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mandomaterial · 11 months

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Hello, would you be able to write something that’s Miguel x autistic reader?

I’ve seen so much diversity when it comes to diversity when it comes to looks of readers but nothing regarding neurodiversity

I’m not the expert on this- i just wrote about a couple things I do myself and i hope you like it! :3

Miguel dating an autistic reader

You were always a little different from others, but that didn’t bother you, you rather thought it made you special. And your boyfriend thought so too, he found you adorable! You’d known since you were a teen that you were on the spectrum, but fortunately this didn’t affect your life too much. It just made you move a little more or it gave you a little trouble with communicating sometimes. But that was al okay, you found what helps you and everyone important to you understands and doesn’t have a care in the world about you being a little different. Right now, you were just at home with your lovely boyfriend Miguel, it was just a lazy Saturday and the two of you were lounging on the couch watching some dumb comedy show. You were snuggled up to his side, leaning your head on his shoulder and moulding your body to his. He had his arm wrapped around you and kissed the top of your head ever so often.

The show you were watching was about a bunch of people with funny laughs that were invited to the stage. The crowd was just going crazy and everyone was laughing, you pressed your lips shut trying not to explode in laughter as well but it was futile, your giggles came spilling out and you started laughing whole heartedly, your hands started shaking and waving a little, something you did when ever you were almost dying of laughter, wich happened quite often with Miguel, so he couldn’t help but let a large innocent smile wash over him. He loved seeing you giggle and laugh and he found it truly endearing when your little hands started shaking, he’s very glad that you didn’t even think about hiding the little things you do in front o f him any more. At the start of your relationship he noticed that you gripped and held onto your fingers whenever you were laughing and he wondered what that was about but he didn’t ask. Whenever you went out on dates he also noticed that you tended to walk on your toes a bit, at first he thought it was to make you look taller, to lessen the height difference or something but now that you’ve moved in with him he knows better, he knows that its just your way of walking. There was just a little problem. He researched toe walking and he found that it puts a strain on your lower back and knees, and he couldn’t bear the thought of your young body in pain and he had a talk with you.

Miguel mentioned it and convinced you to go see a doctor about it and you revealed that you didn’t like the feeling of your shoes touching your heels and that it was just weird walking differently. Of course Miguel accompanied you to the doctor and in the end, you got special insoles made for your shoes and they really helped. They were moulded to your feet and made your shoes comfortable. Another thing was that you almost religiously hated socks, you told him that it was fine during the day when you had your shoes on but as soon you stepped into the apartment you had the urge to just rip them off, so you did. Miguel didn’t mind one bit and it was quite amusing sometimes when he found your little colourful socks laying a round the entrance. He always picked them up and never reprimanded you about it. The only thing that posed a slight problem again was that in the winter moths the tiled floors of the kitchen and bathroom were very cold and he knew that if you stood on them for too long with your bare feet that you’d catch a cold. So he started placing a little basket filled with slippers near the kitchen and bathroom. Whenever he saw you n there or you wanted to help him cook he’d grab a pair and gently said “Feet please” and you almost automatically raised one foot at a time for him to flip them on. At some times, it really touched you, that he cared so much. He took time out of his day to do little things for you and it made your heart melt. You really really loved him and you hoped to stay with him forever.

Miguel researched a lot about autistic people and the most common traits, he learned that most of the people who were on the spectrum had a special interest and for the longest time he tried figuring yours out without asking you. It wasn’t very obvious but soon enough it revealed itself, you really liked making things! It didn’t even matter what, you tried almost everything from sewing to solving puzzles to crocheting and to pottery. Your things always turned out just the way you wanted and it fills you with glee. There were a couple dresses that you made in your side of the closet and little flowerpots on the windowsills. You had lots of keychains and bracelets but to his surprise you barely wore them and when he asked why, you just told him that you don’t like the feeling of anything on your wrists that moves, for example , you shouldn’t be able to take it off or else you’ll fiddle with it and loose or break it. If you wear any type of jewelry it has to be sung, you told him about your gold bracelet that you wore, it was a matching one with your favourite cousin and it fit tightly around your wrist. It wasn’t stretchy so you couldn’t force it over your palm without opening the clasp. You also told him that hair ties were also fine because they stuck in place when you moved your hands, perfectly melded around your slender wrist.

To say that Miguel was surprised was an understatement, he never thought about it like that, how did you notice all of that? He asked how you felt about rings and you almost gladly replied, talking him that you’ve never found a perfect ring before, they’re all either to tight or too loose, if they’re to tight you struggle with taking them off and it stresses you to no end, making your fingers red, well up a bit and making it even worse, your heart starts pounding and you’ll cry if you can’t get it off. The other scenario was that they just slid off your finger and you had to keep them clenched in order not to loose them in five seconds. It made your joints hurt and made you worried about loosing it, it was just as horrible as being too tight. Miguel agreed with you, all your points were valid after all. After that talk he made sure to only buy you jewelry that he was sure you’d love and that wouldn’t bother you.

One time the wo of you were cooking in the kitchen, with him at the store and you at the chopping board, he noticed out of the corner of his eye, that whenever he did bigger movements that you’d copy them. He turned around to grab something, you’d turn a round and grab something similar. He’d reach over his head to one of the cupboards you do the same. And this didn’t just happen in the kitchen. When the two of you talked for longer periods of time he noticed that you’d copy his hands as he told you a story or something. At first he was a little surprised but the more you did it, the more he got used to it and now? Now he finds it adorable, you’re almost like a cute, little puppy!

Sometimes the things you did changed or completely disappeared. He learned not to mention anything and just go with the flow. He loved you regardless of any antics you had our your little routines you followed. He loved you and nothing would change that. You were one lucky girl and you knew of everything he did for you and you were ever so grateful.

#Miguel #Miguel x reader #miguel o'hara #miguel x y/n #miguel spiderman #miguel x you #miguel o’hara #miguel ohara #miguel ohara x reader fluff #Miguel O’hara x autistic reader #x autistic reader #x neurodivergent reader #neurodivergent #x reader #x you #Miguel O’hara x reader

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heavenlyraindrops · 6 days

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Rain’s love rant

alright, here goes.

I’m cooked. I’m completely and utterly cooked. I feel like I need to share all this cause each detail is something I need to talk about and it’s driving me insane.

Last year of school I met this girl, let’s call her Crystal, through mutual friends. Basically what happened was I annoyed the shit out of her and was so utterly obnoxious, she thought I was a bitch- but for some reason eventually she ended up finding me endearing and we became really close friends.

we talked all the time. We shared everything. We’d walk away from our group at the table during lunch and wander around the campus together. We both liked other people at the time, she liked a girl that I was on kind of bad terms with- and it pissed me to no end because this girl sort of mistreated me, and her friends alienated me from the school community (it was pretty tight-knit) because I was “weird” (I’m autistic) and I vented about this to crystal, MULTIPLE times but Crystal straight up just ignored it. But to be honest, those girls and Sea are genuinely nice when they can be and although it sounds bad (I cried for nights in a row) I think it couldn’t really be helped and there isn’t much resentment anymore, although we’d still never be friends.

Crystal’s affection for Sea fizzled out, and I got the sense that she liked someone else cause there was a strange period of our friendship like this- turned out that person was me. (More on that later.)

She ended up liking another girl- let’s call her Petal. Petal’s a total bitch. Like she just straight up is. There’s nothing to it other than that.

