50 Binge Worthy TV Comedies

Before Arrested Development, there had been no good American sitcoms for years. My side of the pond was doing all the innovation with the handheld mock doc 'The Office' & the hyper kenetic 'Spaced'. Arrested Development took great lessons from both without imitating either and created the bizzare Arrested Development, the story of a family who lost everyt... you know how it goes. The plot of the show does get extremely complex (for a sitcom) and a lot of the best gags are only enjoyed if you've seen all their foreshadowing and build up. For these reasons it makes another great boxset show, but one that probably didn't sit too well on the old box. Hence cancelation, hence Netflix revival.

I've never hated Sky (Brit Cable) more than around 12 years ago when they bought the rights to the *beep* Simpsons. I was born in 1992 and I had the works. Bart Simpson tops, Homer slippers, even those crappy 4 episode compilation VHS' called stuff like 'On your marks, Get set, Doh' etc. Before Channel 4 eventually bought the rights back, it felt like the mourning of a loved one. Like Toy Story, The Simpsons holds up and even improves as you watch it as an adult, certain jokes that went over my head, I now grasp making going through the old episodes a treat. Watching it now it feels like catching up with a very old friend and finding them just as endearing as you did as a child.

Peep Show was so weird, so creepy and so honest that it is a miracle it made it past season 1. It is now channel 4's longest running show and really paved the way for 'The Inbetweeners' to awkwardly crude up the airwaves. Using a POV perspective and thought track we explore the lives of Mark and Jeremy, the former, a buttoned up, conservative credit manager and the later, an unsuccessful liberal musician. Peep Show is at its best when it's really dark, an episode in season 2 for example sees mark carve the name of his crush into his arm in the hope that she will see it and take pity on him. It is at its worst when it is trying to be clever and comes across as very 'written'; some of Mark's thoughts seem a little complex to be off the cuff for example. But even at it's worst Peep Show has always been good and I hope we follow these characters long into their forties.

Spaced! or to give it's other title 'What I've been trying to rip off for the the last four years' Spaced was made before the tidal wave of youtube 'comedy' happened and was ahead of the curve in terms of the whole pop culture reference thing. Nowerdays it can appear kind of dated (The Matrix parody is a bit much for example) but Spaced holds up because it managed something that a lot of youtube 'comedians' forgot. I.E. Actual jokes and relatable characters. The team went onto make Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz and The World's end and this acts as a fantastic companion piece.

Having been both I can confirm that 'Freaks and Geeks' is accurate. The show with more A-list stars than it has episodes, this is a show that managed to be very good at exploring dramatic themes as well as being very good at making you piss yourself with laughter. The show runner 'Judd Apatow' went on to basically run Hollywood comedy and this is where a lot of the roots lie for that frat pack sensibility.

Black Books is filmed in front of an audience with multiple cameras, an approach that has fallen out of style a bit recently, It's certainly still used but rarely in anything 'edgy' for lack of a better word. Then again the whole philosophy of Black Books is one of cynicism for the modern era. It's title character is a chain-smoking, angry wreck of a man who runs a second hand book shop and hates anyone who frequents it. Apparently the original pilot involved him trying to commit suicide and although what actually appeared is fairly jolly, (It's hot in the worm!) there is still plenty of dark tones running underneath the surface.

If you read the episode titles of the first series of 'Sunny' it reads like the list of stuff you probably shouldn't do in sitcoms. I.E Racism, abortions, cancer and molestation. The characters also seem like they belong in six feet under. A Narcissistic psychopath, an egotistical right wing closeted Christian, a mentally broken down desperate 'mistake' and a solvent in-taking man child. All of them morons. Sitcoms have used unlikable characters before but I don't recall a show which used a cast which could be so uniformily described as pure evil and it's the funniest sitcom going.

Two Kiwi musicians go to New York to try and make it big and score with the ladies. Flight of the Concords is subtly surreal. (Apart from the breaking out into song part) It's not over the top, like the Mighty Boosh, but it's almost like Brett and Jermaine are from a different planet ...or have aspergers. I'm half kiwi on my father's side and he has no idea how the show got made as the humour is so New Zealand specific. Great songs as well.

