I have been a huge fan of USA Networks Psych since the very first episode.  James Roday plays the hyper perceptive detective Shawn Spencer who opens a fake psychic detective agency and is hired for cases for the Santa Barbara Policy Department.  His best friend Burton Guster (Gus) also assists him with cases in addition to working a full time job at a pharmaceutical company.  This show is extremely clever, the dynamics between James Roday (Shawn) and Dule Hill (Gus) are contagious.  You can’t help but laugh with their characters and imagine that the two actors must have the most fun in the world basically acting in a show where nearly everything is some sort of prank, word play, or spoof on anything in music, movies or television.  Every episode has Shawn referring to Gus as some exotic assistant name one such example is  “Lemongrass Gogolo”.  Comparing Gus to every black actor in Hollywood is one of the many spoof’s and fun poking at the token “black guy” in Hollywood.  “You look just like Denzel Washington in Glory” exclaims Shawn to Gus while they are investigating the death at a Civil War re-enactment.

Most shows have some lame episodes and some mediocre episodes, but with Psych 95% of all thee seasons are high quality content.  The most recent two episodes “Disco Didn’t Die.  It was Murdered” and “There Might Be Blood” are among the funniest out of all 3 seasons so far.  The intro to each show shows a childhood Shawn and Gus fooling around and getting some sort of lesson from Shawn’s dad about how to behave, act or think a certain way.  His hyper observant skills were drilled into him by his father who exhibits the same skills even more finely honed, this is quite evident in the episode “Disco Didn’t Die.  It was Murdered” when Shawn’s Dad Henry Spencer (played by Corbin Bernson who does a fine job) out “psychics” him at a court house.

The strained relationship between Shawn and his often too strict father Henry is softened as each episode progresses and Henry gains more and more respect for what Shawn does with his gift.  We see quite the bitter distaste for each other in the first 2 seasons and mutual respect start to grow between them in Season 3.  The progression of the characters makes the show even more enjoyable as the actor’s mesh very very well together.  The only thing that drag’s is that Shawn has a thing for the Junior Detective Juliet O’Hara (played by Maggie Lawson).  This seemed to grow quite obvious in the first two seasons, but seems to be omitted or greatly put on the back burner in Season 3 so far.

One of my other favorite shows is Monk, also on USA Network.  Though this show is labeled as a comedy, each episode leaves you feeling more and more sorry for the title character Adrian Monk.  There are some episodes, where you are just struck feeling so sorry for the character, that it kind of waffles between comedy and drama.  Tony Shalhoub is a superb actor and plays the character so well, it is no wonder why people come up to him in the street and hand him wipes.

Here is a YouTube video of a Psych Blooper, which they post at the end of every show and online so you can see an example of the humor of the show:

Some of my other favorite comedies include:

Till Death - Brad Garrett is funnier on this show than he even was on Everybody Loves Raymond.  This is the ultimate comedy spoofing marriage, and I find it more amusing and realistic in your ability to relate than Married With Children ever was.  The dynamic between Brad and Joely Fisher are great, the funny thing is the show was very originally focused on comparing the “newly weds” next door with the long time married couple, and the show kind of sidelined the newly weds and solely focuses on Joy and Eddie which is what made the show much better in the later seasons than the original season in my opinion.

The Simpsons - A long running classic, I was watching this show when it first aired in the late 80’s and watched the first 12 seasons never missing an episode, in the last 5 or 6 years I have gotten so busy that I only catch an occasional episode here and there, but every time I do, I never regret it. The Simpsons is classic quality, and doesn’t have the shock or vulgarity of Family Guy or American Dad.  It still sticks to its roots in just pure clever parody and comedy of American culture.

I could go on about other shows, but I want to know what are your favorite comedy shows?  You can mention older shows that are only in syndication now like “Seinfeld” or new stuff that just started its first or second season.

Robin & Emz - writes about their favorite comedy shows (Friends and The Nanny) both were good shows, I remember watching The Nanny quite frequently.  Thanks for letting us know your favorite comedy shows Robin & Emz.

Idogcow - writes about Sports Night which was his favorite comedy, be sure to check out his comments on it.

Susan writes about her favorite TV Show “Everybody Loves Raymond” and gives a very detailed and thorough write up on her opinion and why.  This is another good show, there are other great ones like King of Queens with Kevin James.

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Technorati Tags: Brad Garrett, burton guster, comedy, Comedy Review, Corbin Bernson, detective, dule hill, James Roday, Maggie Lawson, psych, series, shawn spencer, Simpsons, television show, Till Death, TV Review, tv show, usa, usa network

Tags: Brad Garrett, burton guster, comedy, Comedy Review, Corbin Bernson, detective, dule hill, James Roday, Maggie Lawson, psych, series, shawn spencer, Simpsons, television show, Till Death, TV Review, tv show, usa, usa network

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