Best Of 2022: ‘Abbott Elementary’ And Quinta Brunson Reminded Us Sitcoms Are Supposed To Be Funny

In a recent episode of Abbott Elementary, do-gooder 2nd grade teacher Janine Teagues (Quinta Brunson) has to call in sick to work for the first time in her career. What was she sick with? Food poisoning, a result of eating the other half of the tuna melt she brought for lunch. Apparently, that half-sandwich was sitting on a windowsill in the sun for a number of hours, but Jeanine was hungry and decided to take the chance.

But why was it on a windowsill? Because Ava Coleman (Janelle James), the principal of Abbott Elementary School, is running a side business selling cold facial masks and needed the teachers’ lounge fridge to store her inventory.

Such a series of events might seem ridiculous at face value, played for slapstick or just seeming like a silly reach on most sitcoms these days. But it all makes perfect sense on Abbott. Why? Because Brunson, who created the series, and her writing team took the time to flesh out the show’s main characters over its first season and a half, so that when they get into a seemingly implausible situation like this, it’s not only funny, but believable given what we already know about Janine and Ava.

That’s something that we haven’t seen in sitcoms, especially network sitcoms, in quite some time. Although Abbott technically debuted in December 2021, that was a preview of the season that started just after the new year, which makes the show’s success a pure 2022 phenomenon. Its success should serve as a reminder to not only audiences but creators as well that character development and funny gags aren’t mutually exclusive concepts in the world of comedies. In fact, one can enhance the impact of the other.

With a few exceptions, comedies in the streaming era have been either schticky and gag-heavy or thoughtful and packed with fully-realized characters, but not both. Sure, both forms of sitcom can elicit laughs on occasion, but we have always come away from these viewing experiences with the same thought: Man, this could have been a lot funnier.

In fact, as we’ve already mentioned here, a lot of these so-called “comedies” felt more like homework than something that you can sit back and laugh with. Atlanta, which we cited as an example, is an obvious choice in that category, but how about something like another top FX comedy, The Bear? There were plenty of laughs to be had during the first season of that series, but most of what drove that series was the intensity of running a Chicago Italian Beef joint and the pressure that Carmy Berzatto (Jeremy Allen White) and his crew were under to keep the shop afloat. Add to that the ongoing drama of Carmy’s brother’s suicide, and you have more of a recipe for a drama with funny moments than a flat-out funny sitcom.

Abbot Elementary, on the other hand, is just pure fun. Sure, it is a pretty realistic look at the struggles that big-city schoolteachers and administrations have to get through to kids when they face limited resources and competition from charter and private schools. But it’s not afraid to be silly.

That silliness, though, is borne out of the characters and not a desire to saddle them with gags. Ava can get away with doing TikTok sales videos in her office because it’s long been established that she only got the job because she blackmailed the superintendent. Janine is sincere to a fault, and every time she attempts to go the extra mile with her students, we know that it’s rooted in her good nature, even if we all know that she’s going to run into issues.

Veteran kindergarten teacher Barbara Howard (Emmy winner Sheryl Lee Ralph) is righteous but not self-righteous, and despite her positive attitude has a “been there, done that” point of view that Janine doesn’t. Melissa Schemmenti (Lisa Ann Walter) has the same weary viewpoint, but filtered through her South Philly upbringing, so that it’s hard to get past her tough exterior. Jacob Hill (Chris Perfetti) always means well and has good intentions, but isn’t always the most self-aware person. And Gregory Eddie (Tyler James Williams) just wants to do a good job and prove to his military dad that he can succeed on his own.

So when, for instance, Jonah goes all in when his old Story Samurai team comes around, his goofiness makes sense. When Barbara pre-judges a mother who has the word “Bitch” tattooed on her chest, her over-the-top indignation is funnier because we know that she’s a woman of deep faith. Melissa’s exasperation with her new aide Ashley (Keyla Monterroso Mejia) is funny because we know how much she’s on a razor’s edge pretty much all the time.

Even the will-they-won’t-they between Janine and Gregory, brought to a bit of a head in the fall finale, has roots in character, namely both characters’ social discomfort and Janine’s struggle to get out of the autopilot she was on with her ex-boyfriend Tariq (Zack Fox).

Abbott Elementary rewards loyal viewers with callbacks and jokes that make more sense the more you know the characters. But there’s more than enough physical comedy and other goofiness to make first-time viewers laugh. It’s one of the big reasons why the show has been able to sustain good ratings throughout its first season and so far through its second.

Are there other sitcoms that do this? Yes, but none of them have become as high-profile as Abbott in the past few years. What we hope is that Brunson and company remind people that it’s OK to make a sitcom that’s really, really, funny, even without having to compromise on story or character. After all, don’t we all just want to laugh our asses off after a hard day?

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.