Read Ron's recaps of Never Have I Ever on Show Snob.

Listen to the episode on Spotify.

Ron: Welcome to a new Detective Mode episode of Stereo Geeks. I'm Ron.

Mon: And I'm Mon.

Ron: Today we'll be discussing TV comedies and why we love them. The question is: are comedies good for us? According to psychotherapist Dr Joti Samra, who spoke to CBC, marathon-watching comedies helps people escape the impact of COVID. She said: “It's wonderful, it's healthy, it's good for us and we're supposed to be homebound now anyways so it's a good way to keep us busy.”

Mon: Scott Weems, a cognitive neuroscientist, spoke to Shondaland about the need for humour in the current global situation: “It’s easy to go into a pretty negative rabbit hole with news and everything else. There's so much in the world that can make you laugh or cry, and it’s your choice which of those two to do.”

Ron: The Shondaland article also shared some studies about the positive effects of watching comedy on cancer patients. So, as you can imagine, when there's a global pandemic happening, comedies are the go to for everyone.

Now the two of us, we aren't huge comedy people, but this pandemic has changed our minds. In an earlier Detective Mode episode, we talked about how animated films have brought us so much joy during this very strange, global catastrophe. But we also found a lot of the same kind of comfort in comedies.

And TV shows which are comedies are easier to get into. At least, that's what I think. They're shorter, they're sharper, you get little snippets that you can come back to from time to time. You're not in it for the long haul. It's your choice whether you want to watch more or not. Unlike with a comedy film, where you’re kind of stuck there for an hour and a half, or two hours, and sometimes, the experience isn't all that great.

There are different kinds of comedies and humor. We don't like every single kind of comedy out there. This pandemic has helped us realize what kind of comedies we do like.

According to CognitionToday, there are numerous Theories of Humour, but there are four types of humour that are prevalent in pop culture today.

The different kinds of humor kind of explain why we like certain comedies and certain comedic characters but not others. For Mon and me, affiliative humor is probably the one that most gives us joy, whereas the others, not so much. Having said all that, what comedy TV shows have we been watching?

Mon: For the purpose of this show, we will be talking about five comedies that we really enjoyed. There’s a common theme that runs through all five of these comedies. It's very much a story about family and coming together. And with that, let's start talking about which are these five comedies and what we love most about them.

Ron: The TV show that made us realize that comedies could be our thing was Netflix's Never Have I Ever. The first season was released during the pandemic. Co-created by Mindy Kaling, the story follows young Devi, who has lost her father and isn't coping very well. But she gets into all sorts of high school hijinks because she is trying to become a cool, popular girl. Now, that's quite the ask for a nerdy teenager. Alongside Devi is her extremely attractive and extremely smart cousin Kamala, her mother, Nalini, who is very Indian, and her good friends, Eleanor and Fabiola, who are going through their own extremely difficult journeys.

There is a clear reason why we love this show. It's about Indians! Yes, it’s in an American setting, which is a little bit far away from us, but this is not what we get to see usually. And the humor was very relatable. There are certain things that were said and shown that just made sense to us. I don't think this show was for everybody and definitely not for every demographic, but for us, it really did speak to us.

Mon: I can't say many of Devi’s experiences or her thoughts reflected those of our own, especially at that age. But I think just the dynamic between her, her cousin, her mom, even her father, who appears in flashbacks or dream sequences, there's just this Indian vibe there you get because you come from an Indian family. And it doesn't matter which part of the world you’re in, there's just this kind of Indian-ness that you can't escape.

I think what a lot of people liked about this show was that essentially, it's a teen comedy-drama about this young girl whose coping with life and love and the lack of love, but it's centered on a girl who is of Indian origin. Which is a novel concept, even now. It was nice to see some diversity not only with the lead cast, but also her friends’ group. And it was just funny! It was really, really funny.

Ron: What I also liked about Never Have I Ever was that Devi wasn’t perfect. In fact, there are plenty of times when you would just be like, Devi, stop being so self-centered. Other people have problems too. But that's what’s made her believable, because when you're a teenager, everything that's happening to you is the end of the world. But obviously, it isn't. We get to see how her mom is struggling without her father. We get to see the concerns that Kamala has about her life. Devi’s friend, Fabiola, is dealing with how to come out. Her friend, Eleanor, has a very strained relationship with her mother. And then there's Devi’s love-interest, Paxton Hall-Yoshida. I love that the love interest is mixed. That informs a lot of his story, as well, and his very peculiar interactions with his strange group of friends.

