The 19 Best TV Comedies on Amazon Prime

Editor's Note: This post is updated monthly. Bookmark this page and come back to see what other excellent TV comedies get added to Amazon Prime.

Competition is a good thing. We have at least three prominent streaming services to watch or maybe more depending on how you look at it.* And that competition among the streaming giants is bringing us, the consumers with so much time to kill, plenty of content to point our eyeballs at.

*Netflix, Hulu and Amazon Prime are definitely the "Big Three" but you could always count things like HBO Now or SeeSo if you so choose. 

Previously, we brought you the 21 (or so) Best TV Comedies on Netflix and now we're doing the same for Amazon Prime. We thought Netflix's dominance over TV comedy was unassailable but we'll be damned if Amazon Prime hasn't put up a compelling case for itself. Having access to the HBO roster helps but even beyond that, Amazon Prime's half-hour comedy offerings are truly impressive featuring some all-time 20th century classics, modern favorites and even some fantastic Prime originals.

What follows is the absolute best of TV comedy on Amazon Prime we could find, with links to each one on the site for your convenience. 

Veep

Current events have conspired to make HBO's show about the inner workings of the White House more of a sobering documentary than a half-hour comedy, but that doesn't mean the jokes are any less funny. As a matter of fact, we tend to think Veep's Jokes Per Minute ratio is pretty impressive. Veep is a truly funny show and is somehow getting even better as seasons go along. Julia Louis Dreyfuss rightfully picks up every comedy acting award in existence but the rest of the ensemble is equally impressive. It takes a lot of wit and work to execute Sorkin-ian fast-paced dialogue including dick jokes and the folks at Veep make it sound like Shakespeare.

Watch Veep on Amazon Prime

Transparent

Transparent is one of TV best comedies full stop. It's also secretly one of the best "punned" titles on TV. Not only is Transparent about a parent, in this case Maura Pfefferman (Jeffrey Tambor), coming out as a trans woman but also a family itself struggling to be more transparent with one another. Tambor is another worthy awards target as his peformance flashy, respectful and authentic. That doesn't distract from the rest of the show, however. Transparentis an authentic, emotional experience that still doesn't skimp on laughter.

Watch Transparent on Amazon Prime

Girls

Girls is one of pop culture's strangest lightning rods. It's a seemingly inoffensive show about mostly self-involved young women living in Brooklyn that makes everyone very Mad Online (TM). Sure, the ensemble led by creator Lena Dunham's Hannah Horvath is unlikeable much of the time but the whole point of being young and living in New York is to be absolutely unbearable. Girlsfinds plenty of humor and drama in its protagonists limited worldview but is also never outwardly mocking them. It's a solid, humorous balance that is funny most of the time and absolutely hilarious when it wants to be: mostly when Kylo Ren (Adam Driver) is involved.

Watch Girls on Amazon Prime

Californication

Oh hey! Another fun pun for a title! David Moody (David Duchovny) is a sex-obsessed, addicted-to-everything writer who moves to California to conquer his writer's block. He also fornicates. Hence: Californication. Californication cares deeply about its lead character and follows him through seven sun-soaked seasons as he tries to keep his shit together. Or as Wikipedia so helpfully puts it: "Recurring themes are sex, drugs, and rock and roll, all of which are featured regularly."

Watch Californication on Amazon Prime

Enlightened

Enlightened is the very rare half-hour HBO comedy that didn't quite catch on with viewers. Writer Mike White's (of School of Rock fame) show lasted for only two seasons, but at least they were largely excellent. Enlightened stars Laura Dern as Amy Jellicoe, a high-powered executive who experiences a meltdown and then must pull herself back together at a hollistic retreat. Once she's properly "woke" she returns to her job with every intention of saving the world as a whistleblower. Laura Dern is excellent and the show can safely be marked as ahead of its time depsite debuting in 2011.

Watch Enlightened on Amazon Prime

Entourage

If you let most comedies run long enough, they'll eventually resemble self-parody. In its later years, Entouragebecame one of those shows. Late year Entourageepisodes follow the same general model: impossibly inconsequential Hollywood problem pops up, it's handled by high-powered agent Ari Gold (Jeremy Piven) or manager "E" (Kevin Connolly) and movie star Vince (Adrian Grenier) bangs a model to celebrate. Thing is though: that same formula in earlier seasons is awesome. Entourage for much of its running time with the rarest of breeds: a comedy that remained funny and exciting despite little to no meaningful conflict. 