I started liking Crystal after she liked Petal, although I didn’t realize how much I liked her until, well, uh. Yesterday. She and Petal got together, and I was like “omg! So cute!” But I was low-key jealous and didn’t even realize it, and then Petal tried to drag her away and made her join Petal’s friend group, which were the girls in my primary, Sea and all them. I was insanely angry, jealous, sad, everything. She kept talking about Petal, calling Petal the love of her life, and it broke my heart because id always tried to be there for Crystal, advice, venting, comforting, everything. And now she was leaving me and all my friends for Petal, who, as far as I knew, was uhhhhhh let me think- oh! Pretty.

Shit went down, another bitch (Quartz) in my friend group pulled some shit (whole other story) and said me and my friends were talking shit about Crystal, Petal and Sea when we weren’t- it was all Quartz. Me and Crystal had a huge argument over text and I tried to make her see the truth and she said “I don’t know who the fuck is lying” and then “I have the whole weekend to decide.” (She also told me during this argument that she used to like me and when I asked her why she said I was funny, pretty, smart, good at drawing. First time someone’s been clear about what they like about me, something that shows they actually do, and I started crying.)

whole weekend? Fuck, we didn’t speak for the next few MONTHS after that. It was clear she had chosen Quartz and Petal. I literally cried for nights in a row (again). My fucking principal saw me crying outside the school on School Movie Night. And the whole time I was hoping she’d come back. Eventually I realized that she missed me too.

anyway, fast forward to this week, Monday, bank holiday. I turn on my phone and there’s a huge paragraph from Crystal after months of nothing. Her saying that she’s sorry her gf got in the way of our friendship, that she really wanted to be on good terms with me again, that she missed me. So we did.

we both admitted our mistakes and we both felt really bad that we ended up on bad terms for a while and admitted we missed each other, and honestly I was so happy. I think she was too cause she started crying 😭

the next day we saw each other in school, we hugged, made it up, walked around and talked like we used to. Hugging her felt so good. Sometimes she’s walking around with her friends, with Petal clinging to her arm like she always is, then we both share a look and we both smile at each other it was amazing. I cut my hair off this week too and when Sea and her friends came over to talk to Quartz (who hates Sea and Petal btw) Crystal was standing behind them next to Petal and she didn’t look at Petal, she looked at ME, pointed at her head, mouthed “haircut” or smth idk and smiled and I nodded really giddily and oh god. Then Petal just stared at us both.

Our school had our sports day yesterday, she texted me like “I was gonna come over and talk to you but I couldn’t” and it made me happy but broke my heart at the same time.

I talked about it with my friends and they said it was kind of obvious, how jealous and angry I’d gotten when she’d left our group. They said it wasn’t my fault I liked Crystal.

I could go on and on forever about her. She’s so fucking beautiful- I think I’m genuinely in love which is insane for someone my age but I truly like her, I’ve liked her for so so long without realizing it and now I’ve lost her to Petal and I wanna cry. I like everything about her, even her flaws, the good and the bad, and yes I do want her to be happy but can’t she be happy with me?

I feel really guilty too, especially when I look at her and Petal and realize how happy they are together. I wish I was like Petal honestly, Petal is so pretty and cute and just straight up adorable. And I know I shouldn’t be coveting thy neighbours wife, but I can’t help it. But it’s ok if I liked her before she got with Petal right? 😭😭

I hate this.

ok vent over bye besties

#Romance #love #rant #vent

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evelhak · 1 year

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KnB 30-day challenge

14. Favourite Member of Kaijo

Kise: I won!!!!

Me: By default since I don't really care about any of the other characters at all.

Kise: Oh...

Sorry, I couldn't resist. Jokes aside, I do like Kise a lot. He is also spectacularly annoying. But also in a way that is sort of endearing to me, because it reminds me of my sister a lot... It's this specific way of communicating where the person leaves the responsibility of interpreting how serious they are, to the other person, because nearly everything they say is delivered with this "I might be joking or I might be serious" kind of demeanor. That drives me nuts. That's like a special kind of poison to an autistic person, especially since I tend to default to seriousness. So, watching Kise has me sighing and rolling my eyes a lot.

Also the way eeeverything just haaaas to be a show. Reminds me so much of my sister too. Like, can you people even enter a room in a normal way sometimes? Yes, alright, you're funny in the right time and place, but. People will love you even if you're not constantly performing. I daresay they will love you more. I guess this is also special kind of taxing for me, because it's just unnecessary sensory information I have to process and my tolerance is limited so it's not nice when someone overwhelms me with things that are not necessary, and I have to sort out the relevant information from the mess. I get that this makes communication more stimulating for some people but for me it actively prevents me from communicating well, so, it's an unfortunate clash of needs.

I may not be doing a very good job at convincing you I like Kise right now, but I do. He's genuinely heartwarming and I think his character arc speaks for itself. Also when you see a pattern in a character that reminds you of someone you love deeply, those annoying things somehow turn into positives, because the person who they remind you of is lovable to you with all of their annoying quirks? So, in a sense you love that character because they're annoying and not despite of it? You actually end up enjoying being annoyed by them? Does that make sense?

Kise is also sympathetic to me because I grew up right next to so many popular people, seeing how their life is far from the glory jealous people always thought it was, so while I love to troll Kise in my fics, because he's just so trollable I can't resist, I also want to give room for his insecurities and further growth. I also like to write him, because I think there are many things Kuroko can learn from him if he stops resisting it. I personally understand why Kise's way of expressing himself slows down that process with someone like Kuroko but I would really like to see them improve their communication beyond what canon did. I would like to see Kuroko ask and accept direct help from Kise in some things and I would also like to see Kise resist the urge to turn it into a personal show. I think they could have a lot more fun together if both got a little bit more over themselves.

I have really fun plans for Kise in my stories, actually I'm just about to write him in a much bigger role than I have until now, so that's gonna be interesting, and I think it will overall highlight the best aspects of his character and his growth.

#knb #30 day challenge #favourite member of kaijo #kise

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hardpacker · 4 months

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watched a Video Online (personal rarity) about autistic friendships, how they're structured in the mind. i don't normally feel so stirred by Online Mental Health type joints but this was like last week and i'm still thinking about it. it felt so so good to hear someone outline it, like, how when we become friends we are friends— there is a lasting warmth, a want to support— that doesn't rely on constant communication for upkeep. and i find myself really wishing i could be better about that because i know other people don't feel the same way, or what's foundational and formative in friendships is completely different from me, and i don't know how to tell what those things are and give them accordingly.

and doubly, how when someone latches onto me, or things about me that i wasn't aware of/feel counter to me as a person, it can be really distressing. like expressions of romantic feelings have always kinda unsettled me because there was really only 1 time (Anka) where i felt the person got me where we were sharing openly, and it was fun and comfortable because i felt heard, understood, like it was a mutual experience. when it's people who feel like strangers to me, who i know have nothing in common with me, with whom i've shared very few experiences, i don't fucking get that at all and i really wish it was socially permissible to tell them to Fuck Off. your misinterpretation of me isn't endearing! why are your feelings more important than the discomfort you've caused!

but anyway. with friends... if we've been around each other in close proximity a number of times, that goes a long way for me... remembering how and when people smile and laugh. or if we've been in close proximity online where i like, know your life, i know the core parts and i update them as necessary. but in that way sometimes i do worry about whether i'm remembering a person as they'd want to be remembered, if what seems key to me isn't to them, is negative even. i don't want to keep people shackled to an outdated misrepresentation when my ability to change and turn ideas over freely is so important to me.

