Titled Mr. Throwback, the six-episode comedy (streaming in full today) follows a desperate memorabilia dealer/vintage-store owner (Happy Endings’ Adam Pally) who reconnects with his former middle-school basketball teammate (Stephen Curry, playing himself). After he hoodwinks his famous friend into a fake charity scheme to make up his financial losses, chaos ensues. Mr. Throwback is told in a mockumentary style—making it feel like a hilarious mashup of Abbott Elementary and Uncut Gems.
The story kicks off with a twelve-year-old Danny and tiny Curry. They’re sixth-grade basketball stars who make national news alongside Danny’s father, their head coach. But while Curry goes on to become a four-time NBA champion for the Golden State Warriors, Danny’s career ends before high school. He was only dominating his prepubescent peers because his father forged his birth certificate to say that he was twelve when he was actually fourteen. Now Danny is in dire financial straits. (The character is partly based on N.Y.C.’s real Mr. Throwback, who I hope isn’t in debt to Polish loan sharks like Danny.) So after Danny “accidentally” runs into Curry after a game, he lies to him—saying that his daughter is dying of a terminal illness to convince Curry to help him start (unbeknownst to the NBA star) a fraudulent charity campaign.
This article is a snipper written by Josh Rosenberg for Esquire. For the full article, head to esquire.com.
