The 90s weren't devoid of great comedy of course, with timeless sitcoms like Friends and Frasier standing at the peak of the genre, swapping traditional working-class families for middle-class personalities procrastinating over first-world problems. This led to a more escapist style of sitcom: a happy place to go to and forget about your everyday troubles. On the animated end, we had South Park, and The Simpsons was king, upping the feel-goodery by parodying the genre and simply committing to excellent writing.
Once we reached 2000 and beyond without the world ending, these types continued, most notably with the works of Chuck Lorre and Seth McFarlane, not to mention Friends clone How I Met Your Mother, but after the tragedy of 9/11 turned the world on its head, they began to suffer the same way Jim Carrey movies did, no longer able to capture the zeitgeist or entice the discerning viewer. It was time to up the pace, the wit, and the character, and lose even more touch with reality. While movies worked with the 'random' comedy the internet was bringing, TV responded with shows that were hilarious, emotional, committed to character and very cynical.
South Park
South Park first stole the world's hearts and funny bones in 1997 with crude animation, taboo humor, and iconic characters. With the coming of the millennium, Simpsons started to lose its relevance, whereas South Park exploded and mutated into a relentless, untouchable parody machine that shoved a mirror in the world's face.
No other show on this list came close to being so funny for so long, and the fact the show is a handover from the '90s makes it even more impressive they remained relevant at all. The show is still airing, though at season 23 it's finally going stale.
Scrubs
A month after 9/11, when America in particular was still reeling, Scrubs prescribed us with a new sitcom about young people, wary of the world and trying to do something meaningful. Instead of New York or the like we got fictional San DiFrangeles, a play on Los Angeles, which was appropriately removed from a bleak reality.
The surreal style and adorable characters, along with the typical relationship drama captivated a new generation of viewers. And when tragedy struck it was taken seriously. One minute, JD's juggling women and daydreaming about fighting crime then he walks into an empty ward and the comedy subsides as he faces the futility of death. In these moments, we see the daydreams and the antagonistic banter for what they are, a coping mechanism. As well as being genuinely funny, these heavy shifts to raw emotion gave us the captivating and honest TV we all needed.
Family Guy
Before 'Seth McFarlane comedy' became a genre, his arrival on the scene was most refreshing. The fast pace, crude humor, cutaway gags, and pop-culture digs let it play off the Simpsons the way South Park did. It lacked the sincerity of other new comedies, but it remains highly influential and iconic.
Every mediocre attempt to replicate McFarlane's style is a testament to the man's achievement. While the characters are difficult to invest in, Family Guy, along with American Dad and The Cleveland Show, is full of sharp dialogue, belly laughs and inconceivably hilarious moments. As with the MCU, you have to concede the teenagers are THE demographic. And if Family Guy had the integrity of Arrested Development or Community it would've been canceled too soon just like them, and we never would've gotten to see Cleveland Show's Die Hard parody.
The Office(s)
David Brent and Michael Scott started as archetypes that represented at least one weirdo we all knew - awkward, bigoted, conceited, and completely incapable of reading a room - but that archetype has become terrifyingly relevant in the last 5 years, particularly in 2 even more significant offices. David Brent's return in 2016 seemed appropriate, but the box office told everyone people like Brent weren't something to laugh about anymore. Post-2016, watching Michael Scott say "I want people to be afraid of how much they love me." almost makes one's hair stand on end.
But in 2001, Ricky Gervais's cringy mockumentary of a mundane workplace gave us a new genre that was closer to home. The U.S. adaptation then carried the torch honorably, as Gervais went on to make Extras and soon the whole world was under their spell.
Trailer Park Boys
But Canada had its own answer. Trailer Park Boys embraced the low-budget mockumentary style and mixed it with a unique style, with characters who were somehow larger-than-life and very real, such as Robb Wells's hilarious yet thoughtful portrayal of 'stupid' guy Ricky.
The show had a whole ensemble of characters who were not the brightest and enjoyed heavily abusing substances, yet each had something to offer the community. Coupling this with hilarious writing the characters themselves probably wouldn't get - plus an irresponsibly glorious portrayal of extreme alcoholism from the late, great John Dunsworth - led to some of the most original comedy of our time. By season 3, every episode was a classic, and it was so funny it became difficult to go back to other comedies.
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
The best show to ween yourself off Trailer Park Boys is probably Always Sunny. The comic momentum provided by an ensemble of lovable narcissists, particularly Charlie Day and the selfless Danny DeVito, birthed a show that was almost too funny (once it got into the swing of things).
Like Trailer Park Boys, the dialogue was not only hilarious but was a good representation of how humans talk to each other. It may not be the most iconic or revolutionary comedy on this list, but it remains one of the outright funniest.
The Thick Of It
The Thick Of It was the British answer to the new wave of prime American comedy, and considering even America didn't know what Arrested Development was in 2005 (in italics at least), The Thick Of It was on the forefront. It had the pace and satire of the U.S. equivalent, as well as a mastery of that classic subtle British wit that was starting to conquer the Atlantic. With a furious pace, razor-sharp tongue, and performances that were as hilarious as they were real, The Thick Of It is one of the great comedies of the 21st Century.
Archer
Archer failed to hold its quality, and it's lived on twice as long as it should have, but in its prime (mainly the first 2 seasons) it was untouchable. Going well above and beyond the requirements of a James Bond spoof, and effortlessly carrying the banner of its sister show, Arrested Development, it ticked all the boxes for the new generation of comedy and raised the dialogue bar to a whole new level.
It brought the slick pace and humor of the new American shows together with the subtlety of the Brits, unafraid to give the viewers some credit, merely implying the joke and letting the audience do the heavy lifting.
Community
It had plenty of personality for the sitcom it masqueraded as in the pilot, but by season 2 it had revealed its true nature: a delightfully meta pop culture shaman, that's as hilarious as anything on this list, and trumps Scrubs for getting real and dropping raw emotion. Not to mention the legendary cast being fully utilized. But the greatest feature is the impeccable storytelling. Community's golden age was short-lived, but it brought us not just some of the best comedy, but some of the best television of the century.
Arrested Development
You can tell it was brilliant cause no-one appreciated it 'til after it was dead. As with Breaking Bad, people did eventually tell their friends, just a little too late.
Now the world is demanding more, despite how in-demand the stellar cast are, and they've managed to rustle up 2 more seasons. But it's lost some of the magic of the tale of inexplicably likable greedy rich people we all fell for, the Godfather of 21st Century comedy, that expertly flaunts the best features of every show on this list, though the storytelling style probably hurts Dan Harmon's brain...