
When people talk about the Golden Age of Television, which either just ended or is ongoing, depending on who you ask, they talk about dramas, shows like Breaking Bad, Mad Men, The Sopranos, and The Wire. But rarely are comedies involved in the discussion, for reasons we've never quite understood.
The number of great sitcoms — and whatever Louie is — is unparalleled right now. Put another way: in our list of the year's funniest TV episodes, Veep, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Eastbound & Down, three of our favorite shows, didn't make the cut. But I guess we should be used to anti-comedy snobbery by now; think of the funniest movie that's ever won the Best Picture Oscar, and you'll be very disappointed.
So, instead of doing a "10 Best Episodes of TV In 2012" list, we focused on comedies only. Here's how we decided on our picks: we listed 20 or so shows that we agreed deserved consideration (SORRY WORK IT), held a round-robin style draft to pick the 10 best, and then whoever picked the show also chose the episode. Also, the shows are listed alphabetically, not by a 1-10 ranking. Make sense? No? Great. Let's begin.

30 Rock, "Leap Day" (season 6, episode 8)
What Happens: In the world of 30 Rock, Leap Day is a holiday on par with Christmas, featuring its own beloved figure, Leap Day William, who emerges from the Mariana Trench every four years in a blue suit and top hat to trade candy for children's tears. Getting caught up in the spirit of the day, Jack has an It's A Wonderful Life-style dream sequence involving his daughter, Tracy takes everyone to Benihana with a $50,000 gift card that expires in March, and Liz debates a $20 million offer to take the virginity of an Internet billionaire named Sad Thad the Skin Tag Lad before being foiled by "hot bitches." 30 Rock is great.
Key Line: "It's Leap Day. Real life is for March."
Here's my favorite part of this episode: Jim Carrey's cameo, on a movie-within-the-show titled Leap Dave William, as a lawyer who magically becomes the real Leap Day William and presumably learns many important lessons in the process. This is classic 30 Rock. They got Jim Carrey to come in and essentially parody the whole Liar Liar, family-friendly, "aw what a sweet, happy ending" part of his career ("I saved Leap Day! And connected with my son! And I solved a big case of murder!") for a quick gag involving a fake-movie about a made-up holiday that took up like 30 seconds of screen time. How cool is that? The show never got huge ratings during its run, and there were a few notable swings-and-misses that took place during 2012 (I love you, Tina Fey and Kristen Schaal, but let us never speak of Hazel again), but when it connects — which it does way, way more often than not — it's capable of hitting the ball all the way to the damn moon.
P.S. the ending was scary and I did not like it because I am a big huge baby.

-Danger

American Dad!, “Adventures in Hayleysitting” (season 8, episode 6)
What Happens: Hayley is left in charge of Steve for the night after the Smith's usual babysitter, Lindsay, breaks her leg playing soccer. Things...do not go well, which in American Dad! terms means that Jeff gets stoned, Steve, Snot, & Co. befriend a meth head, and someone gets shot in the head, all while Stan and Francine make sweet love in a barn next to some horses. It's magical.
Key Line: "I guess the only question is: what are we talking about?"
This was a tough decision. Which American Dad! episode to include on this list? Obviously, there's going to be one, because American Dad! is great and anyone who thinks that it's still terrible because of its inauspicious first season needs to know that none of Seth MacFarlane's LOOK AT ME MAKING AN OBVIOUS POLITICAL STATEMENT THAT DOUBLES AS A DUMB RACIST JOKE /CUTAWAY stink remains, but, my God, there are so many great episodes this year. "Old Stan in the Mountain" was fantastic, as was "The Unbrave One." Maybe Baby. But what about "Wheels & the Legman and the Case of Grandpa's Key" or "Ricky Spanish"? Ricky Spppannniiissshhhh. But we went with "Adventures in Hayleysitting" because not only do Alison Brie, Charlie Day, and Sarah Michelle Gellar show up, but it ends oh-so-perfectly, with Lindsay's ghost booting a car and a dead meth head's lizard shouting, "GOAAAAAAALLLLLLL." I'd say it makes sense in context, but it doesn't really, and that's why American Dad! is so great. There's nothing else quite like it.

