Along with supernatural themes and the ever-present threat of the grim reaper, Joss Whedon's projects are known for having a joke or two. Buffy the Vampire Slayer and especially its spin-off, Angel, are generally quite grim, with both series not being afraid to breakdown their characters while forcing them to deal with significant loss and consequences that cannot just be wished away. Putting aside all the vampires and demons, the Buffyverse is primarily about people dealing with life.
In order to emphasize their darker moments, both shows also have their fair share of humor. Buffy the Vampire Slayer's more lighthearted tone allowed for the creation of more comedy-driven episodes, but even Angel had a couple of genuinely hilarious entries. Here are five funny Buffy episodes, along with five that highlight Angel's sense of humor.
Buffy: Bewitched, Bothered And Bewildered
Xander was the normal one in the Scooby Gang, the main character who is not a witch, a werewolf, or a vampire (slayer). Throughout its run, Buffy often used Xander as the straight man, which actually ended up making him one of the funnier characters in the series.
Season 2's Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered highlights Xander's worst traits in the most hilarious fashion, as a poorly conceived love spell ends up causing every woman in Sunnydale to fall in love with him. While the story does take a while to hit its comedic peak, the episode's second half consists of one hilarious scene after another.
Angel: Life of the Party
A real people person, Lorne is simply the best. The owner of the Caritas karaoke bar often brought a touch of playfulness to Angel's typically somber storylines, so it is only natural that an episode driven by Lorne and his larger than life personality would be pretty funny.
In order to throw the ultimate party, Lorne decides to give up sleep. Unfortunately, this leads to the empathy demon losing control of his powers, as other characters begin to follow his (mostly sarcastic) advice.
Buffy: Tabula Rasa
Buffy's season 6 is comfortably the show's most depressing. The central storyline starts out as a metaphor for drug addiction, Buffy and Spike engage in a mutually destructive relationship, and the main villains are the show's most human.
As the eighth episode of the season, Tabula Rasa provides a bit of a break from season 6's exhausting tone by wiping the memories of the Scooby Gang and Spike. While the ending is packed with drama and heartbreak, the scenes revolving around the amnesiac characters are innocent, funny, and enjoyably awkward.
Angel: Spin The Bottle
Spin the Bottle is Angel's version of Tabula Rasa and it comes pretty close to surpassing Buffy's episode. In an attempt to restore Cordelia's memories, Lorne performs a spell that, naturally, goes terribly wrong. The characters are mentally reverted back to their teenage selves, including Angel who loses all recollection of everything that happened after 1753.
While Tabula Rasa reduces the heroes to blank slates, Spin the Bottle essentially reverts the characters to how they were at the beginning of the series. This confusion not only leads to many hilarious moments, but it also showcases just how much Angel's characters had developed over the years.
Buffy: Band Candy
Rupert Giles' dry humor often goes a bit underappreciated, but the Watcher can be just as funny as Xander or Spike. Band Candy once again involves mind games, as some Halloween candy causes all the adults in Sunnydale to relive their teenage years, at least in spirit. They present a more free-spirited bunch than the town's current teenagers, as Buffy is forced to parent her mother.
Giles steals the show as the rebellious Ripper, a smooth-talking punk who could not be further removed from the British librarian's normal personality.
Angel: Pylea Arc
Following a season that saw Angel reaching as far as possible towards the dark side without turning to Angelus, Angel treated viewers to a more adventurous and comedic arc to end the year. Diving into pure fantasy territory, the Pylea arc tends to be rather polarizing, but "Through The Looking-Glass" shines through with a couple of memorable gags, including a joyful cameo by Joss Whedon.
With the exception of Fred's introduction, the Pylea arc does not impact Angel all that much, but it is just fun to see Cordelia live out her Princess fantasy; meanwhile, Angel, who has a reflection in this dimension, comes to the shocking realization that his hair looks terrible.
Buffy: Something Blue
If there is one lesson to take from the Buffyverse, it is that spells performed for selfish reasons will inadvertently backfire in amazing fashion. Similar to Angel's "Life of the Party," Willow's magic causes her will to be forced onto other people, as throwaway comments cause the rest of the Scoobies to act out of character.
These comments lead to Spike and Buffy falling in love as they plan to get married, Giles gradually losing his sight, and Xander catching the attention of all the demons in Sunnydale.
Angel: Guise Will Be Guise
When the titular hero is visiting a swami outside Los Angeles, Wesley decides to pretend to be the vampire when a case calls for Angel's presence. Angel's storyline is not all that memorable, but Wesley is nothing short of a treasure as he tries to keep up the ruse, which includes having to drink some blood.
At this point in season 2, Wesley was about half-way through his transformation from bumbling idiot to the respectable leader of Angel Investigations, and "Guise Will Be Guise" showcases both aspects of the character brilliantly.
Buffy: The Zeppo
"The Zeppo" is the definitive Xander episode. While the rest of the Scoobies fight to derail a world-ending event, Xander goes on his own side-adventure that involves zombies, a bomb, and a one night stand with Faith.
As the episode is mainly told from Xander's perspective, only glimpses are shown of the rest of the gang; for example, Xander walks in on one of Buffy and Angel's melodramatic discussions about love, a moment that serves as a prime example of Buffy the Vampire Slayer poking fun at itself.
Angel: Smile Time
Compared to Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Angel has very few episodes that are straight-up comedies. Spin the Bottle and Guise Will Be Guise just about qualify, even then, both episodes have their share of drama.
Smile Time is the one exception, as few ideas are as inherently funny as that of Angel being turned into a puppet. Be it puppet-Angel's disastrous exchange with his werewolf love interest or anything involving Spike, Smile Time is a laugh-riot that takes full advantage of its unique and goofy premise.