Journalist at The New York Daily News. Midge’s nemesis.

S4E1 - Eugene and Sally pop by Midge and Susie’s booth at the Stage Deli to tease them about being dropped by Shy Baldwin and to share the L. Roy Dunham article about it.

S4E2 - Midge vents to Susie about her awful morning, including another hit piece by L. Roy Dunham.

S4E5 - After a successful meeting with Solomon Melamid, Rose rifles through Midge’s stuff and finds a locked box full of L. Roy Dunham articles. The two later argue, and Rose brings up L. Roy Dunham doxxing Midge as a possible danger that could ruin her matchmaking business.

S4E6 - Angered by yet another hit piece, Midge barges down to the Daily News offices to confront L. Roy Dunham. Much to her surprise, Dunham is a woman, and her chief reaction to Midge’s expressions of rage are amused indifference. Midge barges out with nothing gained.

S4E6 - As part of an agreement to give Midge paid work at NBC in exchange for helping to get Susie back as her manager, Sophie throws in that she’ll get a muzzle put on L. Roy Dunham. Although the deal later falls apart when Sophie can’t keep her ego in check, it was a done thing for long enough that it’s likely whatever calls Sophie made to accomplish that were already done, and did not get undone. This idea is supported by the fact that L. Roy Dunham is never mentioned again.

MIDGE: Hi. I'm looking for L. Roy Dunham.
DUNHAM: And you are?
MIDGE: Miriam Weissman.
DUNHAM: Miriam Weissman. So, two S's?
MIDGE: Yes.
DUNHAM: Great. Wait here.
MIDGE: Thank you.
DUNHAM: Mrs. Maisel. L. Roy Dunham. Nice to finally meet you. You smell good in person. Is that Arpège?
MIDGE: I don't understand. You're…
DUNHAM: L. Roy Dunham.
MIDGE: You?
DUNHAM: Me.
MIDGE: You're the one who's been writing all those terrible articles?
DUNHAM: Actually, I think they're pretty good, but yes.
MIDGE: But… you're a woman.
DUNHAM: What?
MIDGE: And you've always been a woman.
DUNHAM: I have, yes. Be a better story if I hadn't, though, right? So, Mrs. Maisel, what can I do for you?
MIDGE: You can stop writing about me.
DUNHAM: Mm, I don't think so. What else?
MIDGE: Well, you can tell me why you write all that shit about me.
DUNHAM: Oh, there's that classy verbiage I love so much.
MIDGE: Oh, so I offend you? Is that it? Don't think I'm ladylike enough?
DUNHAM: Would you believe I just don't find you funny?
MIDGE: I would not, 'cause I'm hilarious.
DUNHAM: You just make great copy, you know? Don't see a lot of female comics as it is, but one like you, looks like you, talks like you, it kind of writes itself.
MIDGE: These are hit pieces.
DUNHAM: No!
MIDGE: You called me a slut.
DUNHAM: Just implied. I cleared it with legal.
MIDGE: Wow. You seem really proud of yourself.
DUNHAM: Well, you caught me on a good day. I just got the window desk. Took it from Eddie over there. Hey, Eddie! Oh, he's a little sore. He had this desk for five years, and he's really good. You should read his pieces on government waste and corruption and cronyis…
MIDGE: Okay. Time to go.
DUNHAM: I'm sorry you're upset, but look at it this way, I'm keeping your name in the press. I'm a gin girl, in case you want to send a thank-you gift.
MIDGE: Okay, go ahead. Take your best shot. If you think you're gonna destroy me or run me out of the business…
DUNHAM: Oh, God, no. That would be terrible. I mean, you're a gold mine. The Sophie Lennon rift was good, but following it up with the Shy Baldwin fiasco? Thank you, seriously.
MIDGE: Do you have any idea how hard it is to do what I'm doing? To-to go into these clubs run by men, dominated by men, and go up there and try to make men listen to me?
DUNHAM: Of course. That's why I write about you. Because when I hand my editor a piece about you - the rougher the better - I get print. I get placement. I get this desk. I'm no longer a skirt. I mean, hey, it's tough being a woman in journalism. Keep up the good work.
– S4E6

SUSIE: “But suddenly, the seemingly charmed downtown darling has landed right on her pretty derriere. Rumor has it she was unceremoniously dumped by the Baldwin team right there on track six at Penn Station. They left her unemployed and clutching her suitcase.”
MIDGE: At least he likes my ass.
SUSIE: “I hear a similar thing happened with Sophie Lennon. Mrs. Maisel has quite the knack for securing these choice jobs…”
SALLY: Blah, blah, blah. She's a whore.
SUSIE: “…and a better knack for losing them. What is the real story with this giggle girl, anyway? And what exactly happened at that show at the Apollo? I'll get back to you on that one.”
– S4E1