Watch Entourage on Amazon Prime

Workaholics

Comedies sometimes need a convoluted premise to get a greenlight from bamboozled studio execs. But they definitely don't need a convluted premise to be funny. Workaholicsbarely tries to assemble a premise beyond "three weirdos hang out and be funny together." And that's perfectly fine. Ostensibly Blake (Blake Anderson), Ders (Anders Holm) and Adam (Adam DeVine) are struggling to stay up to date with their work tasks. In reality that's just an excuse for them to get high and enact weird little schmes in their Rancho Cucamonga home. Yes, this includes Wizard Rapping. As all things should.

Watch Workaholics on Amazon Prime

Fleabag

Fleabag came out of absolutely nowhere in 2016 to become perhaps the best of all of Amazon Prime's original shows. It stars show creator Phoebe Waller-Brider as the unnamed protagonist, who is incredibly honest to the audience in her fourth-wall breaking monologues and incredibly dishonest to everyone else. Fleabag is fearless and profanely funny from its very first reality-breaking moment but it's the growth of its main character and the reveal of what's fractured her psyche so much that makes Fleabag an excellent show.

Watch Fleabag on Amazon Prime

Sex and the City

Along with The Sopranos back in the late '90s, Sex and the City helped put HBO on the map as a creative force to be reckoned with. It stars Sarah Jessica Parker as love advice columnist Carrie Bradshaw and her many adventures, romantic and otherwise in New York City. Sex and the City is worth watching because it's just flat-out funny and is also juggling 1-3 exciting "will they or won't they" relationships at any given time. Plus, don't you want to figure out if you're a Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte or Miranda? Literally everyone of us  at Den of Geek is a Charlotte.

Watch Sex and the City on Amazon Prime

Frasier

Twenty years. That's how long Kelsey Grammar played the character of Frasier Crane over three shows: Cheers,Frasierand one episode of Wings. Psychologist Dr. Frasier Crane first stopped by the Boston bar on Cheersand then in 1993 he returned to his practice in Seattle and was spun-off onto his own show: Frasier.Frasier, the show, is one of the better comedies from NBC's Must See TV programming block and that's saying a lot. Grammar obviously has a perfect understanding of his uptight, lingusitically-obsessed character and the rest of the cast complements him perfectly, from his equally uptight brother Niles (David Hyde Pierce) to his radio-show producing love interest Roz (Peri Gilpin). Frasieris the kind of sophisticated comedy that seems like it should have come after the laughtrack era but still perfectly fits within the joke-heavy format.

Watch Frasier on Amazon Prime

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Larry David is a comedy genius. That much is obvious. Who else could have produced Seinfeld other than a person of superior comic skill? But he's also a remarkably consistent comedic actor. Curb Your Enthusiasm is the perfect vehicle for David's talents. He stars as himself: the most needlessly miserable man in the world. The Larry David in Curb Your Enthusiasm has a career in a field he loves, more money than he knows what to do with and a beautiful, patient wife. Still, he views life itself as more of an affliction than a gift. It's wonderful, dark, pessismistic humor that never once grows stale even after eight seasons.

Watch Curb Your Enthusiasm on Amazon Prime

The Tick

The Tick is the kind of absurdist, hilarious superhero deconstruction myth that just practically cries out to be on television. That's why it has been on TV...no fewer than three times. The first effort was an animated show in 1994, then a live-action effort starring Patrick Warburton in 2001. Both were good but it's Amazon's newest effort starring Peter Serafinowicz, The Tick, that might be the best yet. The Tick never ignores the violent absurdity that made Ben Edlund's original cmoic so viable. Only the pilot is available currently but the full first season has been picked up and should be arriving sometime this year.

Watch The Tick on Amazon Prime

Peep Show

This is a British comedy, so you know the drill: just three or four seasons of five or six episodes each of really subtle, dry British humor. Oh wait...Peep Show actually ran for nine seasons from 2003 to 2015 and is a highly recognizable brand of awkward humor to Americans. It follows the lives of Mark (David Mitchell) and Jez (Robert Webb), two barely functional adults trying to survive each other in a London flat. They're a classic odd couple pairing with the added caveat that they both would form an odd couple with pretty much any other person on Earth. 

