We've all been there: there's so much to choose from on Netflix that sometimes it gets overwhelming and we just give up the scroll. We're here to help you narrow things down, mining their catalogue to find the very best options for your next binge.
Comedy is a vast genre, encompassing everything from classic sitcoms like Seinfeld and Arrested Development through to darker fare like Bojack Horseman and It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia. Recently, we've seen lots of exciting genre-blending, with comedy often mixed into more traditionally thriller-y narratives such as in Big Mistakes and How To Get To Heaven From Belfast.
Whether you want your laughs to be comforting or to come with a side of existential angst, we've got you covered. Here are our picks for the best comedies streaming on Netflix in the UK right now.
30 Rock
Based on the backstage antics at Saturday Night Live, this send-up of the American television industry was created by SNL alum Tina Fey. Fey also stars here as Liz Lemon, a writer on a sketch show who has to contend with various larger-than-life characters as she tries to keep things running somewhat smoothly.
Also featuring Tracy Morgan, Jack McBrayer, Jane Krakowski and Alec Baldwin, along with a host of guest stars, 30 Rock is a classic of the genre and is still hugely influential (and hilarious) to this day.
Arrested Development
The Bluth clan are thrown into disarray when patriarch George Sr. (Jeffrey Tambor) is arrested, leaving Michael (Jason Bateman) in charge of the family business. The rest of the family (played by Jessica Walter, Michael Cera, Will Arnett, Portia de Rossi, Tony Hale, David Cross and Alia Shawkat) are all their own particular brand of dysfunctional: spoiled, delusional, or repressed, testing the limits of Michael's patience.
Punctuated by Ron Howard's delightfully dry narration, this is one of the greatest, most quotable sitcoms of all time.
Beef
This anthology series, which had a new season premiere earlier this year, is all about rage and its consequences.
The first season starred Steven Yeun and Ali Wong as two people caught in a road rage incident; the second season starred Oscar Isaac, Carey Mulligan, Charles Melton and Cailee Spaeny as two couples linked by blackmail.
Mining absurdity out of the depths of pettiness we're all capable of, this dark comedy is a real showcase for its stars.
Big Mistakes
Schitt's Creek star Dan Levy co-created this crime comedy series with I Love LA's Rachel Sennott. Levy plays Nicky, a gay pastor who gets roped into the world of organised crime alongside his sister (Taylor Ortega).
More thrilling than Levy's previous show, but with just as much entertaining inter-family bickering, this features some wonderfully well-drawn characters.
Bojack Horseman
This pitch-black animated comedy stars Will Arnett as Bojack Horseman, a washed-up former sitcom actor who now spends his days drinking the pain away in his Los Angeles mansion. Revolving around Bojack's contentious relationships with his ghostwriter, agent, rival and roommate, as well as his traumatic childhood, this mines absurd comedy from all the darkness.
Alison Brie, Aaron Paul, Amy Sedaris and Paul F Tompkins also provide voices.
Brooklyn Nine-Nine
This workplace sitcom is set in the 99th Precinct of the NYPD, where the variously incompetent team of detectives try to solve crimes.
Andy Samberg, Stephanie Beatriz, Terry Crews, Melisssa Fumero, Joe Lo Truglio, Chelsea Peretti and the late, great Andre Braugher star in this light and cosy yet often socially conscious show.
How To Get To Heaven From Belfast
This new series comes from the creators of Derry Girls and stars Sinéad Keenan, Caoilfhionn Dunne and Roisin Gallagher as a group of childhood friends whose fourth member has passed away. When they head to County Donegal for her funeral, secrets and strange happenings lead them to investigate their friend's death, although the trio turn out to be rather inept sleuths.
The mismatch of tones works really well here and the leads are brilliant.
It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia
The longest-running sitcom in American TV history, this madcap show follows a group of friends who run an Irish bar in Philadelphia. Much more committed to causing chaos and misery than they are to running a successful business, the gang spend most of their time abusing substances and each other.
Charlie Day, Glenn Howerton, Rob McElhenney, Kaitlin Olson and Danny DeVito star in this dark, absurd classic of the genre.
Superstore
Set in a Costo-style supermarket in the US called 'Cloud 9', this sitcom is in the vein of Brooklyn Nine-Nine (see above): it manages to touch on issues including workers' rights and gun access while keeping its light tone intact.
It stars America Ferrera and Ben Feldman, and the ensemble cast also includes Lauren Ash, Colton Dunn, Nico Santos, Nicole Sakura, Mark McKinney and Kaliko Kauahi.
Seinfeld
Famously self-described as a 'show about nothing', Seinfeld is perhaps the greatest sitcom ever made.
Starring comedian Jerry Seinfeld as a fictionalised version of himself, alongside Jason Alexander, Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Michael Richards, its observational humour centres on the day-to-day exploits of its relatively ordinary characters, who never mature, grow, or learn fro their mistakes.
It's hard to overstate how seismic this show continues to be to this day — even if you only pay attention to the parade of actresses who played Seinfeld's girlfriends.
Madeline Pritchard has been an Editorial Assistant for TV Choice and its sister publication Total TV Guide for four years. Madeline mainly covers film for the magazines, but she has a soft spot for American prestige TV and anarchic Channel 4 comedy shows.