The asks are juvenile and absurd, in the general vein of, 'Dear Ashley, Why won't my pet fish take a walk with me?' or 'Who's that girl staring back at me in the mirror?' Bynes-as-Ashley usually wore lacey sweater sets, Mary Janes, and a pigtail full of ringlets as she sat cross-legged on her bed and smiled sweetly, saying, 'Our first letter comes from…'Įvery millennial who grew up watching All That, with one of the most diverse casts in the incredibly white landscape of '90s TV, remembers Bynes' chirpy voice reading aloud every greeting of 'Ask Ashley' and then pausing to croon her catch phrase, 'Th-at's me!' And of course they remember the pay-off of the whole sketch was Bynes-as-Ashley's reaction to the silly questions: Raw, unfiltered rage. Amanda Bynes | All That youtu.beĪll That's recurring skits was the simple premise of 'Ask Ashley,' in which Bynes plays a child advice expert who sits on her doll-covered, pastel bedding and reads aloud letters from all over the country.

But in fact, there is one perfect image of Amanda Bynes' past and present, a comedy sketch of perfect contradiction that's been overlooked for decades: 'Ask Ashley.'ĮVERY “Ask Ashley' Ever! Ft.

The two public images of Amanda Bynes, that of the early aughts and theįace-tattooed version of today, seem irreconcilable. To many, she was a joy to watch as she tackled slapstick comedy sketches and mocked ditzy girl stereotypes, even earning repeated comparisons to Lucille Ball. Years before film critic Nathan Rabin coined the phrase 'manic pixie dream girl' (and went on to regret it deeply) Bynes embodied that quirky, frenetic energy as she embraced goof ball characters and rejected the hot-girl-Paris-Hiltonism that was invading pop culture at the time. The Amanda Show, a sketch comedy series styled after late-night talk shows. Once upon a time in the early days of MySpace, the elder millennial actress was a teen idol with her own Nickelodeon show, How did we get to these down and out face tattoo days? 'baby on board' with a picture of an ultrasound (which her lawyer later clarified was not true.), Bynes represents that bygone era of Nickelodeon innocence, crystalized in butterfly hair clips and slick lip gloss. Occasionally resurfacing in the spotlight with an on-again-off-again engagement, a judge ordering her to undergo psychiatric treatment, and announcing she had her first

Dust by Devon Ashley