The Southern Ontario/WNY Radio-TV Forum / Sitcoms That Still Make You Laugh [REALLY LAUGH]

**Posted by mace** May 23, 2025 5:47 pm

There is becoming fewer and fewer shows on broadcast television that interest me. As a result I have turned to CHCH, Dejavu and U.S. sites like METV. Here are a few of the shows from the past that still make me heartily laugh today. Leave It To Beaver, Beverly Hillbillies, Green Acres, Andy Griffith, Bob Newhart[1972] Mary Tyler Moore, Barney Miller, Too Close For Comfort, Cheers, Frasier and Big Bang Theory. At the other end of the spectrum, Seinfeld remains totally unfunny to me. I am sure some of you have other shows that give you tremendous belly laughs.

**Posted by RadioAaron** May 23, 2025 6:25 pm

Really interesting topic - humour is so subjective, and also so tied into what worked in various eras.

My list, and I'm going to stretch the definition of sitcom to include sketch and animation. I pretty much have to, or the answer would be none.

-Early Simpsons
-30 Rock
-Early Futurama
-Portlandia
-Arrested Development
-Parks and Recreation
-Kids in the Hall

I remember finding Seinfeld and Friends funny at the time, but the reruns to nothing for me.

As for Big Bang Theory, I never found it that funny, but (unpopular opinion...) I find it a decently amusing distraction.

-

**Posted by mace** May 23, 2025 6:40 pm

I never watched Big Bang Theory when it was in production probably because their was more interesting programming on another network. I discovered the show in reruns and could identify with the characters in the geek/nerd/not popular with women department. In the smarts department, not so much.

**Posted by RadioAaron** May 23, 2025 6:45 pm

I also didn't watch it until syndication. Once that started, I was traveling a lot for work, and it was the only thing on hotel basic cable that seemed at all appealing.

Definitely also identify with some of the characters' geekiness.

**Posted by Just a Radio Fan** May 23, 2025 6:47 pm

Really? No one has yet mentioned WKRP in Cincinnati. Hilarious, but maybe because for me it really did close to home. I worked with many very much like the characters on the show.
Also on my list, Green Acres, The Hillbillies, and of course Get Smart. Sitting here chuckling just thinking about those shows.

**Posted by Paul Jeffries** May 23, 2025 6:57 pm

My top picks would be:

- WKRP in Cincinnati
- All in the Family
- Bosom Buddies
- Taxi
- The Odd Couple (the '70s version with Tony Randall and Jack Klugman).
- The Carol Burnett Show (not in the sitcom category I know, but still gives me lots of belly laughs to this day).

PJ

**Posted by Hansa** May 23, 2025 7:03 pm

Barney Miller
MASH
Taxi
WKRP

Last edited by Hansa (May 23, 2025 7:03 pm)

**Posted by RadioActive** May 23, 2025 7:31 pm

Hansa wrote:
Barney Miller
MASH
Taxi
WKRP

Hard to disagree with any on that list or the other posts.

Green Acres (except for the first year when it hadn't found the magic) was simply the most surrealistic show ever presented on network TV. Not even Twin Peaks surpasses it for strange and eccentric. Characters seeing the credits (and commenting on them), Arnold the Pig and Cynthia Haney the basset hound having a romance and "talking to each other," (Arnold to Cynthia via subtitles: "Oh you speak French!"), other characters reading subtitles they weren't supposed to see and more made this the funniest show I think in TV history. But I love when TV breaks the fourth wall and this show still has me in hysterics every time I see it.

My runner up is one no one else here would ever pick: The George Burns & Gracie Allen Show. Brilliant writing, veteran vaudeville performers and scripts that made your head spin with laughter. Yes, it was the 50s and black and white, but once they went to film from live/kinescoped episodes, there was nothing like it.

From Gracie's twisted logic to George's "Magic TV," where he watched the show in progress and made comments on everything from the plot to the performances, there has never been anything similar on television. I dare you to watch my favourite episode, called "Too Many Fathers" and not laugh, especially in the final few minutes.

**Posted by turkeytop** May 23, 2025 9:14 pm

Cheers

Corner Gas

Red Green

Last edited by turkeytop (May 23, 2025 9:14 pm)

**Posted by Jody Thornton** May 23, 2025 9:50 pm

I would choose:

Cheers
Frasier
Everybody Loves Raymond (this never gets the credit it deserves)
Friends and Seinfeld (only select episodes)
All In the Family
Family Guy and American Dad (early seasons)
Simpsons (First Ten to Fourteen Seasons)
Married With Children (select episodes)
The Jeffersons
WKRP (early episodes, but a tad overrated beyond that)
Modern Family
The Office
30 Rock
Parks and Recreation

**Posted by paterson1** May 23, 2025 10:14 pm

Some that still make me laugh..