-Josh

Archer, "Bloody Ferlin" (season 3, episode 9)
What Happens: Archer and Carol head down to Ray's backwoods home town of Ferlin, West Virginia to help his brother, Randy (Jack MacBrayer), ward off an attack from the local sheriff, who is trying to kill him and take over his marijuana operation. Meanwhile, the rest of the gang hangs back at the office to try to hide the whole operation from Malory. Oh, also, it turns out that Ray has been pretending to be paralyzed. I feel like that's important.
Key Line: "For one thing, it’s eerily similar to the plot of White Lightning..."
As with most Archer episodes, there are too many good quotes from "Bloody Ferlin" to select just one, so let's go with the one that gets us to the heart of the matter: Archer's long-standing obsession with the films of Burt Reynolds. That was the reason he agreed to go along with the whole thing in the first place. Not his concern for his coworker, not a need to see justice done — because it reminded him of a Burt Reynolds movie. That should tell you most of what you need to know about Sterling Malory Archer.
The episode itself is jam-packed. Ray is pretending to be straight and Carol is pretending to be his wife, Archer is drinking moonshine, everyone is shooting at everyone else, Pam agrees to do "bum shock fights" and is spray-painting bathroom stalls, and Krieger is, well, being Krieger. Even for Archer — one of the quickest-moving and most insane shows on television — there's a hell of a lot going on. I don't know if it's the best episode to jump into the show fresh, but for regular viewers it paid off a lot of gags that had been set up throughout the season, and did so in a way only Archer can. By chugging moonshine and shooting at people.

-Danger

Bob's Burgers, "Burgerboss" (season 2, episode 4)
What Happens: Bob installs a classic video game, Burgerboss, in his restaurant, and instantly becomes obsessed with it, to the extent that when Jimmy Pesto gets the high score, he stays all up night and develops carpal tunnel syndrome trying to top his arch-enemy. Eventually, Linda sells the game to a local arcade, but Bob tracks it down and befriends local nerd legend, Darryl, in order to beat Pesto's score. Meanwhile, Linda is convinced that her family is taking sailing lessons to surprise her. They are not.
Key Line: “I got a bully, too. Name’s Tyler. Picks on me every day.” “Oh, that’s cool, so will you help me?”
Bob's Burgers was good during season one, occasionally very good ("Art Crawl," for instance). When the show returned for season two earlier this year, it was even better, but for the first few episodes, it felt like it was on the verge but couldn't quite take the next step towards greatness. Then "Burgerboss" happened, and so did the comparisons to golden-era Simpsons episodes, the highest compliment a comedy can receive. Everything great about the series came together in one episode: H. Jon Benjamin and guest star Aziz Ansari shout and act like children (Aziz actually plays a kid), which, as anyone who's seen Archer and Parks knows, is when they're at their best; Louise screams some of her best lines ("He had sex and then we happened. DEAL WITH IT!"); Gene dances; Tina ponders the location of the "mergina"; and Linda gets to say "peeing race" loudly.
Basically, there's a lot of yelling, which is a good thing for Bob's Burgers. The more manic the episode, the better.

-Josh

Community, "Basic Lupine Urology" (season 3, episode 17)
What Happens: In an elaborate Law & Order parody, Greendale Community College is the unlikely setting of a brutal crime involving a yam. The study group splits into different factions: Troy and Abed are the hardworking detectives, Shirley is the tough-as-nails sergeant, Jeff and Annie put their district attorney peacoats on, Professor Kane is the fed-up judge, and Britta, well, she's the worst (and the best at old west photo filters). As for Pierce, he's the crooked informant running a poker game, which is just perfect. It's a classic whodunit, with Todd, Leonard, Quendra, Garrett, Fat Neil, and Starburns along for the ride. Until Starburns dies. R.I.P.
Key Line: "OBJECTION. I hate the both of you."
Is it weird that I've never seen an entire episode of Law & Order? It's weird, but I know enough about the show to be aware of how it functions. In the Criminal Justice System, the people are represented, etc. etc. etc. But even if you're someone like me, who thinks of Angie Harmon as Jason Sehorn's wife, not Abbie Carmichael, you can appreciate the brilliance of "Basic Lupine Urology," written and directed by Community's A-team of Megan Ganz and Rob Schrab. Nearly every one of the show's many recurring characters is involved, it's intensely focused on a singular vision (it's when Community doesn't know what it's trying to do or say that it can occasionally falter), and, for the purposes of this being the FUNNIEST episodes list, there's absolutely no character development, just the Dean singing lullabies and Annie celebrating a job well done with a dance.