There's a lot of emotion in Never Have I Ever, despite it being a comedy, and I think that's what probably makes it more memorable. Devi’s story is not for the faint of heart. She has lost her father and she is dealing with that not in very healthy ways. But the show manages to avoid being tropey or falling into any stereotypes. The first season as a whole works really well. Of course, they do open the doors for a sequel and more hijinks. And we do know that they are going to get second season, but what we've got so far definitely works.

Mon: Let's move on to the comedy of all comedies, Schitt’s Creek. We were late to this party, but I'm glad we finally got invited. So, Schitt’s Creek was created by Eugene and Dan Levy, father and son duo. They play Johnny Rose and David Rose, father and son on the show. Catherine O'Hara—everybody knows her—she plays Johnny's wife, Moira. And the quartet is completed by Annie Murphy’s Alexis Rose, the daughter.

Well, what can we say about this show? It starts off with the Rose family being ousted from their beautiful, beautiful house and they move into Schitt’s Creek, a tiny town, in the back of nowhere, that Johnny happens to have the deeds for. And we experience this quirky little town through the eyes of the very sophisticated, very la-dee-da Rose family. Over six seasons, how does the Rose family evolve? How does the town change and how does the town change them? We start off with a family that is kind of unlikable. But by the end of it, we're kind of rooting for them.

I have to say, the first three seasons of this show had its moments when it actually made me wonder, do I actually like this? Why is it so popular? But by the end of the six seasons, yep, I definitely loved it a lot. And I love these characters, as well. I think once they got settled into being part of this town and accepting their new lives, they became more relatable and a lot more fun to hang out with, because there wasn’t that constant antagonism. But I also feel like they started becoming part of the town wallpaper, and it really helped to make the story far more cohesive.

What I like about it is, and this is something that's coming up a lot more these days, where earlier, living in a small town was anathema to happiness, nowadays, I feel like a lot more shows are celebrating small-town life.

Ron: Once Schitt’s Creek swept the categories at the 2020 Emmys, I realized it was time for me to watch the show. I would see it on my timeline and people kept saying the same thing: they were really struggling with that opening season, but everybody else would keep saying, it will get better. I don't actually know if I agree with that because I was kind of hooked from the very first episode. This family is a disaster! And usually, I would find it rather cringe because the Rose family are very used to a particular kind of life and the moment they move into Schitt’s Creek, they’re just so condescending. From time to time, I kind of agreed with them [laughs] because the people around them were a bit eww. But I also understood why the townspeople needed the Rose family to step up and actually be a part of this community.

I thought it was really well done. From the very start, you can see where the conflict is and you understand what resolution they're going to need, from both sides, the Rose family and the people of Schitt’s Creek.

And right from the beginning, you can see how the two warring factions will actually come together. So, you see Johnny hanging out with the town mayor, Roland. They have absolutely nothing in common but by dint of being who they are, they've got to work together to run the town. You see Moira hanging out with Jocelyn, the mayor's wife, who's also a school teacher and runs the choir and takes care of a lot of the social activities that makes the town run. David and Stevie start up a very interesting friendship, which becomes a relationship, and then a friendship again. And Alexis makes a lot of very good friends, and more, when she’s in Schitt’s Creek. And all this happens in the very first season. So, it lays the groundwork for so much more.

And then, of course, once Noah Reid’s Patrick Brewer joins the show, it really takes off. I have spent years reading about David and Patrick. And everything I've read has made me think, Oh, that's so sweet. They sound really lovely. I'm so glad that characters like this exist. Then, I watched the show and I'm like, Oh. My God. These guys are amazing. I am in love with David and Patrick!

Mon: Like you, I had heard more about David and Patrick, than actually seen them. And when I finally did watch the relationship and how it grew, I figured it out. It's because they’re really nice characters. They respect each other, they also understand each other. They're fun to be around. And what I liked about the show was that they didn't try to shoehorn in unnecessary conflict. Stuff happens. Things get in the way and their relationship goes through ups and downs. But in the end, they always come back together. Because they're both hilarious!

