There have been so many great sitcoms to have come out of television throughout history, and there are many hilarious moments that audiences should see to understand how great these shows are.
In recognition of the laughs these shows have brought, here are 20 scenes from sitcoms that you just have to watch. Bear in mind, this list will limit each show to one scene, so there are still many other moments from these shows that are worth watching.
WARNING: SPOILERS AHEAD!!!
20. Jess Can't Say the P-Word — New Girl
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In the show's fourth-ever episode, main protagonist Jess (Zooey Deschanel) sees her roommate, Nick (Jake Johnson), in his birthday suit, and their relationship is turned upside down. Desperately apologizing to him, Jess gets called out for not saying the "P-word" like a regular person. She tries many times to say it normally, but she ends doing it in ridiculous and hilarious ways, summing up the show's eccentric brand of humor.
19. Jack Goes to Heaven — Will & Grace
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After Jack (Sean Hayes) bumps his head, he has a vision of his own personal Heaven, and of course, his idea of God takes the form of Cher. This divine diva encourages Jack to continue pursuing his dream of becoming an entertainer. The show also makes some jokes about Cher's career and even treats us to a little musical number with a bunch of diapered men with angel wings. What more could Jack want out of Heaven?
18. Mancy — Archer
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When Archer (H. Jon Benjamin) and Lana (Aisha Tyler) find a bomb on board a flying blimp, the duo work with Ray (Adam Reed) to try and disarm it. Ray asks Archer to speak in the NATO Phonetic Alphabet, and massive misunderstandings ensue. But the real kicker comes when Archer says "M as in Mancy," which Ray mistakes for an N, causing him to speed up the bomb's timer and effectively anger everybody.
17. Ron Pulls Out a Tooth — Parks and Recreation
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When Ron (Nick Offerman) gets a toothache during a department meeting, he decides to take care of it in the most unexpected way. Everyone's reaction to this moment is hilarious, including Tom (Aziz Ansari) blacking out, April (Aubrey Plaza) looking excited, Donna (Retta) cursing out, and Ben (Adam Scott) running out of the room. And of course, Ron had it all set up to show his co-workers how tough he really is.
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16. Saving the Couch — Family Guy
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The Griffins and their friends take part in this parodic retelling of Star Wars. After the heroes survive the Death Star's trash compactor, Han and Chewie (Seth MacFarlane) spot a used couch that the former wants to take with him, and the way they struggle to move it in the middle of their quest is a perfect example of Family Guy's humor at its best. We've all had trouble moving a couch before, but never while we're trying to take down the Galactic Empire.
15. Homer's Skiing Accident — The Simpsons
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When Homer (Dan Castellaneta) decides to go down a double black diamond slope, he encounters Ned Flanders (Harry Shearer), who is wearing a ski suit that leaves little to the imagination. Homer then goes down the slope by accident, but when he tries to remember what he learned, the image of Flander's butt in his tight suit gets in the way. The jokes come one after another in this scene, displaying the show's comedic writing at its finest.
14. Drug Blood — What We Do in the Shadows
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In this vampire comedy, we see Nandor (Kayvan Novak), Laszlo (Matt Berry), and Nadja (Natasia Demetriou) take the ancient Baron Afanas (Doug Jones) out for a night in Staten Island. Eventually, they all go to a late-night rave and get high from drinking people's drug-infused blood. This entire episode is great, but seeing the vampires all wacked out on drug blood is just too hilarious.
13. Herb Ertlinger — Schitt's Creek
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This scene is a masterclass of drunk acting. When Moira (Catherine O'Hara) struggles to film a wine commercial, she gets cold feet and ends up getting sauced on her product. In the end, she does a take while she's still hammered, and though she gives a relatively good performance, she ruins it by mispronouncing her employer's name. However, the way she slurs her speech saying "crabapple" alone cemented this scene into my brain.
12. Thanksgiving Food Fight — Cheers
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When the gang gets together at Carla's (Rhea Perlman) house for Thanksgiving, things don't go as planned when the turkey cooks too slow. Everyone loses their temper and gets at each other's throats until they start throwing food at one another. Not even Diane (Shelley Long) can maintain the high ground, and the table explodes once they all start slamming their food into each other's faces. This scene also marks the first on-screen appearance of Norm's (George Wendt) wife, Vera (sort of).
11. Tobias Blue Himself — Arrested Development
![In his continuous pursuit of a successful acting career, Tobias (David Cross) ends up trying out for a role as an understudy for the Blue Man Group. In anticipation of an audition, he paints his entire body blue, hilariously saying that he just "blue [himself]". But what really takes the cake is when he gets run over by his family's lawyer because his blue skin made him blend into the dusk-painted sky.](https://img.youtube.com/vi/9GYtgFdXCGE/mqdefault.jpg)
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In his continuous pursuit of a successful acting career, Tobias (David Cross) ends up trying out for a role as an understudy for the Blue Man Group. In anticipation of an audition, he paints his entire body blue, hilariously saying that he just "blue [himself]". But what really takes the cake is when he gets run over by his family's lawyer because his blue skin made him blend into the dusk-painted sky.
