What comedy shows grabbed you from the first episode?

[Brundle-Fly]

For me, most comedy shows are slow burners. It took me a while to get into the groove of Always Sunny...but I'm glad I persevered. Same with The Santa Clarita Diet. First, I had to get over the voices in The Simpsons, Ren & Stimpy, Beavis & Butthead, and South Park before any of them clicked. It took several viewings before this happened. I had to get over my preconception that One Foot In The Grave was a cosy BBC sitcom before it bedded in for me. Hated Vic & Bob's Big Night Out in 1990, love it now. My first viewing of The Day Today was ruined by my then gf telling me it wasn't funny all the way through, making me question my very own laughter.

The shows that spring to mind that had me on board immediately were Arthur Matthews Big Train, The Good Place, Mr Show, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Seinfeld,

In the past? The Young Ones, Not The Nine O'Clock News, Monty Python's Flying Circus, RWT, Hancock's Half Hour.

Like reading a novel, starting a new comedy show is a skill, isn't it? Not having too much expectation helps, I suppose?

[thenoise]

Peep show. First episode i saw was the Mark's nazi friend one, and as a dead end office worker at the time with few close friends and no girlfriend, it was all pretty familiar stuff.

Marion and Geoff clicked immediately, but I'm not sure that's even comedy. Tragedy more like.

[Magnum Valentino]

The Mighty Boosh had a moment in the first episode I really liked where a character threatens Howard and says "I always get my man". He does indeed deliver on his threat later, and reappears, only the second time he says "I always get McMahon" (pronounced 'mcMan'). I liked a lot of stuff in that first episode (still love the first series and the radio show, can't tolerate anything after that), but it was that odd and unexplained reprise that really spoke to me, as they say.

Felt like I got Moone Boy right from the first episode. Partridge took me a while because I thought he looked too much like a lad who'd had a stroke and that the impression (of a teenager he'd never met) was in poor taste.

Good timing for this thread as I've just started watching It's Always Sunny and enjoyed the first episode, but it hasn't clicked yet either. Everyone says that'll follow, so I'll stick with it.

Monty Python's Flying Circus is another first episoder for me. 15 Storeys High on you lot's recommendation. Look Around You was another big one where it felt like "I speak this language but didn't realise I did til I saw this".

[Mister Six]

Misfits, although I suppose it's technically a comedy-drama. But it's very funny and hits the ground running (before running out of steam in its third series and turning to shite in the fourth and fifth).

Archer had me from the go, but I think its third episode, Diversity Hire, is a better introduction to newcomers.

[Mister Six]

Good timing for this thread as I've just started watching It's Always Sunny and enjoyed the first episode, but it hasn't clicked yet either. Everyone says that'll follow, so I'll stick with it.

Honestly, skip the first series and jump straight to the second. The characters are better defined and it finds the ideal cartoony groove that softens the blow of the more horrible moments. Without that, the early episodes of season one in particular seem a bit try-hard and self-consciously edgy.

[The Mollusk]

First time I ever saw Trailer Park Boys, I was drunk at a gathering and someone stuck the very first episode on. The first season isn't even particularly brilliant but the scene with Cyrus showing off his gun won me over immediately. "Safety always off."

Similarly, the opening scene of the first episode of Nirvanna The Band The Show where Matt and Jay are thinking up the best first impression as a live band, Jay starts playing the Jurassic Park song on the piano and Matt shakily removes his shades and goes "B... BRONTOSAURUS". I fell head over heels in love with it and knew this would likely become one of my favourite comedy shows ever, and I was right.

[Small Man Big Horse]

Felt like I got Moone Boy right from the first episode. Partridge took me a while because I thought he looked too much like a lad who'd had a stroke and that the impression (of a teenager he'd never met) was in poor taste.

I'm with you on Moone Boy, and feel it's a hugely underrated show that deserves more love than it gets.

There's plenty of series which took me a stupid amount of time to get in to (I only clicked with Seinfeld about the fifth time I saw it in the mid to late 2000s) but I really loved Wonder Showzen's first episode, to the extent that I got my sister and a close friend to watch it only for them to wonder if I'd had some sort of breakdown.

