Bryan Cranston tried to do his wildest Jack Nicholson, Ellen DeGeneres and Portia DeRossi couldn’t live without the help of their virtual assistant Alexa and “Captain America” Chris Evans went back to his Boston roots.

But aside from the all-important star cameos and big-budget fanfare, brands touched on important issues — with a dash of fun.

Companies used humor, not to shock, but to try to make the world seem a little better in this year’s crop of Super Bowl commercials, according to a team of top ad executives assembled by The Post.

“I for one am glad that we are out of the funny for funny’s sake trend that was going on for a while in advertising,” said Jay Norman, creative director at Doner.

Budweiser, Snickers and Amazon’s Alexa, “all seem to comment on just how crazy this world has become in 2020,” said Frank Cartagena, the chief creative officer at The Community agency in New York.

“I’m hoping for more funny cultural commentary come Sunday’s big game,” he added. “It’s sort of what we all need right now.”