# Episodic Comedy Films ..... a dead genre?
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/episodic-comedy-films-a-dead-genre/1024904
**Category:** Cafe Society
**Tags:** movies
**Created:** [November 16, 2025, 5:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/episodic-comedy-films-a-dead-genre/1024904 "2025-11-16T17:23:36Z")
**Posts on this page:** 16
**Page:** 5
### Author:  [@We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/We_re_wolves_not_werewolves)
#### Post date: [January 21, 2026, 5:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/episodic-comedy-films-a-dead-genre/1024904/81 "2026-01-21T17:40:04Z")
I would say Kevin Smith’s first move, _Clerks_, fits this category well. “One day at a convenience store” is essentially the plot
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### Author:  [@Awb78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Awb78)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2026, 12:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/episodic-comedy-films-a-dead-genre/1024904/82 "2026-01-22T00:02:01Z")
_Take Me Home Tonight_ (2011)
> **[Take Me Home Tonight (film) | Plot](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Take_Me_Home_Tonight_(film)#Plot)**
>
> Matt Franklin is a recent MIT graduate, working at a Los Angeles Suncoast Video store in 1988 while trying to figure out what he wants to do with his life, something that his LAPD officer father has grown impatient with. When Matt's high school crush, Tori Frederking, walks into the store, he lies that he works at Goldman Sachs. Tori invites Matt to a Labor Day party, hosted by Matt's twin sister Wendy's boyfriend, Kyle.
> When Matt, Wendy, and Matt's best friend, Barry Nathan, head to the party, ...
It’s been 15 years already though.
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### Author:  [@Hatchie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hatchie)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2026, 1:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/episodic-comedy-films-a-dead-genre/1024904/83 "2026-01-22T01:02:01Z")
After Hours by Martin Scorsese would qualify. It has a story per se, but it’s all about one guy on one night, and something happens to him, then another thing happens to him, then an even worse thing happens to him. You don’t really see any of it coming, but it just keeps on coming.
I liked it.
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### Author:  [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2026, 4:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/episodic-comedy-films-a-dead-genre/1024904/84 "2026-01-22T16:57:37Z")
is it in primarily one location?
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### Author:  [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2026, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/episodic-comedy-films-a-dead-genre/1024904/85 "2026-01-22T17:01:17Z")
If 90% of the movie took place at the party or the Suncoast video….then maybe, but just watching the trailer, not at all. They seem to be going to multiple locations.
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### Author:  [@Wendell\_Wagner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wendell_Wagner)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2026, 5:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/episodic-comedy-films-a-dead-genre/1024904/86 "2026-01-22T17:27:24Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#):
>
> is it in primarily one location?
_After Hours_ takes place entirely in the lower half of Manhattan.
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### Author:  [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2026, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/episodic-comedy-films-a-dead-genre/1024904/87 "2026-01-22T17:39:13Z")
> [@Wendell\_Wagner](#):
>
> _After Hours_ takes place entirely in the lower half of Manhattan.
😐
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### Author:  [@Awb78](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Awb78)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2026, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/episodic-comedy-films-a-dead-genre/1024904/88 "2026-01-22T18:40:45Z")
_This Is The End_ (2013)
> **[This Is the End](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/This_Is_the_End)**
>
> This Is the End is a 2013 American apocalyptic comedy horror film written, directed and produced by Seth Rogen and Evan Goldberg in their directorial debuts. It is a feature-length film adaptation of Rogen and Goldberg's 2007 short film Jay and Seth Versus the Apocalypse, which was directed by Jason Stone, who serves as an executive producer on the film. Starring James Franco, Jonah Hill, Rogen, Jay Baruchel, Danny McBride, Craig Robinson, Michael Cera and Emma Watson, the film centers on fict...
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### Author:  [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2026, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/episodic-comedy-films-a-dead-genre/1024904/89 "2026-01-22T18:46:43Z")
A year ago, I had by then-14-year-old kid watch _Fast Times at Ridgemont High._ He enjoyed it, but said “nothing really happened…it was just one scene after another, with no major story arc.” I appreciated his observation.
Is this an example of what the OP had in mind? If so, I suppose a film from 45 years ago being critiqued for this by a teen today could be evidence that it is indeed a “dead genre.”