i don't know if i'm introverted so much as anxious about the depletion of energy, but i do much better in social situations than lonely situations. i wonder if it seems obsessive to people who don't understand what i'm trying to express through the channels available to me. i miss so many people. i worry that i'll be separated from them forever. sometimes it feels so good to just not care, to give into passion and interest and ride that out, come what may... but i also kept little sprouts and strawberry emojis next to the names of people whose friendships i want to nurture. some of them really are gone for good. i tried but i don't know what trying looks like to other people, especially in the amorphous digital space. early in the pandemic people started having dinners together over facetime. i'd even try that. something easy. something to be busy with while enjoying each other's company. something relatively quick. no pressure.

i WANT to be known, and know. i want to drop the physical rigidity of masking, drop the voice, and talk and talk and talk. i want to be comfortable in a group of people who are funny and passionate and curious and crude and like to goof off and care for one another and just— a variety. easy. and have no problem with touch. i have a problem with touch— i never know when i'm supposed to hug someone. but i'd like more opportunities to try. i want to be a whole person among people.

i'm thinking about something Araki said, that he's not sure how to be a whole person, but that he's been wanting to become one since he was a kid. but i think i'm whole. well, minus the enveloping affirming challenging presence of others. i know myself better through being part of the world. i hope i can do that again, and be welcomed.

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autistic-reptile · 4 years

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I hate when people think that because I’m proud of being autistic it means I must think being awkward is cute or funny or quirky.

my awkwardness is not cute, it’s anxiety-inducing for me and off-putting to others. I don’t come across as quirky, I come across as disinterested, uncomfortable, mean, stupid. it makes me unable to articulate my thoughts or communicate the way I want to. it keeps me from making friends, from branching out, from getting jobs. it makes words come out wrong and makes me scramble to explain myself in fear of being seen as even more off-putting than I already was. it’s not charming, it’s goddamn embarrassing. as much as we all love our favorite awkward characters in media, it’s not well received in real life.

so honestly? if I actually DO do something that’s kinda cute or endearing because of my autism? let me have it. let me have that one thing. cause the rest of it ain’t cute.

#my post #vent #actually autistic #actuallyautistic #autism #autistic #autism spectrum disorder #asd

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soft-ris · 3 years

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📻cp event, im introverted and very shy but open up more around my friends. i like joking around and making people laugh at at least a few people think im funny, ive also been described as kind of eccentric. i sort of go through phases where ill be really interested in something for like a week and then move on to something else by the next week lmao, but i pretty consistently like video games, bugs, and creepy stuff. i like sharing random interesting facts but sometimes they can be morbid. 1/2

im autistic and have some pretty bad mental health problems so whoever im with would have to deal with that kind of stuff. im also very touch starved and crave physical affection a lot lmao. some of my other interests are astronomy, nuclear energy and renewable energy even though idk much about any of them yet. for the 3 characters im picking bruno, mista and risotto. i hope this is enough im not super good at describing myself 👉👈 WAIT i change my mind for my top 3 if thats ok, i want either bruno mista or polnareff (part 3 pol). im sorry ris

———————————————————————

Cupid’s Pick for your match made in heaven is...

... Bruno!

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I’m autistic and have some pretty bad mental health problems so whoever I’m with would have to deal with that kind of stuff.

I matched you with Bruno specifically because while Mista and Polnareff cares for and are loyal to the people they consider family or friends, the both of them are the type to be taken care of rather than taking care of others. They care for you, that’s for sure, but they aren’t as good with trying to take care of you compared to Bruno.

Bruno has been putting many people ahead of himself for a very long time. He has a really big heart and has the capacities and abilities to be this way, so by default, Bruno would know how to tend to your needs better than Mista or Polnareff.

Bruno also always knows what to say, and he also has the resolve to see things through no matter what as long as it’s for a good cause. Mista and Polnareff imo is a bit clumsier in that aspect

I’m introverted and very shy but open up more around my friends.

Both Mista and Polnareff are seen to be more sociable than Bruno, which is great in breaking the ice, but that may be uncomfortable for some because they’re just immediately friendly (if they don’t suspect you). They don’t mean any harm ofc, but Bruno is just gentler than they are in his social skills. He’s literally the perfect gentleman and friendly figure to ease you into opening up because he’s observant enough to know what to say at what moment.

Bruno also has the ability to reign others in if he notices you being uncomfortable at some of the others’ extroversion. He also seems like the type to successfully help you be more open (without making you too uncomfortable) with his own friends and family.

I like sharing random interesting facts but sometimes they can be morbid.

I see you getting along well with Mista with this because he tends to share odd or morbid thoughts and theories himself. 10/10 in conversations revolving interesting facts because he would take those facts and turn it into a conspiracy theory involving something off the walls lol

Bruno would listen and try to share the facts he knows too, and also would dispel some if he has first-hand experience knowing it’s not true.

Polnareff looks like the type to enjoy perverted facts more than morbid facts tbh lol, but he is very impressed that you know so many things

I’ve also been described as kind of eccentric.

All three of time have no problem with this because I mean look at them? Or well, look at their stands?? To non-stand users, these 3 literally just look like they’re getting punched in the face or turned into an old man for NO reason LMAO

Bruno especially has no issue with this because he’s not the most ‘normal’ too, and he’s practically adopted a bunch of other people who don’t look or act the more ‘normal’ either, so you’re in pretty good hands with him because he doesn’t judge you like that

I sort of go through phases where I’ll be really interested in something for like a week and then move on to something else by the next week lmao, but i pretty consistently like video games, bugs, and creepy stuff. Some of my other interests are astronomy, nuclear energy and renewable energy even though idk much about any of them yet.

Bruno would indulge in your interests the most imo.

I can see him encouraging you to learn about your interests and even learn with you (if he has the time). But his ideal is motivating you to learn and then have you tell him all about it. I can see him as the type of person who loves it when you start talking about what you’re interested in.

Doesn’t mind joining you when you’re playing video games too! Although, ya gotta have patience with him on this because imo he’s not the most skilled when it comes to gaming

He’s also not that judgmental or creeped out with your enjoyment of bugs and creepy stuff. He seen worse in person, has actually killed people, so it doesn’t shake him when you tell or show him those kinda things.

I like joking around and making people laugh, at least a few people think I’m funny.

I can see all of them enjoying this trait of yours, but Bruno especially.

He likes that you want to make others laugh, and thinks its endearing that you want to make him laugh and feel joyful. Fills his heart up honestly because he’s always thinking of others, so the fact that you’re thinking of him and trying to bring joy into his and others’ lives? His heart swells at that, at the implied sweetness with this trait, whether your joke is a hit with him or not.

I’m also very touch starved and crave physical affection a lot lmao.

As long as you communicate this with Bruno, he will (try his best to) deliver. I see him as not minding PDA at all too, in fact it comes naturally to him, so he’ll always be touching you somehow in public (holding hands, his hand on your back, letting you loop your arm with his, etc.). I also HC him as someone who has lot of love to give, so once you let him know this fact, he’ll be sure to remedy it and channel most of his love to you in physical touch.

#jjba #jojo #jojo’s bizarre adventure #golden wind #vento aureo #bruno buccellati #bruno buccerati #cupids_pick

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cllynchauthor · 5 years

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That post you made was a mess, just fyi. 1) I went through the thread you linked, and I found the authors reasonable and respectable. The playwriter's worked with people with disabilities for 10 years, and it's clear he cares about the issue. 2) The fact Lawrence is a puppy isn't automatically pejorative. That's how art works. I haven't seen the play, but it's probably a metaphor for the teen's lack of agency or something like that. Also writing something a certain way doesn't mean you -

“- approve of it. Have you even seen the play? 3) Please stop pretending anyone represents the autistic community and that you guys speak with one voice. It’s seriously dehumanizing to think a large and diverse group of people shares the same views. In that view there is an autistic man who loved the play - I guess his voice doesn’t count because he disagrees with you?”

