Comedy is a courageous act.
As it is so subjective, and that matters a lot, the themes handled in the productions can be funny to one person while it does not make sense to another. Especially in a century where everybody and everything attempts to be funny yet politically correct at the same time, there are thousands of sitcoms, TV series, and podcasts that attempt to deal with the repercussions of society. But it is speculative how much of them succeed to achieve in presenting a coherent quality comedy – I personally find myself saying "what's so funny?"
However, there is one specific show, "Gibi," that is currently roaming from one to another in most of the social meetings in Türkiye as well as in social media as we see videos showing some parts of the series. Going further, the people who did not watch the series suddenly become outsiders in their social spheres.
The sit-com "Gibi" which roughly translates into "something like," starring Feyyaz Yiğit and Kıvanç Kılınç, where Ahmet Kürşat classics a supporting role, has positioned itself in a very different place by disembodying itself from the classical type of comedy in Türkiye. Most of the mediums prefer to categorize the series in an absurd comedy genre yet, the unique style deserves more to be defined as a surreal work that employs absurd comedy and black humor, making it a show that is is nothing but also everything about the mundaneness and cliches of life.
The name of the series appeared after Feyyaz Yiğit used the word "gibi" at the end of every sentence.
The fiction of the series is not designed to make you laugh specifically at each scene, but through characterizations that we come across easily in our daily lives, we can easily be immersed within the future reactions of the characters, guessing their possible answers. The situations in the series are simply natural, per diem and mediocre yet it criticizes timeous "the real cliches" - not the ones that themselves already became a cliche - and brings them out very surreally. It is a show basicly feed on real through the surreal depiction.
Tapping into out-of-the-box thinking, the actors in the series are not recognized but are mainly underground in this bohemian atmosphere. Even for that sole reason, the work does not serve popular culture thanks to its unique stylistic differences and successful acting. The actors sometimes just improvise as the spectator can witness a slip of the tongue – this does not even have the slightest effect on the flow of the show. Regarding these points, "Gibi" is consistent in its main criticism while successfully criticizing and unfurling the cliches. Along with them, the series employs and unanticipatedly mocks social norms.
Also, we do not come across the anti-characters throughout the series. In some points of the character arguments in basic yet hyped situations, as spectators, we find ourselves acknowledging different perspectives to be right most of the time.
All of the episodes are unique and funny by themselves. Yet there were some points that especially pinpointed the current cliches. One of them was when the main character Yılmaz (Feyyaz Yiğit) insists on wearing a shoulder-padded jacket which leads to his marginalization from his entourage. Another was a riotous depiction of the characters' going to a shabby restaurant – it is a rising trend these days to be considered authentic in social media – then ending up with sewage water splashed over them after the so-called restaurant's water pipes break.
The "Street Interview" episode on the other hand, cunningly plays on the issue of being excessively politically correct as Yılmaz receives death threats from anonymous people and finds bullets in his soup in a restaurant after he talks to a reporter on the street. Yet, we don't know about what Yılmaz talked about and commented on – that makes the whole situation farcical.
This type of show does not have an example among its peers. I strongly think that that is why the series has resonated in society. Also, many of the sentences in the series are in the quality of aphorisms that went viral on social media.
"Where nobody knows anything, one can know everything!"
