In this piece · 20 sections+
If you want the short version: start with Rick and Morty. It's the best comedy on TV right now that's still actively producing new episodes, it rewards you for paying attention, and the worst episode is still funnier than the best episode of whatever Netflix just greenlit about a quirky divorced woman finding herself in Portugal. If you've already seen Rick and Morty or you hate animation, the safest second pick is Malcolm in the Middle, which is streaming again, was always great, and holds up better than almost any live-action sitcom of its era. Everything else below is ranked by how likely I am to actually recommend it to a friend who texts me at 9 p.m. on a Tuesday.
A quick note on what "comedy" means here
TMDb tags half of television as "comedy" because a single character once made a joke. I've cut the shows that are clearly dramas wearing a clown nose (sorry, Orange Is the New Black, you're a prison drama, it's fine) and the ones that are cartoons for ten-year-olds. What's left is twelve shows that will actually make a room full of adults laugh. Ranked, tiered, and labeled so you can bail early if one's not for you.
Tier 1: Must-Watch
Rick and Morty (2013, 7 seasons, Hulu / Max)
Premise: Alcoholic genius drags grandson across dimensions. Start here: Season 1, Episode 6 ("Rick Potion #9") — if that one doesn't hook you, nothing will, and you've saved yourself 70 hours. Who'll love it: People who liked Futurama but wanted it meaner, sci-fi readers, anyone who's ever argued about the multiverse at a bar. Who'll bounce: Anyone allergic to burping, nihilism, or characters being openly horrible to each other. Time: 7 seasons, ~22 min each, ~70 episodes — about a month at a normal pace. Status: Ongoing, and the post-Justin-Roiland replacement voices are fine; you forget inside two episodes. The show works because it actually has ideas — most comedies right now don't have ideas, they have writers' room whiteboards full of Post-its that say "MILLENNIAL BURNOUT" and "FRIEND GROUP." This one has ideas.
Malcolm in the Middle (2000, 7 seasons, Hulu / Disney+)
Premise: Gifted kid trapped in chaotic working-class family. Start here: The pilot. Seriously. It's one of the best pilots ever made and it tells you everything you need to know in 22 minutes. Who'll love it: Anyone who grew up in a loud house, Arrested Development fans, people who think Bryan Cranston was always a genius and Breaking Bad just confirmed it. Who'll bounce: Laugh-track purists (there isn't one — this was ahead of its time), viewers who need every show to be about New York media jobs. Time: 151 episodes × 22 min — a serious commitment, but you can drop in anywhere after the pilot. Status: Ended in 2006, and a revival was announced for Disney+, which is either going to be great or a disaster; could go either way. Still the best family sitcom of the last 25 years, and it's not particularly close.
The Simpsons (1989, 36 seasons, Disney+)
Premise: Yellow family satirizes everything America does wrong. Start here: Season 4, Episode 12 ("Marge vs. the Monorail"). If you're already a fan, skip the first three seasons on a rewatch — they're historically important but slow. Seasons 4 through 9 are the untouchable run. Who'll love it: Everyone with a pulse, eventually. Who'll bounce: People who judge a show by the last ten years instead of the first ten. Time: 780+ episodes, which is insane. Just watch the good seasons. Status: Ongoing, somehow, forever. The post-2000 episodes have their moments but the show stopped being essential around season 11. Seasons 4–9 are still the tightest comedy writing in American television history, and anyone who tells you otherwise is selling a podcast.
Tier 2: Worth Your Time
The Office (2005, 9 seasons, Peacock)
Premise: Paper company coworkers slowly become family. Start here: Season 2, Episode 1 ("The Dundies"). Season 1 is six episodes and kind of rough — skip it if you're in a hurry. Who'll love it: Anyone who's ever had a job, anyone who's ever had a bad boss, anyone with a pulse who missed this somehow. Who'll bounce: People who've already watched it four times and are trying to pretend they haven't. Time: 201 episodes × 22 min — a month, easy. Status: Ended in 2013. A spinoff is in the works at Peacock and nobody asked for it. Seasons 2–5 are the gold; seasons 8 and 9 are a cautionary tale about what happens when you try to make a show work without its lead. Still the most rewatchable sitcom of the century, which is why everyone in your life is watching it right now for the seventh time.