I love this anon message because it contains pretty much every argument that people are using against the autistic folk protesting this play.

Like, I’ve been watching #puppetgate unfold since day one, read the reviews, read the responses from @allinarowplay. You think I haven’t heard these points before?

I’ve read them so many times now in tweets and reviews that your message just looks like one of those ransom notes that are made from cut and pasted words out of the newspaper.

But since Tumblr is new to #puppetgate, SURE, let’s address them!

First of all, my #puppetgate summary was a truthful, if flippant, tl;dr of the past two weeks’ worth of Twitter drama.

I apologize if my brief humorous take on a complex and nuanced debate didn’t meet the standards of a random stranger on the internet.

Let’s discuss it in more serious detail.

1) You can care about an issue and still handle it really poorly. No one doubts this playwright’s intentions. But, as you say, he was a CARER for 10 years. That doesn’t mean he understands how it feels to be autistic and in fact, ableism is built right into ABA and other therapies used by carers.

So yeah, he cares. And he still made an ableist play.

Also, the thread you mention was BELOW the video I linked to wherein the puppet designer says, and I quote:

“Laurence is non-verbal, and the power that puppets have is that they explore movement and with a turn of their head or a small movement they give life and character that you wouldn’t achieve with a human actor.”

Which is why I snidely summarized their position as

“ This puppet is going to be SO MUCH more like an autistic child than a human could ever be!”

https://twitter.com/allinarowplay/status/1092410318960148481

Also, there is a brief shot of their script in that video at 2:19 and if you pause it and look at it you can see that the parents are joking about how their kid is like a puppy.

“Shits wherever he wants” is clearly visible.

This is the stuff the positive reviews consider funny, honest, and brave.

According to reviews, the child is present in the background throughout most of the play. Which means they talk like this IN FRONT OF HIM and this is never brought up as an issue/problem.

In fact, non-autistic reviewers don’t even seem bothered by it, probably because they share the common misperception that non-verbal high needs autistic people don’t understand what is going on around them. So…. yeah. I don’t care how well meaning the playwright was.

The playwright consulted the National Autistic Society and they told him they couldn’t support the play “due to its portrayal of autism, particularly the use of a puppet to depict the autistic character alone.”

But he didn’t change his mind about the puppet.

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/critics-say-new-play-that-uses-a-puppet-to-portray-an-autistic-boy-dehumanises-those-with-the-condition/ar-BBTk5kC

So again - sure, maybe he cares. But he also wasn’t willing to change his vision despite the warnings of the Autism organization that he was hoping would endorse his play.

2) Of course a puppet isn’t inherently pejorative. For one thing, the autistic community is very positive about Julia, the autistic muppet on Sesame Street.

The outrage involves a lot more nuance than that. First of all, it’s the choice to make the puppet grey and ugly. This was obviously an artistic decision. The first version of the puppet has black hair too and no eyes, just dark sockets like a skull.

Not exactly Julia.

And even with that, I was on the fence and willing to wait for the reviews to come out before I made a judgement.

Like you, I thought perhaps it would be made clear in the play that his puppet-ness and greyness represented lack of agency. And maybe the designer was thinking that way.

But if that is the case, it does not come across.

In fact, the reviewers who enjoyed the play repeatedly dismiss the controversy by saying that the play “isn’t really about Laurence.”

https://www.timeout.com/london/theatre/all-in-a-row-review

“The production is also about the situation, rather than about Laurence himself.“

https://www.thereviewshub.com/all-in-a-row-southwark-playhouse-london/

“sadly the grey-faced puppet adds nothing to the production that a living actor – adult or child – could not have provided.”

I’ve read a LOT of reviews of this play by now.

Reviews from mothers of autistic children who feel a kinship with the stressed, unhappy, dysfunctional parents.

Reviews from people without a connection to autism who feel like they learned something.

Reviews from autistic people and disabled allies who cringe at the ableism.

None of them - NONE of them - allude to any kind of symbolism or thematic point running through the play which justifies or explains the puppet or its weird appearance.

And the reasons for the puppet given by the playwright, director, and playhouse make very little sense.

In that promotional video I linked to they say that the puppet can communicate better than an actor could. I disagree. So does a non-verbal autistic mime who commented in the thread below.

They also say that it allows them to avoid being offensive or stereotypical, which makes little sense because they still had a grown man grunting and flapping on stage, just with a puppet sprouting from his waist.

They repeatedly argued that they couldn’t use an autistic child, as if acting wasn’t even a thing. They repeatedly argued that a human actor couldn’t do the sounds and movements, even though a human puppeteer was doing just that.

My favourite one was the review (linked above) that argued that “Laurence isn’t a character a person could play (neurotypical or not) as his autism is so particular and at times violent.”

...Has this guy never seen Titus Andronicus?

A person can play ANYTHING.

On Broadway I have seen human actors play cats, lions, baboons, and witches.

On multiple occasions a fine-boned actress has been used to play Peter Pan. I’m pretty sure you could cast a small actor to play a pre-teen boy. Then the play wouldn’t have attracted so much negative attention.

As for “writing something a certain way doesn’t mean you approve of it.”

True.

My fans can tell you that my main character spouts a fair amount of ableism. They’ll also tell you that this flaw is addressed openly and resolved as part of her character arc.

They’ll ALSO also tell you that the “villains” of my story embrace ableist ideals. So yes, I wrote ableist stuff. But you can tell by the waythese things are framed how the writer wants you to feel about them.

No, I haven’t seen the play because I don’t live in the same country as it and it would take 12 hours to fly there. But I read what people write about it and I draw my own conclusions.

And the fact that ableist jokes are punchlines does not endear me to the playwright or the puppet.

You say you haven’t read the play, and from the sounds of it you haven’t read many reviews either.

If you think it’s wrong for me to criticize it after watching all of this unfold over days and days, and reading a dozen reviews by people who loved it and people who hated it, then how is it right for you to defend it?

3) Aw, look at that straw man lying on its side! You did a good job there.

Nowhere in my puppetgate summary do I claim that 100% of autistic people feel the same way.

I was summarizing what has been going down on Twitter over the past two weeks. I know because I was there. Don’t believe me? Actually spendsome time on the puppetgate hashtag and the actuallyautistic hashtag and see what people are saying.

And of course less than 100% of #actuallyautistic people feel the same, but I want to point out that at the time of this writing, my #puppetgate summary post has nearly 11K notes, all of them expressing disgust at the idea of this play.

Autistic people are disgusted. Autism allies are disgusted. Even people with no connection to autism can often see why this is effed up.

Yours was the only message I have received trying to defend the idea of a play featuring a messed up family arguing, discussing bukkake, calling their child a “puppy” using language which results in the play being rated as 16 plus... all in front of their eleven year old…

But what really bothers me is that somehow people come out of there identifying with the parents and thinking that it is “brave” and “honest.”

They blame autism for what it has done to this family.

THE DAD SHAT ON HIS WIFE’S PILLOW AND BLAMED IT ON HIS OWN SON.

And the really sad thing is that your lonely messages in my inbox didn’t contain a single unique thought. I’ve been seeing those tired excuses and straw man arguments all over twitter for weeks.

They don’t stand up.

I’ve performed in theatre. I was willing to withhold judgement until more details about the play emerged.

