12 Best HBO Comedy TV Shows, Ranked

HBO has always been a reputable source for quality television, whether it's award-winning dramas like "The Sopranos" and "True Detective" or action-packed series like "Game of Thrones" and "The Last of Us." However, HBO is quite underrated for its repertoire of original comedy series, which it has aired since the network's very beginnings. 

That's not all HBO has to offer, either. In 2020, the network launched its own platform, HBO Max, to compete with the best streaming services in the entertainment industry. This subsidiary of HBO has even started reaping awards for its own programming, including "The Pitt."

Nevertheless, it can still be as hard as ever to gauge what the best comedy series on any given streaming service are, thanks to the overabundance of available content. Look no further: These 12 HBO comedy series are as funny as it gets on the cable channel, even if some of the shows bend into genres outside of the standard sitcom or single-camera comedy. 

Surprisingly, "Flight of the Conchords" was not the first HBO series to adapt the fictional lives of a two-piece comedy band. That honor goes to "Tenacious D," starring Jack Black and Kyle Gass, which premiered in 1997. An entire decade later, Jemaine Clement and Bret McKenzie from New Zealand came together with their own spin on the two-man band format, with "Flight of the Conchords" debuting on HBO in 2007 and airing for 2 seasons. 

On the show, Jemaine and Bret navigate the struggles of "making it" in New York City, aided by their incompetent manager Murray (Rhys Darby). The New Zealanders do the whole "starving artist" schtick much better than Tenacious D ever did, making "Flight of the Conchords" one of the best musical TV shows of all time. 

It's also telling that the show served as a jumping-off point for the duo's success overseas, as well as the success of their comedy comrades. Kristen Schaal, who plays a main role as the band's superfan Mel, went on to become a big name in the world of comedy and animation, and Clement, alongside frequent writer/director Taika Waititi, went on to create the cult classic mockumentary film "What We Do in the Shadows" and its subsequent FX adaptation. 

"Insecure" marked a big change for HBO as a cable network. Rather than giving a primetime comedy series to a proven pro, they took a chance on a viral web series created by Issa Rae, "Awkward Black Girl," helping the comedienne develop it into "Insecure." Premiering in 2016, it follows Rae as a character also named Issa, who struggles with living in Los Angeles as a millennial in her late 20s with her college friend Molly (Yvonne Orji). 

Particularly, "Insecure" gained traction for exploring the experience of being an African American woman in the modern age, but also for its depiction of living with mental health issues, with prominent characters suffering from bipolar disorder, anxiety, and depression. But don't let that description scare you; "Insecure" also happens to be incredibly funny, thanks not only to Rae's performance but the performances of its supporting cast, including Natasha Rothwell's chaotic standout character, Kelli. 

By the end, many fans wanted to find out in the "Insecure" series finale who Issa would pick as the person she'd spend the rest of her life with, but even its ending surprised fans by being about what it was meant to be about all along: friendship. Overall, "Insecure" proved itself over five seasons to be one of the most consistent HBO series across its entire run, anchoring the network's comedy output for the latter half of the 2010s. 

"Hacks" could potentially rise even higher up this list, depending on how its fifth and reportedly final season shapes up. As we all know, you can never trust HBO to nail its final season. That being said, "Hacks" has a lot of momentum going into its final chapter after four seasons of some of the best comedy the network has ever seen, in addition to telling a truly dramatic and compelling story about friendship, the modern entertainment industry, and the price of fame. 

Hannah Einbinder stars as Ava, a comedy writer who struggles to find work due to an insensitive tweet, until she's hired to write jokes for Jean Smart's Deborah Vance, an iconic Las Vegas stand-up comedian looking to revitalize her career. Throughout their professional partnership, Ava and Deborah's relationship evolves from begrudging necessity to a mentor-mentee dynamic and, as of late, a truly toxic co-dependency. It's what makes "Hacks" so funny and poignant; the series could easily slide to being overly sentimental or warm, but Ava and Deborah are just too flawed to let that happen.

