With a new year comes a whole new slew of titles to add to your watchlist, including the hundreds of shows you keep saying you are going to watch but never get around to it. We are all guilty of that, but now, more than ever, there are so many choices of what to watch, it can be hard to determine which show will be your next favorite and which one will end up on your “Worst Of” list 11 months from now.
You can’t really go wrong with a good comedy, and since there are so many to choose from on so many different platforms, here we have narrowed it down to the 25 funniest shows streaming on Netflix as of this moment. Whether or not you’ve seen them, it’s always nice to be reminded that there are full seasons of your favorite comfort show out there, or your next go-to show to put on while you’re falling asleep, only to wake yourself up by laughing too hard.
1. Community
Year: 2009
Cast: Joel McHale, Danny Pudi, Donald Glover, Alison Brie
Genre: Comedy, Sitcom
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 6 seasons
Created By: Dan Harmon
Trailer: Watch here
Even though Community didn’t immediately get the same amount of love as other sitcoms of its time, the Joel McHale-led comedy has secured a lasting legacy thanks to its dedicated fan base, who would not rest until a movie was ordered (spoiler: it was ordered). The series follows a group of misfits as they attend a local community college, where they encounter various shenanigans and over-the-top bits that are almost too hard to explain. There are alternate realities, bottle episodes, and a dramatic pillow war that has since gone down in history. Be sure to catch up before the movie comes out. It’s happening this time! Really!
2. Seinfeld
Year: 1989
Cast: Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus
Genre: Comedy, Sitcom
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 9 seasons
Created By: Larry David, Jerry Seinfeld
Trailer: Watch here
While it’s often described as a show about nothing, there is definitely something about this show that helps it remain one of the most beloved sitcoms of the 20th century. It really is just a group of four friends who lead ordinarily hilarious lives, while also annoying the heck out of each other. People really love their shows about quirky misfit friends, right? With classically awkward run-ins and timeless bits that are always referenced in other shows, it’s never too late to watch the landmark series again…or for the first time.
3. Arrested Development
Year: 2003
Cast: Jason Bateman, Will Arnett, Portia de Rossi
Genre: Comedy, Sitcom
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 5 seasons
Created By: Mitchell Hurwitz
Trailer: Watch here
Arrested Development is one of those perfectly acted and written shows, it makes you wonder if this is a real family that might actually hate each other. After a series of bad business decisions, Micheal Bluth (Jason Bateman) is forced to keep his family’s real estate development company alive after his father is arrested. Of course, this all goes downhill in a disastrous way, but it’s very entertaining! Netflix even revived the series for two more seasons in 2013 and 2018.
4. Bojack Horseman
Year: 2014
Cast: Will Arnett, Aaron Paul
Genre: Comedy, Animated
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 6 seasons
Created By: Raphael Bob-Waskberg
Trailer: Watch here
Don’t let the ‘comedy’ tag and animation fool you: this show is a deep dive into what it’s like to be a good person. Only it’s about a horse, so it seems funny and quirky at first, and then you’ll get hit with some heartbreakingly realistic scenes about family and growing up. Will Arnett voices the titular BoJack, a former sitcom star who has to navigate Hollywood after his golden years and subsequent downfall. Still, there are some great laughs in between each emotional crisis!
5. The Good Place
Year: 2016
Cast: Kristen Bell, Ted Danson
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 4 seasons
Created By: Michael Schur
Trailer: Watch here
Yes, this former NBC comedy is about death, but there is also other stuff going on here! After dying, Eleanor Shellstrop finds herself in The Good Place due to a tiny little error in which she was mistaken for someone else. The good news is that this inspires her to be a better human in the afterlife! In order to avoid being sent to The Bad Place, Eleanor is desperate to stay, with the help of her also recently-deceased new pals.
6. Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt
Year: 2015
Cast: Ellie Kemper, Jane Krakowski, Titus Burgess
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 4 seasons
Created By: Tina Fey, Michael Carlock
Trailer: Watch here
If you’re looking for a show to fill the 30 Rock void but even more ridiculous, this is for you! Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt follows the lovable but naive Kimmy after being rescued from a cult led by Jon Hamm. Can you really blame her? Slowly but surely, she is taken in by various new friends who help her out along the way. It does tend to get a little absurd at points, but hey, females are strong as hell!
7. I Think You Should Leave
Year: 2019
Cast: Tim Robinson, Sam Richardson
Genre: Sketch Comedy
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 2 seasons
Created By: Tim Robinson, Zach Kanin
Trailer: Watch here
If you are looking to lean into the selection of absurd shows on Netflix, this is the one. Tim Robinson’s series features now-classic sequences that will go down in history as the most bizarre but strangely heartwarming sketch shows. There are two seasons of the series, and a third is on the way, so now is the time to research why exactly everybody is buying these really neat hats.