I was hoping they would say something brilliant and profound about what life is like for an eleven year old child with autism who is being sent away because his messed up family can’t stand it any more.

But facts are facts… they didn’t.

All they are doing is telling audience after audience that it is funny to insult your autistic child in his very presence and that autism wrecks marriages.

You can understand why a LOT of autistic people would be a bit sensitive about that kind of message.

It doesn’t have to be everyone.

#puppetgate #actuallyautistic

582 notes · View notes

blurringedges · 5 years

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Books of 2018

Here are a lift of the books I read in 2018!

31. The Image of You by Adele Parks

Starts with a bang and has an interesting twist at the end, but this thriller does drag a tiny bit.

30. The Rosie Effect by Graeme Simsion

It’s lovely to dive into this world again but the plot was not as developed as the first book and the relationship between Don and Rosie gets a bit too strained for my liking, especially when the pregnancy of Rosie is overlooked in her character development.

29. One Day in December by Josie Silver

Your staple rom-com. I think it would be great cinematically but a tiny bit too fluffy for my liking.

28. The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck by Mark Manson

An interesting concept to live your life by but I feel like it was a little too blunt for my liking.

27. The Understudy by David Nicholls

Another love triangle story. David Nicholls is a great writer and it’s always very interesting but I couldn’t connect to his characters as much as I could with his other books.

26. Turtles All The Way Down by John Green

An interesting adventure story from a great writer and I am love with Daisy, the best friend. I loved the exploration of OCD but it took me a while to get through.

25. The Note by Zoe Folbigg

Another rom-com type book based on real life! Although a tad bit fluffy, I found it rather an endearing read!

24. What Alice Forgot by Liane Moriarty

Alice wakes up in her new life with kids and an ex-husband. What does she do? An interesting take on marriage, love and responsibility. A great read.

23. The Penelopiad by Margaret Atwood

Fucking Helen. Enough said. Feminism and the Odyssey.

22. Women & Power by Mary Beard

Another examination of women in the ancient world and how that connects to today.

21. How To Stop Time by Matt Haig

Tom ages slowly. His hunt for love and for his daughter with warm your heart.

20. Life in Dance by Darcey Bussell

The examination of Darcey Bussell’s life as a ballerina whilst she was in the Royal Ballet. Very fascinating.

19. Fascination by William Boyd

A collection of stories about the human heart and sexuality. Wow.

18. The Freedom Writer’s Diary curated by Erin Gruwell

It follows a teacher and her student’s path to discovery. Some chapters really do take your breath away ,my god.

17. Far From The Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

Romantic and tragic and everything in-between

16. Best Foot Forward by Adam Hills

Because Adam Hills is one funny man and one good storyteller.

15. Kitchen by Banana Yoshimoto

The best book on grief I have ever read. Please, please read this.

14. Heartburn by Nora Ephron

A woman goes through a divorce whilst pregnant. Oh, she’s also robbed at gunpoint as well.

13. Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter

A poetic look on how grief effects the family. Told by a Raven.

12. When The Curtain Falls by Carrie Hope Fletcher

Two showmances cross over in this magical realism tale.Romantic yet cold and thrilling.

11. Girl with a Pearl Earring by Tracy Chevalier

I never get into historical fiction but this tale of womanhood took me away to another place.

10. The Next Together by Lauren James

This romantic sci-fi follows two soulmates who find each other and discover the conspiracy stacked up against them and their previous lives.

9. The Tattoist of Auschwitz by Heather Morris

Based on a true story, this tale of survival chronicles a couple who fall in love at first sight at Auschwitz.

8. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

This Australian romance follows a man who is on the Autistic Spectrum and his adventure for someone who ticks all the right boxes and will become his wife. But love sometimes happens even when your person doesn’t tick all of the right boxes.

7. Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell

This is about your first love. A man, is this real.

6. Promise Me Dad: A Year of Hope, Hardship and Purpose by Joe Biden

This chronicles Joe Biden’s last year with his son, Beau before he tragically died of cancer. A really important read about family, grief and hope.

5. Born A Crime: Stories From A South African Childhood by Trevor Noah

An interesting look as to what it meant to grow up Mixed Race for comedian Trevor Noah in South Africa.

4. For One More Day by Mitch Albom

A man gets one more day with his deceased mother. He learns an awful lot.

3. Only Child by Rhiannon Navin

A book showing the aftermath of a school shooting and the affect upon one particular family and the community surrounding. Heartbreaking and uplifting.

2. Feminists Don’t Wear Pink (And Other Lies) curated by Scarlett Curtis

Amazing ladies telling you what amazing feminism means to them.

1. This Is Going To Hurt: Secret Diaries of a Junior Doctor by Adam Kay

The hilarious, human and real stories of Adam Kay’s experience as a Junior Doctor in the NHS. Amazing. I couldn’t put it down.

1. How To Be Famous by Caitlin Moran

THIS IS JUST A BLOODY AMAZING BOOK PLEASE READ IT. IT IS SO FUNNY AND GREAT.

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aion-rsa · 3 years

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The Best TV Comedies of 2020

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Have we ever been in more need of a laugh than in 2020? Amidst a historic global pandemic, a tumultuous American political election, civil unrest, wildfires, MURDER HORNE… alright, you get the picture. 2020 has been the pits, man. Thankfully, this year from hell featured some bright spots on television, even if rays of sunshine were sorely lacking in reality.

If the shows on our list weren’t making us laugh, we would have been ugly-crying since March. While we were all locked in our homes, we got reacclimated with the Warner Brothers (and sister), said goodbye to BoJack Horseman, and met regular human bartender Jackie Daytona, making quarantine a bit more bearable, if only in 30 minute increments. From brand new series like How To with John Wilson, to swan songs for Den of Geek favorites like Schitt’s Creek, TV comedies in 2020 kept us cackling through the chaos.

To determine the best TV comedy of 2020 in a particularly stacked, diverse year, we polled 12 Den of Geek staffers and contributors. Below, you’ll find our honorable mentions and our list of the series most likely to raise your mood in the darkest year of our adventures.

Honorable Mentions

The following shows received votes but just missed out on the top 20:

Ramy, Never Have I Ever, Feel Good, The Great, Avenue 5, The Duchess, Staged, Famalam, Inside No. 9, Ghosts, The Shivering Truth, Bob’s Burgers, Katy Keene

DEN OF GEEK TOP 20 COMEDIES OF 2020

20 – Big Mouth (Netflix)

How long can a show about puberty, a very specific time in the life cycle, remain viable? Well based on the fourth season of Netflix’s animated comedy Big Mouth, just about as long as it wants to. Big Mouth season 4 succeeds by finding new avenues to delve into the psyches of its young characters going through chaaaaanges. In the process it also finds ways to expand its storytelling capabilities, delving into issues of trans youth, code switching, and anxiety. Through it all it remains as hilarious, and disturbingly vivid, as ever. – Alec Bojalad

19 – The Eric Andre Show (Adult Swim)

It’s not like Eric Andre reinvented the wheel or anything with the fifth season of his anarchic, absurdist talk show. If you were never a fan of anti-comedy that centers heavily around duping random people on the street, gross-out gags, and the torture of unsuspecting guests, then you’re not going to start liking it now.

However, for those of us already onboard The Eric Andre Show train, it’s no small feat that, five seasons in, this is still one of the funniest shows on TV. You’d think by now Eric would’ve run out of guests who have no idea what they’re in for, but, no, there’s an all-new batch of naive celebrities whose lives are effortlessly worsened by Eric, his crew, and his new house band. You’d assume he couldn’t prank people on the streets of New York City and Newark, New Jersey anymore because he’d be recognized by now, but, no, he pisses off a lot of people and breaks a lot of other people’s brains with ever-inventive, bizarre, obnoxious pranks.

