# Comedies with an extremely cringy and awkward major character **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** tv-shows-scripted\ **Created:** [December 12, 2024, 4:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedies-with-an-extremely-cringy-and-awkward-major-character/1011534 "2024-12-12T04:45:50Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 10:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedies-with-an-extremely-cringy-and-awkward-major-character/1011534/41 "2024-12-13T10:47:45Z")
> [@hogarth](#): > > Mark Corrigan in _Peep Show_. SuperHans makes me cringe. But I don’t know if he would count as a cringe character, he’s just frustrating. ---
**Author:** ![peccavi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peccavi/32/388_2.png) [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 4:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedies-with-an-extremely-cringy-and-awkward-major-character/1011534/42 "2024-12-13T16:54:04Z")
At least for me, these two from much-celebrated sitcoms: Ross from _Friends_ George Costanza from _Seinfeld_ Both were supposedly intelligent people, but constantly, when confronted with multiple choices on how to proceed in a situation, taking the choice leading to cringy outcomes. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 4:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedies-with-an-extremely-cringy-and-awkward-major-character/1011534/43 "2024-12-13T16:59:29Z")
> [@peccavi](#): > > George Costanza from _Seinfeld_ Add Kramer and Newman. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedies-with-an-extremely-cringy-and-awkward-major-character/1011534/44 "2024-12-13T17:58:47Z")
Napoleon Dynamite. Well, pretty much every character from that movie. And I love that movie! ---
**Author:** ![We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/838e76/32.png) [@We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/We_re_wolves_not_werewolves)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 6:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedies-with-an-extremely-cringy-and-awkward-major-character/1011534/45 "2024-12-13T18:18:29Z")
Tim Robinson in his sketch comedy show “I think you should leave”. The entire premise of the show is just for him to struggle and act increasingly bizarre in mundane situations that most of us experience and manage without thought on a daily basis…like trying to pull open a push-to-open door: [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwdYUIQzu-o](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KwdYUIQzu-o) ---
**Author:** ![veryfrank](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/87869e/32.png) [@veryfrank](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/veryfrank)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 6:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedies-with-an-extremely-cringy-and-awkward-major-character/1011534/46 "2024-12-13T18:42:52Z")
On the great British SF show _Misfits_ (which had its share of laugh-out loud comedic moments), Nathan on the first few seasons was pretty cringey, and then we was replaced by Rudy, who was somehow even more off-putting. Dunno how they managed that. ---
**Author:** ![jnglmassiv](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/f07891/32.png) [@jnglmassiv](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jnglmassiv)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedies-with-an-extremely-cringy-and-awkward-major-character/1011534/47 "2024-12-13T19:33:05Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > Any good movies or TV shows Not a comedy but a comedic element in a film that fails awkwardly: I can overlook and even appreciate Ewoks and Pogs and yipee young Vader for their cuteness and brevity but the yesmanship to the naked emperor than must have carried the Jar Jar Binks character to our screens is, even 25 years on, hard to understand. ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 8:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedies-with-an-extremely-cringy-and-awkward-major-character/1011534/48 "2024-12-13T20:00:45Z")
Greg Focker from _Meet the Parents_. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedies-with-an-extremely-cringy-and-awkward-major-character/1011534/49 "2024-12-13T20:04:54Z")
Thank you! (I’d still love to be able to buy it on DVD but that wasn’t possible in the USA even a few years ago when DVDs were still being widely made and sold.) Not a sitcom, but: deliberately-cringy characters have been a staple of SNL over the years. Jon Lovitz’ Annoying Man comes to mind right away. [![](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/olzbQ8NKEn8/maxresdefault.jpg "The Annoying Man 1 - Saturday Night Live") ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=olzbQ8NKEn801) ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [December 13, 2024, 8:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedies-with-an-extremely-cringy-and-awkward-major-character/1011534/50 "2024-12-13T20:53:47Z")
> [@Apodder](#): > > Anything with Jerry Lewis. **The King Of Comedy** (1982). But… Jerry _isn’t_ the movie’s awkward cringy character. Robert De Niro is. ---
