Nobody likes waiting.
From a certain perspective it could be argued that a large chunk of modern innovation has been inspired by the need to make waiting more tolerable.
Books, whether read on paper or a screen, deserve to be enjoyed at leisure. Not when at any minute you might have to put the book down at a critical point to meet your marijuana delivery at the door.
Movies can be similar. You dare not pick a movie you would actually get invested while viewing only to put it on pause at an excellent scene. Especially if you’re watching with friends and have to pause it for them as well while you get the delivery.
Video games, especially ones where you play online, can be difficult to just stop and put down for when your delivery arrives. If you get too invested in a game you risk missing out on your delivery’s arrival thus taking up the delivery-person’s time.
Little inconveniences sure but ones that can still be avoided.
But how do you while away the minutes until your delivery arrives?
Netflix, Hulu, and various other streaming services have the answer. Each hosting shows that in turn have hours of easy viewing to keep you entertained but hopefully not too entertained for when your order arrives. Shows and series you can watch (so long as you don’t put the volume high or wear headphones) and leave running for when you have to get up from the couch. Then just pick up when again after you’ve gotten your delivery.
Here are some suggestions for easy viewing.
Key & Peele
When looking for easy viewing sketch comedy is your friend. Quite a few sketch comedy shows will feature on this list and we will start with Key & Peele. Skilled actor-comedians and Mad TV alums Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele premiered this series in January of 2012. It ran until September 2015 with over 50 episodes for you to work through.
Their sketches play with American pop culture and social awkwardness to make commentaries on ethnic stereotypes and race relations. All done with clever writing and executed by Key and Peele’s excellent acting. The end result is scores of comedic and satiric gold that will keep you laughing both before and after your delivery arrives.
That Mitchell and Webb Look
If you are in the mood for something just as funny if a different brand of humor consider That Mitchell and Webb Look. While shorter than Key & Peele at less than half the episodes (a recurring thing with British broadcasting) this sketch comedy series is no less funny.
The show is headlined by the British comedy double act Mitchell and Webb, which is made up by David Mitchell and Robert Webb who are comedic acting veterans each of them. They are backed up by a slew of excellent writers that all come together to make sketches and scenarios that are sure to bust your gut before your delivery reaches your door.
South Park
The creation of Trey Parker and Matt Stone, South Park premiered in 1997 and over 300 episodes later is still going strong. The animated sitcom with its unique illustration and animation style follows the boys Stan Marsh, Kyle Brofvloski, Eric Cartman, and Kenny McCormick as they get up to mischief in the Colorado town from which the show gets its name.
The show’s writing is witty, dark, and irreverent (as well as profanity-laden) to a degree that has earned it both controversy and five Primetime Emmy Awards. This is in addition to various other awards it has earned over its long run. Each episode offers piercing satire that comments on events and issues relevant to the time that episode aired (and sometimes still relevant long after). The show is effectively a modern comedic television landmark and sure to keep you entertained while waiting for your delivery.
The Simpsons
So long as we are including animated sitcoms on this list we also have to include The Simpsons. Since it debuted on television screens in 1989 the series has earned 34 Primetime Emmy Awards, 34 Annie Awards, and 2 Peabody Awards. Time magazine declared it the greatest television show of the 20th century animated or live-action.
The show was created by Matt Groening alongside what was one of the greatest team-ups of television writers at that time. Some would argue the loss of so many of those writers over the years is why it’s quality is perceived to have ‘declined’ after the 90’s. But the sheer momentum and acclaim The Simpsons accrued in its ‘golden years’ has kept it going even to today.
The show follows the family of the same name which is made up of iconic characters including Homer and Marge Simpson, as well as their children Lisa, Bart, and baby Maggie. Each episode follows some or all of the family members as they get pulled into scenarios combining comedy, parodies of American culture, and explorations of the human condition. The show also features a massive extended cast of memorable characters from the ineffably neighborly Ned Flanders to the hilariously tight-fisted Mr. Burns. All taking place in the fictional town of Springfield.
