21 Best Bits of 2021
Bits! Ya’ know…jokes! Gags! Laughs! 2021 was rough, friend-os. So we’ve gathered here to lay this terrible year to rest the only way we know how: by gathering all the absolute best bits of the year into one big list.
Here they are, the 21 best bits of 2021.
1. Annie Korzen’s “Have you ever been to Krispy Kreme?” (TikTok)
@akorzen
Yes, my roommates got me a cameo from Annie Korzen. Yes, it’s because I’m so obsessed with this TikTok.
Annie is an old-school New Yorker. She’s the kind of woman I moved here to one day become. (Fingers Crossed!) Her timing in this Tok is as perfect as she is in my eyes. Plus, like all New Yorkers of value, she was on Seinfeld!
It’s a bonus that I love Krispy Kreme and they were just starting to pop up all over the city when “Have you ever been to Krispy Kreme?” came out. – Maggie Scudder, @maggiescudder
2. “Cat Lawyer on Zoom” (AP)
It’s just so funny, man. “I am not a cat.” Hehehe!!! – Maggie Scudder, @maggiescudder
3. Sidetalk’s “BING BONG” (TikTok)
Before people move to NYC for the first time, we should ask them, “what do you wanna tell Joe Byron right now?” And if they don’t answer, “sup baby take me out to dinner” they’re shunned. Because THAT’s the Brooklyn they should be prepared for.
If you haven’t heard “f*ck ya life” or “bing-bong” at all this year, you might be Patrick Star. Sidetalk is an IGTV show that illustrates all the beauty (and bananas) that New York City has to offer. One fine day in Coney Island went viral on Tiktok and took all our Friendsgiving gatherings by storm. Everyone who had friends was using this audio and honestly, it gets funnier every time.
My favorite part is the Ariana Grande shoutout because I didn’t know gangstas bumped Ari like that? The “I miss you” sends me every time. I have so many questions. This video feels like the fever dream I never want to wake up from. Now listen, I’m from Cypress Hills, Brooklyn. So, I’m allowed to say this next sentence. Coney Island feels like Grand Theft Auto IRL. New York City, in general, is a crazy place because everyone and their moms is there! (And yes, in NYC, that sentence is grammatically correct). But the chaos is also what makes the city so beautiful. It’s a melting pot of mental illnesses! How fun! So remember, if you can’t handle NYC at her “f*ck ya life”, you don’t deserve her at her “bing-bong!” Feel me? – Kristina Feliciano, @kristinaiscomedy
4. What We Do in the Shadows’s “Girly Jim” (TV)
I will never stop enjoying Nadja having trouble saying stuff. The grandma of this bit is “Jeff” from season 1. (Which will go down in TV history, if I have anything to say about it.) But, Girly Jim hit softer, flew more under the radar.
When the Sire (the OG vampire) is lost, neither Nadja nor Nandor can pronounce his name: Goëjlrm. So they start calling him “Girly Jim.” That’s just funny stuff, fam. No way around it. – Maggie Scudder, @maggiescudder
5. “March 2020 vs. March 2021” (Twitter)
Never have we collectively all spoken too soon to the degree of this meme. Yay COVID is over! Jkjkjk life is pain! But this meme isn’t pain, it’s fun. Everyone got in on this one: Reese Witherspoon, Kermit, probably Wendy from Wendy’s. – Maggie Scudder, @maggiescudder
6. Gloria being played by two completely different people on Girls5Eva (TV)
We talk about Girls5eva (like The Other Two and What We Do in the Shadows) on a couple of these End Of Year Lists. But, that’s because it (to my very pleasant surprise) is so funny and warm. Where other shows this year (with the major exception of crowd-fave Ted Lasso) turned to cultural commentary, Girls5eva embraces the fun goofs of everyday life.
Very much following the footsteps of Tina Fey’s biggest successes (Kimmy Schmidt’s sometimes blind optimism and 30 Rock‘s intense joke-per-page ratio), this show is chalked full of ooey, gooey, goodness.
But, the stand-out bit of silliness comes in the form of Paula Pell’s Gloria being played by a completely different actor for flashbacks. Our other stars pull double duty as present-day women and their past selves. But, not Paula. Nope. Paula has come out of the closet, and become anything but a perky gal. She’s a dentist, for god sake! She can’t go back in time and perform kickflips.
Her sense of self, while still needing some tweaking, has evolved further than the other women who view themselves as very much the same…still. But, not Paula! Nope! We pulled in a Broadway Star (the original Cady in Mean Girls on Broadway) to do the dance moves and flashbacks. It’s so funny. – Maggie Scudder, @maggiescudder
7. Gay Twitter vs. Lea Michele (Twitter)
No tea. No shade. But on the internet’s ever-growing list of enemies, Lea Michele is up there. So, as iconic roles kept popping up and going to everyone but Lea, Gay Twitter went nuts. I, personally, had a blast watching her on blast.
