Three Life Lessons from ‘The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel’

Spoilers ahead. You have been warned.

If you’re an Amazon Prime member — and even if you’re not — you need to check out The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel.

Episode one introduces the lead character, Midge Maisel (played by Rachel Brosnahan). Midge, a Jewish housewife, lives with her husband Joel and their two kids in a ridiculously fabulous apartment in 1950s New York City.

We find out that Joel (played by Michael Zegen) is a half-hearted businessman who desperately wants to get into comedy. After he flounders during a set at The Gaslight, and unfairly blames his failure on Midge, he admits to having an affair and leaves her.

She responds by getting drunk and making her way back down to The Gaslight to retrieve her Pyrex dish, which she had filled with brisket to bribe the bar manager into giving Joel a set.

During a break between acts, she wanders onto the stage, talking to herself, still in the nightgown she left the house wearing. Prompted by the audience, she begins to monologue about her disintegrating life.

She’s a natural comic. She kills.

Her night’s performance ends when she’s hauled off to jail after exposing her breasts onstage. From there, her real story, and our lessons, begin.

1. Find Your People

Susie Myerson (played by Alex Borstein), who schedules the acts at The Gaslight, is blown away by Midge’s impromptu set. She offers to be her manager, alternately critiquing, pushing, and encouraging Midge.

Midge also meets Lenny Bruce (played by Luke Kirby), who is already big in New York’s comedy scene, early in the first season. They recognize each other immediately as kindred souls, taking turns bailing each other out of jail after being arrested for profanity during their performances.

In the season finale, after Midge has performed a very funny but potentially career-killing set at the expense of another comic, both Lenny and Susie come through for her at great risk to their own careers.

It’s clear that Midge is not going to make it as a comic without the support of these two.

2. Don’t Take Shortcuts

In an episode mid-season, Midge bombs when improvising a set at The Gaslight. She decides that she need help coming up with an act, and hires Herb Smith (played by Wallace Shawn), a comedy writer who she finds through the classifieds, to write for her.

Herb delivers Midge some jokes on a stack of 3x5 cards just a few hours before she is scheduled for another set at The Gaslight. Despite her skepticism, and without taking time to review the material, she takes the stage.

And bombs again.

She learns — both by failing spectacularly on the stage, and from Susie’s lecture afterward — that she’s not going to succeed with someone else’s jokes and no practice.

3. Be constantly honing your craft

After being crushed by her failures at The Gaslight, Midge temporarily quits.

Seeing that Midge is depressed, a friend from her department store day-job invites her to a party. While talking to the other party-goers, Midge realizes that she has an audience and begins improvising and testing out some new material.

Midge does follow-up “performances” at more parties, continually improving her act, and eventually teaming up another comic.

Confidence regained, Midge invites Susie to a party which she tells her she’s planning to use as a chance to learn how to adjust her material for an older audience.

Although Susie is dismissive of the party circuit, we see in Midge’s later performances that it wasn’t a waste of time — Midge has managed to become even funnier during her time away from the stage.

I’m all in for this series. I can’t wait to see happens next season. And you will be too, if you:

• love beautifully-filmed period pieces,
• like to watch strong, funny women,
• are a fan of series creator Amy Sherman-Palladino (who also created The Gilmore Girls), or
• want to watch a truly funny comedy series that manages to weave in a few life lessons along the way.

Thanks for reading!