Criminal Minds
We start our departure from comedy sketches and animated sitcoms with Criminal Minds. This police procedural and crime drama was created and produced by Jeff Davis. It premiered on CBS in 2005 where it stayed until its series finale in 2020. The series is centered on the FBI’s Behavioral Analysis Unit and the criminals they pursue- primarily serial killers.
Each episode feels like a monster movie with the BAU piecing together a killer’s psychological profile which they use to catch them. The show features stellar performances from acting veterans like Mandy Patinkin (seasons 1-3), Thomas Gibson, Paget Brewster, Shemar Moore, Matthew Gray Gubler, Kirsten Vangsness and many more who have joined and left the show across its 15-year run. Even the villains and serial killers the protagonists pursue are excellently played with performances that range from the chilling to the tragic.
The X-Files
Speaking of monsters and mysteries there’s the science-fiction drama that dominated prime time television at the height of its run The X-Files. The media franchise was originally created by Chris Carter and premiered in 1993 on Fox where it lasted for 9 seasons consisting of 202 episodes.
The show told the story of FBI partners Fox Mulder and Dana Scully- played by David Duchovny and Gillian Anderson- as they investigate cases too strange or beyond the margins for ‘regular law enforcement.’ Every episode the two special agents would pursue cases and crimes that constantly questioned their understanding of reality as they understood it. Aliens, ghosts, monsters, and government conspiracies nothing of the weird and unexplained was off the table. In its run The X-Files cemented its place in modern pop-culture and earned awards for itself and its two lead actors.
Monty Python’s Flying Circus
In a return to the ballpark of British sketch comedy but of slightly more vintage we have Monty Python’s Flying Circus. The series features surreal sketch comedy created by and starring the Monty Python comedy group which included Graham Chapman, Terry Gilliam, Michael Palin, John Cleese, Eric Idle, and Terry Jones. Together the group crafted 45 episodes worth of sketches across four seasons.
Monty Python’s Flying Circus made its name for comedy based out of truly absurd situations enhanced by clever sight gags and risque humor. The show’s humor targeted the (at times self-contradicting) quirks of British life, the workplace, and politics. Particular standout sketches that come to mind include: the man trying to return a parrot that had already been dead to a shopkeeper in denial; the Spanish Inquisition that no one ever expects but can never make up its mind on what its chief weapons are; or the gangs of hooligan grannies terrorizing Britain to name a few.
In addition to winning multiple BAFTA awards Monty Python’s Flying Circus became a comedic icon that continues to influence comedy writing and is still referenced to this day.
The series also spawned various specials and movies like Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Meaning of Life, and Life of Brian which might be excellent choices to watch after your delivery has arrived.
Mystery Science Theater 3000
This is a bit of an odd series. Odd in that it involves watching movies but not movies you would likely pay too much attention to in the first place. Mostly really campy if not terrible science-fiction movies. So why watch Mystery Science Theater 3000?
You’re not watching the bad movies you’re watching a man and his robot companions laugh and riff the bad movies.
The comedy series was created by Joel Hodgson who also played the star for the first couple seasons. But while the star changed now and then the core premise remained the same. Some hapless average joe is forced by mad scientists to watch really bad movies so that they can test his reactions to them. The first host Joel Robinson (Hodgson) cobbles together robot companions to help him keep his sanity and watch the movies alongside him: Tom Servo, Crow T. Robot, and Gypsy (who usually only appears in the introduction and intermission sketches).
The show first aired 1988 on KTMA-TV (now WUCW) out of Minneapolis, Minnesota. Since then and over the course 217 episodes as well as a feature film MST3K has been broadcast on four different networks including a revival run on Netflix.
Hopefully these selections make waiting for your deliveries more bearable and even entertaining. But not too entertaining. You don’t want to miss your marijuana delivery after all.