8. Key And Peele
Year: 2012
Cast: Keegan-Michael Kay, Jordan Peele
Genre: Sketch Comedy
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 3 seasons
Created By: Keegan-Michael Kay, Jordan Peele
Trailer: Watch here
Before Jordan Peele was crafting innovative horror stories and churning out the biggest blockbusters of the summer, he was part of the aptly named comedy duo Key and Peele. The two had a sketch show which consisted of various spoofs on movies, pop culture, and intense substitute high school science teachers.
9. GLOW
Year: 2017
Cast: Alison Brie, Marc Maron, Betty Gilpin
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 3 seasons
Created By: Liz Flahive, Carly Mensch
Trailer: Watch here
Full of bright neons and sequin suits, GLOW shows a group of aspiring actresses in the ’80s as they train to become to strongest (and most gorgeous) ladies in the women’s Southern California wrestling circuit while participating in various shenanigans and spending hours on those updos. While we never got the ending we deserved, there are still three seasons of the misfit comedy that are well worth watching.
10. Cobra Kai
Year: 2018
Cast: Ralph Macchio, William Zabka, Xolo Maridueña
Genre: Comedy, Action
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 5 seasons
Created By: Josh Heald, Jon Hurwitz, Hayden Schlossberg
Trailer: Watch here
The series picks up three decades after the original story that was introduced in The Karate Kid, with Johnny Lawrence slowly getting back to his karate roots by helping some kids learn how to defend themselves. Sometimes violence is the answer? While fans still have no answer on if Netflix will bring the boys back for a sixth season, a re-watch is never a bad idea.
11. Big Mouth
Year: 2017
Cast: Nick Kroll, John Mulaney, Jessi Klein
Genre: Comedy, Animated
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 6 seasons
Created By: Nick Kroll, Andrew Goldberg, Mark Levin, Jennifer Flackett
Trailer: Watch here
Inspired by real-life buds Nick Kroll and Andrew Goldberg, Big Mouth is a modern take on the worst years of your life: puberty. The show follows a group of high schoolers as they discover the ins and outs of being a teenager in the 21st century. Spoiler: it involves a lot of hormones and a whole subplot about dating a pillow. Teenagers are scary!
12. Russian Doll
Year: 2019
Cast: Natasha Lyonne, Charlie Barnett, Greta Lee
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 2 seasons
Created By: Leslye Headland, Natasha Lyonne, Amy Poehler
Trailer: Watch here
Half “comedy” and half “what am I watching,” Russian Dollis a psychedelic experience that is a great example of how shows can (and should be!) pure fun and a little mind-bendy. Natashia Lyonne stars as Nadia, a woman who gets trapped in a time loop on her 36th birthday, and becomes faced with her own morality over and over (and over).
13. Sex Education
Year: 2019
Cast: Asa Butterfield, Gillian Anderson, Ncuti Gatwa
Genre: Comedy, Coming-Of-Age
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 3 seasons
Created By: Laurie Nunn
Trailer: Watch here
In the hit British comedy Sex Education, Asa Butterfield portrays Otis, the teen who has to navigate puberty and high school while also hearing his mom talk about sex all the time. Hey, high school is hard! But with the help of some friends and potential crushes, Otis and his group of friends begin to break out of their shells. It’s still a pretty universally tough thing to be a kid.
14. New Girl
Year: 2011
Cast: Zooey Deschanel, Jake Johnson, Max Greenfield
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 7 seasons
Created By: Elizabeth Meriwether
Trailer: Watch here
It’s like that one show about all of the Friends who live together in New York, but instead, they are in California! Jessica Day moves in with a group of guys after a particularly rough breakup, and they go through the ups and downs of adulthood together, like losing your dream job, getting dumped by a model, and of course, roommate fights.
15. Santa Clarita Diet
Year: 2017
Cast: Drew Barrymore, Timothy Olyphant, Liv Hewson
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 3 seasons
Created By: Victor Fresco
Trailer: Watch here
Santa Clarita Diet didn’t live long enough to give fans a proper conclusion, but the comedy/zombie series was able to bring together the most iconic TV couple of all time, portrayed by Drew Barrymore and Timothy Olyphant, who won’t let something like dying get in the way of being a happy family. Just because someone may crave flesh and blood doesn’t mean they are a bad parent!
16. Derry Girls
Year: 2018
Cast: Saoirse-Monica Jackson, Nicola Coughlan, Louisa Harland
Genre: Comedy, Teen
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 3 seasons
Created By: Lisa McGee
Trailer: Watch here
It’s universally known that being a teen in any era is tough, but attending a Catholic school in Northern Ireland during the late ’90s was definitely a challenge for these Derry girls. Still, they are able to find the humor and beauty in the world and each other throughout their various teenage antics.