Also really enjoyed Nathan For You (even though the shit yoghurt is one of it's dodgiest moments, and Review With Forrest McNeil from the very first episode, they just clicked with me within a couple of minutes.

[bgmnts]

The first few episodes of Archer had me. Lasted a few seasons but those first few episodes were the best.

[Brundle-Fly]

On a live take, The League Of Gentlemen grabbed me by the nuts when I first saw them live in the mid-nineties at the Canal Cafe theatre. I knew there and then I was in the presence of genius.

[up_the_hampipe]

The opening scene of the first episode of Reno 911 is perfect, I remember seeing it and instantly knowing the show was going to be a new favourite https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fvTxNYxPpRA

[sutin]

Peep Show too grabbed me instantly. A short-lived housemate of mine left a DVD of the first season behind in about 2004 and I just watched it over and over.

[Captain Z]

The TV version of League of Gentlemen also did for me. It was actually episode 3 or 4 I saw first, but I'd also say the opening to episode 1 is amongst the greatest sitcom first scenes ever.

[Dusty Substance]

Spaced. I'd just turned 21 when it was first aired and that first episode spoke to me in the same way that a great album does. It really felt like a comedy that had been tailor made for me. All the references to Star Wars, horror films, Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy, Tarantino and, most especially, the Scooby Doo joke in that opening episode. I loved Spaced SO much back then that I cancelled a date so I could stay in and watch the third episode.

It'll always have a place in my heart but, looking back, a lot of the jokes and comedy from the show weren't far removed from  Family Guy "I get that reference" humour - Only with Edgar Wright's trademark cinematography and editing.

[Jumblegraws]

Probably the most obvious choice on this forum, but Brass Eye. It put pay to any notions 17-year-old me had about being a comedy writer by setting such a high bar for creativity. Sort of like an anti-Velvet Underground in a way.

[dissolute ocelot]

The Good Place definitely hits the ground running, introducing all the characters, how the afterlife works

Spoiler alert

(supposedly)

[close]

, and what Eleanor's role is going to be.

I suppose a separate category would be shows that are great in the first episode then just repeat themselves over and over, like Phil Lord and Christopher Miller's Clone High.

[Brundle-Fly]

Spaced. I'd just turned 21 when it was first aired and that first episode spoke to me in the same way that a great album does. It really felt like a comedy that had been tailor made for me. All the references to Star Wars, horror films, Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy, Tarantino and, most especially, the Scooby Doo joke in that opening episode. I loved Spaced SO much back then that I cancelled a date so I could stay in and watch the third episode.

It'll always have a place in my heart but, looking back, a lot of the jokes and comedy from the show weren't far removed from  Family Guy "I get that reference" humour - Only with Edgar Wright's trademark cinematography and editing.

I never get that "I get that reference" criticism of Spaced.  For me, the heart and soul, the characters completely transcend this hoary old brickbat.

[Magnum Valentino]

Spaced. I'd just turned 21 when it was first aired and that first episode spoke to me in the same way that a great album does. It really felt like a comedy that had been tailor made for me. All the references to Star Wars, horror films, Hitch-Hiker's Guide To The Galaxy, Tarantino and, most especially, the Scooby Doo joke in that opening episode. I loved Spaced SO much back then that I cancelled a date so I could stay in and watch the third episode.

It'll always have a place in my heart but, looking back, a lot of the jokes and comedy from the show weren't far removed from  Family Guy "I get that reference" humour - Only with Edgar Wright's trademark cinematography and editing.

I had this with Spaced as well, even though I was about 10 or 12 when it came out

[Cuellar]

I watched and liked Spaced and I was probably too young to get the references. Although I did get the main ones I suppose, the obvious ones. I suppose. I can't really remember any now.

[Brundle-Fly]

Peep Show too grabbed me instantly. A short-lived housemate of mine left a DVD of the first season behind in about 2004 and I just watched it over and over.

Good call. I was first put off by David Mitchell's glassy Cenobite eyes, but by Jiminy, once I stopped being a shallow cunt, this show proved to be one of my favourite things ever.