Finally, you might think the series would suffer irrevocably from the departure of co-host Hannibal Buress only two episodes into the season, but Eric demonstrates he’s more than capable of spreading chaos all on his own (though he’s sometimes assisted, alternatingly, by a Hannibal clone named Blannibal, comedian Felipe Esparza, and Screen Actors Guild Awards nominee Lakeith Stanfield). Season five is the same The Eric Andre Show as it ever was, but that still makes me laugh harder than anything else on television right now. I’d be happy for Eric to keep making this show forever. – Joe Matar

18 – Saved by the Bell (Peacock)

A Saved by the Bell reboot shouldn’t have worked. But as Peacock’s recent series showcased, with the right creative team and angle, you really can successfully reimagine an outdated but beloved ’90s teen comedy for 2020. Working as both a soft reboot and sequel, this is meta-comedy at its best. Saved by the Bell is fully aware of what made the original special and why they don’t still make shows like it now. Juxtaposing those two competing views through the lens of the privileged and perfect Bayside kids and the new normal students makes this an accessible and seriously funny series with a biting humor rarely seen in teen comedy. – Rosie Knight

17 – Everything’s Gonna Be Okay (Freeform)

Australian comedian Josh Thomas brings his off-kilter sensibility to a loving and sharply funny portrait of a modern family in Everything’s Gonna Be Okay. In the pilot, Thomas’s character Nicholas, a gay twentysomething from Australia, visits his father in the US and learns that his physically and emotionally distant dad is dying. Things really pick up as Nicholas steps up to care for his two teenage half-sisters, Matilda (Kayla Cromer) and Genevieve (Maeva Press), while also trying to date, and manage his melodramatic mother from the other side of the planet.

Matilda especially comes into her own as she hopes to go to college away from home next year— something others doubt since she’s autistic. Her autism is a reality that becomes part of the fabric of the show, a setup rather than a punchline. Few shows would include a teenage threesome that manages to be funny, heartfelt, and matter-of-fact, but in Matilda’s world, sex (and exploring her sexuality) are often all three. Everything’s Gonna Be Okay is a family show that acknowledges the realities of family: death, disabilities, teenage girls with sex drives, and laughter at funerals. – Delia Harrington

16 – Star Trek: Lower Decks (CBS All Access)

Created by one of the writer/producers of Rick and Morty, it’s no surprise that the first episode of Lower Decks involved some pretty broad humor and wildly out of control situations. The producers of the 1970s Star Trek: The Animated Series understood the creative potential of animation when they replaced Ensign Chekov with a giant cat, and Lower Decks follows suit, the pilot giving us blood, guts, gore, zombies and a giant spider, all in Rick and Morty’s madcap tone.

As the show has developed over its first ten episodes, though, it’s become something more than that. The knowing humor is a delight—the focus on things like “second contact” (the less glamorous setting up of diplomatic relations after first contact), ascensions to a higher plane of existence gone wrong, and re-visiting half-forgotten alien races like the Pakleds shows the same sort of gently teasing love of the franchise that Galaxy Quest did. But the characters have also developed into real, complex people to the point that a character death is genuinely moving, and the audience are really able to care about what happens to these essential cogs in Starfleet’s machine next. – Juliette Harrison

15 – Solar Opposites (Hulu)

A big part of what makes Rick and Morty so great is that, in addition to all the sci-fi hijinks, there’s meaningful development of the show’s characters and world. Unfortunately, as the series has progressed, this is also what’s dragged it down. As Rick’s nihilism has increasingly alienated the people around him, a lot of the fun has been lost. The show still puts out the occasional brilliant episode (for example, the season four finale), but it almost feels like all the characters on Rick and Morty straight-up hate each other and watching it can be kind of a drag sometimes.

It’s such a treat then, to see all that fun sci-fi silliness rebirthed in the form of Solar Opposites, co-created by Justin Roiland and Mike McMahan (Rick and Morty co-creator and writer/producer, respectively). Making good use of all the storytelling lessons they learned from their other sci-fi cartoon show, the two have released a confident and consistently funny debut season. Though it feels awfully similar to Rick and Morty at first blush, it has more in common with classic sitcoms, with its focus on goofy, self-contained plots about the alien family at the show’s center. However, the series shakes the sitcom formula up a lot with a surprising dedication to callbacks and continuity, most notably exemplified by the continuing, dramatic tribulations of a community of people who have been shrunken down and forced to live in the aliens’ multilevel terrarium. The combination of madcap sci-fi alien plots contrasted with the trials of the melodramatic dystopian shrunken-people world makes Solar Opposites one of the most inventive comedies of the season, and I’m excited to find out where it’s going next. – Joe Matar

14 – Dave (FX)

There are countless hip-hop artists whose backstories would make for compelling television. So why did FX choose to spotlight a goofball white rapper from the suburbs with a mediocre penis joke for a stage name? It takes only one episode to realize any preconceived notions about Dave, based on the life and rap career of Dave Burd, aka Lil Dickey, should be spit from your silly mouth faster than Lil Dickey spits bars on a freestyle.

A telling sign that Dave was going to be a sleeper hit was the involvement of co-creator Jeff Schaffer, a longtime EP and writer on Curb Your Enthusiasm and the creator of FX’s The League. Together Schaffer and Burd mapped out a first season that sees Dave navigate the early stages of his music career with a level of narcissism he believes is needed to be taken seriously in the rap game. But the series also shows another side of Dave, self-deprecating in a surprisingly endearing way, rarely swayed by what others think, and frustratingly true to himself and the path he sees for his life. This is FX’s star vehicle for Burd, but the show manages to make him the center of the universe while still developing key players in his life as the season progresses, giving each character an affecting spotlight episode. The standouts include episodes about Dave’s real-life friend and hype man GaTa and his struggles with bipolar disorder, the evolving managerial relationship with his roommate (Andrew Santino), and how sudden fame begins to erode a once promising relationship with his girlfriend, Ali (Taylor Misiak).

Already renewed for season 2 and a ratings hit with FX/Hulu reporting high streaming numbers, Dave is no longer an underdog and will carry a new set of expectations as the titular character’s career ascends. If you’re still a skeptic, you need to adhere to television’s golden rule when it comes to Dave: Don’t judge it until you binge it. – Chris Longo

13 – Brooklyn Nine-Nine (Fox)

At only 13 episodes, Season 7 was the shortest season yet of Brooklyn Nine-Nine, but it packed a lot into those 13 half-hours. With Melissa Fumero pregnant in real life, the writers used this to cover six months in series by following Jake and Amy’s attempts to conceive a baby, helping those limited episodes to feel like they were filling out more time. The show has also struggled to work in its annual Halloween Heist episodes since moving to NBC and being put into a winter start slot, but in 2020 Rosa managed to triple her victory by engineering Heists on not just Halloween, but Valentine’s Day and Easter as well.

