The Best Scenes From 'Abbott Elementary' Season 1

In just one season, Abbott Elementary has become one of the most universally beloved sitcoms in recent memory. The show has people of all ages tuned in, laughing and talking all about it. Fans of comedies like The Office and Parks and Recreation will find similarities between those them and Abbott, since they’re all mockumentary-style workplace comedies. But judging by Season 1, the Quinta Brunson-created series is already in a lane of its own. Brunson started her comedy career on social media, did a stint as a video personality at Buzzfeed, and now stars on the hit ABC show as a passionate second-grade teacher, Janine Teagues. 

 Janine and the rest of her coworkers at Abbott Elementary are devoted to providing the students at the underfunded Philadelphia public school with the best education possible. While Brunson excels in her performance, the rest of the cast has also helped make the workplace comedy the success it is. The show counts on incredible performances from Tyler James Williams as Gregory Eddie, Janelle James as Principal Ava Coleman, Lisa Ann Walter as Melissa Schemmenti, Chris Perfetti as Jacob Hill, and Sheryl Lee Ralph as Barbara Howard. They all deliver one-liners in every episode that are funny as hell, and each cast member manages to provide scene-stealing performances throughout the season. 

The show’s writing and humor are unique, fresh, and current. It’s also clear they don’t rely on recycled Twitter-inspired jokes like other shows do, which Brunson said is what makes her show special.  Now that the season finale has aired, we revisited Abbott’s first season and carefully selected the best and funniest scenes from each one of the 13 episodes, including commentary from a real-life teacher who has taught in New York City for 16 years. It might be a bit too soon to get nostalgic about a show that just wrapped its first season, but these hilarious scenes will hold you over until Season 2, which ABC announced will be returning for the 2022-2023 school year. 

Episode: “Pilot” (Season 1, Episode 1)

Date: Dec. 7, 2021

Best Quote: “There is a 70-year-old custodian who voted for Kanye teaching social studies right now. “ – Janine Teagues

As a teacher, I have met plenty of custodians like Mr. Johnson. The two custodians at my last school were colorful, eccentric individuals. One of them was an MMA devotee who had amateur, local fights on the weekend. The other was a devoted Prince fan, who was eager to share all the trivia and lyrics he knew. When you’re like me, and you’re working in the building after hours to plan lessons and grade papers, you form bonds with the people who keep the school running. The custodian at Abbott Elementary would fit right in with the men I knew. And I love that Mr. Johnson is taking his substitute job seriously; he is teaching the kids exactly what he thinks is important. Like telling them that the Illuminati runs the world. —Kevin Wong

Episode: “Wishlist” (Season 1, Episode 3)

Date: Jan. 11

Best Quote: “Huh. A square sun” – Gregory Eddie

The best children’s artwork has heart, even if it doesn’t have proportions, realism, coherence, or a color scheme. Appreciating it is one thing, but understanding it is a whole different matter. The scene where Janine helps Gregory interpret his students’ artwork is the type of heartwarming, sincere humor that is an Abbott Elementary trademark.

“Don Cheadle?” Gregory asks, pointing at one of the kid’s drawings. “No,” Janine says. “That’s you.” It’s more difficult to pull off sincerity than cynicism; it would be easier to write a mean-spirited take on public schools, where the optimism gets beaten out of Janine over the 13 episodes. But here, she gets a quiet moment to showcase her love for the students, and Gregory demonstrates a straight-faced willingness to learn from her. —KW

Episode: “New Tech” (Season 1, Episode 4)

Date: Jan. 18

Best Quote: “Hilliam!” – William

I laughed out loud at Barbara’s attempts to teach William to read. The poor woman is trying her best, and all the kid wants to do is dance. One of the realities of being a teacher is that sometimes, you have to care more about the child’s education than the actual child. The scene is also a sly commentary on the theory of multiple intelligences.

Because Ava wants to feel good about herself, she’s putting Barbara and this child on the spot, demanding he does something that he has not yet been taught. William has strengths, even if it’s not reading. But they’re not being celebrated or recognized within such a narrow framework. —KW

Episode: “Student Transfer” (Season 1, Episode 5)

Date: Jan. 25

Best Quote: “She corrected my math last week. She threw a stapler first, but she was right about the math.” – Melissa Schemmenti

What’s hilarious about the entire Courtney storyline is that the writers showed what it looks like when a bright child acts up. It’s not always the obvious things—the talking during class, the horseplaying during lunch, the speaking out of turn. It’s the more heady, psychological stuff like the undermining of authority, the stirring up of shit between other students, the zig-zagging between the endearing and the wildly inappropriate, that you need to watch out for. Everything, from Courtney saying her name is Janine, to imitating Janine during group work, to hijacking the American pledge, rings true. And Janine really shines in these interactions, because she gets to the root of the problem and the source of her misbehavior, instead of simply treating the symptoms. It’s a hard lesson to learn and uncommon for someone to figure that out it in their second year of teaching. —KW​​​​​​​

Episode: “Gifted Program” (Season 1, Episode 6)

Date: Feb. 1

Best Quote: “There you go sounding like an old locomotive.” – Ava Coleman

Janine rushes to Ava’s office to pitch the idea of starting a gifted program at Abbott. “Why you breathing so hard? It’s weird you should get that checked out,” Ava tells her about her enthusiasm. After hearing the pitch, Ava gives Janine and Jacob the green light to start the program calling it a “little mutant academy,” and says she would be like “Charles Xavier with legs.” Jacob comes up with creative ways to engage the school’s brightest minds like bringing in chicken eggs so they can watch them hatch. When the other kids start feeling less special, Janine asks Melissa (a street smart teacher from South Philly) to find her some eggs. Melissa’s chicken egg guy accidentally sells her snake eggs though, and when they hatch it sends Janine’s students into a panic.  ​​​​​—KR

Episode: “Art Teacher” (Season 1, Episode 7)

Date: Feb. 8

Best Quote: “Your real name is Sarah! I saw it in your birth certificate collage!” – Janine Teagues

As an English teacher in the midst of his 16^th year, I see a lot of myself in Janine, especially from when I first started teaching in 2006. And anyone who had that optimism—that earnest desire to change the circumstances around them—also had a toxic friend like Sahar.