[Gregory Torso]

Good call. I was first put off by David Mitchell's glassy Cenobite eyes, but by Jiminy, once I stopped being a shallow cunt, this show proved to be one of my favourite things ever.

I've definitely written this on here before, but I was put off Peep Show by having been at school with Robert Webb (he's a few years older than me) and refusing to watch anything with him in it on principle and then one night saw the episode where they go to the bowling alley and Mark smokes a spliff and says "am I going to do a poo?" before bowling his own shopping that made me go oh you know what this is really excellent, I really like this (much to my own furious resentment).

[Brundle-Fly]

I've definitely written this on here before, but I was put off Peep Show by having been at school with Robert Webb (he's a few years older than me) and refusing to watch anything with him in it on principle and then one night saw the episode where they go to the bowling alley and Mark smokes a spliff and says "am I going to do a poo?" before bowling his own shopping that made me go oh you know what this is really excellent, I really like this (much to my own furious resentment).

You got over yourself. Good. Believe me, I've had update my mental software too.

[Magnum Valentino]

I've definitely written this on here before, but I was put off Peep Show by having been at school with Robert Webb (he's a few years older than me) and refusing to watch anything with him in it on principle and then one night saw the episode where they go to the bowling alley and Mark smokes a spliff and says "am I going to do a poo?" before bowling his own shopping that made me go oh you know what this is really excellent, I really like this (much to my own furious resentment).

Haha, I was just saying to my older brother I don't think I'll be able to watch the Hawkeye show on Disney next month because a lad from my year is in it and there's just no way to suspend disbelief when one of the goofy drama club dudes is cutting about with the bow and arrow guy from the biggest movie of all time.

[QDRPHNC]

Peep show. First episode i saw was the Mark's nazi friend one, and as a dead end office worker at the time with few close friends and no girlfriend, it was all pretty familiar stuff.

Marion and Geoff clicked immediately, but I'm not sure that's even comedy. Tragedy more like.

Peep Show for me as well, but the first one I saw was the first one, when I rented the series 1 DVD on whim.

[paruses]

Log, and Phoneshop spring to mind as definites I can remember. And Phoneshop was even better as I was poised to hate it.

I would have to say The Office (UK) too.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

On a live take, The League Of Gentlemen grabbed me by the nuts when I first saw them live in the mid-nineties at the Canal Cafe theatre. I knew there and then I was in the presence of genius.

The opening scene of the very first episode of TLOG (TV version) is brilliant. I was instantly hooked. It's such a simple pull-back-and-reveal gag, but I don't think it had ever been done before. I can't think of any specific examples anyway.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

The TV version of League of Gentlemen also did for me. It was actually episode 3 or 4 I saw first, but I'd also say the opening to episode 1 is amongst the greatest sitcom first scenes ever.

Oops! Sorry, Captain Z. I should've read the rest of the thread before posting. I'll never learn.

[Ballad of Ballard Berkley]

Probably the most obvious choice on this forum, but Brass Eye. It put pay to any notions 17-year-old me had about being a comedy writer by setting such a high bar for creativity. Sort of like an anti-Velvet Underground in a way.

Same here. Watching that first episode was a real "Fuck me, he's done it" moment. Morris had created a perfect half hour of comedy and Savage Satire (TM).

[Chedney Honks]

Delocated

"Craig, that dick."

[HamishMacbeth]

Are we talking literal first episodes or just first encounters?

I think the first episode of Cheers is basically as good a pitch for the show as any that followed, I liked Brooklyn 99 right from episode one.

The unattributed The IT Crowd totally rubbed me the wrong way at first but grew on me.

Honourable mention for me probably goes to Allo Allo, which grabbed me right from the first episode and then proceeded to carry on for 9 series, none of which were ever as good as the first episode again.

[Gregory Torso]

The Arthur Matthews sitcom Father Ted would be my choice. I remember watching the first episode when it aired on Channel 4 it round at a mate's flat, not knowing anything about it, and we both loved it. Spent the evening, pissed, shouting "feck off cup!" at each other.