Curb Your Enthusiasm
Early to Mid Simpsons
Corner Gas
Modern Family
Green Acres
The Office both versions
A few episodes of I Love Lucy (dancing with a Van Johnson mannequin by the pool and his head falls off)
Red Green
All In The Family
The Jeffersons
Mary Tyler Moore
SCTV (not a sitcom, but their sketches on sitcoms like Andy Griffith, funnier than the real thing)
Frasier
Everyone Loves Raymond
Mr. Bean

**Posted by Shorty Wave** May 24, 2025 8:24 am

Lots of great faves here! Here are some of mine from over the years:

Superstore
Monty Python (non sitcom but very funny TV IMO!)
The Office (UK & US Version.)
Family Guy
SpongeBob SquarePants (yes, got hooked on it when my son was younger!)
30 Rock
Ted Lasso (kind of a sitcom)
Parks and Recreation
SCTV
The World According to Cunk
Modern Family
The Studio (my latest favourite!)
And I forgot Police Squad!

Last edited by Shorty Wave (May 24, 2025 10:29 am)

**Posted by Jody Thornton** May 24, 2025 8:27 am

@ShortyWave and @Patterson1:

I would definitely add Superstore to my list. I love Curb, but I can only watch so many episodes at once. It's so cringe (and I know - by design)

**Posted by paterson1** May 24, 2025 9:43 am

I agree, Curb is not really a binge watch show. But certainly can get me laughing.

**Posted by Hansa** May 24, 2025 10:18 am

The Honeymooners is one of the few black and white sitcom I find laugh out loud funny, moreso even than I Love Lucy. I hate to admit it but Amos & Andy is also quite good and established a lot of the tropes and scenarios that other sitcoms have copied over the years.

**Posted by Shorty Wave** May 24, 2025 10:35 am

Jody Thornton wrote:
@ShortyWave and @Patterson1:

I would definitely add Superstore to my list. I love Curb, but I can only watch so many episodes at once. It's so cringe (and I know - by design)

Superstore was a nice surprise for me when I discovered it! Recently my wife worked with Lauren Ash, who played Dina on the show. She has lost a lot of weight and looks great!

Curb is definitely a low dose series, two or three in a row max!

**Posted by RadioActive** May 25, 2025 8:54 am

This would have been amazing!

Dick Van Dyke Planned To Remake ‘The Odd Couple’ With Ed Asner Before His Death: “Would’ve Been Such Fun”

**Posted by Shorty Wave** May 26, 2025 7:30 am

RadioActive wrote:
This would have been amazing!

Dick Van Dyke Planned To Remake ‘The Odd Couple’ With Ed Asner Before His Death: “Would’ve Been Such Fun”

This sure would have been amazing RA! Hard to believe Dick Van Dyke is 99, must be doing something right!

**Posted by mace** May 26, 2025 7:54 am

Just a Radio Fan wrote:
Really? No one has yet mentioned WKRP in Cincinnati. Hilarious, but maybe because for me it really did close to home. I worked with many very much like the characters on the show.
Also on my list, Green Acres, The Hillbillies, and of course Get Smart. Sitting here chuckling just thinking about those shows.

I actually forgot about WKRP, Everybody Loves Raymond too. In my defense, this topic came to mind one night just before bedtime, so I wasn't thinking too clearly.

**Posted by g121** July 10, 2025 10:59 am

Thank you for this : )) ..

I finished watching the entire "Young Sheldon" series while I do my 2.2 mile trek on my walking pad each morning.

Looking for another watch, I gave Superstore a try. I had never even heard of it but given the several mentions in this thread, it seemed promising.

I think it's quite good even a tad risque for network TV. I'm just finishing up Season 2. The only characters I dislike are Bo (Cheyenne's hubby) & Pharmacist Tate.

Fun fact/question: Jeff appears to be the same guy from the infamous, hilarious Kmart "Ship My Pants" commercial.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xwUuSM06xQ
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1343939/?ref_=ttfc_fcr_cst_18 Mike Bunin
Superstore Jeff 2016–2021 28 episodes
Other works: The "ship my pants" guy from the K-Mart commercial.

**Posted by Hansa** July 10, 2025 3:51 pm

I like 1970s/80s Britcoms like Fawlty Towers, the Fall And Rise of Reginald Perrin, Fairly Secret Army, Blackadder, Mother & Son (from Australia) - even have a soft spot for some of the crasser ones that Global used to air like Are You Being Served and On the Buses. I also liked British sketch shows - not just Monty Python but Dave Allen at Large which WUTV carried, Not the Nine O'clock News and Alexei Sayle.