-Josh

Cougar Town, "A One Story Town" (season 3, episode 5)
What Happens: Travis gets payback on Jules by allowing Ted and his a capella group to stay at their home for a week. Bobby's romance with Travis's professor Claire (Sarah Chalke) is quickly sabotaged by a bee allergy and his clumsiness. Jules, however, promises she can coach him to win her back with grand romance, but everything keeps going wrong, yet Claire toughens it out. Plus, only a repulsive Tom can remedy an invasion of Quebeckers during the local crab festival.
Key Line: "When I rank all the things that make me want to die it goes: books, snakes, PBS, acapella."
Since the very first episode of Cougar Town, Bobby Cobb has been my favorite character (although, Laurie Keller is a close second), and in "A One Story Town," the main focus is on creating the perfect date for Bobby, and the whole cul de sac crew hilariously gets involved with walkie talkies and a war-room like set up. But for those of us who tuned into Cougar Town because of our affection for Scrubs and stuck around until it became one of the best comedies television, Bill Lawrence repaid us all in A One Story Town with a fantastic reunion featuring brief cameos from Zach Braff and The Todd.

-Dustin

Happy Endings, "No Ho-Ho" (season 3, episode 7)
What Happens: After her lifelong secret that she is actually a Christmas baby is exposed, the gang tries to turn Christmas into Jane-mas to make the day special for her by ignoring any and all Christmas traditions.
Key Line: "Happy Birthday, Jane...*sigh*...and Jesus."
I may be biased both because I've been recapping Happy Endings this season and because this episode is so fresh in my mind, but "No Ho-Ho" is one of my favorite Christmas episodes ever, of any show. It starts off from a pretty simple premise (Jane has been lying about her birthday her whole life because she hated having it overshadowed by Christmas) and somehow ends up in a place where Max's hidden eggnog pouch gets punctured and sprays all over the room, Brad throws a Hip Hop Santa doll off his balcony, Alex's unwrapping fetish is exposed, and Jane almost ends up in a decoration-destroying Christmas night riot with her fellow Christmas babies. There aren't many ways left for a network sitcom to do an original Christmas episode in 2012, but they somehow managed to do it, even while working in jokes about all-black circuses ("Ringling Brothers for Brothers: The Greatest Show on Earf") and songs about Jurassic Park set to traditional holiday music.
As I said in my recap earlier this week, this show wears chaos well.

-Danger

Louie, "Barney/Never" (season 3, episode 6)
What Happens: Louie and Robin Williams bond while attending the funeral of a comedy club manager who neither of them really cared for, and in the second installment, Louie looks after one of Lily's creepy classmates, Never, who likes to eat raw meat and take dumps in bathtubs.
Key Line: "I diarrhea'd in the tub."
"Barney/Never" is not the best episode of Louie this season. That would be the three-part "Late Show" finale. But it is the funniest. The first half of the episode is solid, especially the scenes with Louie and Robin at Sweet Charity together, where they break the news to the strip club's female employees that long-time patron Barney has died (cue "Sister Christian"). It's in the second half, however, where things, well, let's just say I laughed far longer than I'd like to admit at the sight of that blob of a child sitting in a tub filled with his own sh*t. Plus, "Barney/Never" also has Louie talking to Kansas City Morning Zoo-type DJs (he really shouldn't have used the word "dump") and J.B. Smoove yelling at a fellow gravedigger for "speaking African" in the tag.
In summary: poop = comedy gold.

