🎙️ Listen to this episode:
Featured: Dave Chappelle, Nathan Fielder, Bill Hader, David Cross, John Cryer, Jeff Probst, Giancarlo Esposito, Pamela Adlon, Louis C.K., Michael Chiklis, Anthony Bourdain, Elizabeth Holmes, Neil Brennan, Joel Kim Booster, David Mitchell, Robert Webb
What’s in This Episode
- New York Times 100 Best TV Shows of the 21st Century analysis
- Community ranked 97th on NYT list
- Eastbound & Down ranked above Community controversy
- Chappelle’s Show influence and ranking
- Nathan Fielder upcoming projects and hype
- Peep Show recognition and format explanation
- Better Things obscurity despite high ranking
Questions Answered in This Episode
Where did Community rank on the New York Times 100 best TV shows list?
Community ranked 97th on the New York Times’ 100 best TV shows of the 21st century, which Johnny Mac felt was criminally low for one of his all-time favorite shows.
Did Eastbound & Down rank higher than Community?
Yes, Eastbound & Down (Kenny Powers) ranked 90th, five spots higher than Community at 97th, which Johnny Mac found absurd and questioned.
What is Peep Show and why is it underrated?
Peep Show is a British comedy starring David Mitchell and Robert Webb about two dysfunctional roommates, shot from the characters’ perspectives with internal monologue narration—Johnny Mac praised it as criminally underrated and ranked 60th on the list.
Where did Chappelle’s Show rank on the New York Times list?
Chappelle’s Show ranked 58th on the list and was described as arguably the most influential comedy thing of the 21st century, co-created by Dave Chappelle and Neil Brennan.
What is Better Things and who created it?
Better Things is an autofictional comedy created by Pamela Adlon with Louis C.K. (who left after season two) that ran from 2016-2022, ranked 82nd, which Johnny Mac admitted he’d never heard of despite its high placement.
Why is Nathan Fielder getting so much hype in 2026?
Johnny Mac predicted 2026 would be ‘the year of Nathan Fielder’ with massive hype around his projects, mentioning The Rehearsal’s high ranking and his upcoming Elizabeth Holmes documentary.
Full Transcript
This transcript was automatically generated and may contain spelling and/or transcription errors.
Hello, I’m Johnny Mac with your Daily Comedy News. Every now and then I do a article episode, and I just stumbled across that the New York Times did the 100 best TV shows of the 21st century. I’m not going to do all 100, and I haven’t even looked at this article yet. I’m doing this cold. I like to just react in the moment.
And since this is Daily Comedy News, we’ll only focus on the comedies, and we’ll see what’s there, okay? Okay. Now, number 100 is Scandal, so we’ll keep going. 99, Gilmore Girls. 98, The OA. What? Not a comedy.
Don’t get distracted, John. Don’t get distracted. Really? 97. Community. Okay.
One of my all-time favorites. Don’t you love Community? So how are we feeling? Is Community the 97th best TV show of the 21st century? I feel like this is criminally low, but I haven’t looked at the list yet.
Hmm. Keep that in the back of your mind. Should Community be higher? We’re told that was voted for by actor John Cryer. There’s a ballot.
Okay, 96. Halt and Catch Fire. 95. House. 94. The Diplomat. That’s a good show.
I don’t know if it’s better than Community. 93, Station Eleven, which was voted for by David Cross, interestingly enough. 92, The Night Of. That was on HBO. That was pretty good. Not many comedies here. 91, Catastrophe. 90, Eastbound and Down. Better than Community?
How much crack did you have, sir? That’s the Kenny Power Show. That was voted for by Jeff Probst, host of Survivor. Eastbound and Down, Better Than Community? No.
What’s going on on Survivor Island, Jeff? Something is affecting your brain. 89, Baby Reindeer. 88, Dexter. 87, Reservation Dogs. Come on. Really? Better Than Community?
Are you insane? No. This is crazy. 86, Shogun? I mean, pretty good, but, you know, kind of overrating things here, guys. Who’s making this list?
That was nominated by Giancarlo Esposito. 85, The Great British Baking Show. 84, Planet Earth. All right, I like that. I respect that. 83, Justified. 82, Better Things. Do you know what that is? I don’t even know what that is.
It’s an autofictional comedy from showbiz veteran Pamela Adion. She created it with Louis C.K. Who left after the second season. The Sunkissed series features a middle-aged actress living in the Hollywood Hills with her free-spirited mother and three indelible daughters. Better Things ran from 2016 to 2022 without me noticing, and there was a pandemic.