Last edited by Hansa (July 10, 2025 8:55 pm)

**Posted by RadioActive** July 10, 2025 4:02 pm

The Fall & Rise of Reginald Perrin used to be on Channel 17 in the 70s. Absolutely brilliant, and it got even better as it went on, after Reggie returned from his fake suicide (and married his old wife while pretending to be another man) forming the Grot Shop, featuring Useless Gifts for People You Hate. Among them - tennis rackets with no strings and salt and pepper shakers with no holes.

It was a great show and I recommend it highly to anyone who loves outrageous British humour. (Or in the words of Reggie's boss, C.J., "I didn't get where I am today by not liking outrageous British humour...")

It's an acquired taste, but once you get what they're trying to do, you can't turn it off. Full episodes are free on YouTube here.

**Posted by pinto** July 10, 2025 5:10 pm

Lately I've been watching
Hogans Heros
Fawlty Towers
anything Black Adder
Barney Miller
forgot.. Father Ted

Last edited by pinto (July 10, 2025 5:10 pm)

**Posted by arc23** July 10, 2025 6:28 pm

I would add Perfect Strangers to that list

**Posted by Glen Warren** July 10, 2025 7:28 pm

Soap - 1977 and on . The cast was great, I always thought that Robert Guilhaume could steal the scenes that he was in... His look, or a roll of his eyes or a snarky delivery of his line(s) to Chester Tate.... always hilarious!

Also the two best sequences were Richard Mulligan as Burt on the Spaceship. And the introduction of Mary's son Bob Campbell with is ventriloquist dummy Chuck... Bob having breakfast at the table and Chuck reading the morning newspaper! And, Chuck the Mind reader!

Last edited by Glen Warren (July 10, 2025 7:31 pm)

**Posted by turkeytop** July 10, 2025 7:28 pm

I've never been much of a TV watcher, so most of the shows mentioned her, I've never seen. But lately, I've been watching old reruns of Corner Gas on CTV every Saturday night. I never saw it when it was on originally The writing is clever.

**Posted by mace** July 10, 2025 8:47 pm

arc23 wrote:
I would add Perfect Strangers to that list

Don't be rediculous.

**Posted by g121** July 10, 2025 9:36 pm

Hansa wrote:
I like 1970s/80s Britcoms ..

Give "My Hero" a try .. it's quirky funny, i found it a real hoot !!
https://www.dailymotion.com/video/x8n9hgy

**Posted by Fitz** July 10, 2025 11:02 pm

I would say:

Green Acres
Leave it to Beaver
Dennis The Menace ( the episodes with the first Mr Wilson)
Beverley Hillbillies
Bewitched
I Dream of Jeanie
My Favorite Martian
Munsters
The Dick Van Dyke Show
Andy Griffiths ( up to the Barney Fife era)
Honorable mention Lost In Space not a sitcom but fun.

Green Acres actually stared to jell a few episodes into the first season. Once the Hank Kimbell character was fully developed. Does anyone remember that an early episode had Alf playing another character without Ralph. Also Ralph was Mrs. Kravitz on Bewitched for at leaset one episode after the first Mrs. K passed.

Also have been going thru the episodes of Rod Serling's Night Gallery and each show featured up to 3 stories and there were quite a few shorts that I would term horror/comedy.

Last edited by Fitz (July 10, 2025 11:07 pm)

**Posted by Shorty Wave** July 11, 2025 8:06 am

g121 wrote:
Thank you for this : )) ..

I finished watching the entire "Young Sheldon" series while I do my 2.2 mile trek on my walking pad each morning.

Looking for another watch, I gave Superstore a try. I had never even heard of it but given the several mentions in this thread, it seemed promising.

I think it's quite good even a tad risque for network TV. I'm just finishing up Season 2. The only characters I dislike are Bo (Cheyenne's hubby) & Pharmacist Tate.

Fun fact/question: Jeff appears to be the same guy from the infamous, hilarious Kmart "Ship My Pants" commercial.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xwUuSM06xQ
https://www.imdb.com/name/nm1343939/?ref_=ttfc_fcr_cst_18 Mike Bunin
Superstore Jeff 2016–2021 28 episodes
Other works: The "ship my pants" guy from the K-Mart commercial.

I hope you enjoy Superstore g121 as much as I did! And if you do, you should check out “St. Denis Medical”. It is the latest sitcom from the Superstore team that premiered last year and can be watched on the CTV app or Crave I believe. A second season is currently in production, which is good!

Last edited by Shorty Wave (July 11, 2025 8:07 am)