-Josh

New Girl, "Menzies" (season 2, episode 7)
What Happens: Unable to pay her share of rent and utilities, the guys tell Jess to get a job. She is experiencing her monthly period and is an emotional mess when she interviews for a job. Meanwhile, Winston is suffering from sympathetic menstrual pains, while Nick meets a silent guy who shows him how to be peaceful. Cece wants to go back with Schmidt, who is carrying on a 50 Shades of Grey relationship with Carla Gugino.
Key Line: "You wanna get weird? Let's get weird."
New Girl has been shredding it this season. In the beginning, it was a series we watched for Schmidt's goofball douchiness, but the show turned a corner when Lizzy Caplan arrived and somehow balanced out Zooey Deschanel's annoying quirkiness. It grew a heart when Dermot Mulroney (Dylan McDermott?) showed up, but it was Mulroney's character, Russell, who also brought out the best in Nick Miller. It was at that point that the showrunners truly discovered the value of Nick, and in season two, they haven't let him go to waste. In "Fluffer," the relationship between Nick and Jess was firmly established over his refusal to build a shelf; in the Halloween episode, he screamed like a little girl at a clown; in "Models," he bought Schmidt a cookie. But "Menzies" is my favorite Nick episode. He begins it by having a one-sided conversation with an Asian man and ends it doing some sort of meditation in the pool, and yet, despite the greatness of Nick, Jess had the funniest moment.
-Dustin

Parks and Recreation, "Halloween Surprise" (season 5, episode 5)
What Happens -- Leslie's future with Ben is on hold after he gets a new job offer, which he turns down and instead, proposes to Leslie. In trying to scare Jerry on Halloween, Leslie and Ann give Jerry a heart attack, and Ron's new relationship is in jeopardy because he has issues trick 'r treating with his girlfriend's kids.
Key Line: "Seriously, Jerry. Did you EAT farts for lunch?"
In choosing the funniest episodes of the year, it's easy to overlook Parks and Recreation's "Halloween Surprise," if only because it was the sweetest and, perhaps, most shocking episode of Parks, in that it ended with Ben's surprise marriage proposal, after we'd been mislead into believing he'd seriously consider taking a job out of state. But that, obviously, wasn't what made "Halloween Surprise," one of the funniest episodes of the year, nor was it Ron Swanson's horrible trick-or-treating experiences. It was Jerry's fart attack, which I maintain was the single funniest sequence on television in 2012.

