1994-1997 The Golden Years of Comedy

Scanlas The 2nd

Friends was the funniest from 1994-1999

The simpsons was the funniest from 1993-1997.

So 1994-1997 had some funny TV, especially considering you watched the episodes for the first time.

orourkeda

Scanlas The 2nd wrote: »

Friends was the funniest from 1994-1999
The simpsons was the funniest from 1993-1997.

So 1994-1997 had some funny TV, especially considering you watched the episodes for the first time.

A completely unfunny sentence

Oh_Noes

Scanlas The 2nd wrote: »

Friends was the funniest from 1994-1999

The simpsons was the funniest from 1993-1997.

So 1994-1997 had some funny TV, especially considering you watched the episodes for the first time.

Friends? Comedy?

The new episodes of the Simpsons were good around that time.

They made Seinfeld pretty much for the whole of the 90s though and that's arguably the best sitcom of all time.

Friends though. No. Just no.

Sticky_Fingers

Don't forget Father Ted, 1995 to 1998

Jesus Wept

And let's not forget Cop and a Half

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-Que-7kzfSU

RayM

The Day Today
Brass Eye
Father Ted
Knowing Me Knowing You, with Alan Partridge
I'm Alan Partridge
The Friday/Saturday Night Armistice
Fist of Fun

I'm not sure if they were the golden years of comedy, but there was some pretty good stuff produced in the mid-late '90s.

RichieC

I liked the Friends episodes when Ross was going bonkers, he was very funny when they let him be.

hayday Simpsons were amazing.. up there with Arrested Development.

wonderfulname

Monty Python's Flying Circus 69 - 74
Are you being served? 72 - 85
Blackadder goes forth 89'
Father Ted 95 - 98
Black books 2000 - 2004

There is always good comedy somewhere, but personally I think it was better before the 90s.

Scanlas The 2nd

Oh_Noes wrote: »

Friends? Comedy?

The new episodes of the Simpsons were good around that time.

They made Seinfeld pretty much for the whole of the 90s though and that's arguably the best sitcom of all time.

Friends though. No. Just no.

I never watched Seinfeld, but IMO the funniest sitcom ever would go to King of Queens. It aired from 1998-2007 and was consistently funny every year. I've never come across a sitcom as consistent for so many episodes.

Hank_Jones

Scanlas The 2nd wrote: »

I never watched Seinfeld, but IMO the funniest sitcom ever would go to King of Queens. It aired from 1998-2007 and was consistently funny every year. I've never come across a sitcom as consistent for so many episodes.

Really not doing yourself any favours there.
Seinfeld and that other show in the same sentence, I don't like it.

AnonoBoy

I told a cracker of a joke in 1995. It was something to do with airline peanuts.

Nearly shat myself it was so good.

Bottle_of_Smoke

Peep show one of the best comedies I've ever seen and that started relatively recently

kfallon

Phoenix Nights & The Office were out around the same time, think it was 2001, great times!

RichieC

Scanlas The 2nd wrote: »

I never watched Seinfeld, but IMO the funniest sitcom ever would go to King of Queens. It aired from 1998-2007 and was consistently funny every year. I've never come across a sitcom as consistent for so many episodes.

:eek:

seriously..no, just no.

hal9000

Dáil Éireann 1919-present
HI-larious

Blazer

Spin City...1996-2002)
well 1996-2000 when Michael J Fox left and that gob****e Charlie Sheen came in...it went rapidly downhill after that :mad:

Jake Rugby Walrus666

Friends - A comedy
...Hello!

Scanlas The 2nd

kfallon wrote: »

Phoenix Nights & The Office were out around the same time, think it was 2001, great times!

The office had to few episodes to be considered great, I doubt it would still be funny if it were only finsihing up now. Same as faulty towers, it gets way too much respect considering the number of episodes.

wonderfulname

You judge quality by quantity?

Sure Shakespeares plays were only two hours long, overrated if you ask me...

Fawlty Towers is fantastic, also the cast didn't exactly need to prove themselves...

dRNk SAnTA

OP It's just your nostalgia.

