Fun
Frisky
Nostalgic
Intense
Adventurous
Choked Up
Curious
Romantic
Weird
Everyone knows what it’s like to sleepwalk through a crummy job. After what feels like 70-80 years on this planet, I can honestly say that I enjoy my job, but it took me a long time to find steady employment that didn’t elicit an involuntary, “Ugh, this again?” first thing in the morning. My vocational history is as strange as it is diverse: I’ve waited tables, worked as production assistant, sold balloons, took a job at a casting company, worked as a carny at Hersheypark, wore an elephant mascot costume, electronically logged baseball games, worked as a production assistant, asked celebrities random questions as a red carpet reporter, and in one calendar year made a TV show for FOX and handed out free jellybeans in Times Square.
It’s not that those jobs were bad, but as Jake Weisman, the co-creator and star of Comedy Central’s Corporate, told me last January, “All jobs are terrible unless you’re doing exactly what you wanna do.” Truer words have never been spoken.
Next week (January 15 at 10:30 p.m. to be exact), Corporate returns for Season 2. An acerbic comedy following two Junior Executives-in-Training (Weisman and Matt Ingebretson) at a soulless corporation, Comedy Central’s dark, relatable series acutely captures the ho-hum drudgery of day-to-day office life. Season 1, which is now streaming on Comedy Central’s website, was a biting commentary of the modern work-force. It didn’t necessarily skewer the 9-to-5; it was more of a comical nihilism that accepted the inevitable compromises that accompany a job in corporate America.
Corporate was one of the funniest, most original shows of 2018, and Season 2 is even better.
The second season of Corporate is brimming with well-earned confidence and bravado. It’s a series with a specific point-of-view that subverts the stale beats of traditional sitcoms with a rakish honesty. Matt’s optimism provides the perfect narrative foil for Jake’s natural nihilism and the supporting cast — which includes Aparna Nancherla, Lance Reddick, Adam Lustick, Anne Dudek, and Season 2 newcomer Sasheer Zamata — always leave you wanting more. Corporate mixes its sharp humor with relatable poignancy. Season 2 delves into familiar issues like workplace proximity crushes, the saga of mixing your college friends with your adult friends, the inanity of work conferences, the very thirty-something problem of going out on a work night, and, in perhaps the show’s best episode, the very real consequences of quitting your day job to pursue your dream job.
Corporate just gets it. It won’t make your job any more enjoyable, but it’s a comforting, endlessly entertaining reminder that you’re not alone in the abyss. If you liked Season 1, you’ll absolutely love Season 2.
Season 2 of Corporate premieres January 15 at 10:30 p.m. ET on Comedy Central.