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### Author:  [@peccavi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/peccavi)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2026, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/episodic-comedy-films-a-dead-genre/1024904/90 "2026-01-22T19:34:26Z")
Trying to stay true to the OP’s request for recent comedies fitting the criteria posted, I took a look at 2025 movies on the Best Picture Reminder list sent to voters and see these:
**Fackham Hall** - A very poor parody of Downton Abbey, it takes place almost completely (there is one scene in a local pub IIRC) in the eponymous mansion and its grounds. Still, it is a parody and not an oservational comedy as mentioned in the OP.
**Oh, Hi!** - A black (ish) comedy set almost entirely in a Air BnB rented by a young couple who have been together, apparently too long. It features comic escapades of the couple, their friends, and random neighbors that drop by. So maybe it qualifies?
**One of Them Days** - A comedy about to best friends trying to scrape together the rent a day before they get evicted and the situations and characters they encounter during their day. It is set in a very specific area of Los Angeles and much of the movie takes place in the apartment building they live in. Geographically it is cohesive, but spread of distances in LA, probably to spread out?
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### Author:  [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2026, 7:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/episodic-comedy-films-a-dead-genre/1024904/91 "2026-01-22T19:44:57Z")
> [@peccavi](#):
>
> **Oh, Hi!** - A black (ish) comedy set almost entirely in a Air BnB rented by a young couple who have been together, apparently too long. It features comic escapades of the couple, their friends, and random neighbors that drop by. So maybe it qualifies?
Saw it. It doesn’t fit because it has an actual plot. Not saying it was a good plot or a good movie, but it has a sequential plot. Couple goes to a AirBnB. They discover sex toys. She handcuffs him to the bed; he tries to break up; she refuses to unlock the cuffs. Other things happen, but it’s a sequential plot with specific people, not “weird vignettes”.
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### Author:  [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2026, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/episodic-comedy-films-a-dead-genre/1024904/92 "2026-01-22T21:48:02Z")
> [@JKellyMap](#):
>
> Is this an example of what the OP had in mind?
Takes place over a school year–not a day or weekend, multiple locations not one central location…so doesnt fit the first two criteria, only the third criteria.
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### Author:  [@We\_re\_wolves\_not\_werewolves](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/We_re_wolves_not_werewolves)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2026, 9:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/episodic-comedy-films-a-dead-genre/1024904/93 "2026-01-22T21:54:07Z")
Home Alone?
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### Author:  [@Push\_You\_Down](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Push_You_Down)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2026, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/episodic-comedy-films-a-dead-genre/1024904/94 "2026-01-22T21:58:02Z")
> [@Push\_You\_Down](#):
>
> The key elements are:
>
> 1. Set in one location. With the caveat that opening scenes to GET the characters to the location are okay, an epilogue set somewhere else is okay, a rare cut to another location for a short “bit” also okay.
> This is why they are usually centered on a work place or other location where people aren’t going to leave.
> 2. Needs to take place over a short period of time (a day or a weekend).
> 3. Focused on vignettes and/or gags over plot.
>
> The “usually has” list:
>
> A contest or competition
>
> Sex….characters actively on the prowl.
>
> Features new comedians and often previous generation comedians getting a paycheck.
>
> Examples - Thank God It’s Friday, Car Wash, Record City, Skatetown USA, Empire Records, Blue in the Face
> Almosts - Caddyshack, American Graffiti (I don’t consider the town of Modesto to be a single location), Meatballs, Bad Times at the El Royale, Altman movies EXCEPT for Pret a Porter which might actually count as an example–I just haven’t seen it.
>
> The “not at alls” - Anthology movies, mockumentaries, road movies, parody movies (Wet Hot American Summer excused beause its as much parodying this kind of movie as it is camp movies)
Maybe in letter but not spirit.
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### Author:  [@Wheelz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wheelz)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2026, 10:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/episodic-comedy-films-a-dead-genre/1024904/95 "2026-01-22T22:37:59Z")
Re-reading @Push_You_Down’s original criteria, it strikes me that _The Big Chill_ would definitely qualify, if only it had been a comedy.
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### Author:  [@JKellyMap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/JKellyMap)
#### Post date: [January 22, 2026, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/episodic-comedy-films-a-dead-genre/1024904/96 "2026-01-22T23:08:28Z")
_This Is Where I Leave You_ (2014) fits criteria 1 and 2 very well, and 3 moderately well.
[https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1371150/?ref\_=nm\_flmg\_job\_1\_accord\_1\_cdt\_t\_17](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1371150/?ref_=nm_flmg_job_1_accord_1_cdt_t_17)
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