The best comedy TV shows to watch in 2025

Jean Smart as legendary stand-up comedian Deborah Vance in Hacks

(Image credit: Alamy / Album)

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The Four Seasons
Hacks
Amandaland
Mo
A Man on the Inside
Alma's Not Normal
Colin from Accounts
Dreaming Whilst Black
Jury Duty
The Change
The Big Door Prize

last updated 2 May 2025

From an Emmy-winning comedy drama about a dysfunctional duo to a "Truman Show"-style mockumentary, these are some of the funniest shows to stream in 2025.

The Four Seasons

This new eight-part Netflix series is a "witty" remake of the "much loved" 1981 Alan Alda film of the same name, said Ben Dowell in The Times. The "sprightly" show follows the lives of three middle-aged couples who holiday together each season – "Yes I did say middle-aged. Netflix isn't just for the Gen Zers, you know". Starring Tina Fey (who is also the lead writer) and Steve Carell, it's a "warm and textured" comedy with a "pleasingly unsentimental tone" that confronts the challenges of mid-life head-on. Netflix

When this scooped its "thoroughly deserved" Emmy for best comedy in September, 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

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"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". Now, 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

This "side splittingly funny yet dark" show is inspired by comic Mo Amer's life as a Palestinian refugee growing up in Houston, said Hannah J. Davies in The Guardian. Series one introduced us to Mo Najjar who – like the real-life Mo – fled the Gulf War with his family and moved to the US as a child. The second season picks up in Mexico where Mo is "stranded" after having left Texas in a bid to "outrun a people-smuggling coyote gang". Now he's trying to make ends meet working as a "lucha libre wrestler and playing with a mariachi band".

Mo's appeal lies in its ability to capture the "small absurdities of everyday life", said Ed Power in The Independent. While "immigrant trauma" and the "long shadow of the conflict in the Middle East" might not seem like the typical ingredients for a "charming sitcom", what's most "impressive" about Amer's show is the way it "holds up a mirror to 21st-century America" while delivering regular "belly laughs". In all, it's an "immensely likeable chuckle-fest" that demonstrates how "humour can bring warmth and empathy to even the bleakest scenarios". Netflix

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 Shur (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

Sophie Willan's semi-autobiographical show is a "triumph of writing and performance" that "beats anything the streaming giants can produce", said Benji Wilson in The Telegraph. Willan delivers "brilliant" social commentary "sugared" with "superb" writing as Alma Nuttall, the show's protagonist, who tackles sex work, "dodgy" boyfriends and chaotic family life.

The first instalment saw Alma leave her "frequently grim" job as an escort for a tour with a local theatre company, said Rachel Aroesti in The Guardian. Season two is here and Alma is back in Bolton, where her grandmother is holding her mother's schizophrenic boyfriend "semi-captive" and Alma has found herself "blacklisted" from the escort industry. Watching Alma struggle for her big break is "TV at its most beautiful, furious and hilarious" and "pretty much the perfect comedy". BBC iPlayer

This "textured and inviting romantic comedy" is a "real find", said The Times. Two "slightly daft" people, Ashley and Gordon, meet when Gordon – "distracted after Ashley flashed him her breast as a reward for giving her right of way on the road" – hits a dog. The pair then have to look after the animal, who they name Colin from Accounts. The show is "charming", and "soars thanks to the chemistry between the leading pair", played by husband and wife duo Harriet Dyer and Patrick Brammall, who also co-wrote and directed the show. BBC iPlayer

British TV has been "crying out for comedy like this", said Radio Times drama writer Morgan Cormack. The BBC has "a comedy gem" in this six-part series by Adjani Salmon, who also stars as lead character Kwabena, a "hopeful filmmaker" who is "pulling out" the stops to get his first movie made. "The laughs" are balanced with "prevalent conversations and everyday explorations about what it means to be Black in Britain" in a way "other comedies can only learn from", said Cormack. "Dreaming Whilst Black" is a series that "won't be forgotten anytime soon". BBC iPlayer

"Jury Duty'' is a "prank reality show" about "that most dreaded of civic duties", said Time Out. An "average Joe" called Ronald Gladden is one of 12 jurors being filmed as part of a documentary about the American justice system – or so he thinks, said Mashable. The other 11 people he finds himself sequestered in an LA hotel with are actors – so is the judge, the lawyers and the bailiff, who are all "improvising to see how he'll react". The outcome is "winsomely heartwarming", and Gladden's "accepting nature" makes the show "into something more than even the producers anticipated – and ends up all the funnier for it". Amazon Prime

Bridget Christie plays Linda, a wife and mum who embarks on a "mid-life road trip" to "rediscover herself" in the Forest of Dean – but on arrival, it's "not quite the bucolic ideal she had in mind", said Chortle. A "musing menagerie of weirdos" awaits her, and there's an "otherworldly sheen" to the events that unfold. "The Change" encompasses a seemingly "unlikely" combination of "light-touch social commentary and a magical realism drawn from English folk mythology" that "works well". It "proves itself repeatedly funny in ways large and small". Channel 4

This "thought-provoking" comedy has the "Ted Lasso" formula of "saccharine sentiment offset by salty humour", said The Telegraph. The story takes place in "small-town America", with the "mysterious arrival of an arcade machine at the local store". The Morpho machine can tell you your "life potential" – and "unsurprisingly" proves "an instant smash hit with locals", who suddenly find "purpose" in their "humdrum lives". This "thought experiment" stars Chris O'Dowd, and the performances "across the board are superb". Apple TV+