Comedy borrows a touch, or two, of Hamilton
The show: Odd Mom Out, Season 2, Episode 3 The moment: The Hamilton cameos Upper-east-side — but still hip and fun — mom Jill (series creator Jill Kargman) and her best friend, single doctor Vanessa (K.K. Glick), sit in a diner bemoaning that they are the only New Yorkers who haven’t seen the Broadway sensation Hamilton.
“Are you talking about Hamilton?” their waiter asks. “Isn’t it life-changing?”
“We haven’t seen it,” Jill and Vanessa chorus, shamefacedly. Even their waiter is cooler than they are. “How did you get tickets?” Jill asks.
“I’m friends with one of the actors,” he answers. “Javier Munoz?”
They shake their heads. “Well, he gets tickets to every show,” the waiter continues. “I can see if he still has them for tonight.”
“You are Zeus from on high!” Jill exclaims.
At the end of this episode, scrawls on the screen reveal that the actor playing the waiter is Javier Munoz (he recently took over Hamilton’s title role), and furthermore, most of the bit parts — a ticket seller, a dad in the park, a couple on a bench, a theatre usher — are played by members of Hamilton’s cast.
Usually, making a specific cultural reference is a risky move in a sitcom; it will date your show, make it sound creaky. But Kargman’s glee is so bountiful it works.
More importantly, Odd Mom Out sends up rich, snotty momzillas who love nothing more than making their cohort feel inadequate. Culture-shaming is a big way they do it. So the concept will stay current, no matter what novel/play/artist the glitterati move on to next. Odd Mom Out streams on Shomi. Johanna Schneller is a media connoisseur who zeroes in on pop-culture moments. She usually appears Monday through Thursday.