I have no idea what that is. Send the letters. I don’t care. You can get mad at me. If you’re throwing your phone out like, how do you not know what Better Things is?
I have no idea what this show is. I’ve never heard of it. Number 81, The Queen’s Gambit. 80, How To with John Wilson. Again, nice show. Voted for by David Cross again.
So apparently David Cross and I have different taste in television. 79. The Good Wife. 78. Oh my goodness. Come on. This is criminally low. 78.
It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. 2005 to the present. It’s like the longest running thing ever. Every episode is hilarious. How is this so low? Come on. 77.
Modern Family. You’re going to tell me Modern Family is better than Sunny? Get out. 76. Somebody Somewhere. An HBO comedy that argued that one person can come of age in any age?
That was a thing on HBO? Ran from 2022 to 2024? Should I know what that is? Is this episode today an example of the Mandela Effect? And I just jumped from another world where we had different TV shows?
I think that is what happened. Whatever this is, is Somebody Somewhere is the 76th best show of the 21st century? Okay. Okay. 75, Ted Lasso. Now, if you want to tell me season one was really good, if you want to tell me season one and two were pretty good, okay, I agree.
The four seasons of Ted Lasso, Better Than Community, Now, get lost. Number 74, The Bear. Is it a comedy? Is it not? For purpose of this show, it’s not. 73, Barry.
Mad respect for Barry. Barry’s a brilliant show. Kind of starts as a comedy and by the end is not a comedy at all, but it is wonderful. If you’ve never watched it, you should watch Barry with Bill Hader. 72, Squid Game. 71, Beef. Number 70, The Shield with Mac Packer Michael Chiklis, who’s a big comedy fan.
I love The Shield. I might have The Shield at number one on this list, period, but definitely not a comedy. 69, Anthony Bourdain, No Reservations. Boy, that should be a lot higher as well. I love Bourdain. Don’t we all love Bourdain? 68, Ozark, overrated. 67, Handmaid’s Tale. 66, The Rehearsal.
They write, if Nathan For You was the basement laboratory for Nathan Fielder’s mad scientist social experiments, The Rehearsal was the equivalent of handing him the keys to a super collider.
And now he’s got this Elizabeth Smart, is that her name?
Elizabeth Holmes? One of those. The woman with the, you know what I’m talking about, the thing everybody’s buzzing about. What is that called? John, you host a comedy show.
Could you look it up? Let me get this correct. I can never remember what that woman’s name is. It’s Elizabeth Holmes, and the documentary is called You Can See Everything. It’s got an R rating for language and some graphic nudity.
And the title’s called You Can See Everything, and it’s got graphic nudity. That has people going.. I wonder if they’re gonna, you know, I don’t know, but the Nathan Fielder hype is gonna be out of control soon. 65, Mayor of Easttown, better than The Shield? How much crack did you do? 64, different Anthony Bourdain, Parts Unknown. Yeah, Parts Unknown is better than No Reservations.
Okay, that’s fair. Good ranking. 63, The Thick of It, which ran from 2005 to 2012. You, of course, know what The Thick of It is. Apparently, it’s some sort of British show that I’ve never heard of. It’s on BritBox and Peacock, if you want to check that out. 62, Slow Horses. 61, RuPaul’s Drag Race, Better Than the Shield.
Are you crazy? 60, Peep Show. Yes, criminally underrated show. Good job, New York Times. This is David Mitchell and Robert Webb playing two dysfunctional roommates. I evangelize for the show all the time.
The gimmick that gives the show its title Peep Show was that scenes are shot from its main character perspectives and narrated by their internal thoughts. So, like, what would happen is if, say, I were here ranting about Star Trek and you were thinking, will he please shut up about Star Trek? I can’t stand when he talks about Star Trek. The camera would be on you trying to keep a straight face, but we would be able to read your thoughts going, I wish he would stop. Peep Show is amazing. 59, pen 15. 58, Chappelle’s Show.
Arguably.. The most influential comedy thing of the 21st century. I just made up that premise as I said the sentence, but we should talk about that. I mean, Chappelle’s show is majorly influential, is it not? It is.
