End / Start the Year With a Laugh (We've Earned It)

While punting 2024 into the sun is a thing I’m looking forward to doing the idea of replacing it with 2025 makes me want to recoil. If you feel the same, or just like to laugh, here are some TV series, films, and books for a good, deep laugh.

When Your Ride-Or-Die Besties Are Hilarious

Harlem (Prime 2 seasons, S3 premieres Jan 23)

I wrote “this show is so funny it’s worth a rewatch” and then realized it applies equally to all three of these shows. 4 best friends navigate all that life throws at them with hilarious dialog and quips, and friendship at the core.

Girls5Eva (Netflix 3 seasons | Peacock 2 seasons)

This is a gem of a brilliantly funny show that skewers the music industry (specifically pop groups and the treatment of women) in the late ‘90s/early aughts. You have to watch it more than once just to catch all the deeply smart and hilarious lines and references.

We Are Lady Parts (Peacock 2 seasons)

If you like a coming-of-age story and a ton of heart filled with laughs, run to this group of ladies who are all in different places in life trying to come together for a punk band. I will continue to watch anything Nida Manzoor creates based on my love of this show and how funny and unexpected her film Polite Society is — she has a great voice.

Laugh With Popcorn

Bottoms (Prime)

If you think movies should be 90 minutes I really enjoyed this weird, feminist revenge, out-of-the-box high school comedy.

Joy Ride (Starz)

So many films are labeled comedies and at best deliver a few smiles from me so I was beyond thrilled to finally watch a raunchy road trip comedy that delivered on all the laughs — enough to make me want to rewatch it!

The Fall Guy (Peacock)

I love action films with comedy and this one has a bonus romance and all the things-go-boom scenes. Plus it’s meta, and a lot of fun.

Funny Books

All Systems Red by Martha Wells

Wells packs in a fast, fun, and cheekily funny story into this novella series that is perfect to have on hand when you need an escape and a good laugh.

I Think I Might Love You by Christina C. Jones

I know that humor is subjective but marketing has gone way off the rails with labeling everything a rom-com and rarely delivering on the “com”, so I consider it a massive win that I almost choked on my breakfast from laughing while listening to the audiobook. It goes equally hard on both the romance and the comedy, delivering all the wins!

Thirsty Mermaids by Kat Leyh

Come for the laughs and stay for the found family when a group of mermaids run out of their alcohol supply and end up stuck on land in a literal fish-out-of-water story. And if you love the idea of a mermaid having to figure out the human world, the funniest performance I’ve ever seen is Jun Ji-hyun in The Legend of the Blue Sea.

Here’s to a soft and kind new year.