Andrew DeYoung takes embarrassment seriously, borrowing the look of thrillers for absurd comedy. We like the resulting unease, especially when it comes with an ensemble worth caring about, as in Widow’s Bay.
Fi1m perspective
Andrew DeYoung gives social embarrassment the visual seriousness of a conspiracy thriller. Humiliation can feel quite large enough to justify that treatment, without the director having to announce that a joke is coming. We like his willingness to let comedy become uncomfortable, though it needs people worth spending time with. Widow’s Bay (2026), the funny, unsettling island mystery on which he directs episodes, has them. Its ensemble gives us a reason to stay beyond finding out what happens next.
His earlier collaborations with Kate Berlant and John Early run from shorts to the special Would It Kill You to Laugh? (2022), which he directed and co-wrote. Alongside those partnerships came television work including episodes of PEN15 (2019) and Our Flag Means Death (2022). These recurring collaborations are more revealing than a long list of television credits. His comedy is tied to particular performers and their taste for embarrassment; that specificity is a strength, but it may leave some viewers cold.
Friendship (2024), his feature debut as writer-director, brings male loneliness and friendship to the centre, with Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd. Robinson remains the important link to The Chair Company (2025), where DeYoung directed episodes and served as executive producer, helping to shape its mixture of comedy and conspiracy thriller. We can see the appeal of treating a man’s social difficulties with that degree of cinematic seriousness. The risk is that the careful treatment becomes tiring once the embarrassment stops being funny.
Widow’s Bay gives us firmer grounds for a recommendation, although we would not assign a collaborative programme’s every success to one episode director. We found ourselves caring about its ensemble, particularly Matthew Rhys and Kate O’Flynn, and that made the unsettling island mystery worth following. The reservation is concrete: its supernatural rules sometimes require more attention than they deserve. That is a frustration in a programme whose people already give us enough reason to keep watching. Start with Widow’s Bay for the ensemble, and bring some patience for the supernatural rules.
Biography
Andrew DeYoung is an American director, screenwriter and producer. He studied screenwriting at California State University, Northridge and graduated in 2005.
DeYoung has directed episodes of television series including PEN15 (2019–2021), Shrill (2019–2021), Our Flag Means Death (2022–2023), The Chair Company (2025–present, also executive producer) and Widow's Bay (2026). He co-wrote and directed the variety special Would It Kill You to Laugh? (2022), for which he received a Primetime Emmy nomination. His frequent collaborators include Tim Robinson, Kate Berlant and John Early.
In 2024, DeYoung wrote and directed his feature debut Friendship, starring Tim Robinson and Paul Rudd, which was nominated for a Critics' Choice Award and an Independent Spirit Award.
