Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Megan Ganz is one of flat-out funniest TV writers in the game today. The prolific scribe wrote on Important Things with Demetri Martin, Community, Modern Family, and The Last Man on Earth before joining the It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia team in 2017. Over the last ten years, Ganz has helped shape some of the most influential comedies on television and wrote one of my favorite all-time episodes — Community’s delirious Season 2 offering “Cooperative Calligraphy” — so when her latest project was announced, Apple TV+’s Mythic Quest, I was cautiously optimistic about the series.
After breezing through the entire nine-episode season in a week, I’m here to report that the show exceeded any and all expectations.
Created by Ganz, Rob McElhenney, and Charlie Day, the half-hour comedy follows the ragtag team of endearing weirdos behind the biggest multiplayer video game of all time. If you appreciate the helter-skelter chaos of It’s Always Sunny, you’ll fall in love with the incisive comedy of Mythic Quest. The exceptional writing and talented ensemble combine to make this dysfunctional workplace comedy one of the best new shows of 2020.
There’s a lot to love about Mythic Quest, but one of my favorite aspects of the show is the Community reunion between Ganz and Danny Pudi. The actor behind beloved pop culture obsessive Abed Nadir portrays Brad Bakshi, the company’s irreverent monetization maestro who has a passion for wealth and idolizes famed animated waterfowl Scrooge McDuck. That little factoid is extra coincidental considering Pudi voices Scrooge’s nephew Huey Duck in the new DuckTales.
Sometimes life truly is like a hurricane.
Pudi is the type of actor who exudes charisma, so despite his character’s general indifference to everything except the almighty dollar (or “All Ighty Ollar,” if you will), you can’t help but root for Brad and his aggressively pragmatic capers to fill the company’s coffers. Ganz is well aware of Pudi’s theatrical strengths, as the actor excelled when tasked with subverting his character’s previously established MO on Community. Whether he was asked to reenact My Dinner with Andre or imitate Nicolas Cage, Don Draper, and even the eponymous Cape from NBC’s short-lived superhero drama The Cape, Pudi pulled it off with captivating aplomb.
Mythic Quest’s comedic tone is closer to It’s Always Sunny than Community, but fans of the late, great NBC sitcom will surely recognize a little bit of early Jeff Winger swagger in Pudi’s Brad Bakshi. In the Season 1 finale (Apple has already renewed the comedy for a second season), Pudi’s character delivers a downright Winger-esque speech about his pursuit of wealth and how it pertains to happiness. It’s not Jeff breaking Steve The Pencil in half to impress the study group, but it is a cozy reminder of Community.
