These sitcoms, many beloved and based in New York City, all found ways to joke about Long Island.
FRIENDS
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0xFrBfeKJoo&t
On Friends, Monica, Ross, and Rachel are fellow Long Islanders and grew up in Nassau County. In the episode “The One in Massapequa,” with guest star Alec Baldwin, the gang heads to a family party in Massapequa, which he refers to as a “magical place.”
HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y5d2RtG-ayA
The Long Island Rail Road at night is an interesting place. In this episode of How I Met Your Mother, Ted and Barney hop on the LIRR to look for women. They find what they call the “drunk train,” which is full of yelling, drunk young people headed back home.
KEVIN CAN WAIT
Kevin Can Wait was actually taped on Long Island, so its Long Island personality is authentic. Filmed at Bethpage’s Gold Coast Studios, this sitcom includes several funny and relatable references to places like All-American Burger, a well-loved fast food joint that has been around since 1963 in Massapequa.
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE
One of our more well-known hometown celebrities, Theresa Caputo, also known as the Long Island Medium on TLC, is comedically represented in this SNL sketch, which pokes fun at Long Islanders and their connection with the other side.
NEW GIRL
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apWsYso64gU
Schmidt represents every Long Islander when he stands up for the Billy Joel-loving, LIRR-riding, and area code 516-dialing people of the Island we call home.
SEINFELD
With the iconic “show about nothing” set in Manhattan making lots of relatable New York references, the characters in Seinfeld quip at Long Island and the people they meet from there more than just once or twice.
THE DAILY SHOW WITH JON STEWART
Did The Daily Show take things too far? In this 2009 episode, Samantha Bee, made fun of the idea of Long Island succeeding as a state of its own. Showing off the stereotypical Italian-American personalities of LI, the show tried to bring humor to the situation but made many locals angry.
EVERYBODY HATES CHRIS
Everybody Hates Chris makes fun of white Long Islanders in the episode “The Wrong Time” when Chris and Drew board the LIRR on their way to a hockey game in hopes to get an autograph from Wayne Gretzky and run into some angry LI hockey fans along the way.
THE SIMPSONS
https://getyarn.io/yarn-clip/3e4e7702-048e-4ea0-9d6c-f489224f5b04
In the episode “The Great Money Caper,” Marge drinks a few humorously large Long Island Iced Teas, and then goes on stage with a mentalist. “I would like to go to Long Island, if only it were real,” she says.
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