Best Comedy

We laughed, we cried. We got a little seasick from the camera work. The modern comedy has changed a lot, going from the three-camera, studio audience variety to the modern, single camera POV style devoid of a laugh track. What hasn’t changed is taking ordinary situations and amping them up for comic effect.

Comedy is an amazing tool for social change. Many histories credit The Cosby Show for changing perceptions of African-Americans. And for all the flaws it had, Will & Grace gave much of America the first gays they were actually glad to have in their homes every week.

Desperate Housewives

What makes a housewife desperate? Did you ever wonder what June Cleaver might be up to while the Beaver was at school? Did she even have a hunky young gardener to invite in for lemonade?

Probably not, but you can still see how Marc Cherry might have invented his concept. You start with June, progress to Gladys on Bewitched nosing around the neighbors, on to Mary Tyler Moore getting out of the house and into the world, and looping back to Claire Huxtable splitting her time between working and raising her family. Toss in some Dynasty-like soapiness, and you’re on Wisteria Lane.

Still, DH’s reminded us that today’s traditional family is anything but traditional. You can have the gay son, the gay husbands next door, blended families, and stay-at-home dads. And the modern American family can make anything work, as long as they laugh along the way.

Little Britain, U.S.A.

This import from across the pond brought out Matt Lucas and his collaborator David Walliams to America with their wacky cast of characters, plus some new ones that are uniquely American. There are the homoerotic bodybuilders, as well as Daffyd, who instead of being “the only gay in the village” is now “the only gay on campus” at university, and Marjorie Dawes with her FatFighters.

Skewering anything that moves, the British humor leaves no target unscathed whether it be school children or the American President. Think of it as being part Monty Python and part Tracey Ullman, with a little George Carlin thrown in for flavor.

Nurse Jackie

You’re probably doing something right when the people in the real-world version of what you’re showing demand you be pulled from the air. And many nurses hated this dark comedy about a nurse leading a double life.

Jackie has an adorable husband, two daughters, and a pharmacist she’s banging at work for pain medication. Plus, she works for an uppity administrator, has an enabler for a best friend and a gay co-worker who thinks he knows here well.

It’s full of darkly funny situations about the public faces we put forward to different sides of our lives to get through life with as little friction as possible. Thankfully, Jackie also has her two gay nurses to actually take care of patients while she deals with her life -- at least when Thor’s not trying to get Momo’s attention, that is.

Ugly Betty

Adapted from a telenovela, this is the classic Ugly Duckling story with a modern twist. Set in the world of high fashion, Betty moves through life determined to be herself while dealing with the wacky characters who surround her including an overprotective father, a sister of questionable tastes, and a nephew determined to follow in her independent footsteps, but with jazz hands. At work, the cast is just as quirky, but with more money and style.

While they’ve kept Betty as the heart of the show, Marc and Amanda bring their amazing comedy chops to the show, and it’s hard not to giggle at them when they get on a roll. By the same token, Evil Marc playing off Willie always sends a shiver down your spine, because you know the situation is about to get comedically devious. Wait – is this the Fabulous Marc show? We smell spin-off.

United States of Tara

Can you imagine the pitch meeting for this show? “I want to make a comedy about a woman dealing with Dissociative Identity Disorder and her family. No, we’re not going for wacky – absurd perhaps, but much too dark to be wacky.”

On the surface, the show sounds really difficult to pull off, yet somehow it’s effortless. We care about the family, and while Tara’s alters each tug the family off course in some way, the show always keeps its balance. Gay teen Marshall is not only remarkably fleshed out, but has managed in 12 short episodes to break out in a way that Eric on Gossip Girl can only dream of doing in forty.