12 Funny Political TV Episodes
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The Simpsons, "Two Cars in Every Garage and Three Eyes on Every Fish"
When greedy billionaire Mr. Burns doesn't want to pay big bucks to get his nuclear plant up to code, he decides to run for governor — so he can write the code himself! This Season 2 treasure shows Burns getting perilously close to the governor's mansion, but his campaign is dogged by the emergence of a mutant three-eyed fish near the plant. Thanks, Blinky! (Available to stream on Disney+)
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Parks and Recreation, "The Debate"
This one might hit a little too close to home for those of us who survived the 2016 election: A determined, over-prepared bureaucrat (Leslie Knope) goes up against a coddled rich boy with limited language skills (Bobby Newport) in a televised debate. But Leslie's beautiful closing statement lays out a refreshingly optimistic, humane vision of government. Plus, Chris Pratt's Andy acts out the movie Road House, so there's that. (Available to stream on Peacock)
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Seinfeld, "The Cadillac"
Jerry finds himself embroiled in retirement community politics when he generously gives his father Morty a brand-new Cadillac in this Season 7 two-parter. Morty is the president of his community's condo board, and the shiny new car convinces his fellow residents that Morty is embezzling funds, which leads to a hotly contested impeachment vote. This one gets bonus points if you've seen Oliver Stone's Nixon. (Available to stream on Hulu)
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South Park, "Douche and Turd"
Matt Stone and Trey Parker's savage animated satire takes the idea of "the lesser of two evils" to vulgar extremes when the school's two candidates for a new mascot are, literally, a giant douche and a turd sandwich. Stan thinks both options are equally terrible, but everyone else badgers him: He can't not vote! The douche/turd metaphor was so apt that South Park revived it in 2016 to reflect (sigh) that election's presidential choices. (Available to stream on HBO Max)
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Cheers, "Woody Gets an Election"
Frasier is fed up with the empty rhetoric coming from his gasbag of a city councilman, so he bets Sam that he could "put a chimpanzee on the ballot and garner ten percent of the vote." Not having a chimpanzee on hand, he settles for Woody, and the bartender's aw-shucks, farm-boy persona quickly resonates with voters. Frasier fears he's created a monster, though, when he has a nightmarish vision of... President Woody Boyd. (Yikes.) (Available to stream on Hulu, Peacock and CBS All Access)
Documentary Now! Season 2
Documentary Now!, "The Bunker"
In this astonishingly detailed parody of the 1993 Clinton campaign doc The War Room, Bill Hader and Fred Armisen play ruthless campaign operatives working to elect a longshot candidate in Ohio's gubernatorial race. Their opponent is a wildly popular incumbent, but they're happy to get down in the mud to sully his good name. That means accusing him of employing "child slaves" (really, interns) and crafting an attack ad that's... really more of a death threat. (Available to stream on Netflix)
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NewsRadio, "President"
The WNYX staff is thrown for a loop when billionaire station owner Jimmy James decides to run for president. (His reasoning: "Why not?") Anchor Bill McNeal has no problem lobbing softball questions at his boss at a press conference: "Aren't you perhaps overqualified for the position of president of the United States?" But reporter Lisa is intent on exposing all the skeletons in Jimmy's closet. Tough to argue with Joe Walsh's "Life's Been Good" as a campaign song, though. (Available to stream on Crackle)
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Veep, "Debate"
On the eve of a crucial debate, candidate Selina Meyer shocks her staff with the most ill-advised TV haircut since Felicity Porter's. ("I never knew you had so much neck.") If that weren't enough to deal with, she also develops a debilitating eye twitch, which only gets worse as the pressure mounts and staffers pepper her with useless advice. Luckily for her, the other candidates are even more inept than she is. (Available to stream on HBO Max)
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Futurama, "A Head in the Polls"
In the year 3000, the race for president of the world is between identical clones Jack Johnson and John Jackson. That leaves an opening for the preserved head of Richard Nixon to throw his hat, er, head in the ring. He buys Bender's robot body to enter the race — and to get around that pesky 22nd Amendment. Nixon's head is still prone to sweating profusely during televised debates, though. (Available to stream on Hulu)
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Community, "Intro to Political Science"
VP-at-the-time Joe Biden (!) is visiting Greendale, so the Dean scrambles to elect a student-body president before he gets there. That pits type-A do-gooder Annie against cynical slacker Jeff, who wins over voters with patriotic nonsense: "I think that beer should be cold, and boots should be dusty. I think 9/11 was bad, and freedom? Well, I think that's just a little bit better." But neither one can compete with party animal Magnitude, who just says his catchphrase — "Pop-pop!" — over and over again. We have to admit, it is catchy. (Available to stream on Netflix and Hulu)
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What We Do in the Shadows, "City Council"
All politics is local, and the Shadows vampires learn that the hard way when they take their first step towards world domination by attending a deadly boring Staten Island city council meeting. Alas, Nandor and the gang's lust for power is stymied by the slow gears of bureaucracy... but for Colin the energy vampire, it's "a smorgasbord of banality and despair"... aka a feast! (Available to stream on Hulu)
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Gilmore Girls, "Tippecanoe and Taylor, Too"
Local noodge Taylor Doose finally becomes annoying enough in this Season 5 installment that Sookie's husband Jackson runs against him for town selectman, leading to a spirited campaign. (Sookie sports a Hillary-esque matching jacket and shirt, and Hep Alien performs a punk version of the Greatest American Hero theme song at a rally.) Jackson wins in a landslide... but kind of regrets it once he realizes what the job actually entails. (Available to stream on Netflix)