The current golden age of television continues to shine brighter each year and every genre has experienced major growth, especially sitcoms. Sitcoms have been a staple of television ever since the medium’s start and a good laugh is something that never goes out of fashion.

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Sitcoms have gotten more ambitious and genre-heavy, but there are still plenty of comedies from the pre-streaming era that are just as funny now as they were decades ago. Humor is subjective, but there is still a certain pantheon of television sitcoms that are considered to be the best and funniest that the medium has to offer.

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It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia has evolved from a niche low-budget comedy on a cable network to one of FX's flagship programs. It's also the longest-running live-action sitcom with more than 160 episodes over the course of 15 seasons, with at least three more on the way.

Always Sunny follows some truly awful individuals and the comedy never pretends that Dennis, Dee, Charlie, Mac, and Frank are anything otherwise. However, effortless chemistry, surreal characters, and consistently smart storylines that challenge sitcom expectations are not only why Always Sunny has been on for nearly two decades, but why it's been good for just as long.

9 An Intimate Workplace Comedy At Dunder Mifflin

The Office

The Office is proof that American remakes of British comedies can work in the right circumstances once they find their own voices instead of shamelessly imitating their source material. The Office is hilarious and shines a playful light on inner-office politics and workplace monotony. However, audiences fell in love with the nine-season series and continue to binge it on repeat because of its characters.

The Office is a masterpiece when it comes to character-driven comedy that makes the viewer truly feel connected to its cast. Admittedly, there are some diminishing returns in the few seasons after Michael Scott’s departure, but the mockumentary’s influence on modern comedies is undeniable.

8 The Bluths Star In A Complex Comedy

Arrested Development

Arrested Development is lightning in a bottle television where casting, writing, and directing beautifully come together into something special. Arrested Development follows the oblivious and affluent Bluth family, who are all delights in their own awful ways. However, Arrested Development is full of Easter eggs, foreshadowing, and heavy serialization that’s extremely rare in sitcoms.

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There’s also a glorious metatextual element that’s slowly worked into the narrative, too. Arrested Development’s two revival seasons on Netflix have a much more contentious reputation, even among die-hard fans, but the highs of the initial seasons are too impressive and hilarious to ignore.

7 Prescient Mockumentary Comedy With Its Pulse On Pop Culture

The Larry Sanders Show

The Larry Sanders Show was one of HBO's first prestige original comedies and features an impressive writing staff that includes a young Judd Apatow. It turned out nearly 100 episodes over six seasons and its behind-the-scenes look into a fictitious late-night talk show was decades ahead of the curve.

The Larry Sanders Show has an excellent grasp on mainstream interests and celebrity culture that are filtered through Garry Shandling's cynical Larry. The 1990s comedy is full of A-list actors and musical guests, which help this innovative blur the lines between fantasy and reality.

6 An Underrated NBC Sitcom

NewsRadio

NewsRadio is an NBC sitcom from the 1990s that quietly flew under the radar while other more palatable network sitcoms like Friends and Seinfeld found success. NewsRadio doesn’t seem like anything revolutionary with its look into the workplace shenanigans of a news radio station from New York.

However, NewsRadio is a dark and disruptive comedy that took some major risks for the time that prioritize comedy over mainstream appeal. NewsRadio also thrives through its exceptional cast, which includes Dave Foley, Stephen Root, Maura Tierney, and the incomparable Phil Hartman.

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Frasier

Spin-offs have been popular since the start of television, but it's rare for a series to trump its predecessor, especially when it's been on for more than a decade. Cheers is a landmark sitcom in its own right and ran for 11 seasons, only for Frasier to follow it up with another 264 episodes.

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Frasier bounces between broad slapstick humor and sophisticated comedic exercises that feel like pieces of theater, but there's always heart and a respect for its characters underneath it all. Frasier's final seasons are just as strong as its introductory years.

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Community

Community is a sitcom about a group of eclectic outcasts who forge an unlikely family together out of a community college study group. Community jumps through many of the typical sitcom hoops, but it’s a deeply subversive and self-aware series that’s interested in television’s ability to change stories and genre.

Community increasingly engages in “concept episodes” that turn it into a holiday musical, documentary film, animated series, or even an episode of Law & Order. It’s a crowning example of what a sitcom can achieve when it sheds the genre’s baggage and expectations.

3 The Prototypical Animated Sitcom Family And Their Antics In Springfield

The Simpsons

The Simpsons is an institution in and of itself at this point with more than 700 episodes produced and still no end in sight. Granted, there’s an overwhelming opinion that The Simpsons has aged poorly, but it’s still a comedic marvel that’s changed the face of the industry.

Few sitcom families are more recognizable than the Simpsons and the show’s formula has inspired countless other animated family sitcoms. Not all of The Simpsons is comedic genius, but the show’s best seasons are still some of the funniest stuff to ever be on television.

2 A Formative Family Sitcom That’s A Masterpiece More Than 50 Years Later

I Love Lucy

A true titan of television, I Love Lucy isn’t just hilarious programming that’s lasted the test of time, but it’s also a landmark achievement for what it helped accomplish behind the scenes with television production. The real-life story of Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz is fraught and complicated, which almost makes it more impressive that they could create such a cherished fixture of American television.

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I Love Lucy premiered in 1951 and lasted for 180 episodes. I Love Lucy helped lay the foundation for family sitcoms and helped them evolve. Ball’s comedic performance remains a benchmark that many other sitcom performers have strived to reach.

1 Mundane Minutiae Fuels Comedy’s Greatest Conflicts

Seinfeld

Sitcoms based on the musings of comedians were prevalent during the 1990s, but Seinfeld punches above its weight and remains a triumph of storytelling. Jerry and his friends are selfish New Yorkers who are frequently at the receiving end of karmic justice. While it claims to be about “nothing,” Seinfeld explores everything that makes people human.

The way in which disparate storylines dovetail together is no easy feat and it’s why the sitcom still holds up. Larry David’s Curb Your Enthusiasm conjures a comparable energy and has slowly accumulated more seasons than David’s previous masterpiece.

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