What is the funniest TV show ever?

[spiny norman 0]

What TV show made you die when you first saw it and still makes you die on repeated watchings? What do you believe to be the greatest comedy ever, where every joke made was immediately added to your favourite quotes ever?

 

I personally choose "Fawlty Towers". Only twelve episodes, but my god were they awesome. The image of Basil Fawlty hitting his broken down car repeatedly with a tree branch while screaming "Right, I warned you!", his constant offending of the Germans, I could go on and on about this.

 

So what is your favourite comedy?

[MrRant 0]

Married With Children.

 

And I will kill you all for suggesting otherwise.

 

Seinfeld is 2nd, Simpsons the 3rd, MASH 4th and All in the Family 5th.

[NoCalMike 0]

Married w/Children and Simpsons are tied for #1. If Curb Your Enthusiasm sticks around for a few more years I could rank it at #2. Yes, I like it that much.

[Art Sandusky 0]

Seinfeld, followed by The Young Ones. Everything else is tied for #3 except The Mullets, which is #485,387.

[Vern Gagne 0]

The bad MASH years far out weigh the good years.

 

Seinfeld, Dick Van Dyke, Bob Newhart, Andy Griffith, and the Simpsons.

[kkktookmybabyaway 0]

Speaking of the Mullets, are they still on?

 

Oh, my first thought was "Get a Life!"...

[Vern Gagne 0]

Cousin Donald ownz all your asses...

[Guest El Satanico]

A few that haven't been mentioned

 

I Love Lucy and Three's Company

 

 

I'm far too young to remember anything about I Love Lucy, but the show makes me laugh today. That's staying power.

 

Three's Company used the same situations all the time, but those situations were funny 90% of the time. I will still laugh everytime they overhear something, but completely misunderstand what they heard.

[Nighthawk 0]

Mr. Show for me. There was only one sketch I didn't like in the entire run.

[Mystery Eskimo 0]

Family Guy. Probably not seen as classic by most people but it fits my sense of humour better than anything else.

[Golgo 13 0]

I have to agree with Tigger. Though I like many shows, Mr. Show is the only one that's made me crack up consistently.

[Guest Frank The Tank]

The Simpsons

Seinfeld

Married With Children

Three's Company

Fresh Prince Of Bel Air

[CanadianChris 0]

Police Squad! owns everything.

[Nevermortal 0]

Family Guy or South Park.

[C Dubya 04 0]

I'm surprised at the lack of love for Cheers. It's not my #1, which goes to the Simpsons, but I think Cheers and Seinfeld are close for 2nd. Family Guy was quickly moving up the list, but I don't think it was around long enough to merit a top five ranking.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Seinfeld is the king, followed by Simpsons and Family Guy.

[Slayer 0]

No Monty Python or MST3K love? Damn

 

Those are high on my list, along with Simpsons, FG, MWC, FPOBA, and Newhart's first two shows

 

I'm curious to check out this Mr. Show, I've heard nothing but good things about it

[ArkhamGlobe 0]

Monty Python's Flying Circus

Fawlty Towers

Seinfeld

The Simpsons

[Tawren 0]

Gotta go with Three's Company. Hilarious stuff in every episode.

[Guest Fook]

Seinfeld and MWC episodes from 10 years ago that I've seen a hundred times still make me crack up.

 

Simpsons is up there too just because of the sheer amount of quotable material in almost every episode.

[the max 0]

Newhart, Taxi, Mr. Show, Cheers, and Sports Night are my top 5 that people have forgotten so far.

[Vyce 0]

TV's Funhouse.

 

And honestly, I've see many Seinfeld episodes, and NONE of them have ever made me laugh. Not so much as a chuckle.

[Slayer 0]

And honestly, I've see many Seinfeld episodes, and NONE of them have ever made me laugh.  Not so much as a chuckle.

Ditto

 

If you played the Seinfeld drinking game just by taking one shot every time Jerry starts a sentence with "Whyyyyy...", you'd be dead of alcohol poisoning before the second commercial break

[Guest El Satanico]

If you played the Seinfeld drinking game just by taking one shot every time Jerry starts a sentence with "Whyyyyy...", you'd be dead of alcohol poisoning before the second commercial break

Actually that's not accurate. The only time he did that was during the opening when they showed him doing stand up. He hardly ever did it on the show it self.

[Slayer 0]

If you played the Seinfeld drinking game just by taking one shot every time Jerry starts a sentence with "Whyyyyy...", you'd be dead of alcohol poisoning before the second commercial break

Actually that's not accurate. The only time he did that was during the opening when they showed him doing stand up. He hardly ever did it on the show it self.

Wasn't half the show though just him and his friends asking why certain things were the way they were? That's how I remember it...

 

"Whyyyy do they call it 'taking a shit'? I mean.. you're not actually going in there and taking the shit out of the toilet... whyyyy don't they call it 'leaving a shit'?"

[Guest El Satanico]

It didn't happen nearly as often as you're claiming.

[Star Ocean 3 0]

Mystery Science Theater 3000 has some episodes where the movie is too bad to be enjoyed, but more often than not it's one of the funniest things ever. It's impossible not to have this in the top 5.

 

Mr. Show is sickeningly overrated, most sketch comedies are more miss than hit, but this one is mind boggling. Kids in the Hall is better, and a few early Python stuff, as well.

 

Most of the popular comedies like Friends and Seinfeld are even worse, I don't get how people can still laugh at that typical sitcom crap. A few traditional sitcoms like I Love Lucy and Three's Company are good shows, though.

 

There are shows like The Tick, Andy Richter, The Critic, and more which could have been up for contention had they lasted longer. Family Guy was only 3 seasons but I think it can still be one of the funniest ever. And of course Simpsons is there.

[the max 0]

If you don't mind my asking, why is Mr. Show overrated?

[Bruiser Chong 0]

"Whyyyy do they call it 'taking a shit'? I mean.. you're not actually going in there and taking the shit out of the toilet... whyyyy don't they call it 'leaving a shit'?"

 

Someone's been watching too much Beavis and Butthead.

 

As far as funniest show ever, it begins and ends with Seinfeld. The Simpsons is probably my favorite show, but I think Seinfeld was almost always consistent with each show. I can't think of a single episode that I'd say I hate. Every episode had at least a few things that made it redeemable.

 

A lot of people don't "get it." I guess that's just because it doesn't fit their idea of a funny show, but then again, that's what make the show so great. It thought outside the box and did everything it could to avoid being like the rest of the comedy shows out there. It was about nothing, but in a way, it was about everything. Situation comedies are fun to watch (certain ones, anyway), but rarely are they relatable. We know that in the real world, a lesson can't be learned at the end of 22-minutes of laughs and wacky misadventures, and Seinfeld thrived on this. Every week, no real lesson was learned, no moral had been taught, but that's life. We have laughs over the minutia of our everyday lives and Seinfeld took that reality and made it into the greatest comedy of all-time. Simple as that.

[Guest stardust]

Newhart, Taxi, Mr. Show, Cheers, and Sports Night are my top 5 that people have forgotten so far.

I almost cried when Sports Night went off the air.

 

Cheers is one of those shows I remember watching every week as a kid, and always singing along with the theme song.

 

I've never thought Seinfeld was all that funny. I'll catch reruns every now and then, and they're just not funny to me.

 

I've grown to appreciate Friends for some reason, though. Back in high school I didn't really watch it and I didn't really understand why everyone thought it was so great. I think that now, being in my 20s, I can actually "get it." Not saying it's the funniest show ever, but it's one that's definitely grown on me as I've gotten older.