What was your favourite comedy show of all times. I have to say Carole Burnett. Tim Conway was

[applegrove]

just brilliant. Though David Letterman did have me in stitches at times. Of course TDS.

[bigwillq]

1. Roseanne (nt)

[BNJMN]

2. Mighty Boosh, In Living Color, Garth Marenghi's Darkplace, Fox News ('Dark Comedy'), Metalocalypse

Etc.

I have fond memories of Carol Burnett, etc, but when I actually watch the programs, many have not aged well at all. For instance, Sanford and Son, even All In The Family (a great program for it's time!) seems very slow and predictable and not as funny as I remember them seeming 30 years ago.

[femmocrat]

3. Steve Allen.

Such great TV. Louis Nye, Tom Poston, Don Knotts, Steve Lawrence and Eydie Gorme.

It was so funny!

[oneshooter]

4. " The Red Skelton Show"

I guess I'm kinda dating myself.

[Graybeard]

5. Sid Caesar

Your Show Of Shows. Sid with Carl Reiner, Imogene Coca and Howie Morris. Some of the funniest TV skits ever.

[riderinthestorm]

6. Monty Python's Flying Circus. The Smothers Brothers. MASH (does that count as comedy?)

I haven't had a teevee in a long time as you can tell... have missed a lot from what I hear (or maybe not).

ETA: I remember catching a few Hogans Heroes, the original Dick Van Dyke series with Mary Tyler Moore, I love Lucy, and the Andy Griffith shows with my older siblings and parents - I LOVED them but never actually watched any of them regularly. They were all absolutely fantastic though in my mind and warrant a shout-out at the least.

[applegrove]

7. Oh yes MASH! Loved it. Also I only ever saw a few Monty Python's

Flying Circus shows. It was on too late for me. But my older brother loved it. I should really look for it on video cause I love Life of Brian and the Holy Grail.

[frogmarch]

8. Smothers Brothers

was my favorite, but I also liked all the others named on this thread.

[michaelslomo]

9. Andy Griffith and Dick Van Dyke,

among the sitcoms. For Britcoms I have to go with Monty Python's Flying Circus. Mr. Bean is also funny. For talk shows, Steve Allen was tops.

[applegrove]

10. I liked Johnny Carson. Was too young to see Steve Allen.

[Bennyboy]

11. Seinfeld, Cheers, Frasier,

were it for me... All ensemble comedies that never went for the easy joke.

[UTUSN]

12. Will go along with Carol, but somebody please explain the CONWAY cult

I was a kid when Carol was on the Garry MOORE show. She is the first ever to make me really laugh. In her own show I thought she was mostly funny, occasionally very funny, but Harvey the absolute best. I have never understood that CONWAY is praised to the heavens. I loved it that Harvey would crack up because of him but loved the Harvey crack up far more than CONWAY's triggering them. Just don't get it.

The GWTW sketch is the maximum. But also Carol as the spinster with the rabbits multiplying in cages for years while she waits for Harvey to sweep her away (never).


Oh, BENNY, as in Jack. And I second your LETTERMAN. In recent years I've wondered whether he will go over the edge. The edge of GLORY, that is!1

[pacalo]

18. Harvey's crack-ups were the absolute funniest; the dentist sketch was my favorite.

The GWTW ("Went With the Wind") sketch was one of the best (with the "just something I saw in the window" dress).

One of my favorite sketches was the one based on "I Want To Live". Carol Burnett, thrown into the slammer, meets Vicki Lawrence's inmate character, whose mind seems so far gone that Carol asks her "how long have you been in here". Vicki turns to the wall & counts the numerous marks she put on the wall, & says, "In another hour it will be 24 hours."

But my FAVORITE sketches were those of "Mama's Family" -- the sitcom was NOTHING without the Carol Burnett cast, though.

[sarge43]

28. Conway's elephant shtick, Sunset Blvd sketches, Carol's Queen Elizabeth

I think we enjoyed the show so much because they did, especially when they went off script.

[Aristus]

13. I ADORED the Carol Burnett Show!

My whole family used to gather around to watch it. Even though, by then, they were all reruns at least ten years old.

[Bertha Venation]

14. Carol Burnett + 1000

LOVE her. She helped to save my life. I will tell the tale if you like. It's short.

[applegrove]

19. Do tell!

[Bertha Venation]

21. Well, I haven't met her; it's not that great a story, but

she really did help to save my life.

In '86 and '87 I was in a psychiatric hospital, dealing with the very beginning of my life breaking down before I could put myself together again. My real savior was Carol The Therapist.

But on that psych ward, to the staff's consternation, I appeared in the hallway one night at around midnight. I asked them if I could go in a little visiting room and watch TV. It wasn't usually done, but they let me. I found a rerun of The Carol Burnett Show, and watched it as if I were a bone-dry sponge soaking up water.