Shameless (2011, 11 seasons, Netflix / Max)
Premise: South Side Chicago kids raise themselves around drunk dad. Start here: Pilot. The opening credits alone tell you if this is your show. Who'll love it: People who liked Weeds before it got weird, anyone who grew up broke and thinks TV gets poverty laughably wrong, fans of William H. Macy doing his finest work. Who'll bounce: Anyone looking for a clean, tidy sitcom — this one gets dark, and the comedy lives in extremely uncomfortable places. Time: 134 episodes × 45–60 min. It's a commitment. Status: Ended in 2021, and honestly it should've ended around season 7, but the first six seasons are some of the best tragicomedy on American TV. A dramedy that earns its laughs by also making you wince — real range, not that focus-grouped Netflix "heartfelt" nonsense.
South Park (1997, 27 seasons, Paramount+ / Max)
Premise: Foul-mouthed kids mock whatever happened this week. Start here: Season 5 onward — the early seasons are historically funny but crude in a way that's hard to sit through now. Or just watch whatever the most recent special is, since they now air as 90-minute specials a few times a year. Who'll love it: Anyone who thinks comedy should punch in every direction, news junkies, people who liked The Onion before it got bought. Who'll bounce: Anyone who uses the phrase "punching down," anyone who gets their politics from TikTok. Time: 26 min episodes, plus specials around 90 min each. Cherry-pick. Status: Ongoing, with new specials — the traditional seasons have basically ended in favor of these event drops. Trey Parker and Matt Stone are the only American comedians who've written about every major cultural moment of the last 28 years in close to real time. That's a miracle nobody's replicated.
SPY x FAMILY (2022, 3 seasons, Hulu / Crunchyroll)
Premise: Spy, assassin, and telepath kid fake-family together. Start here: Episode 1. The whole premise is in the pilot and it's great. Who'll love it: Anime-curious viewers who don't know where to start, people who liked The Americans but wanted it to be adorable, anyone who thinks four-year-olds doing international espionage is inherently funny (it is). Who'll bounce: People who won't watch subtitles, people allergic to cute. Time: ~25 min episodes, roughly 37 episodes across the run — one week if you're committed. Status: Ongoing, and a movie already happened. One of two or three anime that work for people who otherwise don't watch anime. The kid character, Anya, is doing more for the medium's Western viewership than any marketing team ever has.
Tier 3: If You've Run Out of Everything Else
Friends (1994, 10 seasons, Max)
Premise: Six attractive twentysomethings share impossible New York apartments. Start here: Season 2, Episode 7 ("The One Where Ross Finds Out"). Season 1 is slow; skip. Who'll love it: People who want comfort TV, insomniacs, anyone who watched this a decade ago and wants to see how it holds up. Who'll bounce: Anyone looking for edge; this is warm milk, which is sometimes exactly what you want. Time: 236 episodes × 22 min. Status: Ended in 2004. The specific New York it depicts was already a fantasy when it aired — now it's archaeology. That's part of the charm. Not the best sitcom ever made, but the most-watched one in the world for a reason, and the Chandler-Joey chemistry still works.
Modern Family (2009, 11 seasons, Peacock / Hulu)
Premise: Three connected families share suburban chaos, mockumentary-style. Start here: Pilot. It's good. Who'll love it: Parents, people who liked the early Office format, anyone who wants a sitcom that doesn't require any homework. Who'll bounce: Anyone who wants jokes that go anywhere risky. Time: 250 episodes × 22 min. Status: Ended in 2020. Seasons 1–4 are genuinely great network comedy; after that it becomes the sitcom equivalent of a hotel lobby — fine, professional, nobody's mad. Phil Dunphy remains one of the great modern sitcom characters and it's weirdly under-discussed.