While the Season 4 finale teases what's next for Deborah and Ava, the show is not stringing along its audience based on its gripping plot. What really gets people coming back is the show's humor, satirizing the absurdity of trying to "make it" in Los Angeles as well as the old showbiz lifestyle of Las Vegas performing, with Season 4 also exploring the world of late-night television. 

Nathan Fielder's Comedy Central series "Nathan For You" showed the comedian helping out struggling businesses with out-of-the-box ideas, usually pushing people to their absolute limits. However, by the time "Nathan For You" ended in 2017, it became somewhat of a social experiment, and it's hard not to see Fielder's HBO series "The Rehearsal" as a continuation of his fascination with what's real and what's not.

The first season of "The Rehearsal" sees Fielder offering his services (and HBO's budget) to help people rehearse real-life events, from confronting family members to becoming a parent. The lengths Fielder goes to blur boundaries in ways maybe he's not even aware of, but what really puts "The Rehearsal" on this list is its second season, which aired earlier in 2025 and features Fielder's wildest TV stunt yet. 

Exploring the issue of plane crashes, Fielder proposes that the real issue lies with communication between pilots in the cockpit, spending all six episodes of Season 2 testing his theory that lives could be saved if co-pilots felt more comfortable speaking up to captains. The best way to prove this? Fielder becomes a licensed 737 pilot and flies an actual commercial plane full of passengers over the Mojave Desert. If that's not a stunning enough piece of television for you, there's also the episode where Fielder completely re-enacts the life of Sully Sullenberger from diapers to the "Miracle on the Hudson."

Lisa Kudrow may be more recognizable as Phoebe from "Friends," but her HBO sitcom that premiered in 2005, just a year after "Friends" ended, is the far more stellar comedic performance of the two. In "The Comeback," Kudrow plays Valerie Cherish, a washed-up actress who, after being given a role on a new network sitcom, decides to document her long-awaited "comeback" for a documentary show-within-the-show. Combining sitcom with mockumentary, "The Comeback" was quite genre-bending at the time, even for HBO. 

While the first season had a lukewarm response from critics, it was nevertheless renewed for a second season... but not until 2014. Set 10 years after the first season, Season 2 sees Valerie continuing to capitalize on the renewed popularity of reality TV in the 2010s, whilst simultaneously starring in an HBO series based on the events of Season 1. Yes, it's very meta, but it also felt super ahead of its time for 2014 in tackling issues like ageism and how women have been treated in the entertainment industry.

Against all odds, "The Comeback" has a chance to rise even higher on this list, now that it's been renewed for a third and final season, set to air on HBO in 2026. There's a lot to cover from the past 12 years of Hollywood controversy, and there's no better character on television to see navigate the cringeworthy atmosphere than Kudrow's Valerie Cherish. 

HBO had dabbled in comedy before Carrie Bradshaw sipped her first Cosmo — scroll down to get a history lesson on "The Larry Sanders Show," kids — but "Sex and the City" was the show that really established the network as a comedy powerhouse, winning a slew of awards and amassing a passionate fan base that re-watches the adventures of Carrie and company over and over again to this day. (As for the HBO Max continuation "And Just Like That..."? Let's just not talk about that, OK?)

Debuting in 1998, "Sex and the City" is absolutely a time capsule, capturing sex columnist Carrie and her single friends as they date their way through New York City in the go-go '90s, exploring every variety of wild sexual kink imaginable. The show's sexual frankness and frequent nudity — often embodied by Kim Cattrall's sex-positivity icon Samantha Jones — was groundbreaking for television at the time... and yes, some of the show's less enlightened moments are best left back in the previous century. 

But "Sex and the City" is not only laugh-out-loud hilarious, it also gives us a perfectly balanced female foursome like "The Golden Girls" before it and like "Girls" after it. Plus, in later seasons, it ventures into more emotional territory, seamlessly transitioning from bawdy sex comedy to thoughtful relationship dramedy. It may be considered a relic of its era by some, but to us, "Sex and the City" is truly timeless.

