Help shape these rankings by voting on this list of 12 Drama TV Shows That Have A Killer Sense Of Humor
Voting Rules
Vote up the dramas that also have you on the floor laughing.
The best TV shows are always more than one thing. The most lauded comedies often inject drama into episodes (sometimes incredibly heavy drama) to change the stakes and keep viewers on their toes, and the same is true for the best dramas.
Some dramatic shows use their sense of humor perfectly to cut the tension or let their audience come up for air after particularly heavy moments. Vote up the dramas that also make you laugh out loud.
Breaking Bad is an incredibly heavy show, but many of Walt and Jesse's scenes are undercut with dark humor that hits all the harder after 20 to 30 minutes of bleak crime drama. The two are a perfect odd couple, and Aaron Paul's ability to make any of Jesse's lines sound pathetically funny, mixed with Bryan Cranston's background in comedy, gives the show the black comedy blend it clearly wanted.
Creator Vince Gilligan cut his teeth on another show that injected humor and weirdness in the midst of all its darkness (The X-Files); it's clear he brought those sensibilities over to Breaking Bad. Gilligan always said his elevator pitch for the show was, “What if Mr. Chips became Scarface?” How can something described like that not put a smile on your face?
Particularly Funny Episodes: “4 Days Out,” “Better Call Saul,” “Live Free or Die”
An elevator pitch for Fringe could read, “A mad scientist with a penchant for acid gets pulled out of a mental institute to work with the US government and his estranged son to solve cases that border on the unusual.” That alone leaves a lot of comedy to be mined, and like its clear inspiration (i.e., The X-Files), the show leans into it to hilarious effect.
John Noble's Walter Bishop stands at the center of most of the humor through his clumsily heartfelt interactions with his son, Peter Bishop, and general musings to agent Astrid Farnsworth. Walter's inability to pick up on many social cues, and his tendency to blurt out whatever he's thinking, are good for more than a few laughs throughout the show's run.
Few shows have leaned into their fans' in-jokes quite like Supernatural. Sure, the show has a number of its own fun recurring jokes - like Dean's horrible food palate and love for a specific risqué mag, or Castiel’s constant fish-out-of-water (angel-out-of-heaven?) high jinks - but Supernatural truly shines when it's aware of the jokes viewers make online.
References to the show's low viewership and people wanting the Winchester brothers to be in a relationship, or calling out how hyper-passionate and sometimes creepy its fans can be, are a welcome relief to the blood, guts, and man tears of any given monster-of-the-week episode.
Particularly Funny Episodes: “The French Mistake,” “Fan Fiction”
Many might consider Barry to be a comedy first and a drama second, and that might have been true for much of the first season, but as the series has progressed, it has become a much heavier show. Bill Hader has no problem switching to comedy at a moment's notice, but the true comedic star of Barry is Anthony Carrigan's NoHo Hank. Nearly every scene Hank is a part of - whether he's ruining Barry's job at Lululemon or being part of a hit - he'll bring a smile to your face.
As the series heads to increasingly darker places, Hank's presence is going to be more crucial than ever.
Particularly Funny Episodes: “ronny/lily,” “Past = Present x Future Over Yesterday”
Ozark is very much inspired by the Breaking Bad era of TV characters, where a seemingly mild-mannered person gets caught up in illicit activity and finds he both likes and is good at it. This time, however, instead of cooking meth, it's laundering money. For much of the show, Jason Bateman plays against type as Marty Byrde, but as the series progresses, Bateman uses the dry wit that made him popular to cut the tension in any given scene.
The real star of the show is Julia Garner's Ruth Langmore, and although she is a fairly tragic character, she's also good for a couple of hilarious gems per episode, like the famous “I don't know sh*t about f*ck.” Ozark might just be the funniest crime drama to ever air.
Particularly Funny Episodes: “Reparations," “The Gold Coast”
Breaking Bad prequel Better Call Saul chronicles small-time lawyer Jimmy McGill's descent into the criminal world and the creation of his scuzzy alter ego, Saul Goodman. When you choose to make a spinoff show about a character who was already one of the funniest parts of the original show, it stands to reason a fair amount of humor will remain.
Whether it's Jimmy's quick retorts to clients, top-dog lawyers, or head-scratching cons, Saul is even better at toeing the line between gripping drama and dark humor.
