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Merie W. Wallace / HBO Insecure Is Finally Growing Up
Four seasons in, Issa Rae’s HBO show is becoming the friendship study it was always trying to be.
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Paul Spella / The Atlantic The King of Comedy Is Okay With Not Being Funny
Judd Apatow on making a dramatic movie that feels fitting for the current moment: “It’s about trauma, first responders, how families deal with loss.”
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Everett Collection The Sitcom Dad Who Made Grouchiness Into an Art Form
The actor Jerry Stiller, who died yesterday at age 92, was unforgettable as the irascible Frank Costanza on Seinfeld.
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Mindy Tucker Sarah Cooper Has Mastered the Trump Joke
The comedian had used TikTok only a handful of times before her impersonation of the president garnered 15 million views. Now it’s making her rethink her routine.
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Netflix The Times Have Changed. Seinfeld Hasn’t.
There’s something soothing about watching a comedian who has been telling the same jokes for decades.
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NBC The Surreal Comforts of the SNL Quarantine Episode
Hosted by COVID-19 survivor Tom Hanks and filmed remotely, the show’s latest broadcast is a cultural document of the times.
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Steve Granitz / Gregg DeGuire / Getty / … We’re All Larry Davids Now
Who isn’t suspicious of other people, overtly worried about hygiene, and trigger-happy with a bottle of hand sanitizer?
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Simoul Alva The Perfect Quarantine Joke Is Not About Quarantine
Comedy, the adage goes, is tragedy plus time. But in this pandemic, even humor has no idea what the future holds.
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Netflix Marc Maron’s End-of-the-World Anxiety
In his new Netflix special, End Times Fun, the comedian turns his attention to angst during ongoing crisis, with uncanny timeliness.
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Ike Edeani / The New York Times / … Lena Waithe and When Black Artists Make Mediocre Art
The writer’s new series, Twenties, makes fun of entertainment that is diverse but middling—a criticism her own work has faced.
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Will Heath / NBC The ‘Airport Sushi’ Musical Is an Instant SNL Classic
The absurd sketch featuring Jake Gyllenhaal, David Byrne, and a giant goose was pure gold from the host John Mulaney.
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NBC RuPaul’s Remedial Queer Comedy on Saturday Night Live
America’s top drag queen hosted a series of surprisingly un-fabulous sketches.
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Colleen Hayes / NBC The Most Optimistic Show on TV Is Over
The Good Place, NBC’s sitcom about the afterlife, ended with a heartening meditation on the meaning of a finite existence.
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The Commons
Readers respond to our November 2019 issue and more.
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Will Heath / NBC Eddie Murphy’s Triumphant Return to Saturday Night Live
After a 35-year absence, one of the show’s most venerated performers had a delightful homecoming as host.
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NBC SNL Gives the Impeachment Hearings the Soap-Opera Treatment
Last night’s episode delivered a critique of Americans’ short attention spans with an overstuffed, melodramatic cold open.
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HBO Daniel Sloss Shows How Comedians Should Talk About Assault
The Scottish performer’s new HBO special is a stunning experiment in controlled transgression.
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Robyn Beck / Getty John Witherspoon, Black Hollywood’s Wisecracking ‘Pops’
The late actor, who died at the age of 77, was best known for his singular ability to convey fatherly frustration with comedic flair.
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NBC Chance the Rapper Hosted SNL Again. Chaos Ensued.
The musician was an endearingly goofy performer who shone in a fever dream of an episode filled with gallows humor and character breaking.
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Fox Searchlight Jojo Rabbit Is a Fraught Tonal Experiment
Taika Waititi tries to balance zany comedy and grim realism in his new coming-of-age film set in Nazi Germany. He doesn’t quite succeed.
