Cortney’s Comedy Corner: Honestly Giving Thanks to the FOX Comedies [New Girl, Brooklyn Nine-Nine, The Mindy Project] 

Thanksgiving is a time for being with the people you love, seeing friends you haven’t seen in a while and giving us much to be thankful for. And Fox’s Tuesday night comedy trio did much of the same. So let’s kick off this holiday edition of Cortney’s Comedy Corner.

Comedy Corner Moment #1 – The New Girl gang roughs it outdoors.

Most of them live together. A smattering of them have dated each other. And they’re all supposedly best friends; however, its not often that we see the whole cast together. Often they split up in to pairs or trios for separate story lines, but in the theme of togetherness, this episode brought all our characters out in to the wilderness for a holiday adventure. Now while I love Jess’ focus on bonding and spending time together, I can’t even pretend that I’d be on board with her plan to spend the day roughing it outdoors. However, being the good boyfriend he is, Nick eventually warmed up to the idea and got on board. And then he went about ten steps further by creating a hunters-and-gatherers, out-in-the-wild, poisonous-fish-eating Thanksgiving that the group will never forget. That being said, it made for some darn funny, even at time downright bizarre, TV…and what more can you ask for on Thanksgiving?

Nick: “We can do this. Guys, we’ve gotten soft with our antibiotics and our sports creams. Do you think George Washington had a pet cat? He didn’t! He hunted them and he made mmilk and butter out of their spoils!”

Jess: “Terrible.”

Coach: “So you’re saying George Washington milked his cat?”

Cece: “Nothing is sounding accurate right now.”

Schmidt: “Where’d you read this?”

Nick: “I’m not saying it’s gonna be easy, it’s gonna be hard. But we will emerge out of this better friends! And a tribe!”

Honestly, I love seeing the whole gang in one place. The way they talk over each other and play off each other always lends itself to fantastic moments. Plus, instead of two or three pairings, we get an endless array of roomie mash ups that help keep the show fresh. And while the holiday ended up being more or less a disaster, it still brought the gang together (even if it was in a hospital room) and for that, we are all thankful.

New Girl airs Tuesdays at 9/8c o FOX.

Comedy Corner Moment #2 – Boyle Bingo on Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Sticking with the spirit of togetherness, the cops at the Nine Nine opened this week’s episode by playing a rousing game of Boyle Bingo. What’s that, you ask? I’ll let the precinct explain.

Boyle: “Happy Turkey Day.”

Jake: “Yes, right out of the gate.”

Boyle: “What? What’s going on?”

Jake: “We’re playing Boyle Bingo; Thanksgiving edition.”

Santiago: “Everyone filled out their cards with possible Charles related scenarios, first bingo gets a hundred bucks.”

Jake: “I had ‘Boyle calls it Turkey Day’ in the center square.”

Boyle (reading Terry’s card): “Boyle explains they ate lobsters at the first thanksgiving. They did, back in that time, they called lobsters “ocean bugs”. I’ll just mark it off for you.”

Jake: “I think I’ve got the winning card here. Boyle tells us he played Pocahontas in his third grade play.”

Boyle: “All the girls were too big.”

Gina: “This is a fun one, Boyle says Gobble Gobble Gobble.”

Boyle: “Well, now that I know you want me to say that, I’ll just say the two gobbles. Gobble gobble………gobble, geesh darn it, it just sounds right that way. I don’t like this game.”

Diaz: “Ha! Boyle objects to Boyle Bingo.”

Boyle: “Come on you guys.:

Terry: “Boyle says ‘come on guys,’ that’s two for Terry.”

Boyle: “Well, guess what, I can spoil your little game by sitting over here quietly all day and doing nothing [falls while trying to sit in a chair]. Owww!”

Jake: “Anybody have Boyle falls on the floor? No? No one?”

Boyle: “That’s a victory! That’s a victory for Boyle. Boom!”

Everyone: “Boyle says BOOM!”

Honestly, his group works so well together that it’s a shame that we hardly get to see them as a whole. Don’t get me wrong, I loved the Holt/Peralta pairing this week as well, but like with New Girl, this group has a pacing that is both charming and endearing. As usual, Boyle is the foil of this joke, but everything they say is so spot on that the audience feels in on the game. Nothing is out of character or out of left field and Boyle’s over-animation plays as downright genuine alongside everyone else’s mellow amusement. I watched this scene not once, not twice, but three times and it made me laugh every single time. So to Boyle Bingo I say gobble, gobble……….gobble.”

Brooklyn Nine-Nine airs Tuesdays at 8:30/7:30c on FOX.

Comedy Corner Moment #3 – Mindy crashes a wedding…again on The Mindy Project

While The Mindy Project decided not to focus on the holiday, it still gave us a chance to reconnect with an old familiar face in the spirit of celebration. Fans will remember that in Mindy’s very first episode, we saw Mindy attend the wedding of her ex. She sat at the single’s table. She got drunk and gave a totally inappropriate speech. And she rode her bike in to a pool. Well, it’s time for another ex’s wedding and on Josh’s big day, Mindy puts herself out there for a case of deja vu. After Danny bails as Mindy’s date and Mindy fails at hiring an escort, she’s guilted in to taking Peter (also known as Mr. Wedding) as her plus one. Turns out that Peter cleans up nice and can definitely be the life of the party, but in this case, he can also be the death of a wedding. After Mindy and Josh find Peter hooking up with the new bride in the bathroom, the wedding is off and Josh rails on Mindy for bringing Peter. Feeling guilty, Mindy goes looking for newly sober Josh to apologize and walks in on what appears to be him cutting cocaine.

Mindy: “Oh my god, Josh! No! No! Don’t do drugs! Users are losers! {pushes powder off the table} Whoa, cocaine is delicious.”

Josh: “Its powdered sugar. I’m still sober. I just find the rituals comforting.”

Mindy: “That’s good for me because I’d be a drug addict if cocaine was as good as sugar. Can I? Is there any left? Doesn’t matter.”

Honestly, when it comes to ridiculous and absurd situations, no one does it better than Mindy. Her seemingly self-centered but always well-intentioned plans never seem to go quite as expected, but that’s what makes them all the more amusing. This whole stunt could’ve played off cliche and sad, but instead, Mindy injects it with a fill of optimistism and self-deprication that gives us the right to laugh. And to be able to bring this around full circle and give us not one, but two great ruined weddings, well as far as I’m concerned, that’s reason enough to say “I do.”

The Mindy Project airs Tuesdays at 9:30/8:30c on FOX.