Adult Animated Comedies

The simpsons knockoff that turned out better than the original, Futurama was a joint product of Matt Groening and David (X) Cohen.

They imagine a future that's part twilight zone, part HG Wells, part Vonnegut (meets the simpsons).

It's always funny and often smart. Not to mention the robot that must be drunk to function.

More subversive than anything else on this list, it's also more hit or miss. Not to mention being more preachy. But there's no denying that when this show is on its game (as it often is) it satirizes like no other with a crudeness that, at one time, was shocking.
They even managed to stay controversial with their "will they won't they" depiction of Muhammad.

I don't really need to say much about this show, do I?

The fact is that it changed comedy. Even now, in its 22nd year (will it ever die?) the show manages to be funny more than it's not.

This one may not be as good now as some of the others on the list, but it's been running for so long and those first five years would earn it this spot alone.

The best animated showcase for comedians, ever.

So many funny actors and comedians appeared on this show before they were big.

H Jon Benjamin also got his start on this show. If you don't know who that is, you need to watch this, Home movies and Bobs burgers, stat.

Loren Bouchard with Brendan Small and H Jon Benjamin. As far as animated comedy goes, these names can do no wrong.

Home movies is very honest and very funny. It gets better after season 1 when it abandons the squigglevision of Dr katz. Coach McGirk is H Jon Benjamin's greatest character
to date.

A show that requires attention, the Venture Bros is fast moving and very funny to those who catch all the jokes. You don't have to have grown up watching Johnny Quest (the show it most obviously satirizes), but it might help. More than being a satire of that show though, it's a satire of all children's cartoon programming.

Mostly it's just darn funny and damn smart.

The asshole secret agent working in a secret office building, for his mother, at an indeterminate point in time.

Oh yeah, and H Jon Benjamin voices him. Is that the sound of me telling you to watch this show? Why yes, it is.

The Best Seth McFarlane show, American Dad started out like a less-good, more-political family guy. But within one season it had changed into the most consistently entertaining show in Fox's Sunday night animation domination.

Best of all, none of the cut-aways that drive so many people away from family guy.

Probably the only show on this list that could just as easily be live action, King of the Hill never really found its place among Fox's other animation shows, yet managed to keep on chugging for 13 seasons (and 4 syndicated episodes).

This show never received the support it needed on Fox, where it ran for two seasons. I watched it on Comedy Central reruns and loved it. With better use of cutaways than Family Guy (and 5 years earlier) this show was ahead of its time.

only partway through season 1 and I'm already confident with this placement. It has been gradually improving from its already excellent pilot. This show could easily surpass other Loren Bouchard projects like Home Movies and Dr. Katz.

The breakout star has definitely been Kristen Schaal as Louis, Bob's youngest bunny-eared daughter.

Too bad this show couldn't have gone longer, because the two seasons aired were excellent. What started as a superhero spoof in season one turned into a political spoof into one seemed at times like a surrealist absurd dream.

Always funny, this show required careful watching for full enjoyment.

An african-american anime comedy based on a comic strip. Who would've guessed that it would be fantastic? Only fans of the also great comic strip.

Tackling race issues in a way that no other show does, The Boondocks never falters in quality.

You don't have to like metal to enjoy this uber-violent cartoon about the worlds biggest metal band that flies around in a giant fortress leaving a trail of dead bodies in their wake.

oh yeah, and it's really funny.

Probably one of the only shows on this list you haven't heard of, it's also the only one that says fuck unabashedly (and unbleeped). It's been cancelled after two seasons on HBO, but the two seasons totalled 20 episodes, and each episode has 2 stories, making for a total of 40, 15-minute narratives.

Not a bad lifespan for a very funny cartoon.

A cartoon based on a movie that might actually be better than the source material? That's an argument I don't want to have, but either way, it's hard to deny the greatness of this short lived series.

We've all seen it and we all have our opinions, but there's no denying that the first 3 seasons of this show were pretty original.

The shows decline has been ugly at times, but it still produces a laugh every now and then. Just not when the writers are recycling a joke they've used 3 times before.

this show ran for two short seasons from 2001-2002. But wikipedia says that it will be coming back for a 3rd season, so go figure.

Whether it's gone for good or returning, the Oblongs featured Will Ferrel's voice acting with good characters, story, writing and animation.

Basically it was a great show.

The Beavis and Butt-head spinoff that turned out better than the original.

Daria was that perfect encapsulation of a teenager who had been dejected enough that she rejected the world

"You're standing on my neck
La la la la la"

Depending who you ask, this show was either great or terrible. It featured duckman (jason alexander) as a private dick being assisted by his joe-friday partner cornfed.

It contained many monologues with great exposition as well as a unique surrealist aesthetic.

Oh yeah, and Duckman was a major misogynist.

huh huh huh


you said but

you'll notice that while all of these shows try to appeal to young adults, none of them really feature a core group of young adults. So enters Mission Hill.

it only ran for 1 season, but it certainly deserved more.

The "liberal king of the hill" is a show that never got off the ground.

the characters seem more two-dimensional than king of the hill, but the episodes were entertaining and it didn't deserve the premature death that it received.

the precursor to "Tim and Eric Awesome show". This show was about a cutout named Tom, who, you guessed it, goes to the mayor.

Either you liked this show or you didn't. There's not a lot of middle ground.

Remember when I said that it was hard for a cartoon based on a movie to be as good as the movie? I was talking about this show. While certain episodes are better than others (the harry potter and video game episodes spring to mind) this show was largely hit and miss.