It’s not that her entire knowledge of inequity comes from a classroom and place of privilege instead of lived experience—that’s true for a lot of good-hearted, well-meaning people. It’s that she lords it over the very people she purports to help. When Janine finally kicks Sahar out of the school, it’s funny in an ironic way; she doesn’t have to feel intimidated by her friend’s intellect, because she’s actually putting into practice what Sahar can only hypothesize about. Who’s the real sell-out in this scenario? —KW

Episode: “Work Family” (Season 1, Episode 8)

Date: Feb. 15

Best Quote: “Is one of the turkeys pregnant?” – Melissa Schemmenti

Early on in my teaching career, one of my mentors told me something funny: “No matter how old they are, kids love stickers.” And it’s true. I’ve taught all grades, and kids will compete for a sticker prize. Rewards and incentives are as valuable as the teacher makes them out to be. Kids, even older kids, are still kids. So when Melissa and Barbara spent their lunch period teaching Gregory to be sillier and more accessible after his class was underperforming, it brought that memory back. There are many different, successful approaches to teaching. But using a funny voice, or a bit of humor, makes it go down that much easier.

Honorable mention: Janine enlists her rapper boyfriend Tariq (Zack Fox) to perform at an anti-drug program F.A.D.E at her school and they share a hilarious handshake backstage. —KW

Episode: “Step Class” (Season 1, Episode 9) (Karla)

Date: Feb. 22

Best Quote: “Um, excuse me. It’s Fenty!” -Ava Coleman

The funniest scene in this episode happened early on. Janine is promoting her step class’ upcoming show when Principal Ava interjects by asking if she can join and help her teach the class since she had some prior experience. “Step was my thing in college. It certainly wasn’t academics. I hate school,” the principal says. “I was my sorority’s Step Master! We won the step show six years in a row.” Six? How long did it take for her to graduate? 

Anyway, their teaching styles are obviously different and Ava quickly disrupts the progress Janine was making with her kids. The episode was just as funny as the others, and Janelle James had yet another standout performance. It also gave us a glimpse into the principal’s personal life—she had been absent from school and almost missed the step show because of her aging grandmother—and showed her more vulnerable side. —KR

Episode: “Open House” (Season 1, Episode 10) 

Date: Mar. 22

Best Quote: “You think I could fit a jacuzzi in there?” – Ava Coleman

The teachers are preparing to host the students’ parents and Superintendent Collins at their yearly open house. Principal Ava’s contribution to the big night is DJing. That’s when Gregory learns that Ava got the principal job because she found out the superintendent was cheating on his wife and blackmailed him; not because she was qualified.

“He thought he could get away with a thot, but he thought wrong,” she says about Collins. “That man is in my pocket like Jay-Z after the elevator.” Gregory applied for the position but was forced to become a substitute teacher when he didn’t get it, so finding out the truth sends the usually uptight Gregory into a spiral throughout the episode, and even gives himself the nickname “Easy-going Greg.” He starts walking around the school with his shirt untucked, looking disheveled and slouching. “I realized something, nothing matters. Why try? I tried for the principal job and for what? What was the point?” he says. “What’s the point of anything really? I loosened up my tie. Why even sit up straight?”—KR

Episode: “Desking” (Season 1, Episode 11)

Date: Feb. 15

Best Quote: “You were all thinking it. I see you. Don’t look at me like that” – Ava Coleman

Jacob is the whitest white man the show could have possibly conceived. He’s filled with performative guilt, and half his dialogue consists of awkward silences and uncomfortable conversation starters. He’s the kind of guy who thinks the best way to relate to Janine is to regale her with stories about his trip to Africa or saying that he applied to Morehouse. So, the ironic payoff that Jacob’s boyfriend Zach (Larry Owens) is a Black man, shocks the staff. And of course, Ava is the only one with the lack of filter to say something. “Black?!” she says when meeting Zach, to which he quips back: “It’s actually pronounced ‘Zach.’ You must be Ava!” —KW

Episode: “Zoo Balloon” (Season 1, Episode 13)

Date: Apr. 12

Best Quote: “You’ve gotten better with age. Like good wine and Stanley Tucci” – Melissa Schemmenti

Abbott Elementary is a traditional sitcom in the sense that every installment’s plot is relatively self-contained. The writers don’t spin narrative arcs that span multiple episodes. A viewer can pick up the show from any point in the run, and lose very little context in the process. But the season finale, “Zoo Balloon,” pays off so many of the little, unresolved conflicts from prior episodes. 

Barbara makes a decision to continue teaching despite her age, and she reaffirms her friendship with Melissa. Gregory becomes a full-time teacher and relates to the kids with a funny voice—a callback to Episode 8. Tariq hits the bricks but makes sure to deliver the funniest part of the episode where he and Janine do their famous handshake one last time before breaking up. And Janine finally discovers her “teacher voice” and gets an entire bus full of unruly kids to sit down. Big, systemic change is hard to come by. So we teachers take immense pleasure in any victory, no matter how small. —KW