Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Mentions of sexual assault , kidnapping , grooming , homophobia , racism , and suicide .
Sitcomsare all about making the audience laugh , and while they are often led by bubbly characters , many of them actually have traumatic backstories . The earth of sitcoms has been home to many TV shows that are now considered as some of the best , not just in the comedy genre , but in TV history in general . What makes situation comedy so successful are their lightness and their characters , though in many cases , the funniest ones are also the ones with the darkest backstories .
While the master aim of sitcoms is to hold and make people express mirth , most of them have had more serious moments where some of the struggles of their eccentric total to lightness . In many other case , however , the traumatic backstories of the characters are revealed in snatch or in comedic linguistic context that , sometimes , can make the consultation discount the seriousness of the post . Whatever the event , it ca n’t be denied that many sitcom fictitious character have truly traumatic backstories , and here are 10 examples from different sitcoms .
10Barney Stinson – How I Met Your Mother
How I Met Your Motherfollows Ted Mosby ( Josh Radnor ) and the many ups and downs in his love life , always follow by his best supporter , among them Barney Stinson ( Neil Patrick Harris ) . Barney was the womanizer of the group , and though he came off as a nerveless guy rope , he carried a lot of psychic trauma . Barney was raised by his single female parent , who often lied to him about not only who his father was ( at one point telling him it was TV host Bob Barker ) but about himself so as to protect him , such as when she told him he could n’t act basketball because he was too good , but in reality , he was n’t ripe enough for the team .
Barney was also constantly hector as a tyke , and years later , he get his lady friend cheating on him with a full-bodied businessman name Greg . This adult male secern Barney that the Francis Scott Key to picking up women was to have money and suits , and this heartrending second , as well as Greg ’s questionable advice , lead Barney to reinvent himself into the human beings everyone make out so well . Ultimately , Barney was looking for establishment and love through an over - confident case he created for himself .
9Twyla Sands – Schitt’s Creek
Schitt ’s Creekfollows the formerly wealthy Rose family line , who after losing their fortune , have to relocate to Schitt ’s Creek , a small townspeople they once buy as a jocularity . Schitt ’s Creekis full of colorful characters , among them Twyla Sands ( Sarah Levy ) , a waitress ( and later owner ) at the local Café Tropical . Twyla is well-disposed but air - headed , and throughout the series , she would casually drop disturb family story . It ’s through them that the audience instruct that Twyla ’s father is in prison , her mother is a gambling addict ask in a cult , and one of her cousin got trampled while performing in Riverdance . Twyla thought all the marriage ceremony , dismemberments , and prison house sentences in her family were normal , but this only makes her backstory quite disturbing .
colligate : Schitt ’s Creek : Why Twyla Did n’t bribe The Town ( Or Help The Rose Family )
8Annie Edison – Community
Communitytakes the audience to a residential area college in the fictional town of Greendale , Colorado , where they assemble the many students attending . Among them was Annie Edison ( Alison Brie ) , an reasoning compulsive overachiever whose backstory dead excuse her obsessional behaviors and take to prove herself all the time . Annie was pushed by her mother to succeed academically , leading her to develop an addiction to Adderall . This make her anxiety and obsessional behaviors , and she finally had a nervous breakdown , jumped through a plate glass window , and was sent to rehab . Annie misplace her college learning and became alienated from her menage .
7Raymond Holt – Brooklyn Nine-Nine
Brooklyn Nine - Ninetook viewers to New York City to observe a radical of NYCPD detective as they adjust to life under their new commanding officer , Captain Raymond Holt ( Andre Braugher ) . Holt is calm , very conventional , stale , and is n’t very expressive , but like many other characters on this list , all this is the result of psychic trauma . As a young , mirthful , grim man , Holt had to dish out with homophobia , discrimination , and racial profiling . Holt fought through all this with his head held high , and while his chronicle is face as one of success and to be inspired by , all those struggles had a major impact on his behavior and means of seeing the world .
6Perry Cox – Scrubs
Scrubsfollowed the life-time of employees at the fabricated teaching hospital Sacred Heart Hospital . Among them was Perry Cox ( John C. McGinley ) , an serve physician who J.D. ( Zack Braff ) saw as his mentor , even though he often criticized him and condescend him . Perry Cox ’s knotty - sexual love style was a solvent of a lot of unsolved trauma , as he grew up in an abusive home with an alcoholic sire who throw bottle at his principal . Perry ’s mother did nothing to prevent any of this , leading him to have attachment and intimacy effect as he grew up . Perry has a sister , Paige , who he once tell that experience her reminded him of the childhood he had assay so intemperately to draw a blank .
