Review: Hey Lady! on CBC Gem

To describe Hey Lady! as a low-rent Absolutely Fabulous is a slur on the brilliant former British comedy. But the new(ish) CBC Gem original series is clearly borrowing from that boozing broads gone bad playbook, albeit with more downmarket threads and the profanity meter set to stun.

Presented in mercifully brief seven-ish-minute segments, the series follows the eponymous elderly Lady and her chain-smoking, F-bombing sidekick Rosie as they insult and assault those who cross their path, randomly and without reason. How awful is Lady? Her children, who rightly despise her, are named Rover and Lassie. She sends live snakes to her parole officer. An inscrutable subplot, which has Lady’s life being filmed, goes nowhere while positing the question of who would want to spend time with such a repellant jerk?

Perhaps Hey Lady!’s biggest bummer is that its marquee cast — Jayne Eastwood in the title role and Jackie Richardson as Rosie with supports from Don McKellar and Scott Thompson — is sterling and deserving of smarter material than the lame, wink-nudge “aren’t naughty old ladies funny?” twaddle offered here. Call this a must-miss.

Hey Lady! premiered February 14, 2020 on CBC Gem.
Watch it here