"Seinfeld" is considered by many to be one of the greatest television shows of all time, even if its series finale still bothers Jerry Seinfeld. However, the NBC sitcom simply pales in comparison to its spiritual successor, "Curb Your Enthusiasm," which debuted as a one-off HBO pilot in 1999, a year after "Seinfeld" ended. The series follows the day-to-day life of the other co-creator of "Seinfeld," Larry David, who himself has become somewhat of a public persona based on how he portrays himself on "Curb" as a person willing to face public scrutiny for his refusal to follow social norms.

Not only does "Curb" get to excel past "Seinfeld" thanks to what HBO lets them get away with compared to NBC, but it also lasted far longer. Although the show took several multi-year hiatuses across its 12 seasons, it finally came to an end just recently in 2024, with a finale that drew parallels to the controversial ending of "Seinfeld," complete with David facing the repercussions of his actions across many seasons of TV.

There are far too many incredible episodes of "Curb" to single out, but some are simply the best comedy episodes on TV ever. There's David's squabbles with Michael J. Fox, his befriending of future roommate Leon Black (J.B. Smoove), and, of course, the stellar season where he reunites the "Seinfeld" cast for a special episode with the only intention being his desire to win back his ex-wife. 

No one could've predicted based on Bill Hader's "SNL" résumé that he had a show like "Barry" in him. Premiering in 2018, "Barry" follows its titular character, a depressed hitman who finds a new purpose in life by joining an acting class in L.A. taught by the self-centered Gene Cousineau (Henry Winkler). Unfortunately for Barry, leaving behind a past of organized crime isn't as easy as you'd think, forcing him to put his new friends and passions in danger to settle scores with the Chechen mafia and law enforcement agents.

Few shows are able to walk the tightrope between outrageously funny, satirical comedy and hardcore, violent, action-packed drama, but Hader nails it tonally as a writer, director, and actor, playing Barry in his lowest lows and highest highs. Plus, the show touts a truly stellar supporting cast, including Sarah Goldberg as Barry's narcissistic love interest Sally, Anthony Carrigan as kind-hearted mobster NoHo Hank, and Stephen Root as Barry's abusive boss in hitman duties, Fuches. 

Though the first two seasons are relatively straightforward in depicting the absurdity between Hollywood phoniness and deadly serious crime underworlds, the show's bleak and beautiful final two seasons set it apart as one of the best shows to ever air on HBO. Hopefully, HBO has given Hader a blank check to do whatever he wants for his next project, as it's obvious from watching "Barry" that he's able to create genuinely compelling drama without sacrificing some of the best jokes on TV in the past few years. 

If HBO wasn't seen as an empire for comedy television before the '90s, it certainly has "The Larry Sanders Show" to thank for changing that. The late-night satire premiered in 1992 and aired for a total of six seasons until 1998. It's maybe one of the biggest crimes of the Television Academy that it only won three Emmys out of its then-staggering 56 total nominations, though thankfully, it's been remembered as arguably one of the best HBO comedies ever made by several big publications. 

Notably, "The Larry Sanders Show" also pioneered a specific comedy sub-genre that took a meta view of Hollywood and the television industry, as the show follows the behind-the-scenes drama of a late-night talk show hosted by the neurotic Larry Sanders (Garry Shandling), featuring many celebrities playing fictionalized versions of themselves. This self-satirization would go on to inspire the likes of "30 Rock," "Curb Your Enthusiasm," and plenty of other shows considered the best TV comedies of all time. 

Even plenty of dramas have "The Larry Sanders Show" to thank, including "The West Wing," for innovating the single-camera format to be much more dynamic, featuring long "walk-and-talk" takes and authentic, almost documentary-like performances. Probably not since "This is Spinal Tap" has the comedy world been influenced in the way that "Larry Sanders" influenced future television to come. 