17. Dead To Me
Year: 2019
Cast: Christina Applegate, Linda Cardellini, James Marsden
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 3 seasons
Created By: Liz Feldman
Trailer: Watch here
Sometimes, death and grief can be funny, because the human brain is a strange thing to understand. And sometimes, death makes for a good comedic arch! In Dead To Me Christina Applegate and Linda Cardellini star as an unlikely duo, who must deal with very morbid life events and lean on each other in order to survive and thrive.
18. Never Have I Ever
Year: 2020
Cast: Maitreyi Ramakrishnan, Poorna Jagannathan, Richa Moorjani
Genre: Comedy, Teen
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 3 seasons
Created By: Mindy Kaling, Lang Fisher
Trailer: Watch here
After a traumatic family death, teenager Devi is determined to make her high school years count. With the help (and sometimes dismay) of her friends and family, Devi and pals set out to rebrand themselves and make high school bearable. The show is loosely based on creator Mindy Kaling’s upbringing, which means it is filled with hilarious (and awkward) situations.
19. Gilmore Girls
Year: 2000
Cast: Lauren Graham, Alexis Bledel, Scott Patterson
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 7 seasons, 1 revival season
Created By: Amy Sherman-Palladino
Trailer: Watch here
It doesn’t matter if you love Dean, Jess, or Logan (or if you are smart enough to realize that Marty has more potential than all of them), it’s still always a good idea to take a trip to visit those Gilmore Girls in Connecticut. The cult classic show stars mother-daughter duo Lorelai and Rory as they go bout their daily lives in the quirky town of Stars Hollow, where everybody knows everyone’s business.
20. Master Of None
Year: 2015
Cast: Lena Waithe, Naomi Ackie, Aziz Ansari
Genre: Comedy, Drama
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 3 seasons
Created By: Aziz Ansari, Alan Yang
Trailer: Watch here
This acclaimed series focuses on Dev and Denise, two thirtysomethings experiencing the great big world of New York City, where people are always cutting in front of the line at ice cream parlors! But Aziz Ansari’s witty one-liners paired with Lena Waithe’s seemingly effortless humor makes this a must-watch.
21. Jane the Virgin
Year: 2014
Cast: Gina Rodriguez, Andrea Navedo, Justin Baldoni
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-14
Runtime: 5 seasons
Created By: Jennie Snyder Urman
Trailer: Watch here
Jane (whose younger counterpart is played by Wednesday Adams herself, Jenna Ortega) vows to not have sex until marriage, only her life quickly becomes chaotic after she is accidentally inseminated by a doctor and becomes pregnant. While it sounds like a horror story premise, the show itself blends comedy and familial drama in a light-hearted way, you can’t help but root for them all.
22. Crazy Ex-Girlfriend
Year: 2015
Cast: Rachel Bloom, Vincent Rodriguez III, Santino Fontana
Genre: Comedy, Musical
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 4 seasons
Created By: Rachel Bloom, Aline Brosh McKenna
Trailer: Watch here
Rachel Bloom plays Rebecca Bunch, a young woman who, despite all of her various successes, still pines after her ex-boyfriend from high school summer camp. Who among us hasn’t yearned for the past, after all? The series quickly turns into a dazzlingly funny musical comedy that will have you thinking that maybe you should move across the country to be with your ex you haven’t seen in 10 years. Why not!
23. The Mindy Project
Year: 2012
Cast: Mindy Kaling, Chris Messina, Ed Weeks
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-PG
Runtime: 6 seasons
Created By: Mindy Kaling
Trailer: Watch here
After years on The Office Mindy Kaling finally secured her own show in 2012, and that became the romantic comedy The Mindy Project. Kaling stars as Dr. Mindy Kuhel Lahiri, a hopeless romantic who aspires to spend less time on men and more time trying to work on herself. It’s a cute little show that has many fun guest stars for any fans of The Office.
24. Mo
Year: 2022
Cast: Mohammed Amer, Teresa Ruiz, Omar Elba
Genre: Comedy
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 1 season1
Created By: Mohammed Amer, Ramy Youssef
Trailer: Watch here
Mo is based on comedian Mohammed Amer’s own life as a Palestinian refugee living in Houston, Texas, while dealing with casual racism, providing for his family, and learning about his own religion. Amer wrote the series with pal Ramy Youssef after guest starring on Ramy, another great series that isn’t on Netflix, which is why it isn’t on this list. But it’s still worth a watch!
25. Tuca and Bertie
Year: 2019
Cast: Tiffany Haddish, Ali Wong, Steven Yeun
Genre: Comedy, Animation
Rating: TV-MA
Runtime: 1 season on Netflix
Created By: Lisa Hanawalt
Trailer: Watch here
Tuca and Bertie was one of those short-lived Netflix shows that had a dedicated fan base but never got enough push. Still, the series is a classic buddy comedy, only the buddies are birds who are just trying to get through the day.