From that night on, they let me come out late at night to watch Carol Burnett. She gave me laughter. The laughter was healing, even during that time when I felt there would never be any healing.

So really, two Carols saved my life.

EDIT: I forgot about her book. A few months before I went into the hospital, my sister gave me Carol Burnett's memoir, One More Time. I devoured it, and that's what really got me liking Carol Burnett. So it was a happy coincidence to find her on TV during that time.

[applegrove]

24. That's a great story. It is amazing at what wonderful bits of humanity one can find in the darkest

of times. Even more amazing to have the capacity to still be open to it.

[Supply Side Jesus]

15. Mr. Show with Bob and David

[Initech]

47. Yes!!! Mr. Show was absolute genius!!!

[pa28]

16. It would have to be Keeping up Appearances.

You get the feeling you are being tortured to death with a feather by writers. It's the best ever IMO.

[BNJMN]

22. Patricia Routledge *made* that show. 'Are You Being Served?' was decent, too. [nt]

[pa28]

23. Yep. She is a skilled actress. It's not just the writers.

Are you being served is on my list to watch but I have not gotten around to it yet.

BTW Not sure if you've seen Red Dwarf but it's in the same category. So funny you might need medical attention when they really get rolling.

[CaliforniaPeggy]

17. LAUGH-IN!

It's too far back for most of you...hell, I"m old!

Very timely, wonderful skits, very cool.

Goldie Hawn got her start there, IIRC.

Seriously funny!

[tblue]

20. I Love Lucy, Dick Van Dyke, All in the Family, Mary Tyler Moore

and Andy Griffith (only with Don Knotts )

[Submariner]

25. The Elephant Story with Tim Conway is a favorite

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qqE_WmagjY&eurl=http://metube.blogspot.com/2008/01/siamese-elephants.html

[LiberalAndProud]

26. and Smothers Brothers Comedy Hour and Rowan & Martin Laugh In

So many great shows have already been mentioned. It's impossible to pick just one favorite.

[cheneyschernobyl]

27. Married...With Children

Kinda says something about my character/lack of character doesn't it?
:hide:

[rurallib]

32. right there with you, cc

that show had some of the funniest bits I ever saw.
And the first 8 or so years of the Simpsons

[RebelOne]

40. Me too. Loved that show. n/t

[Joe Fields]

29. The Smothers Brothers, with Laugh-In a close second...

[RushIsRot]

30. Laugh-In! It got me through my last two years in college during the

time my lovely wife was filing for a divorce. There was a big color TV in the student union building and we students all gathered there to watch the show. It was WONDERFUL!

[blueamy66]

31. Carol Burnett....watched with my Dad

and of course, Ab Fab

[Ohio Dem]

33. Arrested Development

Funniest thing I've ever seen.

[dixiegrrrrl]

43. Catch Parks and Recreation if you have not, then.

Season 1 and 2 are out, waiting for Season 3 to finish.

Trust me on this, if you liked Arrested Development.

[rbnyc]

34. Ernie Kovacs!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoLTFQsFswM

[Taverner]

35. The Kids in the Hall, in the 90s

[applegrove]

38. Oh yeah - early 90s. They were great.

[Denninmi]

36. Seinfeld for a scripted comedy, SNL for sketch comedy/variety

It's hard to imagine having a discussion about comedy without SNL -- it has been such an influence on our culture for a generation now. SNL is kind of like a pulsar, though, having periods of brilliance and periods of mediocre shows. Seinfeld may be cliche because of its enormous commercial success, but again, it too has had an amazing influence on our culture.

[flying rabbit]

37. the Dave Chapelle show

[applegrove]

39. Never seen it.

[RebelOne]

41. Absolutely Fabulous. n/t

[Chellee]

42. Soap.

nt

[dixiegrrrrl]

44. Taxi, and Fawlty Towers.

with Night Court a VERY close 3rd.
those were the "never miss" series when I had tv back in the day.

Later, Arrested Development, hands down.

[Rowdyboy]

45. Designing Women ranks very high...So does Flight of the Conchords...and I Love Lucy

Hard to pick one but these would be in my top five

[applegrove]

49. Oh yeah, I loved Designing Women too.

[CherokeeDem]

46. Loved Andy Griffith and Dick van Dyke when very young...

then Barney Miller, WKRP, Night Court, and the wonderful Taxi. Loved Laugh-In, the Smothers Brothers, and the original SNL, and MASH. (I also have a very soft spot for Fresh Prince of Belair...Will Smith is just too engaging not to love).

[Initech]

48. Arrested Development - scripted, Chappelle's Show - sketch

[progressoid]

50. Arrested Development

Absolutely.