The comedy of social awkwardness American "sitcoms" or situation comedies such as Friends or The Big Bang Theory or How I Met Your Mother are favorites of English students in other countries. They are rich in great expressions and usage, and the grammar is usually pretty good. I was thinking about why one of them, The Big Bang Theory, is popular when the characters are far from universal and their topics of interest are pretty esoteric, that is, not common in society. That gave me some insight into all three of these shows, and who the modern "clowns" are on television. Clowns are characters who, for centuries, have entertained by silliness and ignorance. People laugh because the clowns are awkward, it gives them a kind of joy and relief to see what they might fear in their own life. In The Big Bang Theory, nearly all the characters are clowns of a sort to mainstream society, they are extremely socially awkward, Sheldon the worst. Penny gives us a kind of reference point of normalcy, as well as an occasional commentary. In Friends, characters such as Joey, Monica and Phoebe play this role, and in How I Met Your Mother, Barney is particularly so! This is something students of English should be careful about - these shows are not universal examples of good American speaking and behavior! For example, in The Big Bang Theory, many of the characters, forever in a hierarchical academic environment, will proceed to correct and lecture others such as Penny, which causes endless awkward humor, since in most cases Penny is not concerned with factual "correctness" but with enjoyable social conversational flow. When Sheldon interrupts to provide a point of physics, he is what is called a "wet blanket," taking the joy out of the moment. Most of these characters miss the key part of conversation: two-way flow. This means understanding what others are interested in talking about responding accordingly, not making statements and expecting others to listen. This is a great way to tell what is "good conversation" on these shows - when there is a good two-way flow, it's probably a good example of enjoyable English conversation.