Not because I have any dog in this race, but because I know just enough about Glee and musicals and Gay Twitter (*ahem* my community) to love this.
Plus, I genuinely think it’s NUTS to cast Ariana Grande as Glinda. NUTS. I love Wicked, and she may be able to do “Not That Girl (Reprise)”, but she can’t do “For Good”! No shade. No tea. Just takes. – Maggie Scudder, @maggiescudder
8. Drake’s Album Cover (Internet)
Can I be honest and say that this meme totally tricked me? Until I was sitting down to write this, I fully thought that this (but with boy emojis) was Lil Nas X’s album cover. I thought Drake was the meme. That goes to show ya… If you don’t know enough about a meme, you’ll have to write about it as your job! – Maggie Scudder, @maggiescudder
9. Sea Shanties (TikTok)
Is it Sea Shanty if I listen to the Outlander theme song over and over? – Maggie Scudder, @maggiescudder
10. “Duo Lingo vs. Dua Lipa” (TikTok)
@duolingo hi mommy 😌 #comedy #DuaLipa #Duolingo #excuseme #mommysorry #Dualingo
I don’t want to over-explain this joke, because the goofiness is part of the pure joy.
Yes, sure, okay, it’s basically an ad. But also it’s fun enough to stop being just an ad because Duo Lingo and Duo Lipa are basically the same words. Really their whole TikTok is pretty exemplary. I just wish they would add Arabic, so I would have a reason to re-download! – Maggie Scudder, @maggiescudder
11. “Sarah Sherman Roasts Collin Jost” on SNL (Sketch)
I wrote extensively about this iconic bit in a blog. You can read that blog right here. This bit hit all the right spots: it’s written well, it’s joyfully wicked, and Sarah Sherman’s delivery bings it home. – Maggie Scudder, @maggiescudder
12. Potraost being “dead” (TikTok)
@potroastsmom I have never been to twin peaks but I don’t think hooters is that bad #potroasttok
Potroast and her owner were always funny. They’re basically the first really famous TikTokers I became aware of or cared about. They only became more famous and funnier, however, when the audience decided Potroast looked dead. Much to her owner’s faux-chagrin, Potroast remains a limp sweetie. Is she dead? Is she stuffed? Is she just an ugly cat? I say none of the above. I think Potroast is perfectly cute and fun! So there! – Maggie Scudder, @maggiescudder
13. Nicole Byer’s “BBW” (Standup)
My girl, Nicole Byer finally got her Netflix special! Go watch BBW: Big Beautiful Weirdo, now! This special was filled with several wonderfully weird bits to choose from (including her bit about how the KKK may or may not have been inspired by Harry Potter…but we won’t get into THAT, so go watch!) My favorite bit is probably worse though…trigger warning!
Nicole’s abortion joke left me cackling for air because I truly did NOT see that coming. Of course, the A-word is not funny, inherently. But when you disguise an abortion joke as a d*ck pic joke…you WILL get laughter, even if it’s uncomfortable. (and I’m not about to do this bit justice right here, so please go watch!)
She starts off the bit talking about…you know…d*cks. She categorizes them into 4 categories. Big, tiny, curved, and straight, acknowledging there could be overlap. Here’s where the joke comes in. She goes on to talk about which combos are…satisfying (to keep it PG). Her least favorite combo? Tiny and curved. Why? Because according to Nicole, “That’s like f*cking a hanger. And that’s for later.” *Cue applause break*
My favorite thing about Nicole is that she knows how to read the room and work a crowd. Even with a risky joke like this, Byer plays off of the audience’s reactions and leans deeper into the joke, like a true comedian! “YEAH! THAT WAS AN ABORTION JOKE” Byer continues, “And I know some of you didn’t like it. To you I say, tonight donate to your local planned parenthood or ACLU”. All Hail Nicole Byer! – Kristina Feliciano, @kristinaiscomedy
14. Lizzie Logan watching Average Joe (Twitter)
I love when comedians watch bad TV and talk about it. Without going too cerebral on this list about bits, I think there’s something very fun about people who know what’s good can appreciate something that is just what it is, even if what it is is bad. Ya know?
So, yeah, even Network Drama Average Joe has a place on Best Bits. Thanks to Lizzie Logan’s momentous tweet thread. What is the craziest thing about this show? That we have to suspend our disbelief and watch three, completely separate, Twilight-level-washed-out, timelines? That they’re all surrounding one decision of a boring man’s life? Or that NBC thinks we care? Well, I guess it can’t be that last one because, thanks to Lizzie, I care IMMENSELY. – Maggie Scudder, @maggiescudder
15. “Coming Out to Daddy sponsored by Shutterfly” on The Other Two (TV)
Best bit of the year? I think this episode should win Drew Tarver (Cary Dubek) an Emmy. The premise of the bit is thus: A gay couple goes on Pat! (Molly Shannon’s character’s Ellen-like talk show) pretending to be a father/son pair who are dealing with the son’s recent coming out.
