by Jennifer A. Harris

Created on: December 28, 2009   Last Updated: November 11, 2010

When it comes to naming the five funniest sitcom characters of all time, it’s easy to look to the shows whose characters garnered the most attention with huge ratings, a raft of awards, or critical acclaim. Some of that factors into the ones on this list; but the main quality I looked for is timeless appeal.  Ultimately, characters that audiences love (or love to hate), have that certain something: relatability.  People either know someone like their favorite character or see a little of themselves in that fictional creation.  The following sitcom characters, I believe, have tickled our collective funny bone with their outrageous behavior and crazy antics.

 Archie Bunker – “All in the Family”
“All in the Family,” now thought to be a groundbreaking sitcom, was considered a huge risk by its producer Norman Lear and the CBS network when it first hit the airwaves in 1971.  All because of its lead character, Archie Bunker, played by Carroll O’Connor.  Bunker, a blue collar family man, was an opinionated, loud-mouthed bigot who said what he felt without much thought to how his comments affected others.  The “others” were mainly his long-suffering wife, Edith, his daughter Gloria, and his “Meathead” of a son-in-law, Michael Stivic.  

Archie was not mean-spirited.  He was more of a dunderhead and his botching of the English language made his controversial views even more hilarious.  Like his take on immigration: “No bum that can't speak poifect English oughta stay in this country...oughta be de-exported the hell outta here!”

Family was not immune to his unique observations.  In one episode, Edith’s singing irritated Archie to a such a point that he commented to her that, “Someone must have dropped you on your throat as a child.” 

Despite Archie's flaws, of which there were many, he was oddly lovable which accounted for him being welcomed into American homes for 12 seasons. 

George Jefferson – “The Jeffersons”
If there was a African-American counterpart to Archie Bunker, it was George Jefferson.  In the spin-off of “All in the Family,” Sherman Helmsley portrayed Jefferson, who was an example of the American Dream: a man who pulled himself up by his own bootstraps and created his own successful string of dry cleaning stores.  Eventually, his booming business

• 1
• 2
• 3
• Next Page >>