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It wasn’t so long ago that young people cozied up on the couch to watch a new episode of Friends, How I Met Your Mother, or New Girl, sitcoms that allowed them to immerse themselves in the wacky antics of a fictional friend group.
As generational sitcoms have gone by the wayside, we’ve embraced a fragmented new reality where digital media dominates the landscape. People may have once yearned to be a “Rachel” or a “Joey,” but now, they look to comedic TikTokers to be their relatable, recurring comedic characters. It seems the sitcom has been replaced by something familiar yet entirely new: micro-episode TikToks.
目次
The Fight For Instant Gratification
Take Vienna Ayla, whose Los Angeles apartment has essentially become a TV set of its own. It’s the restaurant where she and friends Paige Gallagher and Caroline Deery work. It’s the office where she serves as the “personality hire,” hilariously saving the day. It’s a world entirely of its own, where 90-second sketches take audiences into a sitcom-like reality.
“We’re asking them to suspend disbelief,” Ayla told Complex. “Is there a kitchen table at the restaurant I work at? Certainly not. But on TikTok, you kind of enter into this little deal with your audience, where it’s like, ‘Okay, I want to make you laugh.’ Maybe you want to laugh. Let’s go there together.”
Whereas generations past gathered on the couch at seven on the dot to catch up with their TV friends, TikTok comedy is a far more fluid endeavor, where creators simply hope to catch audience attention for more than five seconds.
“It’s almost like the laugh track of today is the likes, comments, shares, and stitches on TikTok,” said Jenna Drenten, who teaches digital consumer culture as a marketing professor at Loyola University Chicago,
That can be a double-edged sword, says comedy creator Tra Rags, who has amassed six million TikTok followers through his semi-absurd, always engaging sketches.
“Everybody loves to get instant gratification,” he explained. “I feel like smaller creators are stuck in a hamster wheel. They feel like, ‘I’ve gotta put out a video today, today, today, today. Or people are gonna forget about me over time.’”
TikTok comedy has essentially become a faster-paced, spontaneous genre of its own, where creators like Rags, Ayla, and Sabrina Brier—dubbed a “real-life Carrie Bradshaw”—amass a following by letting audiences into a curated version of their lives where comedy is the currency. They’re using their real name and real locations, but they function the same as sitcom characters of the past.
Ayla’s videos are easily accessible to a first-time viewer—much like channel flipping to a random rerun of Friends—with the added lore you’d find in any long-running sitcom. Longtime fans recognize the running gags, like a plethora of breakaway glasses tossed into sketches just for fun, or recurring characters Paige and Caroline, who are also comedy creators.
The built-out worlds of these comedy sketches contrasts the green-screen, TikTok backgrounds early creators opted for, while realistic scenarios put audiences in all-too-familiar situations they can not only laugh with, but also relate to.
“Every part of me is on display,” Ayla said. “When I meet people who have seen my videos, I do feel like they’ve seen a part of me.”
Scroll the comments of Ayla or Brier’s videos and you’ll find endless discourse over the “storyline” that encompassed a 90-second sketch. Take Brier’s breakout video, where a rattled Sabrina bails on plans with a friend after finding out she invited a third, Jessica, to join. What could’ve been a fleeting moment of comedy forgotten in one quick scroll became a collective triumph for friends everywhere feeling like they “just can’t be myself around Jessica,” too. Sometimes, it’s just really annoying when a friend makes a last-minute addition to dinner.
The sketch and Brier’s signature “oh!” have become synonymous with her style of comedy: aspirational, situational comedy, much like you’d see on network TV.
A Sitcom’s Vibe In Less Than A Sitcom’s Time
Just the same, Ayla emulates a carefree, vivacious friend in her “personality hire” and roommate sketches. Whether the setting is an office, a restaurant, or an apartment, the videos leave viewers asking: “Am I a Vienna, a Paige, or a Caroline?” It’s an age-old question, really, one that piqued friend groups of yore.
Whereas creators like Rags and Ayla build off their own worlds to create sketches, comedian Joey Mulinaro posits a more classic approach: What if Seinfeld were to air today?
Mulinaro offers his followers “modern” Seinfeld and The Office sketches, little excerpts into worlds that most can only find through reruns.
“That’s what I grew up on,” he told Complex. “It was kind of born out of [a] love for these shows, and thinking about, ‘Okay, they’re not airing right now. Where would these characters be? What would they be talking about?’”