Later, Cary and his new BF run into the couple and force them to keep pretending to be father/son, drag their threesome hookup into it, and take them around NYC. The cringe factor here cannot be denied.
It’s Scott’s Tots, Nathan For You, cousin-yelling-at-your-favorite-aunt level cringe. And that’s what makes it so beautiful. Picture them at Big Gay Icecream. The “son” says “God, I hope no one sees me here.” and Cary says, “I used to feel that way too.” Hehehehe. It just tickles me to death. – Maggie Scudder, @maggiescudder
16. “Anti-sex Beds” at the Olympics (Internet)
Put your life-VCR on rewind and try–just TRY–to remember what it was like when we were all watching the Olympics. Skateboarding! Remember how fun skateboarding was! (Except that all the best women skateboarders in the world kept getting, like, 2s. That was fucked.) Well, all the while there was the (now debunked–bunked, pun!) big meme about anti-sex beds.
For those out of the hot, hot Olympic rumor mill: Basically, the idea was that to avoid the spread of COVID, the Olympic committee commissioned fragile cardboard beds that would break if competitors tried to have sex on them. This is very funny! Not in the least because I bet some Olympians weigh as much as two figure skaters. – Maggie Scudder, @maggiescudder
17. The MCU (Film/TV)
This is the year the Marvel Cinematic Universe went full meme. This is the year it stopped being a franchise and became Christy Carleson Ramano’s Youtube. No one asked for “What If”??? No one knows what that is! It’s like when chips ahoy comes out with new flavors…why they do that?
I should admit, you’re not hearing this from an MCU fan, per say. I’m a geek, I’m a nerd. I love that stuff. But, when you’re making action movies that turn out to be the biggest Blockbuster films in history, you’re not really making nerd movies anymore. Marvel fans, it’s time to back down.
The MCU is TV shows now. It’s so far beyond being something you need to take seriously. And that’s what I hope for the MCU in ’22 (okay, rhyme!). I hope that we lean into the Wanda Vision of it all. Let’s make fun shit. By nerds, for nerds. And let’s take a break from yelling at babies in movie theatres, Marvel-heads. (This really happened when I saw Infinity Wars in theatre, while Hawkeye’s kids were dying, some tool was yelling at a baby.) Yay, Christie Carleson Ramano! Her IMDB must be nuts from all these films. – Maggie Scudder, @maggiescudder
18. The Suez Canal (Internet)
@washingtonpost The ship – which is twice the height of the Washington Monument – was wedged sideways across the canal. No, the captain wasn’t actually on TikTok.
Big boat, little canal. That’s just textbook, old school, yucks and bits. – Maggie Scudder, @maggiescudder
19. Bowen Yang and Patti Harrison on Ziwe (TV)
Bowen, Patti, and Ziwe. All in a big pink room together. It doesn’t get much better. Add in a ridiculous and bitingly satirical “game” and you’ve got one of the best bits of the year, baby! Finally, you can see who is richer: An SNL featured cast member or all Black women. – Maggie Scudder, @maggiescudder
20. @OldGays (TikTok)
@oldgays How sick are we? 💁♀️ #meangirls #transformation
There are few things on earth more joyful than me when I see a new Tok from the Old Gays. I’m a long-time fan of these boys. Yes, I’m hip, I’m cool, I watch Grindr’s Youtube.
I volunteer (big brag about being a good person!!!!!) with a wonderful organization, SAGE, that advocates and assists elderly folks in the LGBTQ+ community. These Old Gays (TM) bring me such joy. As queer people, there hasn’t been much joy in growing old, historically. Aging has been, for so long, perceived as a dangerous impossibility.
Well, we’re here, we’re queer, and we’re going to die at 110 like everyone else! Thank god we have these four having fun and making silly content. – Maggie Scudder, @maggiescudder
21. @Khaby.lame (TikTok)
@khaby.lame Bro why you ruined a T-shirt ?👕😔It was so easy…. – Fratello perché hai rovinato una T-Shirt?👕😔#learnfromkhaby #LearnWithTikTok #ImparaConTikTok
If you don’t know this guy, where have you been! Our bonus boy is @khaby.lame and his genius TikTok. The whole schtick is “that hack makes it harder than regular doing it!” But, it goes from funny to VERY funny when he does his cute little shrug. Love that shrug! – Maggie Scudder, @maggiescudder
Did this list make you laugh? Did it make you cry? Did it make you laugh until you cried? Please let me know on Twitter @GOLDcomedy.