10. Eric's Panties — That '70s Show
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Here, Donna (Laura Prepon) thinks Eric (Topher Grace) cheated on her after finding a pair of panties in his Vista Cruiser, and when she goes to confront him in public, the entire episode reaches its comedic climax. The way Kelso and Fez react to everything elevates this scene to iconic status. And when Donna's mom enters the scene, the laughs become too big to contain.
9. Singing Police Lineup — Brooklyn Nine-Nine
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In this iconic cold open, Jake (Andy Samberg) manages a lineup of murder suspects. The witness claims the perp was singing "I Want It That Way" by The Backstreet Boys, so Jake has them all sing the song to comedic perfection. Jake gets so into the song that he even forgets that one of them was a killer. And thus, a classic scene was born in the Nine-Nine.
8. The Darkest Timeline — Community
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When the study group rolls a die to decide who gets pizza, we see multiple alternate timelines based on what number the die lands on. When Troy (Donald Glover) is shown getting the pizza, a series of unfortunate circumstances cause the night to break out in hysterical chaos, all to the tune of "Roxanne" by The Police.
7. Niles Irons His Pants — Frasier
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In this classic scene, Frasier's brother Niles (David Hyde Pierce) prepares for a romantic Valentine's date. But when he decides to iron his pants, things fall apart from there. Niles barely says anything throughout this whole scene, but his awkward and obsessively fussy behavior speaks volumes. In the span of a few minutes, he sets fire to his pants and the couch, uses up a fire extinguisher, and passes out multiple times from seeing only a drop of blood. It's hilarious to see how with him, one little inconvenience leads to his whole night literally going up in flames.
6. Erotic Voiceover — Toast of London
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In this British sitcom, actor Steven Toast (Matt Berry) is repeatedly seen doing voiceover work to get by. During one of these sessions, he dubs an erotic German video between two men, working alongside his mortal enemy, Ray "Bloody" Purchase (Harry Peacock). From the noises both actors make to the way Toast says the word, "underpants," this scene is guaranteed to make you laugh with the guys outside of the booth.
5. Douglas Breaks the Internet — The IT Crowd
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When Jen (Katherine Parkinson) is asked to make a speech at her company's shareholders' meeting, Roy (Chris O'Dowd) and Moss (Richard Ayoade) trick her into thinking that a little black box contains the internet. When Jen presents the box to the shareholders, they all stare in awe, and we learn that they're all just as technologically ignorant as her. But after Douglas (Matt Berry) and his girlfriend get into a Bourne-style fight, the internet gets crushed, and the shareholders panic in the most hilarious fashion. Even the "Elders of the Internet" had to have gotten a laugh out of this.
4. Phoebe Sees Monica and Chandler — Friends
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One of the biggest and funniest arcs in the show's history was the group finding out about Monica (Courteney Cox) and Chandler's (Matthew Perry) romantic relationship. At this point, only Joey (Matt LeBlanc) and Rachel (Jennifer Aniston) know about it, but when Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) sees the loving duo getting in on, her and Rachel's reaction is just priceless. But Rachel and Phoebe's effort to hide everything and Ross's (David Schwimmer) high-pitched scream make this scene even better.
3. Not That There's Anything Wrong With That — Seinfeld
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In this classic Seinfeld episode, Jerry (Jerry Seinfeld) and George (Jason Alexander) are mistaken for a gay couple by a college reporter. The duo inadvertently adds to the reporter's suspicions with their behavior and backstory, but when they finally discover the truth, they immediately panic. They desperately try to convince her that they are straight while trying not to seem homophobic, coining the now-iconic phrase, "Not that there's anything wrong with that!"
2. The Fire Drill — The Office
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All you Office fans out there remember this one. After a failed fire drill presentation with PowerPoint, Dwight (Rainn Wilson) decides to educate everyone by staging an actual fire, and all hell quickly breaks out. From Angela (Angela Kinsey) throwing her cat through the ceiling, Oscar (Oscar Nunez) falling through the ceiling, and Kevin (Brian Baumgartner) breaking into the vending machine, everyone loses their minds in the most gut-busting way possible. And the cherry on top comes when Michael tries to give first aid to Stanley.
1. Don't Mention the War — Fawlty Towers
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During an episode of this legendary British show, Basil Fawlty (John Cleese) hosts a group of German guests at his hotel, desperately trying to not offend them by mentioning the war. But because of a concussion he suffered earlier, he can't stop blurting out references to the war. He eventually upset his guests, but in an attempt to make them laugh, he does a memorable impression of Hitler, complete with a rendition of Cleese's iconic Silly Walk.