The best comedy TV shows to watch in 2025

Ted Danson as the 'retiree-turned-amateur shamus' in A Man on the Inside

(Image credit: Alamy / TCD / Netflix)

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Last One Laughing
The Studio
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Dreaming Whilst Black
Jury Duty

last updated 5 June 2025

From a star-studded Hollywood satire to a "Big Brother"-style reality show, these are some of the funniest shows to stream in 2025.

Last One Laughing

"What's one guaranteed way to make someone laugh? Tell them not to", said Emily Baker on The i Paper. "And then put Bob Mortimer in the room." That's the simple yet hilarious concept behind Amazon Prime's new comedy series "Last One Laughing". Jimmy Carr hosts the six-part show which follows a "gang of well-known comedians" who are put into a room and challenged not to laugh while undertaking a series of challenges. It doesn't surprise me that the show has been an "instant hit"; clips have "flooded" social media, and it's easily the "funniest, silliest British TV series in years". Amazon

This "witty, knowing and cameo-jammed" satire follows "hapless" Hollywood exec Matt (Seth Rogen) as he struggles to produce a "billion-dollar blockbuster while not pissing off 'the talent'", said Nick De Semlyen in Empire. A "fizzy, acidic" spoof of the "inherent daftness of the movie business", it's a "triumphantly funny" series that feels like it could easily "run and run". At the point Martin Scorsese is "sobbing in the arms of Charlize Theron", "The Studio" will likely have you hooked. Amazon

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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 Z-ers, 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

"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 a mirror up 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 Schur (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

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 are 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

Last One Laughing

The Studio

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The Four Seasons

Hacks

Amandaland

Mo

A Man on the Inside

Alma's Not Normal

Dreaming Whilst Black

Jury Duty