The Five Best Comedies on Peacock to Watch Right Now
Sure, you could get dressed and go out to see friends and family, but let’s just admit that the best way to enjoy the holidays is by sitting completely immobile on a couch, watching countless hours of TV while dressed in a wardrobe that consists only of sweatpant-like material covered in a thin layer of Cheeto dust. And if you’re subscribed to Peacock, there are a number of great comedies you can check outside of the borders of Dunder Mifflin or Pawnee, Indiana...
Saved by the Bell
While it easily could have been a colossal disaster, not unlike one of Zack Morris’ money-making schemes that turned out to be literal sex crimes, the reboot of Saved by the Bell is a surprisingly funny, self-aware comedy that works purely on its own terms, even without nostalgic references, of which there are many. Plus, we get John Michael Higgins as the new Mr. Belding-esque principal. Sadly, Saved by the Bell was scrapped after just two seasons, but thankfully, it hasn’t vanished without a trace from the app like canceled shows on certain other streaming services…
The Wallace and Gromit shorts are classics and the best use of clay outside of making your parents a paperweight in summer camp. But this feature-length riff on old Hammer horror movies (about a giant bunny rabbit monster) is a goddamn delight. And it’s hilarious right from the jump, with the opening credits featuring a top-notch visual gag involving framed photos and just getting better from there.
Movies starring Tina Fey in a lead role are hit-and-miss. Date Night was alright, Baby Mama was awful, and does anyone even remember that she was in a movie about the war in Afghanistan produced by Lorne Michaels? But the Fey and Amy Poehler-starring Sisters is a lot of fun, mostly taking place over the course of one wild night during a party thrown by the titular siblings. Also, John Cena shows up as a neck-tatted drug dealer who shares the same name as the ancient Mesopotamian demon from The Exorcist for some reason.
The Weird Al Show is basically if Pee-Wee's Playhouse starred “Weird Al” Yankovic while also featuring appearances from comedians such as Emo Philips, Gilbert Gottfried and a young Patton Oswalt. It even had musical guests like the Barenaked Ladies and Hanson as the cherry on top of the “made in 1997” sundae.
Future Ant-Man filmmaker Peyton Reed directed all 13 episodes before it was unceremoniously canned after its first season. Despite the behind-the-scenes drama (Al reportedly regretted doing the show and clashed with the network and producer Dick Clark), there's much to love about The Weird Al Show, and it’s probably the closest thing we’ll ever get to a UHF sequel.
Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace
Garth Marenghi’s Darkplace stars Matthew Holness as the fictional Garth Marenghi — famed horror author of Slicer, Slasher, Black Fang and Afterbirth — playing the role of Dr. Rick Dagless M.D. alongside What We Do in the Shadows’ Matt Berry as actor Todd Rivers playing Dr. Lucien Sanchez in truly one of the funniest shows ever.
While it wasn’t exactly a huge hit at the time, admiration for Darkplace has only grown in recent years, so much so that just last month, Holness released an actual Marenghi novel, TerrorTome, right here in the real world.
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