Why Lil Dicky Finds It ‘Therapeutic & Liberating’ to Broadcast His Insecurities on ‘Dave’ Season 3

As soon as Billboard‘s Zoom call with Dave star Lil Dicky was over, you better believe the first Google search that followed was for “ScroGuard.”

Just as advertised in the call and in the premiere episode of the FXX sitcom’s third season — which debuts Wednesday night (April 5) with two new chapters — there used to be a male sexual safety device by that name, and he has a real-life story about it. He’s turned that personal embarrassment into another hilariously cringe-inducing scene for his series about a painfully honest, endearing rapper trying to make it in a game that values grittiness, bravado and ruthless climbing over being a good guy.

“That came from reality,” Lil Dicky (real name: Dave Burd) tells Billboard about the gag gift a friend bought for him years ago on the eve of an anticipated date with a woman the “Earth” rapper met on tour. After an intimate shaving incident, Burd says he realized his nick couldn’t be covered by a standard-issue condom, so he had to break the news that there would be no backstage bump-and-grind that night unless he wore the cumbersome device that looks like a pair of latex grandpa undies.

That look-away moment is replayed in the first episode after a show-opening sex rap that manages to incorporate lyrics about delicious soup, General Custer and “leakage,” that Burd — chilling on a couch in a pink sweatsuit — says was part of making this season more musical, and even more relatable.

“I wanted to start the season off with something interesting,” he says of the desire to set the table for his search for true love and romance while on tour. “For a long time, I found having sexual opportunities were more stressful than gratifying. My life as a single guy was less like the great sex I had in Albuquerque than some awkward incident.”

And man does Burd love, and lean all the way into, awkward. The first episode opens with Dave meeting a potential love interest in Texas for a possible hookup that involves the aforementioned ScroGuard. It winds up at a house party where the rapper explains to a room full of drunk fans that life on the road is weird and confusing and mostly includes people looking at him like he’s a C-list alien.

“It is therapeutic and liberating to have things you’re super insecure about and that you kept to yourself for 27 years… and not only am I going to release it, but I’m going to release it in such a public way,” he says about his self-identified inability to understand the parameters of modern celebrity cool.

“Everyone has their own things they struggle with in life, and what I want this show to do is if someone sees me dealing with insecurities about my penis in a proactive way, then maybe it will inspire them to look at their insecurities and not be so affected by them,” Burd says about the I-see-you-and-sometimes-I-am-you message bubbling under the surface at all times. “I want the show to inspire people to live their best lives.”

Dave certainly tries to do that this season, whether it’s taking a few moments to drop trou on the side of the road for some fresh vitamin D rays on his nether regions, or re-creating his first love. The latter comes via the hectic, drum-thumping, Birdman-style series of action shots in the second episode, which is set on a video shoot that reunites the rapper with his 8th-grade crush. In true Dicky style, though, the maniacal shoot takes place at his parents’ house, where his mom complains about the gaffer tape tearing up her freshly painted walls just before she walks in on what is the most embarrassing sex scene involving a geyser-like stunt device ever committed to film.

“I think that’s always been my biggest strength, how unabashedly honest I am,” Burd says about always leaning into his awkward small-D energy.

Dave airs Wednesday nights at 10 p.m. ET on FXX and streams on Hulu the next day.