It’s an average day when tragedy strikes Hanover High School. Someone drew phallic imagery on 27 cars in the faculty parking lot. “American Vandal” belongs to a genre I didn’t realize I’ve been desperately missing: a mockumentary.

A mockumentary is a comedy that disguises itself has a serious documentary, often taking ridiculous subject matter and having the cast act like it is completely serious. “American Vandal” does this beautifully, taking grand documentaries like “Making a Murder,” Or “Serial” but lowering them to a high school level.

The show focuses on two main characters, Dylan Maxwell, a high school burnout prankster played by Jimmy Tatro, and Peter Maldonado, the school’s morning show host and now documentarian played by Tyler Alvarez. “American Vandal” opens with a montage of local news footage show casing the defiled parking lot.

From there we are introduced to Dylan and Peter, getting the first taste at their back and forth, which takes up the bulk of the show. Dylan gets the shaft and is expelled from school a few months before graduation, and Peter honestly believes he couldn’t have done it. With dreams of becoming a great documentarian, and the need to free an innocent man, Peter sets off to clear Dylan’s name. It’s hard to explain the comedy of that is presented in the show.

Most of it is just making fun of its absurd subject matter and how dumb some of the characters are, especially Dylan and his friends “The Wayback Boys” (because they don’t just go back, they go WAY back). The show is insanely quotable, having me say things like “100 percent dude. 100 percent,” in everyday life.

Almost every character in “American Vandal” brings me back to high school in some way. We all know Dylan; whether you liked him or not is a different story. At first Dylan seems like your typical TV “dumb guy,” but by the end of the series he ends up being a truly tragic character. No one in the entire town, besides his mom and Peter believes that Dylan is innocent. His expulsion completely ruined his chances of going to college with his girlfriend, and an impending lawsuit could bankrupt his family. The isolation starts to wear on Dylan leading to some genuinely heartbreaking scenes.

For every scene that pulls on your heartstrings there is a joke to make you burst out laughing. While none of the humor is particularly highbrow, the actors deliver every line with excellent comedic timing.

Watching characters reel back in shock to the revelation that Dylan’s previous phallic drawings are inconsistent with the ones are the cars is so surreal, it’s borderline genius. Having most of the cast be relatively unknown really helps sell the idea that this is all really happening. It wouldn’t surprise me if Dylan ends up being an iconic role for Jimmy Tatro, who I hope is going to get many roles after this one.

“American Vandal,” on paper, is a show that is simple and not worth a watch, but with a strong creative team and outstanding comedic acting, it ends up being a hilarious character study with a strong message. Once the final credits rolled I found myself questioning how I viewed and treated my peers in high school. With only eight episodes at half an hour each to get through, “American Vandal” is a must watch for anyone with a current Netflix subscription.