HBO Max: “The Other Two” starring Molly Shannon

Sorry, I never watched “Seinfeld.” Nor did I believe “Friends” for a minute. C’mon, who lives in an apartment that size in NYC, outside of the rando Russian oligarch?

But there’s a show on HBO Max that nails life in New York, the ups-and-downs of celebrity, and the insanity of social media, to the proverbial tee. The show? The Other Two.” Besides being accurate, it also happens to be funny as hell.

Created by former SNL head writers Chris Kelly and Sarah Schneider, and EP’d by Lorne Michaels, TOT has a simple-ish, crazy yet entirely plausible premise: a 13-year-old kid from Ohio named Chase Dubek makes a TikTok singing video which goes viral—and propels him into stardom overnight. He then becomes—wait for it—Chase Dreams.

Chase Dreams appears on “The Today Show.” He’s immediately set up on dates with 13-year-old girlfriends. He gets invites to all the hot parties where Anna Wintour might show (note: celebrity names are dropped with great abandon in TOT.) He decides he wants to go to NYU—at the age of 13! The writers set him up in outrageous situations like this in every episode. How do they think of these things? (Asking for…this writer.)

Meanwhile, the “other two” (the show’s title referring to Chase’s millennial siblings) aren’t so fortunate. They’ve been struggling for years in New York City. Cary (Drew Tarver), a gay actor, can only get auditions for roles in fart commercials or by delivering Cameo messages to perfect strangers for $18 a pop. Brooke, an aspiring, potty-mouthed dancer (played by the hilarious Helene Yorke) is still trying to figure out what she wants to do with her life.

The most plainly whacked out character has to be Chase’s mother, Pat, played by the wonderful, lovable Molly Shannon. This, people, is the role she was born to play. Pat comes along with Chase to New York (“this is my year of yes!” she exclaims), where the family hunkers down in Justin Theroux’s spacious apartment while he’s away. Fun fact: Justin has a toilet in the shape of a motorcycle in his apartment.

No cow is too sacred to escape the barbs of TOT’s snarky writers. Not Soho House. Not daytime talk shows. Not the quest to get 30,000 followers on IG. Not even Grindr—which brings me to the gay aspect of this show, which is significant and LOL-funny. Cary briefly has a boyfriend (Gideon Glick) but he is on the prowl for hookups. In the process, he meets “Insta-gays” (sleek, ripped gay men who shill for advertisers); and straight actors who want to hang with him in order to confuse their fans about their hetero identity. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.

With Wanda Sykes as Chase’s PR guru; Josh Segarra, as Brooke’s ex who is a stoned-out shoe designer; and cameo appearances by Michael Che, Jordana Brewster, Tavi Gevinson, Justin Bartha, in short, everybody who’s currently anybody (or recently was).

Somewhere in a far off universe, Preston Sturges is binge-watching the first two seasons of this crude, outrageously funny series and saying, “Dang! I can’t wear for Season 3.”  Good news, it’s slated for release later this year. Take that, Seinfeld!