Chris' Comedy Blog

2023 had a lot of great comedy, in a lot of different varieties! Here are some of my favorites: Scott Pilgrim Takes Off (TV Series) - I have not yet finished the season, but already it is some of the most inventive TV I have seen in a long time! It somehow manages to maintain a relaxed nature while not being overly meandering. It even pokes fun at the 2010 Scott Pilgrim movie, one of my comedy favorites from that year – which just goes to show the unexpected and delightful twists and turns that the show makes. Aqua Teen Forever: Plantasm (Movie) - This movie was wild in a great way – I wasn’t sure how the creators would manage to extend the TV show idea into movie length, but I thought they did a really good job at sustaining the momentum in very original ways (including pulling back a level to the two alien characters, calling attention to the fact that it is a movie in a way that reminded me of Monty Python and the Holy Grail ). A movie that manages to be truly weird, but at the same...

  Photograph: Allstar/Cinetext/20th Century Fox © FX Networks/Everett Collection To maintain and continue your comedic momentum as a long-running show, you kind of have to get over the import of your own show, the status that the show has built over the years of its run. Too often, a show that finds success and builds a following will find itself too cautious to step on the legacy it has built thus far - whether that is Rick & Morty struggling to balance the built-up lore of the show with its comedy; The Office (US) reducing the true bite that it had in the first half of its run for a sweeter, less awkward, and more respectful tone; or Saturday Night Live ’s institution-like status at this point sometime getting in the way of truly funny material, this can definitely be a challenge. A bit of vulnerability is required and in the case of long-running comedy shows, vulnerability means maintaining and continuing a state of play and humility with an already very-established enterpr...