There is this moment when they are definitely at the breaking point and David does not want to speak to Patrick because he was apparently lied to. So, David is hiding out in his room, but he did not get enough snacks. So, he tells Patrick to go get him the snacks, all the while, he's trying to break up with him. I cannot think of this scene without cracking up. That to me, was the moment that sold the entire relationship and the entire show to me. Comedy gold!

Ron: Every character in this show is hilarious and they're hilarious because their reactions are exactly how we would react. Some of the things that happened are ridiculous! And the characters call out the ridiculousness of it, which is why it's so funny. But there are also so many sweet, sweet moments. You see this Rose family who had everything, they've lost everything but they've now found each other. They kind of end up richer than they were before because they sit down to eat meals together, they cook together, they go to places together, they celebrate Christmas together. These are things that they've just seen other people do. But now they’re doing it together. It's just so warm and sweet and it just made me so happy. While also making me laugh out loud so hard that I cried.

Mon: This show is quite white. There are very few persons of color in it. There has been some controversy around the fact that the one Indian character is played by an actor who doesn't have an accent and puts on an accent. It didn't bother me that much. You don't expect a character of Indian origin to be in a small town so that was new for us, so I didn't mind it too much. Okay, he could have been more fleshed-out but so be it.

That being said, the show tries very hard to subvert some of our expectations. For a character like Alexis, she could have just been eye candy or boring, and her entire storyline could have been just about her romances and her relationships. But she supersedes that. Especially by the end, I honestly think Alexis had the best growth. She makes the most mature decisions, which Alexis in the first season would have balked at. But I really ended up liking her character because of how they ended her arc.

But the unsung hero of this entire story has got to be Stevie. Emily Hampshire's Stevie Budd really is a scene-stealer. She is so sarcastic but she's so warm and welcoming. And I like that at the end of it, she's kind of a de-facto member of the Rose family. And she and Johnny have this amazing relationship which goes beyond just being partners in crime, but also I would think, as a surrogate daughter. It's adorable. It's really, really sweet. I enjoyed every scene that Stevie was in. She was just incredible.

Ron: Having seen Emily Hampshire absolutely steal the show in 12 Monkeys, Stevie was a delight. She's very different from Jennifer Goines, but she's still as much of a scene-stealer here as she was there. I've already talked about how I love David and Patrick, but I have to say, David from season one stole my heart. He is such a goof. He tries do his best, but his best is a disaster. This entire family is a mess, but it's exemplified by David. He doesn't know how to do anything. In fact, his first meeting with Patrick is when he's trying to start up a lovely store, which becomes quite the place to be in Schitt’s Creek, except he doesn't know how to fill in the form. The only reason his very lovely store actually makes it to opening night, is because Patrick does all the admin, donkey work. David is useless.

But as useless as David is, he's also adorable. And you know what, amongst the entire Rose family, it feels like he's the only one who really believes that there can be more to them than their shallow, rich, privileged lives. I feel like he fits into Schitt’s Creek best. He does the hardest to absorb his very strange new surroundings. That kind of helps the entire family get used to being Schitt’s Creek residents. This entire family is great to watch but David, hands-down, my favorite.

Mon: It's honestly no wonder, that after watching the entirety of these six seasons, that this show ran off with all the awards in 2020.

Ron: Especially since Season Six was such a triumph. I felt like I knew where the show was going, and then Season Six happened and I was like, oh, okay, this is exactly where I wanted it be. It does right by the Rose family; it does right by the Schitt’s Creek residents, and it does right by the audience. In a way, I'm kind of glad that I waited till the whole thing was done before I watched it. I'm not sure I would have enjoyed it as much if I was waiting every year for the new season to drop. I kind of marathon-watched this whole show in like a week. No regrets. But it made me really, really happy. And I'm thrilled that it exists. Because honestly considering the way the world is right now, we need this.

Mon: One Day at a Time—or ODAAT—is the Latinx reboot of the 80s show. I had heard so much about this show. I kept meaning to watch it. Then I came across an ad. One of those episode ads which kind of gives you an insight into what's happening in the next episode. Those 30 seconds were the hardest I'd laughed that entire year.

