This week, Brad Pitt and Drake appeared together in an unexpected place: the small screen.
The celebrities made surprise appearances in the season three finale of Dave on FXX on Wednesday, joining a long list of celebrity guests to appear on Dave Burd’s (aka Lil Dicky) comedy series. Rachel McAdams appeared in the finale as well, continuing an ongoing story arc in which she appeared as herself in three episodes this season.
Pitt’s role as a fictionalized version of himself marks his first return to a scripted TV show since a single episode of Friends in 2001. Drake, for his part, appeared in one episode of The Egos in 2018 and was a regular on DeGrassi: The Next Generation from 2001 to 2009.
is it just me or does this guy look a lot like @drake? #DaveFXX pic.twitter.com/dR2GAE1EnL
— DAVE (@DaveOnFXX) June 1, 2023
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“People keep asking me, ‘How did you pull it off?'” “It really speaks to the greatness of the show that all three of them are just independently huge fans of the show,” Burd said in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, revealing that he wrote the stars into his series before they even agreed to sign on.
“‘This is kind of crazy that you’re putting all your eggs in these baskets because what if they say no?'” These people don’t even watch television. Drake hasn’t appeared on television since Degrassi, according to Burd.
“The reason we got them is because they loved the first two seasons of the show. I had never met Rachel or Brad before. I had heard that both of them liked the show through the grapevine. It was a little reckless to anchor an entire three-episode arc with Rachel McAdams and an entire finale on Brad Pitt, but for the themes that we’re talking about there is no one better,” he continued. “What better representation of hopeless romanticism and love is there than Rachel McAdams, who was like my generation’s dream woman and who has been in films that have totally defined my interpretation of what love is supposed to be? Same with Brad Pitt. What better person to teach you a lesson about fame and validation than the star of all stars, Brad Pitt? Drake is like the top of the mountain top musically and as a rapper. I had met Drake and he pulled me aside and told me the show is one of the more important shows of our generation, and I knew he was a fan.”
Burd acknowledges that his show “can have a tendency to get overlooked,” but adds, “Once you sit down and watch, it’s kind of objectively a great show.” These are the biggest stars of our generation, validating our show. Everyone on set had such a sense of purpose the days that these people were on set. Everyone involved in the production of the show is passionate about cinema and storytelling. When these people join in and say, “What you guys are doing is worth our talent and our time,” we know we’re at the pinnacle of our craft. For Brad to be taking direction from me and trusting me in the same way that I know he trusts [Quentin] Tarantino and the Coen brothers was extremely rewarding and something I’ll never forget.”
Now that’s how You do a Season Finale. Thank You Brad Pitt for coming back to Television just for @daveonfxx pic.twitter.com/4vOyKUHEgz
— GaTa (@GaTaGED) June 1, 2023
The 35-year-old rapper-turned-showrunner told Rolling Stone that he “sent a real impassioned email” to Pitt to ask him to appear on the show.
“I worked on it for days. Then I received a response from an email address I had never heard of. I’m not even sure if I want to share the email he sent me. But it was absolutely incredible. It made me wonder, “Is this real?” Burd stated. “It was also kind of mind-boggling that it took him walking on set and seeing Brad Pitt in real life for me to believe this was actually happening.”
Rick Ross, Killer Mike, Usher, Demi Lovato, and, in a Met Gala-themed episode, Jack Harlow, Don Cheadle, Megan Fox, Machine Gun Kelly, Travis Barker, David Dobrik, and Emma Chamberlain, in addition to McAdams, have made appearances this season.
“When you go to the Met Gala, you want it to feel real. “You’re going to need X number of people to come for that,” Burd told Rolling Stone. “But what I like about the show is that the guest stars don’t appear in a big way, like, ‘Here’s a famous person!'” They’re not just cameos in random scenes. Many of our guest stars, from Rachel to Brad to Drake, play critical roles.”