HBO comedy has always had this problem of coming across like it's looking down it's nose at you. You see it on Curb, Girls and the recent silicone Valley. Everything they make is clever, but it's wit as opposed to belly laughs. The same problem isn't true of 'The Life and Times of Tim' whose style is more in line with The (British) Office. It follows our well meaning everyman 'Tim' as he ends up in terrible situations due to his social awkwardness and general incompetence. For example through a series of events he ends up groping his girlfriend's grandmother's breasts etc. It's worth watching and it goes to show that the cringe-com can translate to animation. Some of the crappiest animation since South Park btw

The undisputed king of cringe comedy, the sitcom that influenced everything after and the show that was remade and syndicated across the globe looks like *beep* It looks like the most boring show in the world. If channel flipping you could easily mistake it for some cinema vérité documentary about the drudgery of modern office work. It needs this framework so they can get away with having characters that are absurdist while also remaining eerily familiar creating a house of mirrors effect. It also allows the writers to shift genres with ease and a certain scene in the final episode of series 2 stands up as great drama.

Matt Groening's 2nd show was somewhat of a departure from the Simpsons (DID YOU HEAR THAT MACFARLANE??) It was one of my first introductions to adult humour, what with Farnsworth's very lax attitude to health & safety, Bender's alcoholism and Zoldberg's alienation from the rest of the crew.

Just please stop with the bureaucrat jokes for the love of god.

Following four lads as they try and fail to get clunge, this is one of the most accurate depictions of Adolescence going. It's tone is that of the cringe-com, but with extra scattological jokes for good measure. Never quite reaching the heights of Peep Show this is still the more consistent show and definitely the one that appealed more to the mainstream. (Box office for the film spin off took 88 million.) It was always a better show when it was mocking vulgarity as opposed to wallowing in it, but it is still one of the best modern sitcoms.

As well as being a brilliant sitcom with a high laugh count 'The Thick of it' also serves as a brutal political drama. The opening scene shows Malcolm Tucker, a party spin doctor telling a politician flat out that he has to jump before he is pushed. He does so with malice and relish; setting up how harsh this world can be. A lot of the laughs come from the terror created by Malcolm as the various civil servants predictably mess everything up.

Curb follows a fictional version of Seinfeld writer Larry David as he navigates relationships with exaggerated versions of the Hollywood comedy elite. It can be very funny, but with that premise it inevitably comes across as a little introverted and on first glance Larry David is a monster. Only after watching the show for a while do you start to appreciate that he's just an idiot.

With a lot of these write ups, I can offer comparisons to similar shows but Boosh really is it's own beast. it was made in a time when BBC 3 was still going strong (the BBC thinking that the battle for 'da yoof' was still worth it.) and you can't imagine anything as risky, surreal or weird being made today. It follows a Jazz enthusiast and a fashion victim as they navigate jobs at a Zoo and a Camden shop and it does so with a natural wacky edge. The episode Eels is a *beep* classic.

It seems like a paradox that a sitcom this edgy remains shot in multi-cam format. A lot of shows that attempt similar humour to the It crowd (such as that dreadful Futurama episode about iphones) fall flat because they keep it as broad as possible as to not alienate the over 40s. The IT Crowd however has no qualms with making Jokes about RAM or Cradle of Filth and they don't and should never apologise for doing so. The fact that the line 'Anonymous are after me! But I'm in Anonymous! I think??' made it into a prime time sitcom is a wonder in itself.

Coupling looks totally *beep* awful, one episode even has a *beep* boom mic in shot. The premise is also very bad, basically being a more explicit 'Friends'. So why would anyone watch this Cack? Well it's like how Roger Corman used to try and find young talented auteurs and put them to work on total *beep* It made great cinema! The young auteur in question is Stephen Moffat. A man who would go on to showrun Dr Who. He packs every episode with ideas. One plays out entirely in split screen, one shows multiple perspectives on the same event and one unforgettable episode takes place mostly in Hebrew. Even in episodes that aren't doing anything stylistic there is always some great laughs to be had, the sock gap and the giggle loop being particular stand outs.

Obviously I quite like reading and writing reviews, (Shout out to Mark Kermode, Yahtzee Croshaw and Mike Stoklasa) so a show in which every day experiences are reviewed peaked my interest. Review is actually a remake of an Australian show (one which I haven't seen and refuse to see, being half kiwi) and the premise provides a great jumping off point. What would otherwise be a series of sketches is held together by the gradual crumbling of the presenters life and it's often at it's best when it's being seriously dark.

Look around you is actually 2 shows. The first series was a parody of those 15 minute science shows you were made to watch in Friday afternoon School. The second (and much bigger series) riffed on shows like Blue Peter and Tomorrow's World. The TV references will obviously fly over American's heads, but a lot of the silly humour shouldn't and if you're not gonna check it out you should at least youtube the rapping song.

