OT: Under-the-radar comedy series

[the Q]

Under the Radar....The League, Californication, Rules of Engagement, Psych, Hello Ladies. Not really under the radar anymore but at one time it was...Schitt's Creek.

psych took a while for me to get into, but once I did it was great.

The rare show where season 1 might be the weakest

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Modern Family and The Office are two shows that are constantly re-running on various channels and I find myself watching pretty much all the time.

Cheers is my all-time favorite show with added bonus that Rebecca attended “the University of…Connecticut”. The Fighting Insurance Salesmen! (Show reference)

Names the three most popular comedies of all time

 

[StllH8L8ner]

Names the three most popular comedies of all time

That’s all I got! Lol

 

[UCfor3]

Not sure how under the radar it is, but Californication is brilliant. It’s hard for me to identify my favorite show out of Californication, Married with Children, or the West Wing but Californication’s first 6 seasons are absolutely perfect.

Community could be exhausting but when it was good, it was really good. Brockmire fell off a cliff after season 2, but the first two seasons are hysterical.

Charlie Runkle is one of the funniest characters of all time.

 

[Chin Diesel]

Brooklyn 99 is hilarious - so sad this is the last season.

Really like the first 3 seasons.

It's gotten stale for me since then.

Doug Judy Pontiac Bandit episodes were great.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

I loved a Scottish comedy called Still Game (Netflix). They can occasionally be difficult to understand, but once you figure things out it's very funny.

 

[Fairfield_1st]

Fawlty towers, Fresh meat, Inbetweeners, The increasingly poor decisions of Todd Margaret

Fawlty Towers is great. Favorite episode is "The Germans".

 

[8893]

Also acceptable as an answer to the question “what is the best TV theme song of all time?” Right up there with the Sanford & Son theme by Quincy Jones.

Rockford Files theme?

Group text among my friends yesterday about this very topic mentioned these three--and only these three--songs. One friend mentioned Sanford & Son and Rockford Files as the two best; I responded "Barney Miller says hello."

 

[TWG236]

Corner Gas is the Canadian answer to Seinfeld. It is a show about nothing, really funny and great writing.

 

[Zionn]

Pen15, Friends from College, and Shrill to name a few........

 

[superjohn]

Nathan For You

Great call, Nathan Fielder is hilarious.

 

[Coach McGurk]

As soon as I read the title of this thread I thought:
party down,
silicon valley, and
Letterkenny… (watching now….fantastic dialogue)
Others that are probably a little more popular are:
the league and
archer, ….

 

[Chin Diesel]

Modern Family and The Office are two shows that are constantly re-running on various channels and I find myself watching pretty much all the time.

Cheers is my all-time favorite show with added bonus that Rebecca attended “the University of…Connecticut”. The Fighting Insurance Salesmen! (Show reference)

I never watched The Office when it was on as a series. Started watching episodes last year on Comedy Central when there wasn't a lot to do.

So when I saw Ed Helms my thought was he part of the wolfpack from The Hangover.
Craig Robinson is the Pontiac Bandit from Brooklyn 99
John Krasinski is Jack Ryan.

 

[CL82]

Group text among my friends yesterday about this very topic mentioned these three--and only these three--songs. One friend mentioned Sanford & Son and Rockford Files as the two best; I responded "Barney Miller says hello."

Maybe Suicide is Painless from MASH should be in the discussion, but I'd rank it 4th.

 

[Fatroony5]

It’s not under the radar but Ted Lasso is absolutely hilarious, probably my favorite show going right now. This season isn’t as funny but I like Dave a lot as well.

A few Under the radar: Crashing, Insecure, Barry, seasons 1/2 of Master of None, Nathan for you.

Here are some others I just like as shows that maybe not everyone has seen: Atlanta, Ramy (ATL and Ramy aren’t that funny but good shows to watch), Eastbound and Down, Freaks and Geeks, Bernie Mac Show, Reno 911, Robot Chicken, I could go on and on.

 

[CL82]

John Krasinski is Jack Ryan.