In 10 years there'll be some punk kid on here saying "2004 - 2007 funniest ever, family guy, how I met your mother, peep show."

Meanwhile we'll be listening to a NOW 90s compilation cd, angrily shaking our fist about how things were better in our day.

Scanlas The 2nd

dRNk SAnTA wrote: »

OP It's just your nostalgia.

In 10 years there'll be some punk kid on here saying "2004 - 2007 funniest ever, family guy, how I met your mother, peep show."

Meanwhile we'll be listening to a NOW 90s compilation cd, angrily shaking our fist about how things were better in our day.

I don't think many people would disagree that Friends and Simpsons reduced dramatically in quality in the '00s. So I wouldn't view it as nostalgia.

Scanlas The 2nd

wonderfulname wrote: »

You judge quality by quantity?

Sure Shakespeares plays were only two hours long, overrated if you ask me...

Fawlty Towers is fantastic, also the cast didn't exactly need to prove themselves...

Quality and Quantity, it takes more comedic talent to come up with new material for 10 years than 1 year or so.

wonderfulname

Scanlas The 2nd wrote: »

Quality and Quantity, it takes more comedic talent to come up with new material for 10 years than 1 year or so.

You do know who John Cleese is?

Learn your subject before you start mouthing off.

Hank_Jones

Realistically, in hindsight there are always going to be shows from every generation that can be considered great comedy.

Depends on the person though really.

Also, Red Dwarf!!!

The earlier stuff of course, it really went downhill.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a3t3IKlXqFU

Scanlas The 2nd

wonderfulname wrote: »

You do know who John Cleese is?

Learn your subject before you start mouthing off.

I haven't seen every comedy moment there is to see on T.V. All I can do is comment on what I've seen, and nothing beats King of Queens. If the simpsons stayed at it's 93-97 level then it would beat King of Queens.

alastair_doom

Jake Rugby Walrus666 wrote: »

Friends - A comedy
...Hello!

Could it... BE.... any more funny?

Hank_Jones

Scanlas The 2nd wrote: »

I haven't seen every comedy moment there is to see on T.V. All I can do is comment on what I've seen, and nothing beats King of Queens. If the simpsons stayed at it's 93-97 level then it would beat King of Queens.

Seinfeld
Red Dwarf
Fawlty Towers
Blackadder
Father Ted

^^see above^^

List of shows you should be watching.

King of Queens is terrible, each to their own I suppose.

Scanlas The 2nd

Hank_Jones wrote: »

Seinfeld
Red Dwarf
Fawlty Towers
Blackadder
Father Ted

^^see above^^

List of shows you should be watching.

King of Queens is terrible, each to their own I suppose.

I saw Father Ted and Red Dwarf. Father Ted was good, but again there weren't enought episodes really IMO to make an all time greatest.

wonderfulname

Scanlas The 2nd wrote: »

I haven't seen every comedy moment there is to see on T.V. All I can do is comment on what I've seen, and nothing beats King of Queens. If the simpsons stayed at it's 93-97 level then it would beat King of Queens.

Thats not what I asked, I asked do you know who John Cleese is? Look him up, then try claim that Fawlty Towers has no comedic value entirely due to its length :rolleyes:

The King of Queens really isn't my cup of tea, I put it in the same category as Two and a Half men, i.e. my "are Americans really that stupid?" category.

dRNk SAnTA

Scanlas The 2nd wrote: »

I don't think many people would disagree that Friends and Simpsons reduced dramatically in quality in the '00s. So I wouldn't view it as nostalgia.

No but point I'm making is that to consider that Friends represents the golden age of comedy, whichever the year, is purely nostalgia and couldn't possibly be a serious suggestion.

Simpsons is a different matter.

darkdubh

Scanlas The 2nd wrote: »

Friends was the funniest from 1994-1999

The simpsons was the funniest from 1993-1997.

So 1994-1997 had some funny TV, especially considering you watched the episodes for the first time.

Friends was never funny full stop.And the best Simpsons are prob 91 to 95.

Earthhorse

Whilst I don't agree that you can name a Golden Age for comedy the first few series of Friends are absolute gold; sharp scripts, brilliant performances and I'm surprised to see so many people question their worth.

