The Most Unfunny Comedy Shows According to the Audience
Whether it’s Seinfeld, The Office, South Park or some other beloved series, every comedy fan has their own answer to the question of “funniest show of all time” — but not one of them will ever name That ‘80s Show.
Look, it’s very easy to crap all over some showrunner or screenwriter’s earnest attempt to create a comedy series that brings joy into people’s lives and money into their pockets. It’s also very fun — that’s why we do it so often. No comedian has ever started a project with the intention of making the most joyless, humorless, hack piece of shit that anyone’s ever watched, no matter how much comedy fans hated Mind of Mencia. However, at the end of the day, a work of art, especially a TV show, is nothing until it’s experienced and evaluated by its audience, who may find that what the artist considers to be their life’s work is also the most excruciatingly cringe half-hour of comedy that the average cable subscriber has suffered through in their whole life.
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Recently, a viral Reddit thread challenged users to assign the shameful superlative of “most unfunny show you watched” to a TV series. Here are their top four totally unfunny picks…
Mulaney (2014-2015)
When John Mulaney’s fans first heard that Lorne Michaels was producing a sitcom led by the super-popular superstar of the Saturday Night Live writing staff, their first question was probably, “What could possibly go wrong?” The answer was, “Quite a lot, actually.” Mulaney attempted to recapture the magic that made Seinfeld a massive hit a quarter-century earlier, featuring an actual stand-up comedian playing a version of himself living in New York with a wacky supporting cast of friends and colleagues. Sadly, the decision to follow in Jerry Seinfeld’s footsteps left Mulaney with his career’s version of Bee Movie.
Velma (2023-present)
Last year, the first season Mindy Kaling’s Scooby-Doo prequel spin-off went over with the online comedy fandom about as well as Kelly Kapoor’s pregnancy hoax played with Ryan. Critics and audiences labeled the animated Max series one of the “worst shows of 2023,” and some Redditors even claimed that Velma is too bad to be unintentionally awful, calling the series “rage bait,” or content designed to draw in hate-watchers instead of earnest fans. If so, then Kaling’s scheme succeeded — we’ll be hate-watching a second season later this year.
2 Broke Girls (2011-2017)
Obviously, the majority opinion on Reddit doesn’t represent the entirety of TV audiences in America, because Whitney Cummings’ old-school sitcom about a pair of best friends who work at a diner while surviving on limited means lasted for six seasons before the ratings ran out and CBS was forced to cancel it. TV critics, both professional and amateur, argued that 2 Broke Girls was a little bit too traditional in its odd-couple comedy set-up, and the punchlines were equally unoriginal and predictable with a side order of stereotype humor that has a shorter shelf life than warm milk.
That ‘80s Show (2002-2002)
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia star Glenn Howerton led this sequel to That ‘70s Show that had fewer laughs than a That ‘70s Show “Where are they now?” segment following Steven Hyde’s well-deserved incarceration. That ‘80s Show premiered when That ‘70s Show was still in its fourth season, and the original series would last another four after the cancellation of the not-spin-off. As it turns out, fans of That ‘70s Show weren’t willing to automatically hop on board with an awkward, stilted knockoff that contained none of the original characters just because it was another show named after a decade.