That may deserve it's own thread. "Who is the best Jack Ryan?" Harrison Ford is the obvious choice, but I might be persuaded in favor of Alec Baldwin, he nails it in Hunt for Red October.

 

[StllH8L8ner]

I never watched The Office when it was on as a series. Started watching episodes last year on Comedy Central when there wasn't a lot to do.

So when I saw Ed Helms my thought was he part of the wolfpack from The Hangover.
Craig Robinson is the Pontiac Bandit from Brooklyn 99
John Krasinski is Jack Ryan.

Yeah it took some convincing for me to start watching Modern Family but once I started, I didn’t stop. The wife will always be Happy Gilmore’s love interest in my mind…

But as @Dream Jobbed 2.0 pointed out, these are hardly under the radar. So I’ll see myself out…

 

[8893]

Maybe Suicide is Painless from MASH should be in the discussion, but I'd rank it 4th.

Well it definitely gets points from me because it and "Smoke on the Water" are the only songs I can play on piano, but the name is kind of a bummer, and it always makes me melancholy when I hear it. Although I loved that series, too, it was pretty heavy when I was a kid. You never just got the laughs without experiencing some gravitas along the way.

I would throw the "Baretta" theme in the mix, along with the theme from "Welcome Back Kotter."

 

[BuckleyNerd]

It’s not under the radar but Ted Lasso is absolutely hilarious, probably my favorite show going right now. This season isn’t as funny but I like Dave a lot as well.

A few Under the radar: Crashing, Insecure, Barry, seasons 1/2 of Master of None, Nathan for you.

Here are some others I just like as shows that maybe not everyone has seen: Atlanta, Ramy (ATL and Ramy aren’t that funny but good shows to watch), Eastbound and Down, Freaks and Geeks, Bernie Mac Show, Reno 911, Robot Chicken, I could go on and on.

Came here to mention Crashing, that's my go-to recommendation for under the radar shows. Shame it got canceled, but the three seasons definitely have enough of an arc to them to make it feel like you're watching almost a full series.

 

[CL82]

It’s not under the radar but Ted Lasso is absolutely hilarious, probably my favorite show going right now. This season isn’t as funny but I like Dave a lot as well.

A few Under the radar: Crashing, Insecure, Barry, seasons 1/2 of Master of None, Nathan for you.

Here are some others I just like as shows that maybe not everyone has seen: Atlanta, Ramy (ATL and Ramy aren’t that funny but good shows to watch), Eastbound and Down, Freaks and Geeks, Bernie Mac Show, Reno 911, Robot Chicken, I could go on and on.

Love Ted Lasso. Dave keeps popping up on my radar, but I haven't looked at it yet. I'll give it a shot when I work through my current binge Burn Notice.

I'm on season 4. At first, it was great, but now the formula of 3 minutes of season narrative, 39 minutes of episode narrative, 3 minutes of season narrative + cliff hanger is getting old. It didn't feel as contrived watching weekly.

 

[Tommyboy]

Letterkenny (on Hulu)

Canadian comedy about life in a small rural town in Ontario province. Main group is the hicks, and chronicals their interactions with the skids (goofy local meth/drug users), the hockey players, and other groups.

Often very crude (but hilarious humor), but very smartly written scripts by main actor & director (Jared Keeso, Jacob T) somehow keeps it from being too non-PC.

Lots of Canadian & Hockey lingo…don’t be afraid to pause & Have this dictionary open during first few episodes. It’ll help!

Slang Terms

The Letterkenny and Letterkenny Problems dialogue makes extensive use of slang, including many words and phrases from hockey or general Canadian or rural usage. This main list focuses on shorter cryptic slang terms used in casual dialogue, whose meanings are not necessarily obvious from their...

letterkenny.fandom.com

I love Letterkenny, but can only watch so much at a time as the interactions between the groups are always the same. Just slightly different jokes. Still really funny, but need to space it out. Though I am constantly driving my son crazy with "toooooo beeeeee faaiirrrrrrrr..." anytime he says it. Allegedly.

