Allowing another person in — really in — to the deepest, darkest reaches of one’s mind can be a daunting prospect at best.
The podcast’s title comes from the fact that Nocera was Herschkopf’s neighbor in the Hamptons during this period, but oddly this fact never comes up in the series.
Ferrell has historically been drastically underrated as a serious actor , and his role as Marty, a nice guy plagued with a crippling case of anxiety, gives him some fantastic moments to shine without having to constantly tickle our collective funny bones.
Ike is just a nightmare of a therapist, but as portrayed by the ever-charismatic Rudd, we can see precisely why Marty and others may have been roped into his web of lies and deceit.
So, for the next eight episodes, I’ll be breaking down all of Ferrell and Rudd’s antics and then inviting you all to come play armchair therapist with me in the progress notes at the end of each of our sessions.
As always, ofc, but it’s really fun here to watch her play off of Ferrell in a sibling context.
He finds that he can’t stand up to pushy customers, so much so that he literally hides behind a heavy curtain like “a grown man smooshed against the wall.” So when his sister urges him once more to see Dr.
Marty and Ike meet.
Ike is probably one of the first true villains that Paul Rudd has ever played, but in this first episode we see him as a human, specifically as a human trying to help another human, even if he’s doing it in a terribly flawed fashion.
Why don’t they just shoot the breeze? Furthermore, why don’t they go on a walk outside while they chat? Propelled by manic charisma, Ike careens around the New York City streets with Marty as his tagalong.
But then something curious happens, as Marty makes a suggestion for the matting on one of Ike’s frames that he’s picking up, and both Ike and the frame-shop guy compliment him on his good eye.
“This meeting has been documented!” Ike declares, with Marty following up with a sassy, “’Tis been documented, so.” Then the two of them race out of there like giddy caffeinated schoolchildren.
Once they come down from their shared natural high, Ike offers Marty a spot in his schedule, saying he thinks he can help him.
Remember when I said we’d circle back to 2010? Here we are! At the top of the episode, Ike is depicted circulating at a party in the Hamptons.
He asks, “What do you do when a hero tells you you’re a loser?” You can bet that this unresolved childhood trauma is what has driven everything Ike has become and drives him to do everything you’re about to watch him do.
Ike might ask people like Marty to do things, but, at the end of the day, don’t people have to take responsibility for their own actions? When working with mental-health professionals, the answer to this question is complicated.
• The one place that Marty truly shines in the ’80s is when he’s around his nieces and nephew.
• The first four episodes of the series are directed by Michael Showalter of Wet Hot American Summer and The Big Sick fame.
• Given that the real Ike Herschkopf was a known celebrity hound, I’m sure it tickles him pink that the super-famous, super-sexy, super-ageless Paul Rudd is portraying him in this miniseries.