From a warm-hearted mockumentary to an Emmy-winning show that will have you in stitches, these are the best comedy series to stream right now.
The Paper
This mockumentary about an Ohio newspaper is a “charming” spin-off of the US version of “The Office” that “deserves to be just as big a hit”, said Caryn James on the BBC. With the same “droll humour” and a “similar ensemble of characters”, it is nonetheless “distinctly itself”, reflecting how times have changed in the two decades since the US version of “The Office” was adapted from the British original. Ned Sampson (Domhnall Gleeson) is the “earnest” new editor at the “pointedly” named Tolledo Truthteller. Less “acerbic” than both David Brent and Michael Scott, he gives the show a “warmer” feel and helps make it “just the kind of soothing escapism today’s fraught times might call for”.
Sky
The Four Seasons
Tina Fey has created a “rare hit” with her delightful comedy about three middle-aged couples who take a holiday together in every season of the year, said Nick Hilton in The Independent. All the characters are in “varying states of boredom, half nostalgic for the hot, steamy summer of youth, half resigned to the earthly terms of their new reality”. When one of the men leaves his wife for a much younger dental hygienist and brings her along on vacation, tensions in the group begin to rise, and each couple “slides between happiness and unhappiness”. A warm, witty tribute to long-term love, the show proves that “marriage can be just as beautiful at millionth sight as it was at first glance”.
Netflix
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Funboys
“Fans of quirky, off-the-wall comedy” are in for a real treat with “Funboys”, said Vicky Jessop in London’s The Standard. This “heartwarming” show about a group of young men living in a “tiny” Northern Irish town is “well worth a few hours of your time”. A “worthy successor” to “Our Country”, the show’s success hinges on the excellent “chemistry” between the main characters. “Beautifully bizarre, quirky and desperately bingeable”, it’s one to add to your watchlist. “Four episodes isn’t enough: more please.” BBC iPlayer
Platonic
Season one of “Platonic” made for a “slyly surprising” show that was “all the better for refusing to follow the predictable rules of engagement”, said Rebecca Nicholson in the Financial Times. The action followed Sylvia (Rose Byrne) and Will (Seth Rogan), two estranged friends who reconnected in their early 40s after an earlier falling out. Somewhat refreshingly, viewers expecting a “will they / won’t they dynamic” instead discover a thoughtful exploration of male/female friendship. In the second season, Will is preparing to wed Jenna (Rachel Rosenbloom), Sylvia is planning his engagement party and the old friends “get involved in a series of low-stakes capers”. This is “silly, self-aware slapstick” at its best, held together by the “charm of its two leads”. Don’t be fooled by its “laid-back” feel, though; the twist at the end of the second episode reminds us of the show’s “darker side”, setting up “Platonic” as “one of the better comedies of the year”.
Apple TV
Overcompensating
Benito Skinner went viral on Reels with his hilarious impressions of celebrities from Sabrina Carpenter to Kim Kardashian. Now, he has written and produced an eight-episode comedy series for Amazon, in which he stars as Benny – a closeted college fresher trying to convince his peers he definitely isn’t gay. “Fortunately for us,” said Maddy Mussen in London’s The Standard, Skinner “mines endless humour from an objectively depressing situation, playing on his failed sexual escapades with women, his foray into hyper-toxic frat culture and his agonising first crush on a straight man”. It’s a “deeply watchable” show with a “stellar supporting cast” including “cult comedian” Mary Beth Barrone as Benny’s “bitchy but benevolent” sister Grace. Expect “countless laugh-out-loud moments”, not least a long running joke about Amanda Knox that “had me sold”. It’s a must watch.
Amazon Prime
Such Brave Girls
Kat Sadler’s Bafta-winning series about a dysfunctional family is back for more. The show’s appeal lies in watching the mother-daughter trio “plumb the lowest emotional depths” and make some “frankly woeful decisions”, said Katie Rosseinsky in The Independent. From mental illness to parental estrangement, “nothing is off limits here, and it’s all attacked with an almost feral comic energy”. Watching the siblings – played by Sadler and her real-life sister Lizzie Davidson – spur each other on to make dreadful life choices is an “unhinged delight”. Darkly humorous and “refreshingly realistic”, it’s “truly brave TV”.
BBC iPlayer
The Studio
This “witty, knowing and cameo-jammed” satire follows “hapless” Hollywood exec Matt (Seth Rogen) as he struggles to produce a “billion-dollar blockbuster while not pissing off ‘the talent’”, said Nick De Semlyen in Empire. A “fizzy, acidic” spoof of the “inherent daftness of the movie business”, it's a “triumphantly funny” series that feels like it could easily “run and run”. At the point Martin Scorsese is “sobbing in the arms of Charlize Theron”, “The Studio” will likely have you hooked.
Apple TV
Hacks
When this scooped its “thoroughly deserved” Emmy for best comedy last year, I “cheered”, said David Mack in Slate. The “hilarious” show follows the lives of two women, at very different stages of their comedy careers, who form an unlikely friendship. Now in its fourth season, “Hacks” is a “masterclass in meta-exploration”, thoughtfully examining the “very same questions as its characters”: “what do you do when you’re on top?” The latest batch of episodes is a “riot”, cementing its status as one of the “funniest shows” on TV.
Amazon Prime
Amandaland
“Spin-offs are always a risk,” said Chitra Ramaswamy in The Guardian, but “Amandaland” was a “sure bet”, with the “best character” in the BBC winner “Motherland” providing ample opportunity for exposing “the worst excesses, blind spots and hypocrisies of the posh, white, west London middle classes”. Following her divorce, Amanda has upped sticks from Chiswick to the far less chi-chi south Harlesden. Gone are the old gang of Julia, Liz and Kevin, but Anne is back as the put-upon best friend. Amanda’s mother is played by Joanna Lumley “with Ab Fab levels of relish” and with gags covering the likes of “Gloria Hunniford, the Just Seventeen problem page and Sinn Féin”, this is a very British comedy.
BBC iPlayer
Man on the Inside
Michael Schur's latest comedy about a retired professor (Ted Danson) who goes undercover in a retirement home to catch a jewel thief is “funny”, “sweet” and “heartwarming”, said Ferdosa Abdi on ScreenRant. The show doesn’t shy away from tackling the “anxiety and fear of growing old” – but it does so with plenty of “fun”. Danson has “perfect comic pitch” and brings just enough sadness to his portrayal of Charles to turn the “retiree-turned-amateur shamus” into a believable character, said Benji Wilson in The Telegraph. “Mawkishness and nostalgia are rarely breeding grounds for hilarity” but Schur (one of the creators of “Parks and Recreation”), has pulled it off, delivering a “winning amalgam of sharp lines and heart”, that balances “trenchant commentary on ageing” with a “regular drumbeat of good gags and daft set-ups”.
Netflix
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