Suffice to say I had to go and find the show and watch all of it. Thankfully Netflix has three seasons and I was able to catch up with the rest of TV.

ODAAT is about the Alvarez family, headed by Penelope played by Justina Machado. Penelope lives with her mom. I'm Lydia Riera played by Rita Moreno. We also have Penelope’s two kids Elena played by Isabella Gomez and Alex played by Marcel Ruiz. And the de facto member of the Alvarez family is Schneider—played Todd Grinnell—their landlord.

From the get-go this show is so funny. I was just laughing my head off. I honestly don't know where to start because it was just so funny.

Penelope is a nurse and then a nurse practitioner and she's just trying to keep it together with this insane family that she’s stuck with.

Ron: Penelope is like your everyday average working mom. She's got her job; she's worried about her kids’ future; she wants to hang out with her mom; she wishes she had some romance in her life. But in the middle of it all, is the fact that by dint of being Latino, they sing and dance and they have a great time and that just kind of changes everything about the way they live.

Now, Lydia, her mom, coming from Cuba and having been displaced, she has a lot of different stories and a very different outlook to life. Penelope’s kind of stuck in the middle. She's American, but she also wants to hang on to her Cuban heritage. And then you have her children who are very American. And sometimes they chafe against the Cuban heritage that their mom and grandmom foist upon them. There's a little bit of conflict but at the end of the day, you can't run away from who you are. And that kind of informs their family dynamic—not just between the four of them, but beyond, because they have a nice big family who they get to meet from time to time.

I really enjoyed all the interactions in this family, because it reminded me of us. I think that's what really got me, like, from the very first episode it was like the grandmom and the mom and the two kids and I was just like, ‘Did somebody steal our story?’ It was like watching ourselves and I love that.

I know that One Day at a Time speaks to a lot of people in different ways. We aren’t Latinx, we're Indian, but it still managed to speak to us while also being incredibly funny. Every single episode made me laugh out loud so hard whether it was Lydia talking about her darling Papito, to Elena with her extremely snide comments about everything. Schneider, who would try desperately to be Latino even though he is not. And Penelope who was just trying to wrangle everybody into a proper family so that she could just get some work done.

Mon: I think I knew this show was going to be something special during the season one finale. Now, you think, ‘Yeah, it's a finale, whatever’. But the first season deals with Lydia and Penelope desperately trying to convince Elena that she has to have her Quinceañera. This is a cultural ceremony. They want to celebrate Elena. But Elena chafes against this gendered celebration.

Partway through the season when Elena sort gives in, I was like ‘oh, okay, this is like every other show.’ But then the finale happened. Throughout the first season, Lydia was making these beautiful dresses for Elena because this is a huge event, she has to show off. And Lydia's dresses were amazing, but nothing seemed to impress Elena. She was being very nice to her grandmother, but she just didn't like them.

Then in the finale, Lydia had worked all night to create a dress that she thought Elena would like. Now, we don't have to see the dress at first, but we know that it creates a very strong emotional reaction in Elena. And we get to see why.

Turns out, Lydia had turned the dress into a pantsuit. Suddenly this show made so much sense to me. I really wish that when we were growing up the only message we didn't get to see is that girls look pretty in dresses. People look pretty in whatever they were and whatever they’re happy wearing. Who cares? And there's an entire generation who gets to see Elena be her actual self at this huge ceremony in front of her family and be really happy with it, and be supported by most of her family members.

And then, of course, I'm not going to give it away because it's…it's huge. The actual Quinceañera has this amazing moment that makes you fall in love with the Alvarez family all over again. And the only way is up.

Ron: The moment I realized that I would absolutely adore this show was during Penelope’s outburst partway through season one, when she's just tired and she tells her mom that she misses having a partner. Not just her mom and her kids—yes they make her happy, they feel like family—but just somebody who will spoon her at night.

And that night while Penelope is sleeping in her bed, her mother appears, shoves her to the side and Penelope just wants to know what her mom is doing there. And Lydia just has one thing to say, ‘I'm here to spoon you’. [Laughs]

Mon: And the way Lydia then puts her leg over poor Penelope. I swear, this show is just so natural. That's what I love about it.