For two plus seasons, our national conversations about race, sexuality, and entertainment had a sardonic commentary track in Dave Chappelle’s sketch comedy series co-created with Neil Brennan, who doesn’t get enough credit for that show. Inhabiting stereotypes in order to annihilate them, Dave Chappelle exposed with unflappable precision the cliches, prejudices, and appetites that defined our media-saturated culture. Now, John, you should break it number 50. But I’m going to take the break at Chappelle’s show because I want you to think about it. Continuing the New York Times best 100 TV shows of the 21st century, mainly commenting on the comedy parts of it.
Number 57, I think you should leave. It answers the questions. What happens when a hot dog car gets into an accident or how could I sneak a hot dog into a meeting? Probably overrated. 56, Nathan For You. This is going to be the year of Nathan Fielder where everything he touches will be hyped.
I’m not saying it shouldn’t be hyped, but will be hyped. 55, Insecure. No idea what that is. It was nominated by Joel Kim Booster, who says Insecure perfectly captures L.A. 54, The Bureau. I’ve heard of this. This is a French show.
It’s a thriller about the lives of secret agents, not a comedy. Don’t get distracted, John. Stay focused. Okay. 53, Stranger Things. 52, Downton Abbey. 51, The Good Place. Like the fifth best Ted Danson show?
Is better than The Shield? Is better than Community? I guess. 50, Parks and Rec. I never liked Parks and Rec. I know that’s an unpopular opinion, but I never really got into it. 49, Normal People.
No idea what it is. Not a comedy. Move on. 48, House of Cards, US version. I’m laughing here. They’re not even showing a picture of Kevin Spacey.
I know this isn’t a comedy, but this is one of my pet peeves. I know Kevin Spacey is canceled and horrible and all that, but when you put on Netflix and they show House of Cards and they don’t show Kevin Spacey, you’re kind of missing the point. It’d be like, not quite but showing the Cosby show and not showing Dr. Bill Cosby. You know, whether you like Bill Cosby or not, and probably not, he was kind of a big role on the Cosby show.
That’s how I feel about Kevin Spacey in House of Cards. And they’re not showing Kevin Spacey here. They’re showing Mrs. President. I can’t remember the actress’s name.
Robin Wright. And they’re showing her sitting behind the desk as if that was the point of House of Cards. Come on, get out. 47, Twin Peaks The Return. Really? Nominated by Brett Goldstein. 46, Broad City.
Okay. Let’s all take a deep breath, okay? Let’s all calm down here. Broad City. We all like Broad City.
We’re not saying Broad City’s bad. Broad City is good. It’s very good. Broad City is better than Community. That’s what you’re telling me.
No. 45, Happy Valley. Looks like one of those British shows. I’ll keep going. 44, BoJack Horseman. Okay. But, again, is it better than Community?
No. 43, Peaky Blinders. 42, Hacks. It’s won a lot of Emmys. I almost said it’s overrated, but it won a lot of Emmys, and people like it. Okay, I won’t be a hater. It was nominated by Graham Norton. 41, Louis.
Whoa! Are we going to give Louis C.K. A credit for doing good art? I know he’s canceled and the worst person who ever lived. Oh, no, that’s Jay Leno, the second worst person who ever lived.
I understand all that. But, wow, we’re giving Louis credit. The Times write, at this comedy’s creative summit, the life of a stand-up sitcom we’d been watching took a thrilling emotional turn into the surreal and refused to reroute. This makes me think they’re going to have Curb really overrated, right? I mean, Curb is good, but it’s a little overrated, let’s be honest. 40, Adolescence. 39, Watchmen.
Woo-hoo. The geeks are going to get mad at that ranking. 38, Homeland. Maybe Season 1. I don’t know about the rest. 37, Battlestar Galactica. One of the great comedies of all time, which gives me an excuse to talk to you about Battlestar Galactica for 15 minutes right now.
I’m kidding. I love Battlestar Galactica, but not a comedy. Stay focused, John. Maybe I’ll start a Galactica podcast. 36, The Pit. I mean, The Pit’s good, but after two seasons, I’m not sure it’s better than Battlestar Galactica. 35, True Detective. 34, Schitt’s Creek.
Who made this list? Stop. This is insane. 33, Enlightened. 32, Andor. Now, I love Star Wars. Just over here, like 10 feet from where I’m sitting, there are five Star Wars posters, and I’m not kidding.
But.. I don’t know, I found Andor boring. I know you’re supposed to be like, this is what Star Wars for adults should be. I don’t want Star Wars for adults. I want The Empire Strikes Back. 31, Survivor.
