Top 10 & Rankings
Ranked lists and essential picks across the alt comedy canon.
100 Essential Sketches on YouTube
Fifty years of sketch comedy in one field guide, from Monty Python to Tim Robinson. For every sketch we name the show and the channel to search, not a link that will die next month.
50 Greatest Alt Comedy Specials
From Richard Pryor in Long Beach to Jacqueline Novak off-Broadway: the stand-up hours and albums that changed what a comedy special could be.
25 Greatest Sketch Shows, Ranked
Fifty-plus years of sketch television, from the BBC in 1969 to Netflix in 2023. Ranked by influence, consistency and how well they still play today.
Best Comedy Podcasts of All Time
Seventeen years of garages, improv riffs, bad movies and dream meals, boiled down to the 25 shows that defined the medium.
Top 10 Alt Comedians of 2026
Ten comedians doing the most interesting work in alternative comedy right now, ranked, with the reason for each pick and the best place to start.
Alt Comedy All-Stars: The Canon
Forty-odd names, six eras, one argument: these are the comedians who changed what a joke could be. Our all-time canon, with a top ten and a place to start for each.
Essential Alt Comedy Albums
Before specials, there were records. A ranked guide to the comedy albums that shaped the alternative tradition, from 1950s nightclub LPs to the indie-label era.
Essential Alt Comedy Books
The ten books we would hand anyone who wants to understand alternative comedy, ranked, plus the memoirs, craft manuals and histories that fill in the rest.
Top 10 of 2024, Revisited
In January 2024 we named ten comedians to watch. One went on to win a Tony, one got The Daily Show, and one should never have been on the list. Here's how the picks held up.