Ron: It's so good and I was just like, this just makes so much sense. This is exactly what people would do in real life. I knew I was gonna love this show.

Mon: And what I like about all the characters is that none of them are perfect. They all have these moments where you’re like, ‘No, you did not just say that; you did not think that.’ But they grow out if it, they listen to each other and they become better people.

Like the way Lydia has very conventional views of how relationships evolve, or how Alex is like every other boy and gets into trouble because he really needs to respect women. I just love that about them.

Yes, if you're watching the episodes back-to-back, you might find that every little crying scene is a little too much. But honestly, there's a lot of drama in life. Sometimes you just want a good cry and then have a really good laugh.

Ron: We don't really watch sitcoms that much. So, One Day at a Time’s very formulaic approach to each episode was a bit surprising. But for me, it kind of worked because you get the laughs, you get the tears and then you get some more laughs. But it's geared towords concluding the events of that episode and making you want to come back for more. And I felt that every time.

Mon: One thing's got to be said about the continuity during the four seasons of this show. There are character beats and character tics that keep coming back over the course of the four seasons. And I absolutely love that because, as people we tend to do the same things over and over. We react the same way to circumstances. So why would our TV characters change? Well, the Alvarez family don't change and it's hilarious. I especially like how there are certain tics that are intergenerational—as soon as you see it, you’ll know what I mean.

Ron: The few sitcoms that we have seen, you can almost immediately tell when there's a plot hole or when the writing team has changed, but the consistency on One Day at a Time is something else. You feel like you're watching this one family over a period of years and it makes for a great marathon-viewing experience.

Mon: Yeah, I do think it's something special to be able to watch all the episodes back-to-back, because you are spending time with his family. And that's exactly how the episodes make you feel. It is very immersive.

Of course we can't talk about Schneider at all. Let’s just mention our audience stand-in—the privileged guy who fails to see just how privileged he is. But at the same time, he's there for this family in a way that, I guess, everybody needs. You just need that friend and Schneider is that.

Yes, he can be a bit intrusive and doesn't seem to know that you can actually knock on a door, but I really like how supportive he is. He's their for the family.

Ron: And I think that's what makes the Alvarez family so great. Whoever comes into their orbit, they’re so welcoming and open; they don't have to be. They’ve gone through a lot of stuff, we see the struggles that they do have—Penelope as a war veteran, she can't even get the benefits that she's due. But despite all that, they’re always ready to welcome more people into their lives. And they try and be understanding. They may, in the dead of night, have chats about how things don't quite make sense, but they will try and resolve it somehow or the other.

And we can't not to mention that fantastic cameo. I don't want to give it away, but just as the audience screamed, I was screaming internally as well. I did not see that coming. It was so good.

Mon: There's one set of characters we haven't mentioned, and that is Penelope’s support group. They don't appear that often, though they get a lot more screen time, especially in the third and limited fourth season.

They are incredible characters. We mostly see them in the support group scenario, but they have such amazing personalities. And while they are audience stand-ins, sometimes the advice they give is funnier than anything else that happens in the episode.

Ron: I love those support group scenes. First of all, we need more fictional characters to go to therapy. That is one thing I loved about Never Have I Ever, Devi has to keep going to therapy and it really does help.

And One Day at a Time, you see Penelope really work through a lot of her problems because she’s going to the support group and getting their advice. Yes, some of the comments are a bit too frank, but she needs that. And I love the fact that all these people have very distinct personalities. Their didn’t have to be, they could very easily have been one homogenous whole. But they’re very, very separate people and they make the interactions so much fun.

Every part of this show is so well put together. It's such a shame that it's been canceled. It's unfair.

Mon: And you end on a high note as well with an animated episode—because the pandemic. But they really make some astute points about the world that we live in. But honestly, we deserved several more seasons of hanging out with the Alvarez family. Especially as the kids grow older, how would they have dealt with the changes in their lives? Going to college? Maybe not. Who knows? It’s really disappointing. After being saved a couple of times, now it seems like ODAAT has come to an end.

