The 25 best TV comedies in the last 25 years

To this day, it will always be impressive that "30 Rock" was honestly pretty much an NBC documentary. Always. And it will always be offensive that Jane Krakowski received a total of zero Emmys for the role of Jenna Maroney. Always. Also: “Never follow a hippie to a second location.” That’s just good life advice.

It’s hard to believe it’s been nearly 20 years since "Arrested Development" hit the FOX airwaves because that means it’s been nearly 20 years since FOX somehow ended up with a show it had absolutely no idea what to do with — but it at least knew it won the network a lot of Emmy awards. In its revival on Netflix, there was still a question of what to do with the show... but in a different way. One thing is still constant for "Arrested Development:" It remains one of the densest (non-spoof) sitcoms of all times, to the point where you can rewatch the entire series every year and still notice a joke or reference you didn’t get the last time around.

Funny, horrific, surreal, real. Donald Glover's "Atlanta" is all of these things and more. "Atlanta" sometimes gets brought up in the conversation about half-hour shows that aren’t actually comedies but are only treated as such because they’re half-hour shows…which is ridiculous, because as poignant and surreal (and everything in between) as "Atlanta" is, it’s also pretty damn hilarious.

For five seasons, Abbi and Ilana ran around New York City “with [their] little foibles and [their] little mishaps and [their] little shenanigans." (That line from the final season still perfectly describes the series to a T.) And sometimes they (as in, the real Abbi and Ilana) allowed a perfect "Sister Act 2: Back in the Habit" recreation to happen on their series.

Created by, written by and starring Sharon Horgan and Rob Delaney, the official description of “Catastrophe” calls it “a comedy following an Irish woman and an American man who make a bloody mess as they struggle to fall in love in London.” Yep, that’s the show. (Horgan is the Irish woman and Delaney is the American man, of course.)

"Childrens Hospital" will never probably get its proper due as a comedy, but it will here. As the lone quarter-hour comedy on this list (sorry, "NTSF:SD:SUV::" and "Eagleheart"), "Childrens Hospital" went through about every film and television (and sometimes theater) genre and trope in the span of fewer than 100 episodes. With simultaneously no continuity and too much continuity, Rob Corddry created a series where he and his celebrity friends could make the most absurd, inconsequential comedy and also somehow win some Emmys out of it. And then that led to a spinoff in the form of Netflix's "Medical Police." That's right, the doctors at Childrens got that Netflix money.

As much as the discussion about "Community" became more about drama with Dan Harmon, Chevy Chase, that damn fourth season, and just what exactly Yahoo! Screen was (at least it gave us "Other Space"), it should never be forgotten as a truly great sitcom, from beginning to end. (Again, OK, Season 4 wasn’t great. But it got back on track.)

"Seinfeld" couldn’t make the cut for this list (because it premiered in 1989), but that’s probably for the best because now we can just get right to the epicenter: the Larry David of it all. He really went from “a show about nothing” to a show about making something out of every little nothing, and that is pretty, pretty good.

Phoebe Waller-Bridge created a perfect television show with "Fleabag." That was, of course, more obvious with Season 2, the season of the Hot Priest (Andrew Scott), but as a whole, “Fleabag” was a completely perfect series. May it never be continued or remade.

Are the "Flight of the Conchords" the height of musical comedy? (Get out of here, “Weird” Al fans!) They certainly felt that way when it came to their HBO show. Part ridiculous musical, part mumblecore (but in a tongue in cheek way), "Flight of the Conchords" brought the New Zealand musical comedy duo of the same name (as well as the names Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie) to the states to get earworms like “The Most Beautiful Girl (In the Room),” “Foux du Fafa” and “Epileptic Dogs” stuck in our heads.

Ranked No. 1 on TV Guide’s list of the 100 best shows airing, "The Good Place" succeeded during its four-season run, seemingly changing the game every other episode — and making it work. The characters remained constant, as did the series' deep desire to bring ethics and philosophy to the forefront of a comedy that loves puns and (pretty accurate) Florida jokes. And, again, it worked.

With each passing year, "Happy Endings’" legacy becomes greater, with people realizing just how lucky we were to have it on the air and just how stupid we were to never fully treasure it at the time. The jokes-per-minute ratio of the show is one that will live on in infamy.

Is "It’s Always Sunny…" the opposite of a hangout sitcom with heart? It’s, of course, easy to love the idiots at Paddy’s Pub but certainly not for the reasons any of the characters would think. Fourteen seasons in and counting, and the series is still hilarious — and still hilariously brilliant when it comes to terrible real-life people not understanding the point of the series — to the point that maybe it should never end. Also, remember: FX expected "Starved" to be the sitcom that succeeded. Remember "Starved"?

