With just a season and a half, Hulu’s PEN15 has established itself as one of the best TV comedies ever made. As a show about middle schoolers starring two women in their 30s, it’s unlike anything else in the streaming world. Its curious experimental style works spectacularly and its spot-on deep dive into the excruciating foibles of adolescence is as painful to watch as it is hilarious.
There are also a handful of other shows out there that share PEN15’s brand of cringe humor to tide over fans who are waiting for the second half of season 2 to release on Hulu.
PEN15 Is Great: Maya Erskine And Anna Konkle’s Chemistry Is Off The Charts
Actors like Jim Parsons and Johnny Galecki or Jennifer Aniston and Courteney Cox can be cast to play best friends and do a serviceable job of convincing the audience of their characters’ friendship. But the difference between two actors hired to play best friends and two actual best friends playing best friends is night and day.
Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle’s on-screen chemistry in PEN15 is off the charts. It goes a long way toward immersing the viewer in the reality of the show.
Show Just Like It: Broad City
A huge part of what makes PEN15 work so well is that it’s a touching ode to friendship and its two leads, Maya Erskine and Anna Konkle, share a real-life friendship that brings the kind of authenticity that can’t be faked to their on-screen friendship.
The same can be said of Broad City, which is led by a similar BFF pairing played by series creators and showrunners Abbi Jacobson and Ilana Glazer. Their on-screen avatars are closely based on themselves, particularly the friendship part.
PEN15 Is Great: The Dramatic Moments Ring True
A lot of TV comedies that attempt dramatic moments can fall flat. Friends is arguably the most iconic sitcom of all time, but most of the emotional scenes don’t work at all because they feel forced.
In PEN15, the dramatic moments land. Every episode has plenty of laughs, but storylines like Anna’s parents’ divorce don’t force jokes into situations that don’t need them. There’s a real humanity to all these characters; the drama works because it rings true.
Show Just Like It: The Inbetweeners
Although the characters are a little older and the main cast is all-male, The Inbetweeners is a lot like PEN15 in its use of cringe humor in a school setting.
The series opens with Will McKenzie’s parents’ divorce forcing him to downgrade from a private school to a public one. The culture shock is hilarious, but the show really finds its footing when Will makes friends in Simon, Jay, and Neil and the quartet embarks on a string of humiliating misadventures.
PEN15 Is Great: The Style Makes It Completely Unique
Despite PEN15 being one of the best shows on the air, it’s difficult to recommend to friends, because the show’s style — a middle school show starring a cast of children and two adults masquerading as children — sounds like it could go horribly wrong. But somehow, it works, and it makes the series completely unique.
The fact that Maya and Anna are grownups makes the cringe so much more effective, while their performances as kids are convincing enough for the audience to suspend their disbelief.
Show Just Like It: Fleabag
One of the things that makes PEN15 stand out in an overcrowded streaming landscape is that it follows a singular vision. Another visionary TV comedy is Fleabag, which Phoebe Waller-Bridge adapted from her own one-woman play of the same name.
There are plenty of similarities between Fleabag and PEN15, like an experimental style, a dark sensibility, and effortless dovetailing between hilarious comedy and emotionally charged drama.
PEN15 Is Great: It’s Universally Relatable
There’s an old adage that the more specific and personal a story is, the more universal it will ultimately be. This is certainly true of PEN15. It might follow two 13-year-old girls in 2000, but anyone who grew up anywhere at any time can relate to it.
Since everyone has to grow up and no one finds it easy, difficult coming-of-age experiences are relatable across the board. PEN15 has difficult coming-of-age experiences in every single episode.
Show Just Like It: Big Mouth
Since Maya and Anna are 13, the beginnings of puberty play a large role in PEN15’s storylines, like Maya getting her period at the worst time ever. Netflix has an entire animated series dedicated to the awkwardness of puberty, from all kinds of perspectives.
Four seasons in (but renewed up to a sixth), Big Mouth has made it pretty clear at this point that there are no lines it won’t cross. The voice cast, anchored by Nick Kroll and John Mulaney, is incredible.
PEN15 Is Great: Some Episodes Are Really Thought-Provoking
For the most part, PEN15 chronicles the various ways that Maya and Anna embarrass themselves in front of their classmates. But a handful of episodes tackle really thought-provoking subjects.
For example, “Posh” explores racism, “AIM” explores the dangers of online dating, and “Pool” explores the double standard of slut-shaming. PEN15 is a show that’ll make you laugh (a lot), but it’ll make you think, too.
Show Just Like It: Freaks And Geeks
With its seamless blending of comedy and drama, its lead character who feels like an outsider, and its focus on the agonizing awkwardness of coming of age, Freaks and Geeks is basically the same show as PEN15, except all the teens are played by young adults as opposed to just two of them.
The cast is filled with actors who went on to become big names: Seth Rogen, James Franco, Busy Philipps, Jason Segel, Linda Cardellini. Sadly, the show was canceled after one season, but that fantastic season will withstand many viewings.