Oh, and they’re showing a picture of the season that had Philip, the federal agent, and Boston Rob. Boston Rob, actually right now, I’m adding Boston Rob to the Mac Pack. If you’re new to the show, the Mac Pack are my hypothetical celebrity friends that I hang out with, including Michael Chiklis. Boston Rob, you are now in the Mac Pack. I love Boston Rob because he’s just smarter than everybody else.
You know he’s conning you, but he’s so charming and he smiles and he goes, yeah, these idiots, they’re going to let me win the million dollars. And you’re like, yeah, Boston Robb tricked me into giving him a million dollars. Love Boston Robb. And I also love Philip the Federal Agent. And I love the early seasons of Survivor where they actually used to eat rats.
Modern Survivor isn’t that good. Survivor 50, couldn’t keep my attention. But the first season of Survivor, I have it on DVD. It is amazing.
Also not a comedy. 30 Severance. 29, Key and Peele.
Love it. Okay, yes. All right. Keegan-Michael Key, by the way, is in the Mac pack. 28, Band of Brothers. 27, Better Call Saul. Black Mirror at 26.
The Leftovers at 25. I love that show. Deadwood at 24. The Comeback at 23. Yeah, The Comeback.
Have you ever met anyone who said, hey, did you see The Comeback? Maybe we should watch it, apparently. It’s pretty good. 22, Lost. I love Lost back in the day. Evangeline Lilly, she was on the crush list. 21, The White Lotus. 20, The Crown, which was the inspiration for our podcast Palace Intrigue, where we talk about the British royal family seven days a week.
Palace Intrigue, wherever you get your shows. 19, Chernobyl. I own that on Blu-ray. Chernobyl is fantastic. 18, Whatever I May Destroy You Is. It aired in 2020. I almost read the description, and it’s heavy, so there’s no fun there.
Just move on, John, okay? 17, The Americans. I love The Americans. 16, The Office UK. Okay. The Office UK at 16. I haven’t mentioned The Office yet, so are we making the argument that The Office USA is better than The Office UK?
I’m not sure that’s accurate. I know as Americans we love the American version, and I’m not saying the American version’s bad, but the UK version, and I just did a rewatch, is better. 15, Six Feet Under. 14, Friday Night Lights. All right, so before I even keep going here, so we haven’t said The Office yet. We haven’t said Curb yet. Trying to think what else I’m overlooking.
All right, 13 is Girls. 12, Arrested Development. I think that is a completely overrated show. I understand that’s an unpopular opinion. Never got it. Never got into it.
Never understood it. Don’t know why you guys are obsessed with it, but okay, fine. I’m not going to fist fight you over it. It’s not like it’s Adam Sandler. But no, I don’t know.
Number 11, The U.S. The Office. You know who nominated that one? The controversial MAGA comedian Nate Bregazzi. That guy, he stuck up for The Office.
Number 10 is Atlanta. Donald Glover’s pretty good show, but are you going to tell me Atlanta’s better than Community with both star Donald Glover? Can we flip those and put Community at 10? Apparently not. Nine, Curb Your Enthusiasm.
Okay. That was nominated by Mike Birbiglia. Oh, eight, The Incredibly Tremendously overrated 30 Rock. 30 Rock, carried by Alec Baldwin. Any scene Alec Baldwin’s not in? Not interested.
I know this is an unpopular opinion and we’re all supposed to worship Tina Fey and 30 Rock. I don’t. That’s number eight. Seven, Veep. Yes, we all love Julia Louis-Dreyfus.
She’s awesome and everything. But Veep is seven and Community was like number 94 or whatever I said it was. This isn’t right. Who made this list? Six, Game of Thrones.
Notice I said the F that time. Usually with my Queen’s accent, I say Game of Thrones. Game of Thrones? Hey, did you see Game of Thrones? That’s how I usually say it, but that time I said the F.
Number five, I’m going to throw my computer. We may not be able to finish the list. Number five, Fleabag. Get out. Just get out.
Get out. Should I even finish this list? Because the list is obviously stupid and insane. Four, Succession. Three, Mad Men.
To the wire. So I’m guessing here I’m going to scroll down and see the words bad and breaking. Let’s check. Number one, breaking bad. Pretty good show.
Can’t argue with that. All right. Let me know in the Facebook comments what you think of the New York Times list and what you think of my opinions. Facebook group, Daily Comedy News Podcast group. And I’ll see you tomorrow.