-Dustin




How the heck can you write about an episode in such detail and not realize it’s Leap Day WilliaM?
aaaaand the hatred begins with the very first slide.
Merry Christmas everyone!
JOKE’S ON YOU I ALREADY FIXED IT SO NOW YOU LOOK LIKE THE DUM-DUM WHO CAN’T READ WORDS GOOD..
I just got here. What is this guy even talking about? It says Leap Day William right in the post.
All wrong. Not one mention of Kenan Thompson.
Or Manny from Modern Family.
Honorable mention.
I feel like this list could just be the top ten Archer episodes, and then just give everything else honorable mentions.
Co-sign.
If nothing else, the train episode. Mallory shitting on a black porter, Sterling’s drinking prowess (further) explained, a shoot out with Mounties AND fake Mounties, fighting on the roof of a train, ABU THE OCELOT….what didn’t that episode have?
/ I LOLed. HARD
Lo Scandalo was the best Archer this year and ever.
The Limited is the episode of Archer I show newbies because it’s basically a perfect episode of television.
*Babou*
/fuck
My one issue with Basic Lupine Urology is the lack of a reference to Chevy’s appearance on actual Law & Order. [www.youtube.com]
Jerry’s Fart Attack made me laugh harder than anything’s made me laugh in a while. I’m talking doubled over, tears in my eyes, gasping for breath laughing.
I concur.
I know this is going to sound highly ironic coming from a self-described South Park fanatic but literal toilet humor does nothing for me (too be fair when has Trey P gone to that well after season 3?). That was still a great P & R episode though.
Me too, just remembering it made me laugh, now I have to watch it again
I just rewatched it, amazing. cried laughing.
the opening scene is really funny too.
I thought for sure one of episode of The League with Rafi was going to make the list. I was thinking “The Breastalyzer” with classic lines of “Jerk off party, I like where this is going”,”Rafi bomb!” and “swim swim stab.”
When the Russians attack, you think we’re all gonna get one of these?
/smacks kick board
That line slayed me. Brilliant episode.
I agree 100%. As far as doling out lines that kill me no matter how many times I hear them the only show on this list that comes close to the League is Archer (maybe Community). Anything Rafi has ever said is funnier than “fart attack”.
I was thinking of this episode too when I mentioned the lack of The League.
Aside from Rafi scenes, The League has been unbearable this year. Rafi, however, will always remain the best scene stealer there ever was.
Sunny and Workaholics snubbed for American Dad and Bobs Burgers. Woof.
NOT tight butthole.
Oh yeah, Workaholics deserved it too. But Bob’s Burgers is legit funny bro.
Agree with J-R.
Yea, Always Sunny has been godly this season.
Bob’s Burgers is fantastic too though
what kind of asshole hates on Bob’s Burgers like that?
I’m SHough610 and I concur with leaving off both those shows.
On Happy Endings, the pepper spray attack had me crying hysterically.
That’s the hardest I’ve laughed at that show too.
I think the pinata was funnier, but this last episode in total was the best of the season.
Not a single Veep episode, eh? Feel like that’s an egregious miss.
I’ll support this.
I haven’t seen enough of those to comment, yet here we are.
/dickjoke
Pretty strong choices of episodes for each shows (at least the 8 that I watch), but no Sunny and no The League is UNACCEPTABLE!
Agreed, but it would be hard to pick a best Sunny this year. It seems to be getting better each episode. I haven’t laughed this much at it since Frank joined the gang.
“The Maureen Ponderosa Wedding Massacre”, and “Charlie and Dee find love” were clearly my two favorites this season, even if it has been very solid all around, especially the last two weeks.
Oh no, you made Jean-Ralphio use all-caps. See what you’re doing to us Josh?
The League has been really shitty this season, as much as it pains me to say. Rafi was the only redeemable factor. But I think this list could bump out Cougar Town and add “Frank’s Back in Business”. SOMEWHAT UNACCEPTABLE.
Jean-Ralphio is CORRECT…………also why in the hell is cougar town here? wtf? seriously…
Sunny and the League belong here more…
I thought this was about episodes… and not the entire season – which would clearly make Rafi and Frank kings in that arena.
Cougar Town > Always Sunny. I think it’s the crazy love Always Sunny gets but I have an irrational loathing of the show. As for Cougar Town… If you can get past the first six episodes it’s a great show.
Mislead? Really?
Hey, English can be a very misleading language. He was probably misled into thinking the word was logical.
What about that one episode of that Tim Allen show where he’s all like “Men are like THIS and we do MAN things and we don’t like pretty things because those are for girls and girls are different than what my conception of masculinity should be!”
HILARIOUS
That show stole Kaitlyn Dever from Justified and for that I will never forgive it.
I would like to throw my hat in the ring for the lack of Workaholics and Sunny argument, looooose butthole guys. American Dad is atrocious! The continued quality of It’s Always Sunny is truly remarkable. This is the eighth season, how many live action shows can boast such amazing material for that long with no signs of stopping? It’s a travesty that it’s been so ignored for awards. Dennis’ turn in Franks Back in Business should be enough to top this list.
I got off
What no mention of South Park even on the honorable mentions list but fucking AMERICAN DAD makes the final cut? Unacceptable. South Park had some killer episodes this year, like the Star wars/Obama one, all vastly superior to anything every produced by McFarland and his team of manatees. Good list otherwise, though I’ve never seen Bob Burgers (I blame the NFL)
