The Funniest TV Moments Of 2019
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PEN15
Eager to impress her pro drummer dad, who was watching in the audience, middle school band geek Maya went a little overboard during her drum solo. (Like, vintage Keith Moon overboard.) She shredded the drums with a gleeful fury... and promptly threw up afterwards.
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THE MANDALORIAN
Mando and his new frenemy, Cara Dune, realized that their brutal street fight had a soup-sipping spectator in "Baby Yoda." R.I.P. to the Internet's long-running Kermit meme.
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LUCIFER
We had the time of our life when — to cap the Season 4 finale's utterly random, song-and-dance cold open set to "I'm Alright" — Detective Douche ran into Luci's arms for a Dirty Dancing-style lift. (Watch it here.)
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THIS IS US
Jack got his feathers ruffled, big time, while trying to shoo a wayward bird out of his new home. And the laughter that the memory sparked was pretty much the only thing that salvaged Rebecca's dinner from hell.
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STRANGER THINGS
"You can't spell America without Erica." Nonetheless, Lucas' kid sister refused to join the Scoops Troop as part of Operation Child Endangerment until she'd schooled Dustin and Robin on our free-market system and demanded "free ice cream for life" in exchange for her services. (Watch it here.)
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SCHITT'S CREEK
Our fellow Schittheads will understand what we mean when we say that nothing will ever top the sublime silliness of Season 2's "Fold in the cheese!" scene. But Moira and Johnny's hapless attempt to "bebe"-sit Roland Jr. in Season 5's flawless "Housewarming" came damn close. "Its body is ejecting things?!? That cannot be good!" And yet, was it ever! (Watch it here.)
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THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL
Some downtime in Miami, coupled with Midge's realization that Susie doesn't know how to swim, created the perfect opportunity for some chlorinated physical comedy in a hotel pool. The waterlogged cherry on top of the whole soaked shebang? That hilarious visual of the two women, completely spent, splayed out on pool loungers at the end of the sequence.
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THE AFFAIR
Flash-mob choreographer Noah Solloway was forced to demonstrate specific dance moves like "Ride the tractor!" and "Kick the puppy!" during a last-minute rehearsal before Whitney and Colin's wedding.
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THE RIGHTEOUS GEMSTONES
Edi Patterson stole just about every Gemstones scene in which she appeared, but none more than Judy's incredible (and incredibly bizarre) season finale monologue. As Judy recounted the bonkers story of her relationship with a professor, every word of dialogue seemed more insane than the last. (For example: "He did a restraining order on me, so I bought him a Jeep Grand Cherokee to prove I loved him.") Even funnier than the script, though, was the somber way Patterson delivered it, attempting to spin Judy's stalker-ish habits into a tragic tale of unrequited love. (Watch it here.)
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CATASTROPHE
We didn't see much of Rob's sister, Sydney, during Catastrophe's final season, but Michaela Watkins' guest stint was memorable all the same. Case in point: Sydney's rage-filled phone call with her ex in Episode 2, which began with Sydney calling the man "a brown stripe on my f—kin' panties" and ended with her hurling the phone at a bookshelf (before literally hurling in the sink). The scene only lasted 60 seconds, but what a fantastic minute it was.
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MRS. FLETCHER
After watching some Internet porn that involved a woman getting spanked, Kathryn Hahn's title character tried it out on herself... with hilariously bad results. No matter how hard she tried to envision getting dominated by a sexual partner, Eve just couldn't get past the pain of slapping her own booty — and we were in stitches as she hobbled from the kitchen counter to an armchair, pants around her knees, as she tried to get a better angle.
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WHAT WE DO IN THE SHADOWS
Terminally boring "energy vampire" Colin was an early favorite of ours, but he clearly met his match in pitiful "emotional vampire" Evie, played by SNL alum Vanessa Bayer. The two battled it out in a gloriously silly psychic fight, each trying to drain the other's life force, him with dull factoids and her with endless sob stories.
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BARRY
Anthony Carrigan's cheerful mobster Noho Hank was unquestionably Season 2's MVP, and we're still giggling at the thought of him putting on a goofy blonde wig to "disguise" himself for a clandestine meeting with his BFF Barry. "Barry. It's me. It's Hank. In a wig." Yeah, we know, Hank. (Watch it here.)
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FLEABAG
"I look like a pencil!" Fleabag's neurotic sister Claire had a complete meltdown following a monumentally bad haircut, no matter how positive a spin Fleabag tried to put on it. ("It's modern!" "It's French!") Fleabag then marched into her hairdresser's salon to yell at him for ruining Claire's life... before learning that the pencil look was exactly what Claire had asked for. Oh well, it'll grow out eventually. (Watch it here.)
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SUCCESSION
"L to the O-G/Dude be the O.G."... Sorry, we can't even type out the lyrics to Kendall's rap tribute to his domineering dad Logan without giggling a bit. The ridiculous white-boy "flava" that Kendall unveiled on stage was the definition of cringe — and yet we also kind of loved it? Roman's girlfriend Tabitha summed it up best: "It is burning my eyes, but I cannot look away." (Watch it here.)
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A BLACK LADY SKETCH SHOW
There's no place like home: HBO's superb new sketch show gave all of us TV nerds a retro treat by staging a meticulously faithful reboot of the '80s NBC sitcom 227, complete with an absolutely flawless Jackée impersonation from cast member Robin Thede — and clever cameos from the original cast, too. (Watch it here.)
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I THINK YOU SHOULD LEAVE
Tim Robinson's wonderfully weird Netflix sketch show peaked with "Focus Group," with a kooky old guy making increasingly outlandish demands about what his dream car should come equipped with. It became an instant meme, and we'll never look at steering wheels — or marrying your mother-in-law — quite the same way again. (Watch it here.)
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LIVING WITH YOURSELF
Paul Rudd's Miles wasn't sure if he should fork over big bucks to a shady-looking rejuvenation spa in a strip mall... but he was convinced when he saw Super Bowl champ Tom Brady walk out of there with a smile, in the year's funniest stealth cameo.
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RUSSIAN DOLL
Natasha Lyonne was tasked with scene after scene of physical comedy in Netflix's eight-episode mind-trip, and she nailed every one of 'em. Our personal favorite? Nadia's ill-fated journey down a flight of stairs, which she attempted multiple times to no avail. "Keep away from me! I'm comin' down the stairs!" Nadia warned after yet another fatal descent... only to meet the exact same end yet again. (Watch it here.)
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THE OTHER TWO
Comedy Central's freshman gem is a show of many talents, including the ability to milk an extremely specific joke. Case in point: the family settling in for a stay at Justin Theroux's New York City apartment, a ludicrous property with concrete furniture, a motorcycle toilet and an enormous portrait of the actor hanging in his own living room.