**Author:** ![MrDibble](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mrdibble/32/114_2.png) [@MrDibble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrDibble)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2024, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedies-with-an-extremely-cringy-and-awkward-major-character/1011534/51 "2024-12-14T03:12:34Z")
> [@veryfrank](#): > > Nathan on the first few seasons was pretty cringey Nathan was supremely cocky, though, not really awkward (just like Sheeran’s Klaus on _Umbrella Academy_). ---
**Author:** ![NDP](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ndp/32/55_2.png) [@NDP](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NDP)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2024, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedies-with-an-extremely-cringy-and-awkward-major-character/1011534/52 "2024-12-14T07:57:31Z")
This far in and no one’s mentioned Larry David’s sitcom persona in _Curb Your Enthusiasm_? ---
**Author:** ![Biffster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/biffster/32/339_2.png) [@Biffster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffster)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2024, 8:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedies-with-an-extremely-cringy-and-awkward-major-character/1011534/53 "2024-12-14T08:33:51Z")
Not really cringy though. More of an Everyman, really, voicing things that most of us only WISH we could say. ---
**Author:** ![Mighty\_Mouse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mighty_mouse/32/7776_2.png) [@Mighty\_Mouse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mighty_Mouse)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2024, 12:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedies-with-an-extremely-cringy-and-awkward-major-character/1011534/54 "2024-12-14T12:01:57Z")
Post #14 ---
**Author:** ![Mangetout](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mangetout/32/19_2.png) [@Mangetout](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mangetout)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2024, 12:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedies-with-an-extremely-cringy-and-awkward-major-character/1011534/55 "2024-12-14T12:17:11Z")
Going back a bit, [_Some Mothers Do 'Ave 'Em_](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Some_Mothers_Do_%27Ave_%27Em) starring Michael Crawford as the character of Frank Spencer - a hapless, timid and socially inept young married man with peculiar mannerisms and a tendency to get into bizarre predicament (usually in a slapstick sort of way). Being as it is a British sitcom from the 1970s and 80s, it probably contains some aspects that will not have aged well. ---
**Author:** ![GuanoLad](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guanolad/32/42_2.png) [@GuanoLad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GuanoLad)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2024, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedies-with-an-extremely-cringy-and-awkward-major-character/1011534/56 "2024-12-14T19:44:44Z")
I think Frank Spencer should be assessed by a mental health professional. That would be fascinating. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2024, 7:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedies-with-an-extremely-cringy-and-awkward-major-character/1011534/57 "2024-12-14T19:55:25Z")
Brian’s Mother in _Life of Brian_ ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2024, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedies-with-an-extremely-cringy-and-awkward-major-character/1011534/58 "2024-12-14T21:54:47Z")
> [@Gatopescado](#): > > Brian’s Mother in _Life of Brian_ . Or any woman Terry Jones played, really. Always cringy. (No insult to TJ meant–it’s just that his women were more ‘ew’ than, say, Michael Palin’s women.) ---
**Author:** ![Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/q.q.switcheroo/32/5713_2.png) [@Q.Q.Switcheroo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Q.Q.Switcheroo)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2024, 10:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedies-with-an-extremely-cringy-and-awkward-major-character/1011534/59 "2024-12-14T22:36:55Z")
This actually happened twice on the series: once over the course of an entire episode where Frank was recounting his life to a psychiatrist, and once in a flashback where he was being evaluated for induction into the Royal Air Force. Both times, the mental health professional in question ended up suffering a nervous breakdown. ---
**Author:** ![Lamoral](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lamoral/32/16078_2.png) [@Lamoral](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamoral)\ **Post date:** [December 14, 2024, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedies-with-an-extremely-cringy-and-awkward-major-character/1011534/60 "2024-12-14T22:43:27Z")
I adored this series (although I thought the movie was awful…why did they even bother?) Stuart is endlessly entertaining for all the worst reasons. I thought the episode where he tries to buddy up with the blue collar workers fixing his house to be particularly hilarious. I agree the show didn’t seem to get enough attention. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedies-with-an-extremely-cringy-and-awkward-major-character/1011534.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/comedies-with-an-extremely-cringy-and-awkward-major-character/1011534.md?page=4)