Season 7 aired too early to deal with the Black Lives Matter protests that dominated the summer of 2020, but the writers have already pulled all their planned scripts for Season 8 and re-written them in light of those events, so that is yet to come. 2020 had a little bit of everything that makes B99 great—a dose of Pimento, Jake and his daddy issues, Holt’s adorable corgi Cheddar, and one final appearance from his nemesis Madeline Wuntch. For once, the season didn’t end with Holt somehow being removed from his job as Captain of the 99, but there’s still plenty to look forward to in Season 8—maybe 2021 will be the year that Charles Boyle finally wins the Halloween/Valentine’s Day/Easter/Cinco de Mayo Heist? – Juliette Harrison

12 – Animaniacs (Hulu)

Rampant remakes and sequel reboots have turned into the norm, but streaming services have especially embraced this idea as a way to anchor a library of programming. These endeavors are extremely hit or miss, but Hulu’s revival of Animaniacs is one of the few exceptions that feel justified for a return. Animaniacs always functioned as a radical cocktail of perversions of pop culture and classic comedy and 2020’s Animaniacs actively thrives with decades’ worth of new material to lampoon. The series has stripped itself back to its basics and temporarily removed most of the old supporting players, except for Pinky and the Brain, but this allows Animaniacs to build itself back up and establish new recurring characters and segments.

There’s such clear joy present in Animaniacs, whether it’s from the voice actors, the creative staff, or the animation team. Segments like an unauthorized Russian version of the Animaniacs or catchy songs about Shakespeare and the different First Ladies of America prove that the classic series’ sense of humor has successfully been maintained. If anything, the cartoon is even more fearless. It’s the perfect burst of ‘90s Saturday Morning nostalgia that’s also exceptionally funny and thought provoking. – Daniel Kurland

11 – Rick and Morty (Adult Swim)

Rick and Morty is a colossal behemoth of storytelling that’s developed a fascinating and often antagonistic relationship with its audience. 2020’s Rick and Morty content only includes five episodes from the second half of the show’s fourth season, but they’re some of the series’ wildest installments when it comes to storytelling, perpetual jokes, and the show’s ability to deconstruct itself and its fandom. The series Emmy-winning “Vat of Acid Episode” explores the emotional highs and lows of “save states” while “Never Ricking Morty,” the show’s “Story Train” episode, is perhaps the most structure-obsessed piece of television that’s ever been written.

Rick and Morty continues to expand its universe in exciting ways and allow its characters to realistically mature. These episodes provide fascinating insight on both Rick’s relationship with Morty as well as his bond with Beth. Even Jerry and Summer get their moments to shine and Rick and Morty feels more like an ensemble than ever before as it prepares to shake things up even more in season five. – Daniel Kurland

10 – Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun (Netflix)

In 2019, Netflix gave us I Think You Should Leave, the sketch comedy series from Tim Robinson that birthed memes that somehow only get more relevant (and funnier) as time goes on. In 2020, Netflix, likely mindful they needed to hold us over until Robinson finishes filming season 2, gave us a gift from down under called Aunty Donna’s Big Ol’ House of Fun. If you liked Robinson’s sketch series, imagine that on crack, dialed up to 100, and featuring the three silliest Australian dudes to ever walk on that continent. The series stars Mark Bonanno, Broden Kelly, and Zachary Ruane, a group of friends who formed a comedy group called Aunty Donna and gained a large following on YouTube with their absurdist humor that features simple premises that often descend into frenetic madness. See: them explaining how a board game works or doing roll call at school.

In Big Ol’ House of Fun, the series opens with a musical number that will have you wondering whether everything’s a drum. Episode 2 will change the way you think about your morning coffee. Friendly faces like Scott Aukerman and Ed Helms (or is it “Egg” Helms?) even stop by just to play ball. Through its infectious and (mostly) good-natured absurdist energy, the series lives up to its name with endlessly quotable and memable sketches. And much like I Think You Should Leave, Aunty Donna material only gets better when you rewatch it. Here’s to hoping Netflix will let us come back and visit this Big Ol’ House again for season 2. – Chris Longo

9 – Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet (Apple TV+)

Created by Rob McElhenney, David Hornsby, and Megan Ganz of It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia fame, Mythic Quest: Raven’s Banquet is a new Apple TV+ comedy that easily justifies a subscription to the streaming service. Set within a video game studio for a popular MMORPG, Mythic Quest leans into certain workplace comedy tropes, but never feels derivative of the genre or that it’s just Always Sunny with a fresh coat of paint. The comedy effectively explores and skewers gaming culture, but a knowledge of the industry is not at all necessary to enjoy the program.

Smart and creative scripts are punctuated by the show’s phenomenal cast, which features the likes of McElhenney, Hornsby, and Danny Pudi. However, Charlotte Nicdao’s work as Poppy Li, the studio’s neurotic perfectionist lead engineer, is a revelation. Mythic Quest works so well because of how it grounds its quick comedy in powerful character dynamics. The series’ “standalone” flashback episode, “A Dark Quiet Death,” received a ton of acclaim, but there are few episodes of television from 2020 that contain more heart and honesty than the series’ quarantine-centric installment. – Daniel Kurland

8- Search Party (HBO Max)

HBO Max’s first bingeable, bonafide hit was outsourced from TBS. After languishing on basic cable with critical praise but low viewership, Search Party made the move to the new Warner streaming service for Season 3 and proved that the series was the perfect “watch it all in one afternoon” comedy. What began as a comedic mystery series about a group of prototypical Brooklyn millenials on a quest to find their missing former classmate shifted in its third season to become a satire on celebrity trials and how tabloid spotlight can turn unassuming people into sociopathic narcissists.

Search Party’s strength is in its ensemble. Alia Shawkat brings an interesting vulnerability to disaffected Dory, but her other “searchers” are the real bright spots. John Reynolds is perfectly cast as the de facto worthless millennial “beta male,” and John Early and Meredith Hagner are consistently laugh out loud funny as self-obsessed, attention seeking airheads. Search Party has a twisty, interesting plot, but it’s also a scathing indictment on an entire generation obsessed with celebrity, self-analyzation, and searching for “meaning.” If you have not yet watched one of the year’s funniest shows, get caught up before Season 4 debuts in January 2021. – Nick Harley

7- How To with John Wilson (HBO)

Life is strange. If you take a moment to actually watch and analyze many of the seemingly ordinary, day-to-day things you witness while walking down the street in a major U.S. city, you’ll be shocked at how alien it can all appear. In New York City in particular, every imaginable human behavior is on display somewhere, and documentarian John Wilson is out there capturing it all on camera. How To With John Wilson may seem like a series designed to teach you useful everyday skills like how to split a check or how to improve your memory, but in reality, it’s a love letter to New York, in all of its beautiful, ugly, life-affirming, and soul-crushing splendor.

It’s also insanely hilarious. Wilson’s deadpan, stammering narration on top of quick cut, slice of life footage is an endlessly watchable setup-punchline joke machine. Wilson also is wise to go down the rabbit hole and follow weird digressions wherever they lead him, like a Mandela Effect conference or the home of an anti-circumcision activist. Further, the series finale is the first piece of television to fully capture the reality of post-pandemic city life, putting to shame all of those half-assed Zoom created depictions of life in 2020. Few shows can effortlessly glide between cringe comedy and poignant moments like this. How To with John Wilson is unlike any other show on television, an absurdist masterpiece that makes the mundane feel surreal and vice versa. – Nick Harley

6- High Fidelity (Hulu)

In a time full of reboots and remakes, High Fidelity earned its existence and then some. To its many admirers, it warranted a second season for more eclectic music choices, guest stars, and beautiful lingering shots over the credits. Sadly, that is not meant to be. Hulu’s High Fidelity is so much more than just a gender-swapped adaptation, though Zoe Kravitz leads the endeavor in the lead role of Rob, the idiosyncratic record store owner counting off Top 5s, especially her Top 5 heartbreaks.