Whether it’s the Seinfeld gang discovering fantasy football or simply discussing when’s too early to put up the Christmas tree, Mulinaro’s videos hit on the zeitgeist with a nostalgic flair, scratching that sitcom itch that has all but dissipated in the modern world.
“It’s as American as a baseball game or apple pie,” Mulinaro said. “The sitcom allows you to sit down with your parents or your kids or friends and experience so many things in a 22-minute run time. You can laugh your head off. You can shed a tear. It can motivate you.”
Audiences appreciate that familiarity, and the TikTok characters that resonate the most are shining examples. Rags broke out with the character “Red Shirt,” a sarcastic guy whose signature red polo endeared him to viewers.
Although that was the character who made Rags an internet sensation, he has continued to build his brand through a collection of different personalities, not only avoiding one-trick pony status, but also making sure not to “Flanderize” a beloved character.
“When you look at all the greats in anything, you need confidence,” he said. “I can always tell which creators don’t have too much confidence, because they continue to hold on to something, and they just hold on because they’re so scared of letting go.”
“I believe I’m talented and I’m funny enough that even though you’re asking for this character, I’m going to create something completely different and make you laugh at it,” he added.
Ayla sees her cast of characters as the recurring characters who have that signature bit, that classic cue to say: Here’s the character you know and love. When Ayla trots out her character who “knows a guy,” the scenario may change and the setting could be all new, but it follows familiar sitcom beats.
“So much has changed in a relatively short period of time,” Ayla said. “It’s new for everyone, even the creators. A big part of it is self-motivating, trying to understand how to blend these old-school goals of wanting to be on TV and wanting to create with this new landscape.”
Already, social media stars like Quinta Brunson have found new life in traditional media with Abbott Elementary, her ABC series that’s now in its fourth season. Whether TikTok stays a training ground or grows into a full-fledged replacement remains to be seen, but its impact is undeniable.
“I think that there’s a world in which Gen Z, when they grow up and have families, show their kids their favorite creators,” Drenten said. “While we can look back at the ’90s and say what we have lost from this shift towards social media, that collapsed what we once knew as traditional sitcoms, there might be a world in which you’re still able to have that nostalgia and generational throughline for handing down what was funny to you when you were young.”
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It wasn’t so long ago that young people cozied up on the couch to watch a new episode of Friends, How I Met Your Mother, or New Girl, sitcoms that allowed them to immerse themselves in the wacky antics of a fictional friend group.
As generational sitcoms have gone by the wayside, we’ve embraced a fragmented new reality where digital media dominates the landscape. People may have once yearned to be a “Rachel” or a “Joey,” but now, they look to comedic TikTokers to be their relatable, recurring comedic characters. It seems the sitcom has been replaced by something familiar yet entirely new: micro-episode TikToks.
The Fight For Instant Gratification
Take Vienna Ayla, whose Los Angeles apartment has essentially become a TV set of its own. It’s the restaurant where she and friends Paige Gallagher and Caroline Deery work. It’s the office where she serves as the “personality hire,” hilariously saving the day. It’s a world entirely of its own, where 90-second sketches take audiences into a sitcom-like reality.
“We’re asking them to suspend disbelief,” Ayla told Complex. “Is there a kitchen table at the restaurant I work at? Certainly not. But on TikTok, you kind of enter into this little deal with your audience, where it’s like, ‘Okay, I want to make you laugh.’ Maybe you want to laugh. Let’s go there together.”
Whereas generations past gathered on the couch at seven on the dot to catch up with their TV friends, TikTok comedy is a far more fluid endeavor, where creators simply hope to catch audience attention for more than five seconds.
“It’s almost like the laugh track of today is the likes, comments, shares, and stitches on TikTok,” said Jenna Drenten, who teaches digital consumer culture as a marketing professor at Loyola University Chicago,
That can be a double-edged sword, says comedy creator Tra Rags, who has amassed six million TikTok followers through his semi-absurd, always engaging sketches.
“Everybody loves to get instant gratification,” he explained. “I feel like smaller creators are stuck in a hamster wheel. They feel like, ‘I’ve gotta put out a video today, today, today, today. Or people are gonna forget about me over time.’”
TikTok comedy has essentially become a faster-paced, spontaneous genre of its own, where creators like Rags, Ayla, and Sabrina Brier—dubbed a “real-life Carrie Bradshaw”—amass a following by letting audiences into a curated version of their lives where comedy is the currency. They’re using their real name and real locations, but they function the same as sitcom characters of the past.
