Sometimes comedy illuminates hard truths with a pointed urgency that other means can’t quite achieve. Sometimes comedy is just funny. This series of posts is mostly about the former instances, but the latter is valuable, too.

I maintain that Cheers remains the all-time champion in the art of the sitcom cold open. Brooklyn Nine-Nine might be a close second. Arguably, the latter series, co-created by Dan Goor and Michael Schur, was even a little superior at creating opening, standalone gags that took full advantage of deeply established particulars about the characters. It helps, of course, when the cast includes a acting slugger of Andre Braugher’s caliber. No one else makes this bit this funny.