Damon Wayans Jr. was  part of two of the best TV comedies of the last 25 years: "Happy Endings" and "New Girl." Although in the case of "New Girl," it wasn't so much that he was integral to the success of the series and its hangout sitcom status as it was he still belongs in the conversation as part of the gang. While "New Girl" at first looked like it would sink based on Zooey Deschanel’s still-strange career transition into the “adorkable” brand, it soon turned into quite the ensemble comedy with heart.

"Nighty Night" is unlike any other show on this list, even the rest of the Britcoms. From the beautifully twisted mind of Julia Davis ("Human Remains," "Hunderby," "Camping," "Sally4Ever"), she stars in this black comedy as Jill Tyrell, a character David Cross has referred to as “the most unlikable sitcom protagonist of all time.” And that should 100 percent be taken as a compliment to the character because that is fully the intent. She’s a narcissist who uses her husband’s cancer diagnosis as an excuse to start looking for someone new —and she settles on her married, new neighbor, no matter what the cost. Truly, it’s much funnier than it sounds. And you can’t go wrong with Davis, as a general rule.

Really, it all depends on how you like your “cringe comedy.” Do you like it short and sweet (say, 12 episodes and a couple of specials)? Then go with the U.K. version. Or do you like it long (201 episodes) and pretty much past its expiration date...but still pretty great for a good chunk of the time? Then it’s the U.S. version for you.

After "Parks and Recreation" stopped trying to be "The Office" 2.0, it flourished, especially because it decided to go with a more good-natured and positive vibe than the whole awkward and miserable vibe. (Not every vibe works for every show, you know?) While the series had its ups and downs, the ups certainly outweighed the downs, and Amy Poehler’s performance as Leslie Knope makes for, arguably, one of the greatest television characters of all time.

"Reno 911!" was a masterclass in improv comedy that lasted for six seasons (and a movie!). Niecy Nash, Tom Lennon, Robert Ben-Garant, Cedric Yarbrough, Kerri Kenney-Silver, Wendi McLendon-Covey. We were truly so blessed, and we never really appreciated it. But we'll have a second chance, as the show will be coming back this year, thanks to Quibi. Quibi!

Critically acclaimed, ratings-deprived. It’s a tale as old as time, really. When you think about it— especially given the collective star power — it’s kind of funny "Veronica Mars" is the Rob Thomas show that’s gotten the hoped-for movie and even a TV show revival, while "Party Down" is still dead. Kristen Bell: 1, Paul Rudd: 0, huh? (For that to make sense, you should know Paul Rudd was one of the executive producers of "Party Down.")

Like a number of great sitcoms (whether they’re on this list), "Scrubs" definitely faltered the longer it went. But for a time it was a sitcom that was the epitome of perfectly mixing humor and heart. You know you cried during “My Screw Up,” so don’t even try to pretend you didn’t. Also, the final, med school season is actually good once you get past all the holdovers from the original main cast. Certainly much better than the last NBC season of the series.

Ignore the movies that kind of taint its legacy, and just take the series for what it is and was? "Sex and the City" was a major comedy for HBO and pop culture, in general, even if it also falls into that "not quite holding up" category. The only shows that hold up are "Frasier" and "Happy Endings," OK?!

“I stole the TV!” Amy Sedaris regularly steals the show no matter what show she’s on, but let us not forget the legacy of Jerri Blank. The trouble, sloppy legacy of Jerri Blank.

Julia Louis-Dreyfus leading the charge of a bunch of foul-mouthed half-wits in Washington D.C. made for a beautiful seven seasons of comedy, only truly hindered by the fact that it and the incompetence it skewered basically became real life.

When it comes to sitcoms that may or may not hold up now, "Will & Grace" will still always have its original run status as being a groundbreaking sitcom. And with its revival, it will also have the distinction of erasing a terrible original final season from the canon. And there's its stellar cast, which is pretty much the picture of gifted live performers.

"You’re the Worst" debuted in the summer of 2014 to little expectations and came out of that year as one of TV’s best shows, new or otherwise. Showrunner Stephen Falk’s voice gave an entertainment factor to morally questionable characters without reaching “OMG” levels, and it provided a relatability to these same characters despite how self-involved they could all be. An oft-described “anti-rom-com,” "You're the Worst" then managed to wrap up its story without either bumming out (and possibly disappointing) every single viewer or having an unrealistic, saccharine (traditional rom=-com) ending that ultimately betrayed everything the show was supposed to be. It was a good show.