Funny Movies & Shows to Watch
It’s easy to feel a little bit more cheerful about things these days. While many are still struggling mightily due to COVID-19, and it’s important for us all to remain cautious, the horizon has gotten considerably brighter. Vaccinations are moving at a rapid pace, and as The Atlantic’s latest breakdown on the end days of the pandemic put it, the summer is “shaping up to be historic.”
That doesn’t mean we’re out of the woods yet, but it’s hard not to let it put a smile on your face. Accordingly, I’ve begun to feel an urge to have a little bit more fun with the endless hours of home entertainment that come with quarantine. A lot of the noteworthy film and television from the past year has been fairly serious. Just look through our list of “30 Movies From 2020” and you’ll see some wonderful work — but little in the way of comedy or good cheer.
For me, again, there’s some wonderful work in all that more serious material. And as a bit of a TV, movies, and Oscars nerd, I’m readying an eight-film binge watch and re-watching “Best Picture” contenders like Nomadland, The Trial Of The Chicago 7, Judas And The Black Messiah, and so on. But I’ve also been channeling my newfound, end-of-pandemic cheer into some much more lighthearted viewing. And for anyone else who feels like doing the same, I thought I’d write up a list of some of my favorite funny movies and shows from the last year or so.
Our List of Funny Things to Watch Now:
5. Big Mouth
Big Mouth released its fourth season in 2020, and remained one of the smartest and most surprising comedies in recent TV history — or as a season review at Collider.com put it, an “unexpectedly complicated, welcomely wholesome delight.” I can go with any of those descriptions. This is one of those adult animated comedies that’s just pleasant to sit with, in part because the voice acting from the likes of Nick Kroll, Jenny Slate, John Mulaney, and Jason Mantzoukas is both familiar and hilarious. But it’s also an endlessly inventive and brilliantly written show that blends genuine heart and raunchy comedy about as effectively as anything I’ve seen. I’ll be honest, it’s lost a little bit since the opening season or two, but it’s still a joy to watch and laugh along with.
4.
Beth Stelling: Girl Daddy
With relatively few funny movies coming out in 2020, I’ve recently gone gone back and tried out some of the stand-up specials. There were actually a lot of pretty good ones, but Beth Stelling: Girl Daddy struck me as something of a hidden gem — or at least a slightly overlooked one. This special was released to HBO Max, and it ought to put Stelling on the map as an up-and-coming star. To be clear, she’s been in major comedy circles for a few years now, performing on Jimmy Kimmel Live, writing with Judd Apatow, and so on. But with Girl Daddy, she’s really announced herself as a hysterical performer. She’s dry, clever, and subversive, and I can’t get enough.
3.
Kevin Hart: Zero F**ks Given
You know, sometimes I forget Kevin Hart does comedy. He’s one of those guys who just seems to be a celebrity, for no one reason more than any other. I know him as an NBA enthusiast and a comic film actor; I think of him as someone who’s famously fit, or who appears in commercials. I even have a mental note that he’s one of a handful of famous people who participate publicly in celebrity poker events. And yet according to a list of the wealthiest poker players at Poker.org, incidentally, Hart is currently the best paid comedian on the planet. That’s a nice reminder that his stand-up is really his core talent, and in this 2020 special he proved it all over again. I’m actually not sure I’d ever sat and watched Kevin Hart stand-up before this, but Zero F**ks Given is legitimately hilarious. It’s not his best- reviewed work, but watching a comedian perform in his own living room and confront some rough realities in humorous fashion worked for me. And bonus points for Kevin Hart, of course, being from Philadelphia.
2.
Ted Lasso
My number-two pick is another TV show, and one you’re likely tired of hearing about by now. If no one in your personal life has said it to you, undoubtedly you’ve seen it written in a Twitter comment or an online review: Ted Lasso is the pure joy I didn’t know I needed during quarantine! It’s a constant refrain, and I almost hate to say I endorse every word of it. This show — a heartfelt sports spoof about a U.S. football coach hired to manage a Premier League soccer club — is pure, unadulterated joy. It’s original, funny, and light with a surprisingly deep emotional core. It’s also one hell of a coming out party for starring lead Jason Sudeikis. I’ve watched this show all the way through twice, and I’m absolutely going for round three before summer.
1.
Borat Subsequent Moviefilm
I’m not sure I can remember a year in which one comedy stood above the rest quite like 2020. Perhaps others disagree, but Borat Subsequent Moviefilm was, like its predecessor, uproariously funny — this time in a year with very little else to make us laugh. Sacha Baron Cohen is as outrageous and daring as ever, and his out-of-nowhere co-star Maria Bakalova was somehow even better. Bakalova scored in the recent Oscar nominations, and frankly I hope she wins Best Supporting Actress. Her ability to rise from obscurity and completely hang with Cohen -arguably one of the great comics of a generation — is one of the more impressive things I’ve seen in film in years. It’s also downright hysterical.
So those are our top picks for “5 Things To Watch For Post-Quarantine Comic Relief.” We hope that some of these shows, funny movies, and specials can help get you laughing again as we inch closer and closer to the total reopening of the world.
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