MIDGE: Oh, and you know L. Roy Dunham slammed me in his column again?
SUSIE: Yeah, I saw it.
MIDGE: He was raving about some comic at the Copa and said the guy's act was unlike the unfunny meanderings of no one's favorite Mrs. Maisel. He writes about me even when he's not writing about me.
SUSIE: Actually, he said, “The deeply unfunny meanderings of no one's favorite Mrs. Maisel.”
– S4E2

In an Ice-Cold Crowd at the Copa, Benny Warren Still Crushes
By L. Ron Dunham
Last night, I watched with pleasure as Benny Warren brought the house down at the Copa Cabana. Several times over. His material, which stretched from sharp digs at all sides of the impending election, to a self-deprecating take on his ill-fated dream of playing for the Yankees, won over one of the most varied and stubbornly sober rooms I've experienced since a dinner where I was seated between Albert Warner and Lee […]
An act this fresh and […] wry observational humor with the discipline and structure of past greats. Unlike the deeply unfunny meanderings of no one's favorite Mrs. Maisel, who I've come across more and more these days for reasons I can't explain, Warren brings spontenaiety and stage presence to material that actually works - because it has a point and a punchline.
What you see in a true professional like Warren that so many purported up-and-comers lack is a consistency in tone and personality across every line. Some members of the downtown scene would claim they want you to ask yourself, “Is this even funny?”
Luckily, interest in that fad seems to be waning, as talents like Warren are given the opportunity to show what they can do. I'm sure a Beatnik somewhere is disappointed, but I say, if the rise of men like Warren means the ship has sailed for so-called “observational comics” and the “experimental,” bon voyage. I'll be at the Copa, enjoying the ones who actually know how to write a joke.
– S4E5 (newspaper shown on screen)

In an Ice-Cold Crowd at the Copa, Benny Warren Still Crushes
By L. Ron Dunham
Last night, I watched with pleasure as Benny Warren brought the house down at the Copa Cabana. Several times over. His material, which stretched from sharp digs at all sides of the impending election, to a self-deprecating take on his ill-fated dream of playing for the Yankees, won over one of the most varied and stubbornly sober rooms I've experienced since a dinner where I was seated between Albert Warner and Lee […]
An act this fresh and […] wry observational humor with the discipline and structure of past greats. Unlike the deeply unfunny meanderings of no one's favorite Mrs. Maisel, who I've come across more and more these days for reasons I can't explain, Warren brings spontenaiety and stage presence to material that actually works - because it has a point and a punchline.
What you see in a true professional like Warren that so many purported up-and-comers lack is a consistency in tone and personality across every line. Some members of the downtown scene would claim they want you to ask yourself, “Is this even funny?”
Luckily, interest in that fad seems to be waning, as talents like Warren are given the opportunity to show what they can do. I'm sure a Beatnik somewhere is disappointed, but I say, if the rise of men like Warren means the ship has sailed for so-called “observational comics” and the “experimental,” bon voyage. I'll be at the Copa, enjoying the ones who actually know how to write a joke.
– S4E5 (newspaper shown on screen)

MRS. MAISEL: BACK AND BOMBING AT NIGHTCLUB
Bounced from the Baldwin tour, Mrs. Maisel has landed at The Wolford in Midtown, where rumor has it, bouncing's the name of the game…
BY L. ROY DUNHAM
It's a gentlemen-heavy audience but the main attraction is female handiwork. Mrs. Maisel's role is decidedly […] She still hasn't quite […]
[…] interesting? Still counting.
The establishment itself isn't providing her much support (if you catch her in profile, you'll notice her girdle isn't either), but then, this boys-[…]
[…], anyway? No answer there.
It's not entirely clear why she was hired. I would have asked, but it's also not entirely clear who, if anyone, works off the stage, other than a forlorn-looking-waitress who Dorothea Lange might photograph. I did spot what I think was the owner - a creature with the body of a man but the features of a very elderly, very angry rodent - skulking in a corner, but I wasn't fully convinced he could speak.
– S4E5 (newspaper shown on screen)

SOPHIE: And I'll muzzle that L. Roy Dunham for you, too. That bitch needs a comeuppance. Women should help each other out, don't you think?
– S4E6

6. Maisel vs. Lennon: The Cut Contest

• When Midge confronts L. Roy Dunham at the New York Daily News Office, she is shocked to discover that Dunham is a woman. Flabbergasted, she says “But… you're a woman. And you've always been a woman,” to which Dunham replies “I have, yes. Be a better story if I hadn't, though, right?” This exchange is most likely a nod to the fact that Hari Nef, who portrays Dunham, is a trans woman.

• List of Characters