What with Stephen King getting his 'Simpsons Movie' TV show off the ground its a perfect time to revisit a series that ripped the piss out of him. Garth Marenghi is in his own words 'One of the few people that has written more books than they have read'. He is the fake writer/director/star of the fake 1980's horror TV show 'Dark Place', which the show claims was never originally shown because it was 'too radical'. The humour all stems from the poor acting, crap special effects and terrible writing. It shares a lot of DNA with 'Look around You'/'The Mighty Boosh' as well as some of the cast and with six episodes only this is the definition of a cult classic. Interestingly almost as soon as the show was cancelled Stephen King's Kingdom Hospital started airing in the US (same show minus irony and self awareness)

Bob's Burgers is an animated comedy about a family running a burger joint. I haven't laughed at a cartoon this much in a long time, it has a light touch, but it goes in some pretty dark places. (Jokes about cannibalism and child molesters make it into the pilot.) I also love the character of Tina, the eldest daughter who is coming to terms with her puberty. She has all the best lines.

Although it doesn't have the same prestige, there is a lot more laughs in Extras than there is in The Office. The premise follows an unsuccessful actor as he gradually gets a sitcom off the ground and although Ricky Gervais was pushing his luck, it does stay on the right side of introversion. Highlights include Kate Winslet using the Holocaust to get an Oscar, a young Daniel Radcliffe's seduction techniques and Darren Lamb mashing up a poo.

Fred Armisen and Carrie Browstein's sketch show is very quick fire comedy. A lot of it misses, but enough hits that it remains enjoyable. Most of the sketches target middle class hipster types. They milk their weird characters for all their worth and then throw in a subversive punchline. The 'put a bird on it!' sketch which I'm sure is on youtube best represents their structure. In fact your reaction to that sketch will probably also be your reaction to the entire show.

One of the first sitcoms to realise that it was way more fun to watch angry,incompetent idiots than it was to watch happy families; Fawlty Towers is a total classic. At the heart of it is hotel owner Basil Fawlty, a man with such high blood pressure it looks like he's going to explode. Made in the 70's it gets away with some pretty xenophobic gags, but I'd be a liar to say that said gags won't *beep* hilarious.

Him & Her follows a young lazy couple as they... well they don't do much. Following in the footsteps of 'The Royle Family' (which is also good) this is a sitcom that plays out in real time with *beep* all happening. It explores that stage in a relationship when things get a little too comfortable and you start *beep* with the door open etc. Their plethora of weird friends and relatives make for an excellent supporting cast and the show has some excellent one liners.

You know my feelings on Asthma, now take a big breath and get over it.' A typical statement there made by Jill, the lead character of 'Nighty Night'. Jill is a monster, after her husband is diagnosed with cancer (still alive, not terminal) she immediately joins a dating agency, after that fails she starts hitting on her neighbour who is married but who's wife has MS. All the laughs in Nighty Night are gained from the horrible atmosphere that Jill leaves in her wake, her words hang there like farts and because the rest of the cast are such polite suburban Brits it makes it all the more painful... and brilliant.

I haven't seen much of Seinfeld, but from what I've seen it's consistently funny. I quite like the way they look at life and I can see why sitcoms of the new millennia are so indebted to it. When I watch more of it I'll give it a proper write up.

This is a weird one. I was joking about my Australian racism earlier. I love Australian TV. (Round the Twist and Wilfred are great) This show casts the same man in three different roles. A camp drama teacher, a disobedient school boy and a ex-private school diva. It's all scripted, but when I first turned it on I couldn't get my head round it. I wasn't sure what the *beep* I was watching. Chris Lilley is very talented, his portrayals are very true to life and the show is hilarious.

Brass eye was a channel 4 show which was notorious for an episode they did on Paedophiles. The premise of the show was that it explored issues like drugs and crime in a completely ridiculous way, making up facts, doing fake news stories and getting celebrities to unwittingly say nonsense to camera. It's pretty funny and it was also extremely edgy, the aforementioned paedophile episode was met with boos from the tabloids but perfectly satirised the hysteria that greeted the issue.

The best and the worst thing about Louie is it doesn't give a *beep* if it's making you laugh. This can lead to some classic scenes that would never be made in the average sitcom (such as the scene discussing the slur 'f*g') or it can lead to long stretches of tedium. Having said that I would much rather watch something that was trying new things with varied results than watch something that was generically good. And Louie is good, looking forward to continuing this one.