Scanlas The 2nd

wonderfulname wrote: »

Thats not what I asked, I asked do you know who John Cleese is? Look him up, then try claim that Fawlty Towers has no comedic value entirely due to its length :rolleyes:

The King of Queens really isn't my cup of tea, I put it in the same category as Two and a Half men, i.e. my "are Americans really that stupid?" category.

I don't see how you can put "Two and a half men" in the same league as "King of Queens". King of Queens is really clever and it's not just about being stupid.

I'm not saying Fawlty Towers has no comedic value. It's just a lot easier to make a comedy funny for 10 or so episodes than it is 200 episodes without it gettin jaded.

JonathanAnon

Those years would have covered Seasons 2 - 4 of Frasier, so yeah pretty good in my book..

Oh_Noes

Curb Your Enthusiasm!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l7_MaQRiCsk

wonderfulname

John Cleese made that comedy since the 60's.
Even as slapstick college humour Cleese's work is an infinite number of times better than The King of Queens. I can think of a lot of words to describe the latter but clever certainly isn't one.

Scanlas The 2nd

Earthhorse wrote: »

Whilst I don't agree that you can name a Golden Age for comedy the first few series of Friends are absolute gold; sharp scripts, brilliant performances and I'm surprised to see so many people question their worth.

I'd say the last 5 years or so of the show are tainting their opinion of the first 4 years.

Scanlas The 2nd

darkdubh wrote: »

Friends was never funny full stop.And the best Simpsons are prob 91 to 95.

Friends never funny???

Think back to episodes around the time that Eddie was in it. Hilarious.

Oh_Noes

Scanlas The 2nd wrote: »

Friends never funny???

Think back to episodes around the time that Eddie was in it. Hilarious.

Never funny.

ClareVisitor

I quite liked Friends when it started. The last couple of series were rubbish though.

Seinfeld, Fawlty Towers, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Blackadder (especially the "forth" series, but I like 2 and 3 as well), The Simpsons, Family Guy, Father Ted, Black Books are all great.

humanji

I'd have thought the first and last few series of Friends were fairly terrible. As a show in general it had some very funny moments and some good writing, but I wouldn't class it as a great comedy by any stretch.

I find that US sitcoms generally suffer from one of two ailments: they either continue the same gag over and over again (Two and a Half Men) or jump the shark and just have crazy stuff happen for no reason (Phoebe in Friends giving birth to her brothers triplets). Having a million series of a show is no measure of quality. A lot of UK shows get cancelled by their creator's and not the stations, because the creator's know when something has run it's course, (Fawlty Towers, The Office). The US keeps going as long as they make money.

As for King of Queens, Jerry Stiller is the only funny thing in that show. The ONLY funny thing.

ForceOfNature

As far as american comedies go :

1) Seinfeld
2) Simpsons (pre 97)
3) US Office
4) Everybody Loves Raymond
5) Frasier

Friends was a bit funny at times (especially when that guy from dazed and confused was in it)

Whoever mentioned black books (you are having a laugh)

pickarooney

If you had to find a show that was consistently funny and lasted for years, it's hard to look past Seinfeld. Personally I don't agree that a show has to go on for years to be a classic, but I do recognise the achievement in making a good thing last a long time.

humanji

I always felt the first 3 seasons of Seinfeld were utter much. I didn't think it picked up until after that.

parker kent

Scanlas The 2nd wrote: »

The office had to few episodes to be considered great, I doubt it would still be funny if it were only finsihing up now. Same as faulty towers, it gets way too much respect considering the number of episodes.

Haha good one. Oh wait you are being serious....

Having 2 great series of Fawlty Towers is infinitely better than 9 or 10 series of the mediocre Friends. Most US comedies suffer from having series that have around 20 episodes per series. The jokes are spread VERY thin. Not to forget the idiotic canned laughter (i.e. this is the joke, feel free to laugh now!) and how horribly safe most network comedies are (such as the godawul Everybody Loves Raymond). Two and a Half Men has its moments but it suffered from having to stretch the jokes way too far. If it had 2-3 series with around 1 episodes per series, it could have been a very good sitcom.