Rob’s rich world is full of characters we’d love to spend more time with, like snarky Cherise, she of the eclectic taste who keeps putting off her musical dreams for “someday.” Or Simon, Rob’s ex and current best friend, who narrates an episode that completely changes how the audience views Rob. Zoe Kravitz carries this beautiful mood piece, sharing chemistry with just about everyone. While it seems relaxed and fun on arrival, High Fidelity eventually reveals itself to have plenty to say about being accountable for our actions and allowing oneself to be happy, before wrapping Rob in a warm summer night and sending her on her way. – Delia Harrington

5- Pen15 (Hulu)

The debut season of Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle’s brilliant series in which they, two adult women, play middle-schoolers surrounded by actual kid actors playing their classmates, was, in my opinion, the funniest show last year, but, as I didn’t actually get around to watching it until this year, I didn’t know that at the time. Rectifying my past mistake, this year—despite the fact it’s only aired half a season so far due to production being halted by COVID—it’s not just my favorite comedy, it’s my favorite show, period.

Though it still has its fair share of laugh-out-loud moments, the comedy in the second season has, admittedly, been scaled back a bit, but it makes perfect sense for where Pen15 is right now. From the start, what the series has done painfully well is zero in on the utter nightmare of living through our stressful and confusing pubescent years. As the series deepens its exploration of these characters’ experiences with friendship, romance, sexuality, the internet, and the impact of divorce, the stress and confusion should and absolutely do ratchet up. This season is also doing a great job of further developing the show’s side characters, with a standout arc for Dylan Gage as Gabe, who is grappling with the discovery that he may be gay. Though it’s still a hilarious series in places, Pen15 most wins me over most for how uncomfortable and tragic it can be with its stunningly well-observed depiction of surviving junior high. The secondhand shame and embarrassment you’ll feel makes it one of the toughest, but most worthwhile, watches of the year. – Joe Matar

4 – Ted Lasso (Apple TV+)

Jason Sudeikis’s Ted Lasso first originated as a character back in 2013, when NBC Sports commissioned a commercial for its upcoming coverage of the English Premier League. “An American Coach in London” introduced the concept of an American football coach deciding to try his hand coaching “the other football” with top flight club Tottenham Hotspur. It was a hilarious five minute clip that seemingly exploited the “fish out of water” concept to its natural conclusion.

The character seemed destined to be a one-off goof. But then Sudeikis and producer Bill Lawrence decided to try their hand at the overmatched coach one more time with a series for Apple TV+. The end result was one of the most essential new comedies of the 2020 TV season. Ted Lasso works because its’ funny, first and foremost. The show proves that this fish still had plenty of more time to spend out of water after all. More important, however, is how aggressively wholesome and optimistic it is. In a year that saw ugly Americans all over over TV screens, Ted Lasso represented the stars and bars the only way he knew how: by believing in the best of people from aging football star Roy Kent, to selfish young buck Jamie Tart, to even the woman who got him this job in the first place as an elaborate revenge plot. – Alec Bojalad

3 – Schitt’s Creek (Pop)

If Schitt’s Creek were a fairy tale (and in all the best ways, it is), it’d be about a group of puppets brought to life by a magic spell. When the Roses lose their fortune, they’re forced to swap wealth and glamour for unfashionable small-town living. They start out wooden, obnoxious and alone. Then, over six seasons, we watch them transform into a flesh and blood family who figure out how to love each other in a community that’s as weird as they are, and that ends up loving them back.

If that sounds schmaltzy, then I’m saying it wrong. Schitt’s Creek doesn’t do schmaltz. It does smart and absurd and naughty. It does jokes and brightness and kindness. Or it did, because now it’s gone. 2020 waved Johnny, Moira, David and Alexis off with a final season packed with treats: Patrick’s spray tan, David’s bed-wetting, the world premiere of “The Crows Have Eyes III: The Crowening”, Moira officiating a wedding dressed in a Rapunzel wig and pearlised bishop’s mitre…

However painful it was to say goodbye, the alternative – another six seasons with diminishing returns – would have been much worse. Dan and Eugene Levy’s sitcom went out on a high, with a finale that left fans in joyful tears. Not least for moments like the one in which a usually armoured-by-sarcasm David tells his sister, “For what it’s worth, I am continuously impressed by you.” The feeling’s mutual, Roses. – Louisa Mellor

2- BoJack Horseman (Netflix)

Though BoJack Horseman premiered only the back half of its final season in 2020, those eight episodes were some of the best dramatic and comedic storytelling on television this year. This final season operated as almost a microcosm of the series’ entire run. Just like the show’s beginning, season 6B begins with BoJack in a place of relative stability. He has just finished rehab and is prepared to embark on a career as an acting professor at Wesleyan. Of course, something from his past has to pop up to shatter his fragile equilibrium, just like it always does. In this case, it’s a pair of journalists working on a story of what really happened the night Sarah Lynn died back in season 3. What follows is as sadly predictable as it is tragic… also there are jokes!

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BoJack Horseman has been a frequently occurring item on many of our year-end best-of lists since the show first premiered in 2014. And each time, it’s hard not to continually expound upon what a bizarre, touching, and incisive drama Rapahel Bob-Waksberg’s animated creation is. That temptation remains for this final season, which is as devastating as they come. But this year, for the show’s final appearance on any of our best-of lists, let’s not lose sight of how funny this all is.

Yes, this is an exploration of the human condition and how the only way to repair our damage is to acknowledge it and then put in the work to get better. It’s also the show where Mr. Peanutbutter, his fiancée Pickles Aplenty, and international pop superstar Joey Pogo open up a Lazy Susan/small plate restaurant called “Elifino.” The animation remains just as bright in this final season, the dialogue just as witty and convoluted, and the background jokes just as rewarding. BoJack Horseman season 6 shoulders a grand narrative burden of closing out the story of the world’s most miserable Horseman. That it is able to do so is remarkable. That it’s able to do so while maintaining its sharp sense of humor is even better. – Alec Bojalad

1- What We Do in the Shadows (FX)

Adapting a beloved indie comedy film to the small screen seems a near impossible task. But when Taika Waititi convinced Jemaine Clement they should do exactly that, it was a stroke of genius. With Waititi busy on his Marvel movies, Clement was left to write and produce the FX series alongside Stefani Robinson and Paul Simms. What We Do in the Shadows began with a solidly silly first season but came into its own during a stellar second season which leaned into the absurdity innate to the idea of ancient vampire roommates. The series has also given us a new action hero for the ages in Harvey Guillén’s Guillermo de la Cruz.

What makes season two so excellent is the writing and performances that play on the fish out of water setup the show has so much fun with. In “The Curse,” Nandor checks his email and discovers a chain email from Bloody Mary. Most of the hilarious runtime focuses on the crew trying to uncurse themselves. It sounds simple but it is honestly one of the funniest episodes of TV you’ll watch all year. “The Curse” is only topped by “On the Run,” which allows Matt Berry to go full Matt Berry as Laszlo leaves the nest and becomes a bartender, Jackie Daytona, who loves girls volleyball in smalltown America. It’s a pitch perfect riff on feel good sports movies while also being hysterically funny. It’s still a complete crime that Robinson didn’t win the Emmy for this one.

But the real power of What We Do in the Shadows is its heart. Even within the broad comedy, genre parodies, and often gross out humor, this is a show about love, family, and friendship. Guillermo’s arc feels radical and boundary-pushing. It’s so well built in from the very first season that it’s also incredibly satisfying. This is the kind of comedy we need more of: inclusive, intelligent, and most importantly just really, really, f**king funny. – Rosie Knight

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