In college, you can easily go from feeling light and breezy to very stressed and in need several naps. Sometimes, you try all the self-care strategies people post online but in the end, it’s still not enough.
Laughing can be a great stress coping mechanism, plus it actually makes you live longer. So, how can you make yourself laugh? Here are some hilarious TV shows that might just do the job.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine (NBC)
Have you ever seen a cop show that also includes comedy? Brooklyn Nine-Nine brings both action-filled scenes, LGBT characters, and a whole lot of jokes. If you haven’t even heard of the show itself, you have definitely seen one of the most popular cold-opens on the show where Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) sings I Want it That Way by the Backstreet Boys along with a bunch of criminals. After the show went through a 48-hour rollercoaster between cancellation and renewal, the dumb yet witty humor will surely relieve some stress.
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The Good Place (NBC)
Kristen Bell and Ted Danson on the same show? That is a guaranteed stress reliever right there. In a world where what you do on Earth has an impact on where you go after you die, the character Eleanor Shellstrop (Kristen Bell) along with her friends Chidi (William Jackson Harper), Jason (Manny Jacinto) and Tahani (Jameela Jamil) have to figure out how to belong in the Good Place. Mixing the power of ethics and the meaning of being good with comedy was the best decision the producers and writers of the show made. Everyone needs a Janet (D’Arcy Carden) in their lives. (PS: We all feel like Eleanor sometimes).
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One Day at a Time (Netflix)
Disclaimer: if family-oriented shows are guaranteed to make you cry, proceed with caution.
A revival of the original show, “One Day at a Time” follows the life of a Cuban-American family living in Los Angeles. A single mom who works as a nurse and is a veteran battling PTSD (Justina Machado), living with her very very Cuban mother (Rita Moreno), along with her two children. Elena (Isabella Gomez), a lesbian social justice warrior and her little brother Alex (Marcel Ruiz), a very charming middle schooler. Despite the show touching on sensitive subjects such as mental illness, immigration, sexism, homophobia and racism, the family-oriented show still makes sure to bring along some laughs. Also, I wish I could be just like Lydia.
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The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt (Netflix)
A Tina Fey special, where a group of girls gets rescued from a doomsday cult and some are reluctant to learn the new ways of modern New York City, but Kimmy Schmidt (Ellie Kemper) is not. She makes her rounds through New York, where she meets Titus Andromedon (Tituss Burgess) and Lillian Kaushtupper (Carol Kane), who end up helping her understand the norms of society. Her positive attitude towards everything and how gullible she can be, brings on some of the funniest moments on the show. That, and of course a mixture of Titus’ overly dramatic but very relatable scenes and Jacqueline Voorhees’ (Jane Krakowski) self-discoveries can bring quite the laugh attack. (PS: This was totally me at the end of senior year of high school).
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Sometimes being in college and feeling overwhelmed can make us feel lonely. For me, each show has reminded me that not everything is as serious as people make it out to be. I will be okay, and so will you. Whenever you feel the overwhelming feeling of stress, just turn on something that will make you laugh, I promise you will feel better.