For what it is worth, here's a few of my favourite comedy shows.

Curb Your Enthusiasm
Arrested Development
The US Office
Blackadder
Seinfeld (from about series 3 or 4 onwards)
Fawlty Towers

liah

Okay, maybe it never got aired in Ireland, but That '70s Show is severely lacking from the comments here.

I grew up watching it and up until about a week ago, I was skeptical that it would hold up. But I've just watched the first two seasons again, and for a show that started in 1998 for teens, it is bloody brilliant. It's the perfect balance of heart and humour and is surprisingly forward-thinking and mature, with great chemistry between the characters, fantastic editing and solid writing.

That said, I do believe the latter few seasons go down in quality a little, I stopped watching after one of the main characters left the show originally and have only acquired seasons 1-4 at the moment. I'm actually really impressed by it though so far and am still getting proper laughs out of it despite how long it's been and how I've changed since.

Same story for Scrubs, imo. I know it was popular but I think it was underrated for a lot of different reasons. That show had so much heart, even when it was 'bad' in the later seasons the heart still shone through. Also stands out for its editing, soundtrack, directing and acting.

Then there's stuff like Malcolm in the Middle, which I haven't seen in years but started airing in '00, and from what I remember it was very, very good.

There's also lots of 2000's comedies that never really got a chance to start but had an awful lot of potential that should've been realized-- Better Off Ted, Arrested Development, Pushing Daisies, Flight of the Conchords, My Name Is Earl, The Middleman (well, if it hadn't've been on ABC family).

Then there's ongoing quality (note: this is arguable as it is subjective) such as the still-running Simpsons (which I think gets far more flak than it deserves for the new seasons), Family Guy, South Park, How I Met Your Mother.

I wouldn't say the 90's were the Golden Years at all, I think there's a load of fantastic comedies available from the 00's.. I just don't think we're going to see serious long-runners anymore, quality shows are getting cancelled before they get a chance to start.

For the record I'm not saying the '00s are going to be the Golden Years, either. I just think branding one selective decade as the be all end all is a bit.. silly.

Badgermonkey

1992 to 1998

THE LARRY SANDERS SHOW

Hey Now!

Scanlas The 2nd

parker kent wrote: »

Haha good one. Oh wait you are being serious....

Having 2 great series of Fawlty Towers is infinitely better than 9 or 10 series of the mediocre Friends. Most US comedies suffer from having series that have around 20 episodes per series. The jokes are spread VERY thin. Not to forget the idiotic canned laughter (i.e. this is the joke, feel free to laugh now!) and how horribly safe most network comedies are (such as the godawul Everybody Loves Raymond). Two and a Half Men has its moments but it suffered from having to stretch the jokes way too far. If it had 2-3 series with around 1 episodes per series, it could have been a very good sitcom.

For what it is worth, here's a few of my favourite comedy shows.

Curb Your Enthusiasm
Arrested Development
The US Office
Blackadder
Seinfeld (from about series 3 or 4 onwards)
Fawlty Towers

Friends had about 3 or 4 quality series and about 6 awful series.

120_Minutes

Anyone who considers king of queens as one of the all time greats is watching the wrong kind of comedy

Scanlas The 2nd

120_Minutes wrote: »

Anyone who considers king of queens as one of the all time greats is watching the wrong kind of comedy

I've never laughed as much watching any other comedy. Only Fools and Horse, Fawlty Towers, Friends, The Simpsons, The Office, Frasier, Red Dwarf, Father Ted. None of them and many others can match the laughter that King of Queens causes me. 1998-2007 without any bad seasons. 20 or so episodes per season. The writers are brilliant. They were so consistent for so long because they can make the likes of Doug going for a haircut hilarious.

parker kent

King of Queens is decent. It is relatively harmless and you can tune in and out over a number of years. It is has funny moments, but it is not a comedy great. It is just a decent show that is neither great nor awful. In my view, it would have been much better with a shorter run and less episodes per series. That way there would be less filler moments and episodes.

I have bigger issues with Friends as it epitomizes bland, mainstream "comedy".