 

[Fatroony5]

Came here to mention Crashing, that's my go-to recommendation for under the radar shows. Shame it got canceled, but the three seasons definitely have enough of an arc to them to make it feel like you're watching almost a full series.

Judd Appatow has been a part of so many good comedy projects, it’s crazy looking back on how many funny things he made. Especially that run with like Knocked Up, 40 year old virgin etc. anything he makes or is involved with I probably will watch; even King of Staten Island was a good watch and I’m not much of a Davidson fan.

 

[Jay-Bone]

Most mentioned already, but a few others:

TV: Reno 911, Upright Citizens Brigade, Kids in the Hall

Movies: Bottle Rocket, Clerks, Wet Hot American Summer

 

[Fatroony5]

Love Ted Lasso. Dave keeps popping up on my radar, but I haven't looked at it yet. I'll give a it shot when I work through my current binge Burn Notice.

I'm on season 4. At first, it was great, but now the formula of 3 minutes of season narrative, 39 minutes of episode narrative, 3 minutes of season narrative + cliff hanger is getting old. It didn't feel as contrived watching weekly.

Dave is good but it’s pretty different. A blend of comedy, drama, really awkward parts. I was very familiar with Lil Dicky and have been following him for awhile so I kind of knew what to expect. I’m sure there are some that don’t love it, but I definitely think it’s a good watch.

 

[UConnSean]

Nathan For You

This is one of my favorite shows of all time hands down - masterpiece

 

[CL82]

Well it definitely gets points from me because it and "Smoke on the Water" are the only songs I can play on piano, but the name is kind of a bummer, and it always makes me melancholy when I hear it. Although I loved that series, too, it was pretty heavy when I was a kid. You never just got the laughs without experiencing some gravitas along the way.

I would throw the "Baretta" theme in the mix, along with the theme from "Welcome Back Kotter."

This topic should definitely be it's own thread. (Best TV themes, not "songs 8893 can play on the piano" which would be decidedly shorter.)

FWIW are you watching McCartney 3-2-1 on Hulu? You'd like it. It's 27 minutes a show of Paul McCartney and a producer sitting in front of a sound board, with McCartney talking about various Beatles songs. A ton of interesting stuff, like on a Hard Day's Night a particular riff was too hard to play, so they played it half time and an octave lower and then doubled it.

Another interesting bit was McCartney thought on mastering the piano. He says 'find middle C and then play three fingers spaced every other key and you've got a chord. Move is over three and you've got another chord. Do it four more times and you've got six chords and with six chords you should be able to write enough songs."

I'm enjoying it.

 

[8893]

This topic should definitely be it's own thread. (Best TV themes, not "songs 8893 can play on the piano" which would be decidedly shorter.)

FWIW are you watching McCartney 3-2-1 on Hulu? You'd like it. It's 27 minutes a show of Paul McCartney and a producer sitting in front of a sound board, with McCartney talking about various Beatles songs. A ton of interesting stuff, like on a Hard Day's Night a particular riff was too hard to play, so they played it half time and an octave lower and then doubled it.

Another interesting bit was McCartney thought on mastering the piano. He says 'find middle C and then play three fingers spaced every other key and you've got a chord. Move is over three and you've got another chord. Do it four more times and you've got six chords and with six chords you should be able to write enough songs."

I'm enjoying it.

I've watched four of the six episodes and am enjoying it well enough, in that I can enjoy almost anything about the Beatles. We've discussed it in the Entertainment Forum a bit. I still can't help but think how much better it could have been, and how little Rubin adds. The historical footage still is the most enjoyable part for me, although I appreciate that I learn a little something new each series.

 

[awfuldan]

Anyone else enjoying The White Lotus on HBO right now? Not strictly a comedy, but definitely super funny and uncomfortable.

Will also second Pen15, I Think You Should Leave, and Nathan For You.

 

[ET7774]

Episodes (Showtime)

 

[NorwalkHusky]

Kim's convenience on Netflix