Ayla’s videos are easily accessible to a first-time viewer—much like channel flipping to a random rerun of Friends—with the added lore you’d find in any long-running sitcom. Longtime fans recognize the running gags, like a plethora of breakaway glasses tossed into sketches just for fun, or recurring characters Paige and Caroline, who are also comedy creators.
The built-out worlds of these comedy sketches contrasts the green-screen, TikTok backgrounds early creators opted for, while realistic scenarios put audiences in all-too-familiar situations they can not only laugh with, but also relate to.
“Every part of me is on display,” Ayla said. “When I meet people who have seen my videos, I do feel like they’ve seen a part of me.”
Scroll the comments of Ayla or Brier’s videos and you’ll find endless discourse over the “storyline” that encompassed a 90-second sketch. Take Brier’s breakout video, where a rattled Sabrina bails on plans with a friend after finding out she invited a third, Jessica, to join. What could’ve been a fleeting moment of comedy forgotten in one quick scroll became a collective triumph for friends everywhere feeling like they “just can’t be myself around Jessica,” too. Sometimes, it’s just really annoying when a friend makes a last-minute addition to dinner.
The sketch and Brier’s signature “oh!” have become synonymous with her style of comedy: aspirational, situational comedy, much like you’d see on network TV.
A Sitcom’s Vibe In Less Than A Sitcom’s Time
Just the same, Ayla emulates a carefree, vivacious friend in her “personality hire” and roommate sketches. Whether the setting is an office, a restaurant, or an apartment, the videos leave viewers asking: “Am I a Vienna, a Paige, or a Caroline?” It’s an age-old question, really, one that piqued friend groups of yore.
Whereas creators like Rags and Ayla build off their own worlds to create sketches, comedian Joey Mulinaro posits a more classic approach: What if Seinfeld were to air today?
Mulinaro offers his followers “modern” Seinfeld and The Office sketches, little excerpts into worlds that most can only find through reruns.
“That’s what I grew up on,” he told Complex. “It was kind of born out of [a] love for these shows, and thinking about, ‘Okay, they’re not airing right now. Where would these characters be? What would they be talking about?’”
Whether it’s the Seinfeld gang discovering fantasy football or simply discussing when’s too early to put up the Christmas tree, Mulinaro’s videos hit on the zeitgeist with a nostalgic flair, scratching that sitcom itch that has all but dissipated in the modern world.
“It’s as American as a baseball game or apple pie,” Mulinaro said. “The sitcom allows you to sit down with your parents or your kids or friends and experience so many things in a 22-minute run time. You can laugh your head off. You can shed a tear. It can motivate you.”
Audiences appreciate that familiarity, and the TikTok characters that resonate the most are shining examples. Rags broke out with the character “Red Shirt,” a sarcastic guy whose signature red polo endeared him to viewers.
Although that was the character who made Rags an internet sensation, he has continued to build his brand through a collection of different personalities, not only avoiding one-trick pony status, but also making sure not to “Flanderize” a beloved character.
“When you look at all the greats in anything, you need confidence,” he said. “I can always tell which creators don’t have too much confidence, because they continue to hold on to something, and they just hold on because they’re so scared of letting go.”
“I believe I’m talented and I’m funny enough that even though you’re asking for this character, I’m going to create something completely different and make you laugh at it,” he added.
Ayla sees her cast of characters as the recurring characters who have that signature bit, that classic cue to say: Here’s the character you know and love. When Ayla trots out her character who “knows a guy,” the scenario may change and the setting could be all new, but it follows familiar sitcom beats.
“So much has changed in a relatively short period of time,” Ayla said. “It’s new for everyone, even the creators. A big part of it is self-motivating, trying to understand how to blend these old-school goals of wanting to be on TV and wanting to create with this new landscape.”
Already, social media stars like Quinta Brunson have found new life in traditional media with Abbott Elementary, her ABC series that’s now in its fourth season. Whether TikTok stays a training ground or grows into a full-fledged replacement remains to be seen, but its impact is undeniable.
“I think that there’s a world in which Gen Z, when they grow up and have families, show their kids their favorite creators,” Drenten said. “While we can look back at the ’90s and say what we have lost from this shift towards social media, that collapsed what we once knew as traditional sitcoms, there might be a world in which you’re still able to have that nostalgia and generational throughline for handing down what was funny to you when you were young.”
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