The Big Picture

FX’s
English Teacher
is a comedy series that offers sharp, sweet, and silly humor.
The show’s jokes come fast and furious, ensuring it remains as funny as it is thoughtful.
Brian Jordan Alvarez brings plenty of range and talent as both lead actor and creator.

There is a risk that English Teacher, the fantastic new FX comedy series from Brian Jordan Alvarez, could be reduced to merely being a show both of and for our present moment. On the one hand, this is a compliment, as the often gleefully withering jokes perfectly tap into and excoriate the absurdity of the modern education landscape in the United States. From the way that technology has fundamentally reshaped the way young people engage with the world to the moral panics the adults then throw into the mix to make everything that much harder, Alvarez has created a playful portrait of American schooling that is plenty silly, often sweet, and refreshingly sharp. However, while the show is pointedly contemporary in its subject matter and premises, it is also timeless in its humor. Alvarez has plenty on his mind that he wants to explore about the lives of teachers and the nightmare of American education where they are constantly doing more with less, but his comedy feels right up there with something like It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia in how it builds on this series’ various scenarios.

While English Teacher certainly isn’t as chaotic as that (few things could ever be), the way every episode spirals out from itself brings a similar sense of abandon and commitment to the comedy. This is a show where the jokes come fast and furious, each building on another as we see the messy lives of the teachers outside their classrooms just as they try to get through each day. Although one could be tempted to compare it to something like the similarly great Abbott Elementary, English Teacher is operating on a different register that makes it not just one of the best new comedies of the year thus far, but one that already has the potential to be at the very top of its class — that is, if it doesn’t get kicked out first.

What Is ‘English Teacher’ About?

Over the course of the six episodes of the eight-episode first season shared with critics, we accompany Evan Marquez (Alvarez) as he tries to navigate the daily challenges of teaching at a high school in Austin, Texas. He works at said school alongside his friend Gwen (played by Alvarez’s co-writer Stephanie Koenig), who serves as his confidant while also having her own struggles (namely, that her husband has recently begun attempting to build a pool in their backyard after losing his job). Their relationship provides more of an emotional grounding point for the show, though Evan also has plenty of humorously confrontational dynamics with characters like PE teacher Markie (Sean Patton) and the school’s principal (Enrico Colantoni), giving the show its bite. The latter is someone who continually proves to be the biggest headache for the teachers, as he does all he can to acquiesce to parents in order to avoid conflict and rarely stands up for his staff amid the nonsense that gets thrown their way. Also in the mix are those like guidance counselor Rick, played by Joe Pera collaborator Carmen Christopher, and Evan’s ex Malcolm, played by Jordan Firstman of Dave, who end up delivering some of the funniest jokes that hit you out of nowhere. Oh, and Trixie Mattel pops in for an episode as well, to delightful results.

While the show is about how all the teachers are dealing with what can be a mighty tough job, there is a throughline to English Teacher about how Evan is often singled out. Namely, there is a parent who raises a complaint about how her son saw him briefly kissing Malcolm (the horror!) when he too was working at the school. Evan must then defend himself and is also told he cannot have any relationships with any other staff, something that proves to be a challenge later with the arrival of a new teacher, Harry (Langston Kerman), who seems to be into him. Even though Alvarez pointedly skewers just how foolish all of this can be, he also gently teases out some unexpected yet no less effective insights about who his character is underneath it all. He’s not wrong about how the school is failing to stand by Evan and placing him under extra scrutiny, though this never gets in the way of Alvarez also poking fun at his own character, with all his many flaws. He’s a complex, messy, funny, and deeply human comedic lead.

The conversations Evan has with the students, who can feel slightly underdeveloped, are plenty of fun on their own, via the generational disconnect and awkward attempts that are made to bridge it. At the same time, later in the season, we also begin to see how the two generations aren’t so different when a falling out between two teachers occurs right alongside one between two students. There is a sincerity to how the series explores this, but if there was an ethos to English Teacher, it would be about how this episode also introduces a paranoid parent who keeps throwing out wild sex rumors she’s hearing about students, which grow increasingly raucous and ridiculous. It is this push and pull that sees Alvarez striking a perfect balance as both writer and lead. Of course, those who have followed him knew he had it in him. He is an actor who has always contained multitudes waiting to burst free.

Brian Jordan Alvarez Is Brilliant in ‘English Teacher’
Image via FX

For those who aren’t familiar with Alvarez’s work, there is truly no way to encapsulate how wonderfully weird and unique of a performer he is. No, I’m not referring to his brief yet memorable appearance in the horror movie M3gan, but his online characters like the iconic TJ Mack that exploded late last year. If you haven’t listened to it, “Sitting” is a certified banger that is as good a place to start as any. This and so much more had already proven that Alvarez was a talent all his own, but English Teacher feels like the fullest showcase of his range. He’s both wonderfully snarky and dry in one moment as Evan before shifting into being more insecure in another.

The way Alvarez captures all the teachers’ daily frustrations is a joy to see on screen, with one scene at a horror show of a community town hall where this comes bursting out proving to be a highlight. The surrounding ensemble is great fun as well, but it’s hard to see English Teacher being such a blast without Alvarez at the center. He’s never once overplaying things while remaining more than able to hit those humor high notes when the show calls for it. One can only hope we get many more school years with Evan figuring out what the hell he’s doing.

English Teacher premieres with two episodes on FX on September 2 before becoming available to stream the next day on Hulu.

WATCH ON HULU