This is a very valid point. But in a list that is inherently subjective, all we can agree on is that sometimes we disagree.
I JUST NOW realized that Glover was wearing a Spider man necktie in the “Lupine” episode as a nod to that whole “Glover as Spider man” campaign awhiles back. I are very smart.
I would also like to piss and moan about “Always Sunny” being shut out of this category. I expect that type of tomfoolery from the Golden Globes, but not from you!!!
The first episode of the season following that Glover for Spiderman campaign started with him getting out of bed in Spidey PJs, also.
I don’t know much about Miles Morales, but if they reboot the Spidey franchise again and Glover fits the lead, I would watch the fuck out of that. He might make a better Deadpool than a Spiderman, though.
I like community, a lot, it´s smart but it definitely isn´t one of the funniest. At least not over iasip
There is absolutely no reason Glover should not have played Peter Parker. None I tells ya!
The Christmas episode of Happy Endings is by far the worst of the year. Felt mailed-in
I’m waiting for the punchline because SURELY YOU JEST!!!
seriously, that was F’n brilliant.
Bunk be trollin’
I love American Dad. It’s as gloriously insane as Archer, but not random for no reason like Family Guy. It’s soooooooo weird.
I don’t watch a lot of these shows, but I will say that the punchline at the end of Barney at the strip club might have been the most I’ve laughed all year.
“think of the funniest movie that’s ever won the Best Picture Oscar, and you’ll be very disappointed.”
I don’t know about you guys, but “Crash” is still hilarious to me.
I still crack up every time I think about “Schindler’s List.”
Okay, but the funniest moment of the year was when Lane Pryce tried to kill himself, but the Jaguar (“They’re lemons!’) wouldn’t start.
Mad Men in general had some of the funniest things on TV this year.
And yes, I laughed like a bastard at the Jag not starting. Seriously almost fell off the couch.
I really Loved that episode of Parks and Rec, it was perfect! Totally deserved the first position. Louie had a great season and that episode with Never was priceless.
Not one always sunny? you fail good sir
I know comedy is subjective but Archer in Space is better than Hillbilly Archer.
Your argument misses because Archer on a Train.
this list sucks ass.
SOMEONE HAD TO SAY IT.
Yeah, it’s definitely been Kurped.
I’m shocked to see American Dad get so much hate up in hurr. Roger Smith is a comedic titan in the same class of the Frank Reynolds, Raffi’s, and Sterling Archers of the world.
You shut your mouth!
I’m torn between Frank’s Back in Business and The Gang Dines Out as the funniest episode this season, but for Sunny to be shut out of the list? Geeze…at least pay tribute!
YES… pay tribute. Frank is the oldest here. Im sure he will return in kind a gesture of Sambuca or the “most expensive” house wine!
No Workaholics, No League, No “The Maureen Ponderosa Wedding Massacre”, yet the need to ad an episode of a show about a girl on her period being emotional and some dbag on his empathy period.
WTF is happening here????
South Park’s football episode was awesome. As was the Honey Boo Boo episode.
Oh sure it was.
The blockbuster one was also pretty good.
South Park and Always Sunny HAVE to be on here. New Girl, and American Dad are OK but I mean come on. South Park’s butters cum episode (not sure how else to describe it) and Sunny’s Frank back in business episode are classics.
New Girl “Menzies” had me kneel and pray to the church of Nick. I am all about that character. There isn’t a single scene he doesn’t have me cracking up in. When he started the one-way conversation with the Asian dude in the park, I just thought “How perfect is this?” But, ya, you nailed it when you said Deschanel had the funniest moment. I replayed “Puppy in a cup” over and over and laugh/cried every single time. She should get an Emmy just for that line.
I just rewatched this episode last night. It is just…the best. “You’ve got a nice face!”
No always sunny, kenny powers or workaholics?
What a joke. Happy endings is so overrated, and that parks ep was average, as is most of the latter half of this and last season.
This gorgeous sunset is rockin’ my nuts off.
Any scene where Kenny Powers boogie boards is deserving of a salutary bong hit, if not an emmy.
Rob Schrab has only directed one episode of Community. i mean, he did great, but that’s not really enough to be A-Team materal
I think you guys in the States need to hit up Peep Show. Back for it’s 8th series over here in the UK, the third episode of the 8th series was one of the funniest things I’ve ever seen – speed and paintballing is always going to be hilarious.
Just finished watching it……. Classy episode!
Thanks for that!
I’ve been watching that for years and yes, the paintball episode was freaking brilliant.
Now, after seeing Matt King in the Australian show “Spirited”, it’s really weird seeing Matt King as Super Hans again. Henry Mallet was great, but man, I really missed Super Hans.
Every episode of Always Sunny was funnier than every show on that list.
A best of comedy list without Always Sunny is invalid by definition. Scratch this list and try again.
“Parks and Recreation” has been mostly terrible this season. Every funny thing about every funny character has been arc’d out of the show. Ben and Leslie’s relationship is the boring story of a character I used to support but now am annoyed with marrying a character who’s been the worst since day one. I’m about done with that show.