen to speak in such a strange manner with such an unfathomable accent. You’re right, he does himself no favours with it, but I admit that I am not a fan, I can take or leave him.

    1. Better to go with a quote than a memory of what may have been said.

      Q: You’re from Brisbane, so why do you have a Welsh-sounding accent?
      A: I don’t know – your guess is as good as mine. I didn’t even know I had it until I started going on television and I started getting asked in interviews all the time. –
      perthnow.com.au/entertainment/just-joshing/story-e6frg30c-1225899490213#sthash.m0OVPYtQ.dpuf

      People need to move on.

  2. David, I heard him in an interview quite some time ago when he was asked about his odd accent. As I remember he said that he had deliberately adopted this “idiosyncrasy” – for what reason (f any) I can’t remember.

    He doesn’t do himself any favours in this regard – in my opinion.

  3. I wanted to like it, but I could barely understand him. I needed sub-titles – and so will the Yanks.

    It’s about time he reverted to normal-speak, not that peculiar way he’s deliberately adopted.

  4. Please Like Me got good reviews in Australia, yet few watched it. Girls got rave reviews in the US, yet had low viewer figures. I wish Josh well, but the reality is that there is a finite audience for low-key mumblecore Gen-Y awkward comedy.

  5. So glad I found this show on iview earlier in the year. This show and Josh Thomas deserve all the accolades that are coming their way. The only disappointing thing is that this brilliance has been missed by the majority of the Australian audience is unaware if this show. It is sad a state of affairs when deserved recognition fails to come from the audience it was originally intended for.

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