My 15 Favourite Comedy TV Shows.

TheBloodyCritique's 15 Favourite Comedy TV Shows!

The other day I made a list of my 15 favourite TV shows of all time but I left out comedies because I knew I could easily compile a separate list of comedy TV shows only! I’m a big fan of comedy in general and I think comedy seems to be captured more effectively in the TV show format than in film. Anyway, let’s dive into this, you’re missing out if you haven’t seen any of these! This list is in no particular order, in fact, fuck it, it is! This will not be written well, I’m under many influences.

15. FUTURAMA The Simpsons in space! I’ve included Futurama instead of The Simpsons because The Simpsons has fallen so far in quality that at this point the bad outweighs the good, the first 7/8 seasons of The Simpsons though should arguably be in the no. 1 spot. But with 29 seasons out now, I’ve left it off, I’ve mentioned it now though. Luckily Futurama was cancelled before it could sell out, we got a fantastic show that felt complete. 

14. FRIENDS You gotta love Friends, it’s a feel good Sitcom that was consistently funny and we were emotionally invested in these characters, it’s kept me amused for hours, it’s like a fucking comedy machine and it was great! They were slipping there at the end a little, I’m glad they ended it when they did, Rachel and Joey what the fuck was that!? I loved the premise, I loved the characters especially Chandler and I most importantly I laughed a lot. 

13. FATHER TED Three priests and their maid living together in a clergy house on Craggy Island, a small secluded island off the coast of Ireland. Father Ted doesn’t really want to be a priest, he dreams of being rich and famous but his circumstances won’t allow it, I loved this show, it’s warms, it’s cozy, it’s hilarious and there are a lot of jokes about Catholicism. It may feel dated to a younger audience but I’ll always love Father Ted! 

12. THE RICKY GERVAIS SHOW I love Gervais, I love Merchant and I especially love Karl Pilkington, I could listen to them talk for hours, this is an animated series that uses their podcasts and brings Karl’s amazing stories to life with hilarious visual interpretations of them, it’s a shame there’s only 3 seasons, they could have strung this on forever, at least with the podcast stuff and their XFM stuff, I don’t know why they didn’t! 

11. MALCOLM IN THE MIDDLE Largely forgotten Malcolm in the Middle is one of the best sitcoms of the 90’s, I love the premise, I love the storyline and the progression of the characters as they grow up, I love the sentiment of the show and it’s hilarious. Bryan Cranston was fantastic, he’s a great actor, from Hal to Heisenberg! At its core Malcolm in the Middle is about a severely dysfunctional family who, despite their flaws and conflicts, love each other and fight for each other. 

10. 15 STOREYS HIGH Sean Lock is one of my favourite Stand-Up comedians and I loved 15 Storeys High, I’ve never seen it mentioned by anyone ever, seemed to just slip under the radar. The show perfectly captures Sean Lock’s whimsical style of comedy putting it in a real world setting and it was extremely funny, I wasn’t a fan of the cutaways though, Vince and Errol is all they needed to make this perfect! 

9. SOUTH PARK The best animated sitcom of them all, The Simpsons sold out, Family Guy sold out, South Park is still standing and producing great material to this day, the latest 21st season was great! Trey Parker and Matt Stone seem dignified as well unlike say Seth McFarlane who loves himself openly and seems like a weasel. I love the characters, I love the absurdity they’re able to work within and I appreciate their unique voice.

8. FRASIER I love Frasier, I love the characters, the premise, the psychiatry! I’m invested all the way, it’s warm and comfortable and it’s intelligent, you don’t need to get every elitist reference to get it, I think it intimidates people and well, I like that too. I also love the intro, it’s about 5 seconds, it’s calm, it’s silent, you can sleep easy with this show on unlike Friends, that fucking I’LL BE THERE FOR YOOOU shit drives me mad!   

7. AN IDIOT ABROAD Karl Pilkington is one my favourite people who ever existed and with this show Gervais and Merchant discovered a new genre of comedy it feels, this is just Karl Pilkington experiencing things as himself and it’s hilarious, his take on the world has kept me amused for hours on end, the way he says things is comedy gold. I love the guy!  

6. THE MIGHTY BOOSH Weird and wonderful, there’s nothing else in the world even remotely close to The Mighty Boosh, it’s one of a kind and I fucking love it, I love the world, I love the adventure and all round weirdness but most of all I love the relationship and banter between Vince Noir and Howard Moon! It’s fantastic. 

5. EXTRAS The best use of cameo appearances in a show ever, and there’s a lot of them! Ross Kemp was probably my favourite though! Ricky Gervais was great, Stephen Merchant was great, it was fucking hilarious, some of the best comedy moments in television! That Christmas special was depressing though wasn’t it, fuck me, I appreciated the message but fuck me! Other than that this is gold!  

4. CURB YOUR ENTHUSIASM Seinfeld for the modern day, Larry David is a comedy genius and Curb Your Enthusiasm is my favourite sort of humour, the little annoyances of life, Larry David is a hero and Curb is consistently hilarious! It’s relatable and I feel his pain, a lot of it’s improvised as well which adds to the awkwardness and makes for great comedy. 

3. STEWART LEE'S COMEDY VEHICLE Stewart Lee is my all-time favourite Stand-Up comedian and that’s pretty much what Comedy Vehicle is, he’s doing what he does best, he’s not for everyone and that’s one of the reasons I love him, it’s a masterpiece! He plays with an audience unlike any comedian I’ve seen, he deconstructs comedy itself and it’s a very unique approach to the art of stand-up comedy. I loved the cutaways to his conversations with Armando Ianucci and the other guy as well.  

2. THE OFFICE Honestly I prefer Extras but I think The Office undeniably deserves the higher spot given its impact, it’s also fucking hilarious as well, I love David Brent, I love all the characters including Martin Freeman whose in everything now. It’s another masterpiece! I’m not gonna lie to you guys I’m running out of ways to say this but it was hilarious, I loved it!    

1. SEINFELD Coming in at first place the best sitcom of all time, Seinfeld, hours and hours of entertainment from Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer, I love it, love the self-awareness of it, I love the complete lack of emotion unlike most sitcoms, this is comedy at its purest and it gets the no. 1 spot even though this list means nothing. If you haven’t seen it, watch it!   

So, if you made it this far thanks for reading, it’s the best I could do with the state I’m in at the moment, hope I didn’t sound like a retard or anything and I hope you liked my recommendations, all of these are great shows and if you don’t like any of them you either have shit taste or you watched something else by mistake! I’m gonna leave you with some honourable mentions. Until next time my Steemian brethren!   

Honourable Mentions 

Peep Show / Fawlty Towers / Blackadder / The Fresh Prince of Bel Air

Louie / Only Fools and Horses / The Simpsons (Season 1-8)