#10: Curb Your Enthusiasm
Even with only two seasons in the decade, it’s hard not to include HBO’s best and longest running comedy. Larry David, the “social assassin” of societal norms, isn’t afraid to take on anything or anyone with his honest and abrupt humor. The writing of Curb gets better every season, taking on modern annoyances with a graceful rudeness that has made David an icon. The entire cast continues to excel at their craft, with improvised delivery of the script producing non-stop laughs. With Season 10 beginning this month, Curb Your Enthusiasm’s three-decade run has solidified it as one of the most important comedies of our generation. – MM
#9: Broad City
This may be the only comedy on this list that didn’t win a major award at some point in the decade. Luckily, you don’t need any awards to recognize just how good Broad City was. It followed a lot of the rules of a conventional sitcom, while completely revamping the format to make it fit perfectly in to our modern world. When you boil it down its just a show about two girls in the city, done perfectly. Every character feels genuine. The stories are well written and exciting, but its the performances from the leading ladies, Ilana Glazer and Abbi Jacobson, that keep you coming back for more. Broad City gave us a brand new take on being poor in the big city, and it kept us laughing the whole time. – Zac Fallon
#8: BoJack Horseman
Bojack Horseman is one of the most complicated and deep animated programs ever created. A washed up horse clinging to long-gone sitcom fame, tries to navigate his world. This is the pallet that is used to tell some stories that hold a mirror to its audience in profound ways. No show has ever visualized depression quite so well, just like no show has ever had the guts to let so much plot be driven by personal insecurities. The end result is a show that can be uncomfortable at times, but can affect you in ways that have never been possible before with animation. In between all of the intense heavy moments, Bojack sports some of the best and funniest writing of the past decade. The shows dense and often hard-to-spot visual gags make it worth multiple views, even if it hurts sometimes. – ZF
#7: The Good Place
When a show reinvents itself, it almost always becomes unwatchable. The Good Place has managed to be one of the exceptions to this rule. Each season, we see familiar characters and settings, but the motives and mindsets change. As our context of their world grows, so do the stakes. The plots are easy to follow and impossible to predict. Stack all this with a great cast and you get one of the decades most memorable shows. How good do you have to be to get into heaven? The Good Place does its best to answer that, and keeps you entertained throughout the entire process. Best summed up by a quote from the series, “It’s a rare occurrence like a double rainbow, or someone on the internet saying, ‘you know what you’ve convinced me, I was wrong.'” – ZF
#6: Barry
Barry follows its titular character as he starts to take an acting class and find a love for the craft. This would be very boring if Barry wasn’t a former marine and current hit man for-hire. Barry is lost in a world that has only ever valued him for his abilities in battle, and starts to humanize himself through acting. The show is consistently funny, but the story that Barry has to tell feels much more important than the jokes along the way. Barry is easily the most exciting comedy of the past decade, and it’s only two seasons in. – ZF
#5: Silicon Valley
“Silicon Valley” is an ensemble comedy about a group of gifted young computer programmers in a trial-by-fire approach to building a tech company. The nerdy jokes and references are plentiful and masterful, and the comedy is everything we’ve come to expect from Mike Judge. Rather than try to summarize the whole of six seasons, its good to remember the end of the very first season. Uproxx said, that it contained, “The greatest d*ck joke in television history.” With a nod to Little Donny, I have to say I agree. That by itself is plenty to give it a spot at the top of the decade. – Zac Fallon
#4: Veep
With the rise of political satire this decade, none comes close to the intelligence, importance and overall hilarity of “Veep.” The comedic chemistry between one of the best comedic ensembles on TV is exceptional, ensuring constant laughter over fast-paced, metaphor-filled interactions that are massively intelligent and creative. In a career-defining performance, Julia Louis-Dreyfus solidifies her reputation as a comedic giant, with the days of only being known from “Seinfeld” long gone. We’ve never really seen a show like “Veep” before and it has undoubtedly set a new expectations for political satire and troupe comedy. Always timely, relevant and relentless, we were lucky to have this underrated comedic masterpiece as long as we did. – MM
#3: Nathan For You
“Nathan For You” sports the show’s host, Nathan Fielder, offering his consulting services to struggling businesses. His solutions are often absurd, but almost always strangely effective. His dead pan delivery is unwavering and it leaves you with a show that feels more like “Borat” than “Shark Tank.” Whether he was driving customers to your business, creating can’t-miss upselling strategies, or opening up your business to untapped markets, Nathan kept surprising us with his inventiveness. He’s the only person to ever “scientifically prove” that they are fun, and the only Comedy Central star who’s work was once mistakenly attributed to Banksy. “Nathan For You” is four seasons of perfect television, and its unlikely that we’ll ever see anything like it again. – ZF
#2: Brooklyn Nine Nine
Thankfully picked up by NBC within 24 hours after being unceremoniously canceled by Fox, “Nine-Nine” has now fully hit its stride after six complete seasons. With Rosa’s and Holt’s relationships, the show has developed some much-needed emotional depth, but with the annual Halloween Heist and the Pontiac Bandit, it’s still the most consistently funny, reliable sitcom on TV. If you ever find yourself wondering what happened to comedic television, watch this show. If you’re not hooked by one of its famous cold openings, well … I suppose you can try something else. – BF
#1: Parks and Recreation
Recently, there have been numerous articles about how both “Friends” and “The Office” either have already made their way off Netflix or will in the near future. Devotees have launched their social media protests and/or have publicly lamented the loss despite having seen every episode numerous times and basically having the entire series script memorized. Still, it is nice to have them around. “Parks and Rec” is that show for me. I am currently finishing up the entire series run for the third time. I have well over two hundred items in my Netflix queue, but I return to Pawnee over and over because this show just makes you feel better. I love watching the characters change and grow over the course of the series leading to one of the most heartfelt and emotional finales in television which is not something you expect from a comedy that takes place in a city where part of the town is controlled by raccoons or who has a child sized soda based off the amount of fluid that would generated by liquefying a child. – Chris Lewis