Ron: I don't think you can be in Toronto and not know about Kim’s Convenience. We’ve obviously heard a lot about this show but the pandemic seemed to be the perfect opportunity to start watching it. Kim’s Convenience follows the titular Kim family who run a convenience store. So, we have Appa, we have Umma, and we have Janet, who run the store every day. But there's also Jung, who, well, his story is a little bit different. I thought I was going to get one kind of story when I started watching this TV show. From the very first episode I realized I was in for a completely different ride.

For one, seeing that Janet was kind of the favorite of the family and Jung was the outcast? Hmmm… Not what I expected. Also, Appa and Umma have the best personalities and the most adorable relationship. They are so cute. I mean, everybody thinks that they have parents like this but, you know what, you don't! They’re really cool. Even though they're very flawed. They have very, very high expectations of their children. And they don’t always live up to it. You can see how Jung been thrown out of the family has impacted the way Janet interacts with them. Like, she tries to be her very best. But having said that, I love the fact that she's pursuing a career in art and that her parents really do support her in this. That was unexpected. But also, what I really like is, I’m so tired of seeing Southeast Asian characters who are IT experts. There is not an IT expert in sight in this show! Yes! Thank you!

Mon: So, Jung, who is the black sheep of the family, his story runs parallel to that of Kim’s Convenience. He works in a car rental agency. One of his colleagues is also his roommate and childhood friend, Kimchee. And his boss, Shannon, who in the first season has the biggest, most transparent crush on Jung, before she finds a relationship, which doesn't really work out. That guy did not stand a chance. So, there are the hijinks of the rental agency, the people they meet, and the things they get up to. And there's everything that happens in the convenience store.

What I like is that you really get a good feel of the people that this family is interacting with. There are these frequent customers, because let's be honest, if you live in a particular area, you're going to go to the same shops over and over and everybody's going to know everybody else. And let's not forget the Kim family and their association with the church, especially the new pastor, who herself is such an incredibly funny character.

What this show does is that it really subverts your expectations of what these characters are going to be like. You think the Pastor is going to be very saintly and constantly quote from the Bible, but she's a flawed human person. And you think that the parents, Appa and Umma, are going to be these very strict and mean stick-in-the-muds, but they’re not. They’re so silly most of the time, and they’re constantly learning. And even Janet, she's not perfect. She's really trying to find herself. She's very passionate but she also really loves her family. So, she wants to do the best by them, but she wants to find her own identity. Then there’s Jung, who is the wild child, but he's trying to be more responsible.

And in amongst all this are these hilariously funny moments and interactions and misunderstandings which really don't come across as gimmicky, but just in general, hilarious.

Ron: All the ridiculous events that happen in this show, it really doesn't come across as contrived, at all. But it’s really the relationships that power this show. And I love the fact that the focus is really on Appa and Umma. It's very easy for TV shows to always be about the young people. Janet and Jung are very interesting characters in their own right and their particular social circles have very interest dynamics. But the stars of the show are undoubtedly Appa and Umma. They get up to all sorts of stuff. I’ve never seen such naughty parents in a fictional TV show! They get into trouble with their kids. Because these two are a bit too in touch with each other. And you know what, when they see an opportunity to do something crazy, they’ll take it. They sometimes don't think, and you know what, that makes them most endearing to us. I love the fact that they’re not straitlaced. You don’t know what you're gonna get with them. It's so unexpected and their kids kinda sometimes egg them on, so it just makes for such fun viewing.

Mon: What I like is that Appa and Umma don't seem to hate each other. Far too often, whenever you see these couples, especially slightly older couples in TV shows, they're always crabbity, bickering. It actually makes you wonder why they were ever married and how they stayed together for so long. That's not the case with these two characters. You can see where the love is. You can also see that these are two individuals, they have spent several decades together. So, of course, they're going to be a little bit jaded at points, and they're going to want different things. But at the same time, they've also had so many years of shared life experiences, there's no way that they don't want to be each other's best friends. I'm glad that this show at least has a new season. I can't wait to see what they're gonna do. They definitely subvert a lot of tropes, and in a word, it is a-mah-zing.

Ron: Shannon would be proud.