Regular Show (2010, 8 seasons, Hulu / HBO Max)
Premise: Slacker park groundskeepers battle absurd cosmic threats. Start here: Season 1, Episode 5 ("The Power"). The first four episodes are shorter pilots and don't represent the show. Who'll love it: Adults who grew up in the '90s, Rick and Morty fans who want something lighter, anyone who's worked a pointless job. Who'll bounce: People who see animation and assume it's for kids, people who need realism. Time: ~11 min episodes, 261 of them — weirdly easy to watch. Status: Ended in 2017. A lesser-known pick because Cartoon Network shoved it at kids, but it's one of the best adult-coded animated comedies of the last 20 years — more inventive than most sitcoms ten times its budget.
Desperate Housewives (2004, 8 seasons, Hulu)
Premise: Suburban women hide secrets on one cursed street. Start here: Pilot. The first season is one of the best single seasons of network TV in the 2000s. Who'll love it: Fans of Big Little Lies who want more of it and funnier, anyone who likes soap underneath the comedy, people rediscovering it after hearing it's actually sharper than they remembered. Who'll bounce: Viewers allergic to twists, anyone who thinks a show needs to be "prestige" to count. Time: 180 episodes × 45 min — a real investment. Status: Ended in 2012. The lesser-known secret here is that this is a comedy, a dark one, and the early seasons are tightly written in a way nobody gives Marc Cherry credit for. Bail after season 4; the back half is for completists.
Family Guy (1999, 22 seasons, Hulu)
Premise: Cutaway-joke machine disguised as a family sitcom. Start here: Season 4, Episode 8 ("PTV"). If cutaway gags work for you, you'll know in ten minutes. Who'll love it: People who watched this in college and want to see if it still works (it mostly does), anyone who likes a rapid-fire joke rate, Peter-Lois shippers (there have to be some). Who'll bounce: Anyone who wants character development, anyone over the cutaway format. Time: 400+ episodes × 22 min. Never finish. Just dip in. Status: Ongoing, will outlive us all. Not the sharpest show on this list, not even close — but the hit rate on individual jokes is high enough that it earns the spot. And if you catch a Road to episode, you'll be reminded these writers can actually do something when they want to.
One short word on the state of the genre
Comedy on TV is in a strange place right now: the streamers mostly don't want to greenlight a pure 22-minute sitcom because they can't measure the return on a laugh, so they keep making "dramedies" — 45-minute shows that are one-third funny and two-thirds a sad woman walking to indie music. The actual comedies that break through now are animated (cheaper to produce, harder to cancel over a tweet) or they're network leftovers people rewatch on Peacock at 2 a.m. Most of the best comedies on this list are either ending, ended, or surviving in spite of their corporate parents. That's not nostalgia — that's what's happening.
FAQ
What's the funniest show to start tonight if I've never watched any of these?
Malcolm in the Middle, pilot, right now. It's the only one where the very first episode is among the best in the whole series, you don't need context, and it ends satisfying enough that if you bail after one, you've still had a good 22 minutes. If you want animated, Rick and Morty S1E6.
Are the new seasons of The Simpsons and Family Guy actually worth watching?
Honestly? No, not really. Both shows peaked in their first decade. New episodes are professionally made and occasionally very funny, but they're not essential viewing. Treat them like comfort food — fine if it's on, not worth seeking out.
What about newer comedies that aren't on this list?
Some good ones exist — What We Do in the Shadows (ended 2024), Hacks on Max, The Bear if you squint and call it a comedy (the Emmys did). I only ranked from the candidate list I was given here, and those shows weren't on it, but they're worth your time too.
Is Shameless a comedy or a drama?
Both, and that's the point. It's shelved as a comedy because that's how Showtime marketed it, but it swings hard into drama by season 3. If you only want to laugh, pick something else. If you want to laugh and also feel something about American poverty that no other show has ever really nailed, it's this.
Watch this tonight
If you've never seen Malcolm in the Middle, start with the pilot on Hulu — you'll watch three more before bed. If you've seen everything on network, fire up Rick and Morty season 1, episode 6 on Max. If you just want to laugh without thinking, The Office season 2, episode 1 on Peacock and let it autoplay until you pass out. That's the whole guide. Go.
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