After a 2020 that often struggled to find humor in our new, dark reality, comedy came roaring back in a big way this year.
2021 found comedians back on stage, comedy shows back in production, and artists creating work that was at times provocative and transcendent. There were empathetic performances that comforted us, and those that made us think about the world around us from an entirely new perspective.
So once again, we convened for a special episode of The Last Laugh podcast to discuss our favorite comedy performances and then share our full top 10 lists below.
Matt Wilstein
10. Ziwe Fumudoh in Ziwe
After breaking out on Instagram Live in 2020 with her deliberately uncomfortable interviews with oblivious white women like Alison Roman and Caroline Calloway, comedian and writer Ziwe Fumudoh had an even bigger 2021. Her year was bookended by the debut of her excellent new self-titled Showtime series—including the most hilarious Fran Lebowitz interview in a year of many—and a welcome cameo on Succession in which she turned her ire on Kendall Roy. But it was her era-defining “Stop Being Poor” music video with Patti Harrison that rose above the rest.
9. Amrit Kaur in The Sex Lives of College Girls
The best comedic performances in any given year are often from people who seemingly come out of nowhere and instantly make you feel like they’ve been there the whole time. And that is certainly true of Amrit Kaur, the stand-out star of Mindy Kaling’s new HBO Max series. As Bela, the second-generation Indian-American teenager who desperately wants to be accepted by her Ivy League college’s mostly white, male humor magazine, Kaur steals nearly every scene she’s in with her outsized, sex-positive confidence. Either this is what Kaling actually acted like in college or it’s an aspirational portrayal that only this exceedingly talented newcomer could pull off.
8. Molly Shannon in The Other Two and The White Lotus
Molly Shannon is never not brilliant, and the SNL alum had more than one opportunity to show off her gifts this year. Shannon took center stage in the second season of The Other Two, now on HBO Max, and stole scene after scene as the hardest working host in daytime TV. (I particularly enjoyed the episode in which she is forced to walk the fashion runway in a cross between a white hoodie and a formal wedding gown and legitimately forgets where she is.) On top of that, Shannon swooped into the final few episodes of the year’s second-funniest drama, The White Lotus, to play the world’s worst mother-in-law. With a new memoir titled Hello, Molly! coming next year, Shannon thankfully shows no signs of slowing down.
7. Rose Matafeo in Starstruck
For anyone wondering where all the great rom-coms have gone, look no further than New Zealand comedian Rose Matafeo’s debut BBC series (available in the U.S. on HBO Max). With six 20-minute episodes set in London over the course of one year, it’s basically a perfect two-hour movie that you can devour in one sitting. The second Matafeo dances her way out of a one-night stand on a houseboat to “Return of the Mack,” you will be hooked.
6. Comedian CP in Love Life
Speaking of rom-com TV shows on HBO Max, Love Life managed a major glow-up in season 2 this year thanks to delightful performances from William Jackson Harper, Jessica Williams, Punkie Johnson, and especially Christopher Powell, who earns his “Comedian CP” moniker by being so damn funny every time he’s on screen.
5. Renée Elise Goldsberry in Girls5eva
There’s no logical reason why Girls5eva, a Peacock show about a Spice Girls-esque girl group reuniting 20 years later, should have worked as well as it did. But between the pitch-perfect songs by creator Tina Fey’s husband Jeff Richmond (“New York Lonely Boy” 4 life!) and an unexpectedly hilarious performance by Hamilton alum Renée Elise Goldsberry as a wannabe Beyoncé, the show delivered more laughs per minute than pretty much any comedy since 30 Rock.
4. Tiffany Haddish in Bad Trip
This was the year comedian Tiffany Haddish tried her hand at drama in films like Here Today and The Card Counter. But for my money, her realest turn came as an escaped convict in Eric Andre’s gonzo Netflix movie Bad Trip. The scene in which Haddish’s character emerges from underneath a prison bus and convinces a stranger on the street to be her “lookout” is one of the most astonishing moments of real-life comedy in years.
3. Bobby Lee in Reservation Dogs
I feel a little weird highlighting one of the only non-Native actors on a show that revolutionized Native American comedy. But while the four teenagers at the center of Sterlin Harjo’s stunning TV debut—especially Paulina Alexis’ Willie Jack—made me tear up as often as they made me laugh, comedian and MADtv alum Bobby Lee had by far the highest hit rate in his one episode as the reservation’s “everything doctor.” If he doesn’t at least get nominated for a guest actor award at next year’s Emmys, something is deeply wrong with the world.
2. Megan Stalter in Hacks
In the best new comedy series of 2021, no one made me laugh harder than Megan Stalter as Hollywood’s most incompetent assistant, Kayla. Stalter first broke through as a sensation on Instagram, where she’s still pumping out killer content like her impression of someone who lives in New York and “woman who doesn’t realize she joined a cult.” But Hacks gave her even more room to shine, and her star is only rising, landing a coveted spot in Amazon’s Yearly Departed year-end comedy showcase.
1. Bo Burnham in Inside
“Hey, what can you say? We were overdue. But it will be over soon. Just wait.” There were no truer words earnestly sung by a comedian alone in his room during a pandemic in 2021. Bo Burnham’s meta special Inside took Netflix, the internet, and the world by storm this year as the simultaneously funniest and darkest examination of isolation and what it feels like to be alive right now. For every existential cry for help like “That Funny Feeling” and “All Eyes on Me,” there were genuinely laugh-out-loud moments like Burnham’s ode to Jeff Bezos (“You did it!”) and the most spot-on summation of our “everything all of the time” lives that only got more online this year.