5Ron Swanson – Parks & Recreation
Parks & Recreationfollowed pollyannaish administrative official Leslie Knope ( Amy Poehler ) and her ally and coworkers at the Parks Department in the fictitious town of Pawnee , Indiana . Not all the Parks Department ’s employees were as pollyannaish as Leslie , as is the case of Ron Swanson ( Nick Offerman ) , a man with an extremely deadpan and stereotypical masculine personality who actively worked to make the government less in force . Ron Swanson was endure to Tammy Swanson and was delivered by a candy striptease artist at the hospital , also name Tammy ( referred to as Tammy 1 ) who , years later , became Ron ’s wife . Tammy 1 also learn Ron midway school mathematics , Sunday , school driver ’s ed , and “ the art of sex activity ” , break that she groom him .
Ron claimed to have cried for the first metre when he was seven , and only because he was hit by a school day bus , and two years after , he started working in a sheet metal factory . At some full point , Ron conjoin Tammy 2 , an extremely manipulative , unpitying , and intrigue cleaning lady who used Ron to her advantage all the clip .
4Charlie Kelly – It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia
It ’s Always Sunny in Philadelphiafollows “ The Gang ” , a mathematical group of egotistic and sociopathic friends who run an Irish dive bar call Paddy ’s Pub in South Philadelphia , Pennsylvania . One of the phallus of the bunch is Charlie Kelly ( Charlie Day ) , whose problems are the result of a lot of trauma . Charlie ’s mother was a sexuality worker , and though she was a loving female parent , she left him unsupervised most of the prison term . Charlie developed substance ill-treatment issues at an early age , breathe in mucilage , spray pigment , and Karl Popper , and he ’s also an alcoholic .
In summation to that , at some point during Charlie ’s childhood , his uncle , Jack Kelly , go in with him and his mother . Jack and Charlie shared a elbow room , and it ’s to a great extent implied through Charlie ’s musical about The Nightman that Jack chivvy Charlie during that clock time . It ’s also revealed that Charlie ’s mother tried to have an abortion , but a couple of months later , Charlie was born .
3Punky Brewster – Punky Brewster
Punky Brewsterfollowed Penelope “ Punky ” Brewster ( Soleil Moon Frye ) , a bright and amusing child , but the issue of the series kick off due to traumatic event in Punky ’s life . Punky ’s founder walk out on her family , and later , her mother abandoned her at a shopping center , provide Punky wholly alone with her wiener , Brandon . Punky found a vacant flat in a local building carry off by Henry Warnimont ( George Gaynes ) , where she made fresh Friend and formed a special bond with Henry , who eventually adopted her .
2Phoebe Buffay – Friends
Friendstook the audience to New York City to follow the many ups and downs in the lives of six young adult as they did their best to poise their social , personal , and professional lives . Among them was Phoebe Buffay ( Lisa Kudrow ) , the most eccentric one of the group and the most cheerful one as well – but behind all the jest and eldritch but funny moments that Phoebe hand over was a traumatic backstory . Phoebe and her twin baby , Ursula , were the daughter of Phoebe and Frank Buffay , but as Phoebe was n’t ready to be a mother , Frank and their best booster Lily adopted the Gemini the Twins .
Unfortunately , Frank abandoned them and remarry , and years later , Phoebe ’s step - father went to prison house and Lily intrust suicide . Phoebe exist on the streetsof New York City throughout her teenage age , and as such , she never last to high-pitched school or college . Phoebe had to recur to mug sometimes so as to pull round , and at one point mugged her future Quaker , Ross . At one point , Phoebe moved in with her granny , who never told her the truth about her parent .
1Kimmy Schmidt - Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidtfollows the title case ( Ellie Kemper ) as she adjusts to life after being rescue from a doomsday cult in the fancied town of Durnsville , Indiana . When Kimmy was in eighth grade , she was kidnap by Reverend Richard Wayne Gary Wayne , who book her and three other women captive for 15 year in an belowground bunker , convince them that a atomic apocalypse had leave alone them the exclusive survivor of humanity . Kimmy and the residue were finally rescued and became known as the “ Indiana Mole Women ” , but reject to be seen as a victim , Kimmy started a new liveliness in New York City . Kimmy ’s story is all about overcome hurt and moving on with a new perspective on life , but it ca n’t be denied that her backstory is quite traumatic .
