Cringe Comedies Are Quickly Replacing The Sitcom As We Know It

Michael Scott and the employees of The Office‘s Dunder-Mifflin may have popularized “cringe comedy” here in the United States circa 2005, but using social awkwardness as a comedic trope is nothing new. If you’ve ever seen an episode of I Love Lucy, you know that Lucille Ball’s perpetual unawareness of her environment makes for some rather uncomfortable, yet stellar comedy that has managed to stand the test of time.

It wasn’t until Seinfeld and the wit of Larry David, however, did we see cringe used as a farce in sitcom characters like Kramer (Michael Richards) and George (Jason Alexander), whose stunted social awareness was so ingrained in their personalities, their mishaps became an expected facet of the perennial ensemble, always. And while the sitcom as we know it — laugh track, timely punch-line before the commercial break — dwindles in relevancy amidst the era of Peak TV and the rise of the sad-com (BoJack Horseman, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt) charges forward, cringe comedy has slowly begun to dominate primetime, distinctly separate from its sitcom roots.

We see it today, most notably, in Louis C.K.’s somber stand-up series, Louie, in addition to anything featuring Ricky Gervais (Derek, Extras, The Office). But more recently, The Hangover‘s breakout star Zach Galifianakis has made his way back into the conversation by inviting us to experience what post-cringe comedy may look and feel like in his new sad clown exploration, Baskets.

Premiering Thursday, January 21 on FX, Baskets follows Galifianakis as the titular Chip Baskets, an aspiring French clown who’s forced to leave Clown College and retreat to his less-than-cultured hometown of Bakersfield, California. An abrasive, wholly unlikable muse, Chip resonates a bit of Louie familiarity (which may be an unfair observation considering Louis C.K. acts as co-executive producer and part-time writer on the series). Yet, between the dramatic nature of Galifianakis’ slapstick insertions and Jonathan Krisel’s (Man Seeking Woman, Portlandia) nuanced direction, Baskets emerges as a comedic sub-genre all its own — exemplifying cringe comedy in its truest form, while also moving past it, in a way.

We got a taste of pure cringe just last year with Julie Klausner’s Difficult People on Hulu, which she fondly described as a “female Curb Your Enthusiasm.” The series, featuring Klausner and Billy Eichner (Billy on the Street) as self-destructive partners-in-crime, surely takes some warming up to given their relentless hatred towards everything and everyone but each other. But alas, the writing is too passionate to ignore. Months before Klausner’s series came a polarizing reboot of Lisa Kudrow’s The Comeback, which is notorious for being difficult to watch despite its consistent brilliance in terms of writing and performances. Finally, it would be a snafu to ignore Hello Ladies: Stephen Merchant’s canceled-too-soon romantic comedy endeavor that lasted just one season on HBO back in 2013, only to be rounded up with a lazily-promoted TV movie as cringe-worthy closure. Perhaps the resuscitation of formerly dead shows like The Comeback and Hello Ladies (not to mention a rumored Curb Your Enthusiasm reboot) points to a thirst for more of this material that simply wasn’t part of the zeitgeist, or, wholly misunderstood upon first air.

And while Baskets certainly draws upon its predecessors, most notably Louie, it also stands apart from them. Though it’s still early to assume it will keep audiences hooked (it’s kind of an acquired taste to begin with), Baskets may very well be the first series of its kind that bridges the gap between old and new comedian-backed shows by featuring themes that more or less mock comedy as a whole — he is a clown, after all. Galifianakis may not put himself at the forefront of the jokester community and, if you’ve read up on the comedian, you know that he’s not exactly one for the limelight. But perhaps, by hanging back a bit, Galifianakis has watched comedy unfold in a way that allows him to branch off with Chip taking over as his powder-faced alter ego. It’s a new era for experimental comedy and a daunting one for the once-reigning sitcom, but perhaps we should let this clown rise and see where he takes us because the time for cringe is now.

Photos: FX, Everett Collection