Laura Bradley
10. Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez in the press
Bennifer’s return has been the gift that keeps on giving this year. From their re-enactment of Ben’s butt grab in “Jenny From the Block” to their tarmac makeout, these two have been having the time of their lives trolling us, jointly creating one of the funniest performances of the year. Is Glow By JLo poised for a comeback in the fragrance world? Is a reboot of Gigli next? Now that Bennifer’s back, I’m ready to believe in miracles again.
9. Oscar Isaac in Dune
I’m pretty sure it starts with the beard and emanates from there. Has modern cinema seen energy as singular, as potent, as utterly compelling as Oscar Isaac playing Leto Atreides in Dune? Each and every time he says “desert power”—which, you’ll be shocked and delighted to learn, happens more than once or even twice!—Isaac’s power grows stronger. Beyond that resplendent beard, the key to his performance is the utter conviction with which he approaches it—even when the dialogue would make lesser actors resort to winking.
8. Steve Martin in Only Murders in the Building
Even just Steve Martin’s finale performance on Hulu’s funniest new show would have earned a spot on this list. The series finds Martin, Selena Gomez, and Martin Short teaming up to figure out who murdered one of their neighbors, and in its last episode, Martin revisits his most memorable physical comedy work—like 1984’s All of Me—as his character struggles to overcome paralysis by poison. As Martin flops around on the ground and clumsily crawls into the elevator, one thing is clear: He’s still got it.
7. Rachel Sennott in Shiva Baby
An indie comedy set entirely at a Jewish funeral service, Shiva Baby is a star-making performance for Rachel Sennott, who seamlessly toggles between bemusement and despair as fledgling sugar baby Danielle. Most memorial services are naturally emotional and sometimes fraught, and compounding Danielle’s grief is the presence of not only her childhood best friend and ex, Maya, but also her new sugar daddy. (Did I mention she’s attending this family service with her parents?) Sennott’s emotional fluency grounds a film stressful enough to rival Uncut Gems, with each and every one of her blank stares more wry and revealing than the last.
6. Lady Gaga in House of Gucci
Almost everyone in House of Gucci seemed to be acting in a different movie, and Lady Gaga starred in the most fun of all of them. All camp and no restraint, the singer brings her full intensity as Patrizia Reggiani, who would claw her way to the title of “Lady Gucci.” Gaga’s “Italian” accent may be a mess, but it also somehow works. As my colleague Kevin Fallon put it in his review of the film, “It is the dumbest thing ever to say that Lady Gaga’s screen presence is captivating. So let me put on my dunce cap and say that Lady Gaga’s screen presence is so goddamn captivating.”
5. Busy Philipps in Girls5eva
Few things have made me laugh this year like Busy Philipps’ facial acting as Summer in Girls5Eva. As the self-appointed “hot one” from the 1990s girl group at the show’s center, Philipps plays Summer with the manic energy of a Real Housewife, minus the connivance. Her face twists and contorts to play Summer’s every emotion to the max, and while the character might not be the brains of the operation, she’s an integral part of its heart.
4. Nicole Byer in Nicole Byer: BBW and Tuca & Bertie
I love Nicole Byer’s energy as a performer, and this year we finally got her first hour-long comedy special on Netflix. Nicole Byer: BBW (Big, Beautiful Weirdo) finds the comedian meditating on the nurse who (maybe) tried to steal her underwear, what makes someone the “Ultimate Karen,” and the distinct torture of both hating men and wanting a boyfriend. And while Byer’s appearances in Tuca & Bertie are often fleeting, few guest spots have made me laugh harder than Byer as one of Tuca’s prospective dates at the start of this season. Her crowning moments: shouting “Screw you, Tuca-loo! I’m a great lady!” and getting yeeted off the ramshackle dating show and into the air, yelling “Text meeeeee!” (If you’ve hung out with me this year, I’m sorry for almost definitely doing an impression of this moment in front of you at least once.)
3. Jamie Dornan in Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar
Two words: “Edgar’s Prayer.” I’m a sucker for a good himbo, and they don’t come more ridiculous than Jamie Dornan in Barb and Star Go to Vista Del Mar. As the villain Sharon Gordon Fisherman’s henchman, Dornan has one wish: to be in an official couple with his boss, who’s clearly using him as a pawn. Edgar’s trip to Vista Del Mar grows complicated when he crosses paths with our two enchanting ladies from the Midwest, and his struggle culminates in the funniest musical number of the year, in which the 50 Shades of Grey star sings at seagulls and kicks his feet in the sand. (Runner-up: Reba McEntire, whose five-second appearance as Trish is the cherry on top of this year’s most delightfully ridiculous movie.)
2. Gillian Anderson in The Great
From the impossibly wide skirts to her refusal to stop flirting with her daughter’s husband, Gillian Anderson ran away with this season of The Great as Catherine’s mother, Joanna. The Empress of Russia’s mother has always had one simple goal: to marry all of her daughters to monarchs. Catherine’s choice to overthrow Peter threw a wrench into that plan, and during her visit, Joanna gets up to some dirty deeds of her own. She might not stick around for too long, but her visit really, erm… lands with a lot of impact.
1. Matthew Macfadyen in Succession
It’s hard to overstate just how hard Matthew Macfadyen had me laughing during this season of Succession, as Tom volunteered to take the fall for Logan Roy and his company’s many crimes. From preparing for bland prison food with late-night trips to Denny’s, to reading about toilet wine on “the prison blogs,” Tom Wambsgans was the picture of hopelessness for half of season three. And when he found out Gerri’s DOJ contact had managed to save him from the big house? Cue perhaps the funniest scene in television in 2021: an ecstatic mailroom fit that ends with a soft forehead kiss.
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