Watch Peep Show on Amazon Prime

One Mississippi

One of the most exciting aspects of the streaming revolution is that truly talented comedians are getting a shot at creating their own highly personal, highly funny TV series. It's like the late '80s/early '90s all over again, albeit with much smaller budgets. Tig Notaro's entry into the comedian TV show, One Mississippi, is among the more overtly autobiographical of these new shows. Notaro has been a comedy staple for years but One Mississippi is about the most turbulent time in her life and career: the present. Tig stars as a fictional version of herself who must return home to Mississippi as her mother is taken off life support. Oh she's also recovering from a double masectomy. Oh, and this all actually happened to the real Tig. It's heavy stuff, but also funny, heartfelt stuff.

Watch One Mississippi on Amazon Prime

Eastbound and Down

Can one larger-than-life character carry a comedy for four seaosns? If that character is Eastbound and Down's Kenny Powers then the answer is a resouding "yes." Danny McBride and Jody Hill's half-hour HBO comedy isn't so much a TV show but an ongoing chronicling of the rise of a legend. Flamethrowing ex-baseball pitcher Kenny Powers has a lot of thoughts and opinions, most of them abhorrent but he also has all the bluster of a mediocre white male to share them. Eastbound and Down is the perfect vehicle for McBride's bizarre, let's say "confrontational" form of comedy. Over four seasons, Kenny Powers tries to break back in to baseball but only as an excuse to keep the spoltight on him. Kenny Powers truly is a man for all seasons. 

Watch Eastbound and Down on Amazon Prime

House of Lies

House of Lies is one of Showtime's best half-hour comedies thanks mostly to a superb cast. Don Cheadle, Kirsten Bell and Ben Schwartz all star as high-powered management consultants for clients trying to rehabilitate their image. Are there hinjinx? Your bet your sweet-ass there are. Don Cheadle breaking the fourth wall? Definitely. House full of pies? Depends on whether you listen to Scott Aukerman or not. The premise is not entriely fresh but the sheer talent of everyone involved makes ofr a very funny five-season show.

Watch House of Lies on Amazon Prime

Catastrophe

Catastrophe is one of Amazon Prime's first original comedies and it is an unqualfifed success for the streaming service. Catastrophe comes from Twitter-maestro Rob Delaney and superb English-Irish actress Sharon Hogan. The story could not be simpler: an American ad executive inadvertantly knocks up a British teacher during a business trip in London. Should they try to make things work? Don't necessarily believe the title of the show. The execution of this simple premise is flawless. Delaney and Hogan are remarkably empathetic, human and routinely laugh at each other's jokes onscreen, which is truly one of the most charming creative decisions on TV right now. It's one of the more richly-realized relationship dramas on television and also happens to be terrifically funny.

Watch Catastrophe on Amazon Prime

Cheers

According to Parks and Recreation/Brooklyn Nine-Nine/The Good Place creator Michael Schur, Cheers is the best TV comedy of all time. It's really hard to argue with him. Cheers helped to establish almost everything we currently admire about the modern TV sitcom: loveable characters, familiar environments and a deep, real sense of belonging. If that sounds too heavy or serious for a situation comedy, it's not. Good comedy can be about finding a happy place "where everybody knows your name." But just as importantly: Cheers is hilariously funny. Cheershas a deep, diverse ensemble where the 11th actor on the call sheet is just as funny as the first. 

Watch Cheers on Amazon Prime

Bored to Death

Author Jonathan Ames has had a long, successful career writing hilarious, self-deprecating novels and comics. But he wasn't that well known among TV enthusiasts until his first TV effort, Bored to Death, in 2009. Bored to Death was a fascinating, funny beast over three seasons. It was a modern film noir detective comedy with a superb cast. Jason Schwartzman stars as novelist-turned-P.I. Jonathan Ames (Hey! Where have we heard that name before?) and Ted Danson and Zach Galifianakis appear as his friends. Bored to Death is equal parts atmosphere and slapstick and a worthwhile entrant into the HBO comedy canonl

Watch Bored to Death on Amazon Prime