It’s typical of the show’s approach to its LGBTQ+ characters who, fully integrated into the narrative, aren’t signposted or othered, they’re just allowed to exist. The only reference to Fred’s gender identity is a subtle exchange between him and a waiter who calls him ‘sir’ before going on to unintentionally misgender him, with Fred gently asserting, “No, you got it right the first time”. Speaking of earth, he happens to be a soil scientist by day at the local university. These weekly evenings are hosted by the snazzily-dressed MC, Fred Rococo (New York comedy legend, Murray Hill), who brings intentionally old-school stage banter, warmth, and a salt of the earth charm to the proceedings. Murray Hill and Jeff Hiller in Somebody Somewhere. It’s a delicate, moving, and uplifting sequence that showcases Everett’s exceptional vocal and acting skills beautifully as we see the person she once was-before immense grief, loneliness, and life got in the way-begin to break through to the surface. Even more reluctantly, she takes to the stage under pressure from Joel to sing a duet with him, a gorgeous reworking of Don’t Give Up, with Everett on the Peter Gabriel parts and Joel doing the Kate Bush bits from behind the keyboard. Somewhat reluctantly, Sam agrees to go along to Joel’s after-hours Choir Practice, an unsanctioned “church-adjacent” gathering in his shopping mall-based Presbyterian church where Manhattan residents who feel like outsiders for whatever reason can come together with like-minded folks to socialize and perform. Bridget Everett and Jeff Hiller in Somebody Somewhere. She is kind enough to pretend that she does though, but the sweet-natured Joel is unconvinced, yet unfazed. It transpires that Joel and Sam were in the same year at high school and both members of its show choir, but although Joel idolizes his former classmate for her coolness and her singing talent, she has no recollection of him.

During a shift at her mundane job at a school exam grading centre, Sam is comforted by a colleague, Joel ( Jeff Hiller), when a mediocre piece of writing makes her emotional. Sleeping on the couch and yet to sort through her late sibling’s belongings, we meet her as she’s processing her grief and struggling to find her place within her family and the town. It’s the conservative hometown of Sam ( Bridget Everett, who hails from the town herself), a middle-aged woman who returned there to care for her terminally ill sister, Holly, and where she still finds herself living six month’s after her sister’s passing. Toto, I have a feeling we’re in Kansas…Manhattan, Kansas to be precise.

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