While it was on, "Girls" was a polarizing show, depicting the lives of several Brooklynites in the 2010s navigating their careers, love lives, and massive life changes. Maybe the controversy is all because of the comments of its creator and star, Lena Dunham, but as the years have gone on, it's obvious that a show like "Girls" was incredibly ahead of its time. It aired for six seasons from 2012 to 2017, and there's not a single one that's a misstep. 

"Girls" mainly focuses on Dunham's Hannah Horvath, a down-on-her-luck writer, but its supporting cast of characters is some of the best (and most annoying) to ever grace HBO's airwaves. There's Allison Williams' wayward wannabe pop star Marnie, Adam Driver's volatile actor Adam, Jemima Kirke's recovering addict Jessa, Zosia Mamet's driven Shoshanna, Andrew Rannells' reckless Elijah, Alex Karpovsky's sensible Ray, and Ebon Moss-Bachrach's artsy musician Desi. 

Ultimately, "Girls" is not a show for everyone, but it has continued to age incredibly well into the 2020s, especially given how its characters' flaws of self-centeredness, lack of self-awareness, and abuse of privilege are often deeply relatable in the modern era. Plus, beyond all else, it's just flat-out funny, and that's a credit to Dunham's incisive and word-perfect writing (given she wrote and/or directed the vast majority of the show's episodes). 

It was never as mainstream as "Saturday Night Live," never as popular on the internet as "Key & Peele," and never as endlessly quotable as "I Think You Should Leave." Nevertheless, you'd be hard-pressed to find a sketch comedy show more influential to future generations than "Mr. Show w/ Bob & David," which debuted on HBO in 1995. Prior to that, Bob Odenkirk was best known for his work as a writer on "SNL" and "The Ben Stiller Show," as well as his recurring role on "The Larry Sanders Show," while David Cross was best known for his stand-up comedy.

Together, Odenkirk and Cross made for an unlikely but powerful comedic duo, with the show's defining quality being its ability to seamlessly transition between sketches. It often featured a rotating cast of alternative comedians, including Paul F. Tompkins, Sarah Silverman, Mary Lynn Rajskub, and Tom Kenny, among others. While it only aired for four seasons, many of the best "Mr. Show" sketches are among the best sketches of all time, including "The Audition," "Lie Detector," and "Pre-Taped Call-In Show."

If there's any show on this list you should immediately go and binge on HBO Max, it's "Mr. Show." It's, if anything, a fascinating look into Odenkirk's career before becoming a renowned dramatic actor with "Breaking Bad" and "Better Call Saul." Plus, if you finish quickly, you can watch their Netflix reunion series, "W/ Bob & David," which reunites much of the same cast.

Some shows are hampered by a lackluster lead performance. Other shows star Julia Louis-Dreyfus. Hot off her Emmy-winning roles on "Seinfeld" and "The New Adventures of Old Christine," Louis-Dreyfus starred in not only the best HBO comedy series, but maybe one of the most defining shows of the 2010s, both culturally and politically. In "Veep," Louis-Dreyfus plays Selina Meyer, the Vice President of the United States who claws and scrapes her way through political controversy, public humiliation, and personal struggles with the help (or without, if you ask her) of her subservient staff.

Its creator, Armando Iannucci, had already cut his teeth on BBC's political comedies like "The Thick of It" and "I'm Alan Partridge," but "Veep" is a complete tonal shift from the typical American political show. Its politicians are cruel, foul-mouthed, and scathing in their takedowns of one another, which, back in 2012 when this show premiered, was an absurd concept, but now borders closer to reality. Thankfully, the "Veep" series finale aired at the right time, avoiding the need to navigate today's complex political climate. 

Overall, there's a lot to love about "Veep." Its supporting cast (including Anna Chlumsky, Tony Hale, and Timothy Simons) is perfect, but the flowers all go to Louis-Dreyfus. Her powerhouse performance as the sometimes-despicable, sometimes-inspiring Meyer didn't just win her a much-deserved six consecutive Emmys, but won the actress (and her character) a seat in TV's comedy hall of fame. God bless the America that gave us "Veep."