Gemma Elgar – Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Brooklyn Nine-Nine is a modern-day masterpiece of a sitcom. Following Jake Peralta’s (Andy Samberg) antics as one of Brooklyn’s finest, and most dysfunctional, detectives, this show is one that oozes with wholesome comedy whilst simultaneously tackling real-life issues like racism and homophobia in a loving and respective manner. 

Similarly to Friends, Brooklyn Nine-Nine follows the narrative structure of one main plot and two mini-plots per episode, successfully dividing the viewer’s attention just enough to fall in love with all seven protagonists in equal measures. This show is perfect for a binge; seven seasons worth of romantic subplots, mischievous hijinks and love-to-hate recurring characters like Adrian Pimento (Jason Mantzoukas), The Vulture (Dean Winters) and my personal favourite, the Pontiac Bandit himself (Craig Robinson) make every episode of Brooklyn Nine-Nine a laugh to come back to time after time.

Ellen Hill – The Office (U.S.)

Being stuck at home got you missing that classic workplace banter? Your eccentric, but lazy, boss? The potential office romances? Drama over event planning? Well, The Office (U.S.) will provide that immersive replacement to your daily routine. This mockumentary-style sitcom, famous for its camera side-eye glances, is an insightful look into the fictional Dunder-Mifflin Paper Company. You’ll find yourself cringing and laughing, and maybe crying, as the show takes you on a nine-season rollercoaster through the everyday lives of the employees.

It breaks up the overarching plotlines surrounding love, money, friendship, and rivalry with humdrum office activities that are still enjoyable to watch. The laid-back nature of The Office (U.S.) makes it an easy choice for binge-watching, so be prepared to lose eight hours on this nine ‘til five TV masterpiece.

Sam Arrowsmith – The IT Crowd

‘Hello, IT – have you tried turning it off and on again?’ Roy Trenneman, a cantankerous IT technician, says this a lot and somehow, Chris O’Dowd makes this seemingly mundane line utterly hilarious. The story of two socially awkward IT guys and their luddite relationship manager embarks on many surreal twists and turns in its four-series run, with an extra-long finale episode to wrap things up.

It contains many sendups and parodies of the modern corporate world, and Britain as a whole (the fire extinguisher gag springs immediately to mind), that strike a chord with all generations. In Maurice Moss (Richard Ayoade), Channel 4 created one of the most ‘memeable’ characters of the 00s. From his sudden entrance to a secret society of Countdown victors to his ill-fated efforts on Dragon’s Den, you can’t help but root for Moss. If you need laughs to improve your morale, I can heartily recommend this.

Lauren Novelli – Friends

Friends is the 25-year-old gift that just keeps on giving. This age-old classic is the perfect binge-watch whilst in isolation. With 85 hours of pure comedy genius, meet the six friends and watch Ross (David Schwimmer), Rachel (Jennifer Aniston), Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow), Chandler (Matthew Perry), Monica (Courteney Cox) and Joey (Matt LeBlanc) through their best – and worst – moments of living in the city that never sleeps.

If you have already watched the show, you can watch it again and again whilst never becoming bored. If you haven’t seen it already, where have you been? And why aren’t you watching it right now? Make sure you pay attention, as the much-anticipated reunion special is due on screens later this year. So, sit back and prepare for the ultimate family-friendly, easy-to-watch show that will make you laugh and cry all at the same time.

Samuel Zucca – Joe Pera Talks With You

Cartoon Network’s late-night sister channel, Adult Swim, is mostly known for its absurdist adult humour, like an axe-murderer invading a sitcom theme tune, or nine people in an octopus costume walking into a public restaurant. With Joe Pera Talks With You, however, Adult Swim seems to have come full-circle, creating a show that is unashamedly heartwarming and absolutely delightful.

Joe Pera is a comedian known for his ‘grandfatherly’ style, slow-walking, mild-mannered, and soft-spoken. His Adult Swim debut was on a late-night cartoon special called ‘Joe Pera Talks You to Sleep,’ in which his animated self gives you facts about barns, the most popular dog names, and how pretzels get made.

The series follows in the same vein; slow, thoughtful, 10-minute episodes, usually on one topic or in one place. There are small moments of humour in the show, but its main selling point is its heart. Joe Pera Talks With You is an endlessly generous show about the small pleasures in life, ranging from the first time you discover a song you love, to pouring liquids from a large container into a small one. As Joe remarks when enjoying a warm apple from his outdoor fire, ‘you can feel your soul grow back.’

Abby Spreadborough – Broad City

Broad City is the perfect comfort watch. With each episode a little over 20 minutes, its humble beginnings as a web-series and Abbi Jacobson and Illana Glazer brilliantly bouncing off one another in absurd but not entirely unrealistic circumstances, it is a hidden gem. The show is not just funny. It has a great political consciousness and, if feminism is not necessarily at the forefront of all episodes, it is always part of the show’s technicolour backdrop. Broad City is the far funnier millennial successor to Friends. Its iconic cramped New York City apartment spaces and the ever-present theme of female friendship provides a refreshingly timely and very funny portrait of two best friends navigating the unexpected weirdness of everyday life. 