Ron: The final show on our list is Derry Girls. This show follows five well, four, Derry girls, plus a Derry boy, and their various high jinks in school, set against the backdrop of the turmoil in Ireland. The setting for the show is quite different from what we’ve seen before. Our understanding of the problems in Ireland is purely academic, so it's great to watch a show that's actually engaging with that topic. That doesn't mean that this show is depressing. There are some moments which are very hard-hitting, and it really brings home to you exactly what conditions everybody was living under. But despite all that, people were still living their lives. They were still going to school. They were still trying to finish papers and pass tests. And these teenagers, they were getting into all sorts of trouble.

So, who are the Derry Girls? We have Erin, Orla, Clare, Michelle, and Michelle's English cousin, James. Obviously, he doesn't quite fit in. The very Catholic school that they go to is an all-girls school. The only reason James is there is because, by dint of being English in Ireland, his safety was under threat were he to go to a boys’ school. But somehow, he manages to fit in quite well with this very misfit group of friends.

The girls have very distinct personalities. Erin is trying to be the cool girl. She most definitely is not cool. Orla is extremely kooky but you know what, she's happy with that, she accepts this part of her personality. Clare is the hard worker and the nerd. The problem is that the friends around her don't really do any studying. Michelle is the troublemaker. She's the one who's interested in romance, doesn't want to go for classes, and basically if there’s trouble any where, she's probably in the middle of it. And poor James. He's just trying to get back home but first he has to get through this school year in this very, very strange setting, where everybody thinks he's a girl, and can’t understand why he talks funny.

Mon: What I like about this show is that, in most TV shows and films, there's a group of characters and then there's ‘the girl’. In Derry Girls, then there is ‘a boy’. That’s his raison d'être, and I really liked that. That in itself tells you this show is not going to be like every other. And let's not forget the star of the show, whose eyeroll itself should win her several Oscars.

Ron: From the moment Sister Michael appears, you know you’ve seen one of the greatest characters ever created in fiction. There isn't a single aside that Sister Michael says that you can't help guffaw at. She is so irreverent, and she has a sarcastic comment for everything. Let's just say that if you have a problem, Sister Michael is the person you don't go to.

Mon: Sister Michael is exactly the kind of person you never want to meet, but in a show, she is the kind of person you want in every scene. And the way Siobhan McSweeney plays her, it's like she was born to play this character. Honestly, the show is taken to a whole new level with Sister Michael. But to go back to the main group of girls and James, they are a fun lot to hang out with. When I saw the pictures for this show, I was like, another teen show with these kids who are being all cool. But when you watch the show, you really feel them on a visceral level. They are so uncool, so unpopular. They’re like every silly school group that you were part of. And it really makes you feel seen.

Ron: It's not just the fact that the Derry Girls are uncool, it's that even when they try to be cool, their parents don't let them. On the one hand, you can't blame the parents. They don't have that much money. But on the other hand, they’re such stick-in-the-muds. They’re exactly the opposite of the parents in Kim’s Convenience. This lot, they didn't want to do anything. They just want to get through the day somehow. And the poor kids, as a result, can't do anything amazing.

Mon: None of the kids have any game nor any style.

Ron: But what they do have is each other. And together, no matter what kind of situations they get into, they’ll find a way out. And they certainly do get into a lot of crazy situations.

Mon: And let’s not forget the soundtrack. While you're watching the show, it’s so much fun. It's full of these quintessential, Irish boyband songs and stuff. It's so much fun to listen to.

Ron: It's like 90s nostalgia with this show. I couldn't believe some of the songs I was listening to because, I was like, wow, it has been awhile. But it takes you into that period of time and it places you very firmly exactly where they want you to be. It's just fun. And it doesn't always have to make sense. But at the end of it, you feel like you're one of the Derry Girls, and that's the whole point.

Mon: So, as you can see, the strongest thread that's running through these five shows is how these characters fight the world, but they fight it together and with a lot of jokes and hilarity. Which comedy shows would you say are your favorites? Let us know.

Ron: You can find us on Twitter @Stereo_Geeks. Or send us an email [email protected]. We hope you enjoyed this episode. And see you next week!

Mon: The Stereo Geeks logo was created using Canva. The music for our podcast comes courtesy Audionautix.

[Continuum by Audionautix plays]

Transcription by Otter.ai, Ron, and Mon.