This Netflix hidden gem is the must-watch comedy for our dark times
Mashable's entertainment team picks our Watch of the Week, TV shows and movies that you absolutely must add to your list.
At times like these, politics can make it feel impossible (if not downright irresponsible) to laugh. Ironically, these are also times when we most need the release and common ground of comedy.
So heed our advice: In dark moments, turn to the effusively hysterical and poignantly relevant Chewing Gum for a needed change of pace (after, of course, first doing all you can to help fight the atrocities still currently happening at our borders.)
This underrated Netflix show almost certainly flew under your radar, premiering in the UK in 2015 before quietly releasing overseas on Netflix in 2016. But make up for that now, by enjoying the inimitable, batshit brilliance of Chewing Gum -- which always comes back to its rare, candid, loving portrayal of a vibrant immigrant and working class community.
Oh, not to mention its additional layer of cultural relevance as an unadulterated ode to female sexuality and our Lord and Savior, Beyoncé.
Created, written, and starring the BAFTA award-winning Michaela Coel (whom you might recognize from her equally brilliant performance in Black Mirror's "U.S.S. Callister"), Chewing Gum spotlights one of the boldest and most earnest comedic voices of our time.
Coel doesn't just march to the beat of her own drum. She gets an entire band with instruments you've never heard play together before, essentially inventing her own genre.
Inspired by her real-life experiences growing up in government-funded housing in London, Coel plays the part of Tracey Gordon. A 24-year old virgin, she struggles to navigate her raging sexual awakening while living in her Nigerian mother's strictly evangelical Christian household. Over two seasons, Tracey tackles questions of identity, coming-of-age, racism, family, and love in her search for good dick.
The plot exudes extremely #same vibes.
The real heart of Chewing Gum lies in each member of the ensemble, though, populating her neighborhood with electrifyingly dynamic characters -- each one more outlandishly lovable than the last. Its singular brand of comedy lies in Coel's sense of empathy, finding the shared humanity among a wide variety of very specific and disparate people.
The story exudes extremely #same vibes, with the innocent Tracey's admirably aggressive sex quest to get off at all times. Every moment of her fumbling journey, no matter how cringingly awkward, reaches a note of profound relatability. After all, it wouldn't be so uncomfortable if we didn't see at least some part of ourselves in Tracey's overly exuberant tongue jabs during her first kiss.
The result is a show that feels like it speaks to an entire generation's sensibilities. There's something so endearingly millennial about Tracey: both naive and thirsty as hell, supremely confident while lacking every social skill imaginable. Like popular internet memes, Coel has a gift for finding common ground in even the most niche cultural jokes and experiences.
A comedy that feels like it speaks to an entire generation's sensibilities
As you may have picked up, there's nothing else quite like Chewing Gum. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt and Fleabag are perhaps its closest streaming relatives, with similarly experimental premises and styles. But really, Coel has no contemporaries, functioning in a class of her own entirely.
Perhaps the biggest obstacle to letting yourself enjoy Chewing Gum is in accepting your own freakish oddities and peculiarities. It might take you an episode or two to fully acclimate to its unapologetically sincere worldview. But once you stop resisting, watching starts feeling like hanging out with the biggest tight-knit family.
What's so great and timely about Chewing Gum is how it delights in the diversity of its characters, while letting everyone just be regular people. Race, nationality, economic status -- the specificity of identity in general -- is clearly a pillar of Chewing Gum's foundation. But only insofar as it reflects our real world, filling it with a wide spectrum of experiences and backgrounds.
It truly takes a show as magical as Chewing Gum to remember how powerful comedy can be. Sure, laughter might feel like a release from harsh realities. But actually, great comedy isn't about escapism.
Great comedy showcases the best qualities of human nature: our capacity for empathy, and to find collective joy in what we share with one another regardless of cultural differences.
Topics Netflix
Jess is an LA-based culture critic who covers intimacy in the digital age, from sex and relationship to weed and all media (tv, games, film, the web). Previously associate editor at Kill Screen, you can also find her words on Vice, The Atlantic, Rolling Stone, Vox, and others. She is a Brazilian-Swiss American immigrant with a love for all things weird and magical.