It was a huge success in America receiving many awards nominations over the course of its five-season run, yet Broad City sadly didn’t garner the same popularity here in the UK. I’ll admit that, prior to watching the show, I felt the same: Americans were simply not funny. But Broad City changed my mind. As we enter a long period of social distancing and lockdown I hope the show will not only change but I guarantee it will make you laugh too. 

Charlie Murray – The Good Place

Netflix’s comedy The Good Place delivers much-needed escapism with its humour and message. We follow Eleanor (Kristen Bell), who wakes up in a quaint town: an afterlife for good people. After realising she must be wrongly-placed as she didn’t exactly live selflessly, she receives ethics lessons by an actual good person and moral philosophy professor, Chidi (William Jackson Harper), before she is caught. 

This fascinating premise leads to universe-bending twists, making the show addictive to binge-watch to discover where the show can possibly go; time will run away with you rather than drag. Its message (that anyone can learn to be good) is uplifting; we need reminding that good exists in the world. Its episodes are inspired by philosophical problems, so if you want to use the quarantine to learn something, this show will teach you without it being a chore. The characters processing their flaws and lives are ideal viewing if you need reflection in these weird times.

Tom Wood – Bob’s Burgers

The unique family dynamic of the Belcher’s would put the most perfect of nuclear families to shame. You have the patriarch Bob (H. Jon Benjamin), overworked, he lacks the energy to keep up with the rest of his family. Yet his deadpan commentary never fails to entertain.

Bob’s wife Linda (John Roberts) has to be my personal favourite. Her ability to spontaneously break into song over the most everyday occurrences makes the mundanities of family life comedic. Then you have the kids, scheming Louise (Kristen Schaal), the flamboyant Gene (Eugene Mirman) and the angsty equestrian Tina (Dan Mintz). 

Bob’s Burgers has plenty of seasons to keep you busy and the quirkiness of every episode will keep you hooked. You will soon find yourself emulating Linda and be singing your way through these uncertain times. 

Adam Toms – Detectorists

An utterly wonderful comedic brainchild of the incredibly consummate Mackenzie Crook, Detectorists represents a realistic yet amusingly exaggerated take on the nuanced hobby of metal detecting. It is quite simply one of the warmest and most assiduously composed original comedies of recent times.

For three marvellous series, you are treated to the hilariously endearing tribulations of best friends Andy (Mackenzie Crook) and Lance (Toby Jones), members of the Danebury Metal Detecting Club, as they and their friends deal with everyday family life whilst scouting the fields of Essex for their own hoard of Iron Age, Roman or Saxon gold.

Whilst watching you will bask in the many endearing zany conversations, pub pints, summer breezes, and birdsongs of the airy and idyllic rural village landscape of Framlingham in Suffolk which acts as the duo’s fictional home village. History nut or not, Dectectorists is the perfect joyful antidote to our current lives of internal isolation.

Nethmi Karunajeewa – BoJack Horseman

Back in the nineties, BoJack Horseman (Will Arnett) was the star of Horsin’ Around, a beloved sitcom about a humanoid horse who adopts three orphans and learns the value of family. Eighteen years later, BoJack is a cynical, washed-up celebrity whose bitter loneliness grows by the day. Desperate to recapture the public’s attention, BoJack enlists the help of human ghost-writer Diane Nguyen (Alison Brie) and his feline agent Princess Carolyn to make him a household name once more through a tell-all autobiography. 

While he struggles through his daily life alongside his whacky human roommate Todd Chavez (Aaron Paul) and the irritatingly positive canine Mr Peanutbutter (Paul F. Tompkins), Diane helps him delve into his past. But as he relives his history, from lonely childhood and humble beginnings as a stand-up comedian to fame and acclaim as the horse from Horsin’ Around, BoJack begins to question whether there was ever a time in his life when he was truly happy.

Gabrielle Taylor-Dowson – Afterlife

Afterlife is a tear-jerking, black comedy-drama created, produced and directed by Ricky Gervais. Whilst it premiered roughly a year ago on Netflix, now is a fantastic time to watch it – partly because we are all stuck inside with the TV as our primary source of entertainment, but also because season two is set to be released on April 24th. Now, a black comedy-drama may not seem like the first thing you would think of watching given the current bleak circumstances, perhaps leaning towards something more overwhelmingly lighthearted.

There are only six half-hour episodes, but this makes it very watchable, and honestly, some of the episodes are so emotional that I think any longer would make watching the show draining rather than cathartic. But that is exactly what this show is good for; crying at one scene and then laughing at the next, expressing and purging an array of emotions that have no doubt built up over the past few weeks, is why Afterlife is worth adding to your quarantine watchlist. It is healthy to cry, and even more so to laugh, and Gervais cleverly and beautifully draws both out of watching audiences.

Read the rest of this series here:

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