Gen Z cringe is hilarious, actually.

Why FX's "Adults" Might Just Be Gen Z's First Self-Made Satire

Every generation has its iconic, 20-something comedy.

Boomers had Seinfeld. Gen X had Friends. Millennials had Girls, How I Met Your Mother, and New Girl. The trials and tribulations of young adulthood in the city have been well-documented for all the post-TV invention generations.

Is it finally Gen Z’s turn? Well, Hulu’s Adults is certainly a contender.

Co-developed and co-written by Elder Gen Z superstars Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw, Adults follows an ensemble cast of twenty-somethings as they navigate the chaotic years of their young adulthood in New York City. Sound familiar?

If we are to follow 20-something sitcom logic, Boomers and Gen X firmly occupied Hell’s Kitchen and the West Village in the 80s and 90s. By the ‘Aughts and 2010s, Millennials found themselves pushed out of Manhattan and into the “cheaper” Brooklyn neighborhoods of Williamsburg and Greenpoint.

Gen Z? Well, we find ourselves on the outskirts—Bushwick, Astoria, and Ridgewood, to be exact. It seems even Brooklyn proper has become too expensive for young people to afford.

promotion still pulled from TV Insider

The main group of five—Samir, Billie, Issa, Anton, and Paul Baker—live together, rent-free, in Samir’s parents’ house while they take a long-term, retirement “sex trip”. It seems oddly fitting (and remarkably self-aware) that the Gen Z comedy of our time features five youngsters living in the home of their parents. Half of them are unemployed, while the other half work odd, part time jobs and live and die by the gig economy. It has all the elements of a great sitcom.

Still, I wasn’t sure what to expect when I started Adults.

There have been so many disastrous representations of Gen Z in the media over the years—shows and films that made me question whether anyone over the age of 40 actually knows anyone under the age of 30. How could they? Gen X’ers are parents to twenty-somethings now. Some millennials even have full-blown teenagers living in their homes. Seemingly gone are the days where those once-cool and rebellious generations can relate to the current young person’s plight.

Five minutes into the first episode, I knew Adults was different.

Season 1, Episode 1 opens with the group on a late night subway ride home from the city. They witness a man masturbating just a few seats away. On principle and in protest, Issa decides to start touching herself too. To the dismay of the group and the surrounding riders, Issa continues and berates the public masturbator, desperate to show him the disgusting error of his ways. Instead, he just keeps on going, clearly aroused.

Season 1, Episode 1: “Pilot”

It’s absurd, raunchy, and completely unhinged.

It’s also real. In the first month I lived in New York, I witnessed a similar occurrence on a late night train ride home and held the same dark thought—”What makes these public masturbators think they can get away with this shit, making literally everyone uncomfortable in the process?” It’s both fascinating and disturbing.

The bizarre plotlines that reveal themselves in each subsequent episode speak to a generation plagued by its own flaws and insecurities. Gen Z exists in a hyper-self-aware state— defined by its shortcomings, while also yearning to be better and more evolved than every other generation that came before it. Somehow, Adults perfectly captures this paradox.

The manic flow of energy between all five of these characters is palpable. The dialogue is at once clever and outrageously blunt. Whether its an argument between an entitled, abortion-seeking sixteen-year-old and the ever-calm, cool, and collected Anton or the inappropriate response Samir gives in a job interview on Zoom, this show is an incredibly satisfying, hilarious watch.

Adults is also a show made FOR disillusioned tender-hearts, BY disillusioned tender-hearts. It’s simultaneously sentimental and deeply cynical. Despite their truly disastrous decisions, motives, and behaviors, you cannot help but root for these characters as they fumble their way through this uniquely painful part of life.

Like many generational comedies before it, Adults showcases Gen Z’s unique quirks AND special strengths—the performance of activism, the follies of language policing, the reluctance to open the mail and talk on the phone. Oh—and of course, the interplay between gender, sexuality, and race.

The characters on Adults are openly and unapologetically sexual—there are plot points involving one housemate’s tendency to leave used condoms on the bathroom floor, another’s frantic desire to pursue older men and threesomes, and, of course, toys.

There are countless references to vibrators, dildos, anal beads, butt plugs, and everything in-between. Yet, there is no shame in any of it. In fact, these topics are discussed frequently and openly. Where shows like Sex and the City and Friends made inroads in sex representation on network television and cable channels, there was always some taboo to acknowledge—some shame for the characters to name before laughing together at the absurdity of the topic.

In other words, Sex and the City walked, so Adults could run.

Adults has its fair share of shame, but it’s derived almost exclusively from Gen Z’s immense discomfort around confronting most aspects of adult life—navigating the healthcare system, maintaining healthy relationships, and even hosting a dinner party.

The funniest running bit in the entire season has to be this group’s unbelievable social ineptitude. Be it Billie’s vain attempts to impress her older teacher boyfriend’s friends with innuendo at an art gallery or Issa and Anton’s strange obsession with speaking to their therapist from beyond the grave, there are so many cringe-worthy moments worth pulling your eyeballs out over while you die inside from second-hand embarrassment.

Now, I know what you’re thinking.

“Gen Z isn’t funny, though.”

“Aren’t they the ‘triggered’ and ‘coddled’ generation?”

“Gen Z is anti-comedian beyond a shadow of a doubt. Look at what they say about Seinfeld and Chapelle!”

I hate to be the one to tell you all this—Gen Z cringe is extraordinarily funny. Our self-awareness is unmatched. Adults, originally titled and conceptualized as Snowflakes, is practically a satire in sitcom’s clothing.

Samir, Billie, Paul Baker, and Issa, in Season 1, Ep. 2: “Spit Roast”

It’s more clear now than ever before how frustrated Gen Z is—not just with the state of the world, but with ourselves. Adults is one of the first instances I’ve seen in which this irony has been depicted so honestly. It’s true to life in a way I can’t explain to you unless you’re one of us—a member of Gen Z.

If you’re a fan of comedy, satire, or just want to understand your kids a little better, do yourself a favor and watch this show.

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Gen Z has struggled to find its voice in traditional and mainstream media. Be it the cultural shift towards user-generated social media content, the social and emotional stuntedness caused by the COVID-19 Pandemic, or just the ever-increasing redistribution of power and wealth towards the top 1% in almost all fields, Gen Z-sters simply can’t catch a break. We are coddled, criticized, prodded, and spoofed almost constantly. We are seemingly no more than the generational caricatures they say we are.

But is this new, exactly? Is this delay in authentic, layered, self-made representation unique to Gen Z, or has every generation faced some of the same obstacles?

I’m not sure yet but want to learn more, starting with exploring how and why comedy writers and producers like Judd Apatow and Nick Kroll took it upon themselves to mentor and develop young, talented creators like Lena Dunham with Girls and Ben Kronengold and Rebecca Shaw with Adults.

Is this passing of the torch a necessary part of developing generation-defining TV shows and films?

Stay tuned if you’re a fan of generational comparisons and/or media criticism! I’ll be watching a few more of the so-called “Gen Z comedy renaissance” shows (Overcompensating, Too Much, I Love LA, etc.) and studying this generational representation phenomenon more closely.

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