Funniest "Pure Laughs" Show of All-Time?

[Captain Bowie]

Whose Line is it Anyways.

I'm not saying it's the best comedy of all-time, or my favorite show of all-time. It is very limited by it's own format, and can't compete with shows like Seinfeld, Friends, Cheers, South Park, ect...

But in terms of pure laughs produced, I dare anyone to come up with a show better on that front than....

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[Shareefruck]

I think I'd probably lean towards any Norm MacDonald interview, the Ricky Gervais Show, or early It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Whose Line makes me laugh early on when it's fresh, but gets very repetitive and low-hanging once I watch a few of them.

I'll never tire of radio-show Karl Pilkington.

 

[Jumptheshark]

The original UK version was better then the US version

 

[Jumptheshark]

 

[Buck Aki Berg]

The original UK version was better then the US version

This. Drew Carey buggered the US version 8 seconds into the first show when he told us that the points don't matter.

 

[Mimsy]

I got a lot of mileage out of "The Kids in the Hall". It's sketch comedy, so it's hit-and-miss by nature. Some of their sketches are infinitely re-watchable for me while others, like "30 Helens", do nothing. The first couple of seasons are dated in appearance, but the final three are reasonably fresh. The filmed segments were my favorites.

After the show went off the air, it was syndicated five nights a week for a time. Seeing episodes back to back took the shine off some recurring characters for me, as I hadn't noticed how often they were used during the original run. Scott Thompson played a number of funny characters, but seemed intent on writing primarily for Buddy Cole. I grew beyond tired of his monologues.

 

[sully1410]

I got a lot of mileage out of "The Kids in the Hall". It's sketch comedy, so it's hit-and-miss by nature. Some of their sketches are infinitely re-watchable for me while others, like "30 Helens", do nothing. The first couple of seasons are dated in appearance, but the final three are reasonably fresh. The filmed segments were my favorites.

After the show went off the air, it was syndicated five nights a week for a time. Seeing episodes back to back took the shine off some recurring characters for me, as I hadn't noticed how often they were used during the original run. Scott Thompson played a number of funny characters, but seemed intent on writing primarily for Buddy Cole. I grew beyond tired of his monologues.

Kids in the Hall for me too. It's one of those shows that when it's on...it's super funny. But man when it's off, it's painful.

 

[Cor]

Criminal Minds

 

[Big McLargehuge]

Fawlty Towers.

 

[Shareefruck]

Off tangent, but I feel like alot of inconsistent sketch comedy shows get to use the "hit or miss by nature" excuse when really, it's kind of overblown and mostly just their own flaw/problem. I don't see what makes writing sketch comedy any more doomed to inconsistency than writing a standup routine.

There's no story to fall back on, so it relies on how good the material purely is. But the really talented sketch comedy artists are pretty damn consistent. Mr. Show was good the whole way through, Mitchell and Webb never faltered, and the first few seasons of Monty Python's Flying Circus were a masterpiece front to back, IMO.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

Fawlty Towers.

Right up there for me too.

Funniest ever though? My vote goes to the comedy that has 32 "favourite moments" threads and counting on our very own entertainment board.

Nothing makes me laugh as hard and as consistently as golden era Simpsons.

 

[Captain Bowie]

The original UK version was better then the US version

I've seen a few clips, but not a ton. Weren't they a lot of the same people?

 

[Shareefruck]

The reason I didn't choose the Simpsons is because when I think of pure laughs, I think of shows that are purely focused on giving you big stupid primitive and unadulterated laughs rather than supplementing that with other elements that play into how good they are. Prime Simpsons did so much so perfectly, that I don't want to simply guffaw through every milisecond of it-- I want the whole gamut.

 

[SJSharksfan39]

Frasier

David Hyde Pierce was a comic gem on that series.

 

[KirkOut]

For me I gotta go with Reno911

 

[tacogeoff]

Impractical Jokers (US) blew everything out of the water for me. First show in a very long time where I have had started crying mulitple times in a single episode as I was laughing so hard.

For a more structured comedy I would go with The League and The Office.

 

[Cor]

Impractical Jokers (US) blew everything out of the water for me. First show in a very long time where I have had started crying mulitple times in a single episode as I was laughing so hard.

For a more structured comedy I would go with The League and The Office.

Oh yeah, definitely Impractical Jokers for me as well.

 

[karnige]

The original UK version was better then the US version

na they were pretty much the same I thought

 

[Dr Pepper]

Whose Line is/was phenomenally funny, no doubt. I like how Mochrie and Stiles (and Brady, for the most part) were on every single show, and they would just rotate a 4th spot between a few people (Proops, usually, or sometimes a celebrity)

KITH was great too, and another sketch comedy show I didn't even know about until I saw it on Youtube is The Whitest Kids U Know.

 

[aufheben]

I think I'd probably lean towards any Norm MacDonald interview, the Ricky Gervais Show, or early It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia. Whose Line makes me laugh early on when it's fresh, but gets very repetitive and low-hanging once I watch a few of them.

I'll never tire of radio-show Karl Pilkington.

Currently listening to a 10-hour YT vid of Gervais' XM show.

I've re-watched the animated versions just an insane amount of times. "I've always wanted to kick a duck up the arse."

 

[Captain Bowie]

The reason I didn't choose the Simpsons is because when I think of pure laughs, I think of shows that are purely focused on giving you big stupid primitive and unadulterated laughs rather than supplementing that with other elements that play into how good they are. Prime Simpsons did so much so perfectly, that I don't want to simply guffaw through every milisecond of it-- I want the whole gamut.

Exactly. Seinfeld and The Simpsons are the best Comedies (and TV shows) of all-time. But If I just want 20 minutes of pure silliness and laughs and grown men acting silly, nothing compares to Whose Line.

 

[tacogeoff]

Exactly. Seinfeld and The Simpsons are the best Comedies (and TV shows) of all-time. But If I just want 20 minutes of pure silliness and laughs and grown men acting silly, nothing compares to Whose Line.

respect your opinion but would counter that Impractical Jokers blows Whose Line out of the water. Was a avid viewer of Whose line during the peak in the 2000s but IJ is on another level of hilarity and silliness, in my own personal opinion.

 

[Buckets and Gloves]

Curb your enthusiasm

 

[McPuritania]

Impractical Jokers (US) blew everything out of the water for me. First show in a very long time where I have had started crying mulitple times in a single episode as I was laughing so hard.

For a more structured comedy I would go with The League and The Office.

This is the answer.

Impractical Jokers is legitimately the funniest show I have ever watched.

 

[Dipsy Doodle]

The reason I didn't choose the Simpsons is because when I think of pure laughs, I think of shows that are purely focused on giving you big stupid primitive and unadulterated laughs rather than supplementing that with other elements that play into how good they are. Prime Simpsons did so much so perfectly, that I don't want to simply guffaw through every milisecond of it-- I want the whole gamut.

Personally, no show gives me more laughs than the Simpsons, big stupid primitive or otherwise.

I can't really think of any show that would make me guffaw all the way through it.