Emmy-nominated actor Ayo Edebiri once said, “Being stupid is a political act.” When smart women make stupid art in the name of having some good, dirty fun, it means something—and, well, we get to reap the benefits. Currently, there is a triad of chaotic triple-threats creating art together that basically guarantees riotous joy, but somehow also promises that uniquely delicious hit of low-level, relentless anxiety that makes you feel like you’re watching a horror movie even though you’re sure you’re watching a comedy. And when any combination of these three work together? You’re going to laugh your ass off, be stressed the hell out, and definitely leave in awe of all the talent required to write, direct, and/or perform something that wonderfully stupid.
Rachel Sennott, Molly Gordon, and Ayo Edebiri have crafted a comedic styling all their own, and over the past several years, they’ve started frequently overlapping to form a sort of Zillennial Cult Comedy Cinematic Universe. With each new entry—and each new unexpected main character haircut—this distinctly woman-driven, absurdly funny, and mostly queer universe grows. This week, the nationwide release of the horny teen fight club romp Bottoms, starring Sennott and Edebiri, marks the trio’s fifth collaboration among each other. And eventually, when all three actresses finally star together in a horror-rom-com directed by their galaxy’s auteur of choice, Emma Seligman … I will be there, watching with my own unexpected main character haircut, waiting to see if the entire universe implodes.
All three women are currently 27 years old, and what started as low-budget shorts and senior theses in their college days at NYU—Sennott and Edebiri were Tisch acquaintances who became collaborators over time, while Gordon dropped out two weeks into her program, but stayed in New York—snowballed into codirecting, cowriting, coproducing, and costarring in instantly cult classic features. Edebiri and Sennott first created and starred in the tragically short-lived series Ayo and Rachel Are Single on Comedy Central in 2020. Then Gordon played Sennott’s ex-lover in Shiva Baby, which became a surprise pandemic success when it was released to streaming in April 2021. And then, Gordon joined Season 2 of hugely successful TV series The Bear, finally linking up with fan favorite Edebiri. With that, the on-screen foundation for a new generation of weird women making alt-comedy together was set.
In addition to other frequent collaborators like Patti Harrison and Mitra Jouhari, Sennott, Gordon, and Edebiri are the kind of generationally defining comedians that make you want to impulsively declare exactly when you first discovered them, in case—just maybe—you were the first person to recognize their genius. True street cred is remembering where you were when you first got Rachel Sennott’s heightened hot girl satire. Was it before the viral L.A. video? (Nice.) After? (Cool, do you also still tell “You might be a redneck” jokes?) Did you discover Ayo Edebiri somewhere before her star turn on The Bear? Do you believe that her skyrocketing career is proof that women in Hollywood really can have it all: roles as horny, loser teens; kind, ambitious chefs; and the human caretaker to several mutated teenage turtles? Did you, for example, see Molly Gordon in the off-Broadway premiere of Alice by Heart even though you definitely had a sinus infection and had to suck on a series of pre-unwrapped throat lozenges the entire time because you, like her, are a true theater nerd? (If this seems overly specific—no it doesn’t.)
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But in the year 2023, anyone still holding on to their very special parasocial bond with their very favorite weirdo comediennes must finally admit that we’ve lost Sennott, Gordon, and Edebiri to true-blue stardom—and that the movies are a better place for it. With the July release of Gordon’s directorial debut, Theater Camp, in which she cast friend, Bear costar, and fellow girl-galaxy pillar Edebiri as an unqualified theater camp counselor—and then the release of Bottoms, cowritten by Sennott and Seligman and starring Sennott and Edebiri as two lesbian high schoolers looking to get laid (tagline: “a movie about empowering women (the hot ones)”)—a grander cinematic landscape was formed. What’s become casually known as the Rachel Sennott–Molly Gordon–Ayo Edebiri Cinematic Universe heralds something larger than just three actresses occasionally making movies together; something more exciting than a new-age Brat Pack for hot NYU theater nerds. It feels like the welcome mat has been rolled out to a new and so far shockingly successful space for comedy: a place for female rage, blatant horniness, endearingly loser behavior, and hyper-specific experiences that speak to universal truths (yes, I’m talking about the tear stick scene in Theater Camp).
It’s a universe that’s proving to be uniquely raucous, queer, stressed out, and as a result, so funny. The arrival of a new generation of comedians relaying the humor of their friend group feels like a nostalgic return to the dominant runs of Christopher Guest and friends in the early aughts, or Judd Apatow and friends in the later aughts. Of course, the obvious difference here is: This generational shift has firmly positioned women at the forefront of who and what is shaping comedy. Unapologetically, unabashedly, and intentionally so. With the premiere of Bottoms and Theater Camp this summer, what could have at first seemed like just a coincidental overlapping of pals has cemented into what I think the 27-year-olds might call: a whole entire vibe.
This is the vibe of a generation of auteurs who are definitely drawing inspiration from But I’m a Cheerleader and Camp and Wet Hot American Summer … but who also definitely watched a lot of Twilight growing up and probably published some embarrassing fan fiction about it. These are women who value telling undertold stories, but who are also determined to just make exactly what they think is funny and smart, and also stupid; who are writing what they know and performing everything in between. Or as Sennott screams in Shiva Baby about her character’s self-created gender studies major: “It’s not a career, it’s a lens!”
The evident ambition of these three women to strike while the iron is hot has quickly created a cinematic universe that includes not only their various overlapping projects, but also their other works of a piece like Sennott’s Gen Z horror film (the monster is weaponizing therapy-speak!) Bodies Bodies Bodies, Gordon’s costarring turn in the original hard-R-high-school-girl-besties comedy Booksmart, and Edebiri’s on- and off-screen contributions to almost every show that makes you laugh (see right side of chart). And it seems that with each project they touch, they touch something else just as funny and fascinating. The vibes are absurd, female-centric, generationally cuspy, and outlandish—plus Ebon Moss-Bachrach is there, because it’s just that kind of chaotic universe (also because he rules).
In the wildly popular but also polarizing messaging of Barbie earlier this summer, Billie Eilish asked in a now viral soundtrack bite, “When did it end, all the enjoyment?” This new rising wave of female-led, R-rated camp offers an alternate answer: It didn’t end. Some of us are enjoying being hot idiots WELL into adulthood. Wanna tell my boyfriend? Not a problem, I DON’T HAVE ONE—I have a platonic soulmate who I write original musicals with, or a fake fight club I made up to seduce cheerleaders, or an all-consuming passion for the culinary arts that’s taking up most of my time and kitchen space. What were we MADE FOR? Pursuing passions, fucking around, finding out, and sending nudes at shivas against our better judgment, which we DO have, but are actively ignoring as a radical act of self-destruction!!!
It’s not a denial of Billie Eilish’s or Barbie’s experiences, it’s a counterpoint—a complement as much as a contradiction. After all, the Greta Gerwig Extended Universe lives firmly within the outer rings of the Rachel Sennott–Molly Gordon–Ayo Edebiri Cinematic Universe, a mere Beanie Feldstein degree of separation away. And as these three, and others in their orbit, get more opportunities to create and perform, I only hope that they’ll continue to collaborate with one another, until one day we’re watching a Sennott-Gordon-Edebiri remake of the remake of Charlie’s Angels, directed by Emma Seligman and scored by Charli XCX. Or maybe Rachel Sennott joins Season 3 of The Bear as Richie’s wannabe-influencer kid sister—whichever comes first.
