Growing up I spent a lot of time alone in my bedroom for, well, reasons. What I liked to do in the privacy of my own bedroom is mostly none of your business, but what I don’t mind talking about is how much I loved watching sitcoms.

Back then the likes of The Fresh Prince of Bel Air, Fraiser, and Friends were regularly broadcast on TV, and I would sit for hours watching and laughing along with the canned laughter.

As the years passed I eventually left my bedroom and bought an entire mid-terraced house.  A lot has changed over those years, but one thing remains – my absolute adoration for all-things sitcom.

Here I will break down my top five sitcoms of all time, giving a brief summary of the overarching storyline and a little bit of background on why I enjoy them so much.

Parks & Recreation

Leslie Knope (Amy Poehler), a passionate mid-level bureaucrat working for the Parks and Recreation department of the fictional Pawnee, Indiana government, wants to help a local nurse, Ann (Rashida Jones), convert a huge pit next to her home into a community park. First though, she has to overcome red tape… and the local neighbours.

As the seasons progress, each episode has an individual story with an overarching plot revolving around the workings of the Parks and Recreation department of Pawnee’s government.

I adore this sitcom. The characters really are just that – characters – from the peppy puppy-like eagerness of the lead character, Leslie Knope, to the almost aggressive indifference of her boss, Ron Swanson (Nick Offerman). The characters each stand out on their own and as they cross one another’s paths, and their interactions are equally as comical as they are ludicrous.

This sitcom flies under the radar in the UK, which is such a shame because it really is excellently written and performed.

Curb Your Enthusiasm

Curb Your Enthusiasm is an American sitcom that has run from 2000. It was written and created by Larry David, who acts as the lead in the show. 

He plays a version of himself, semi-fictionalized and dialled right up to 11. 

The show follows David’s life as a retired television writer and producer in L.A.

The amount of empathy I have for Larry David is unreal. His frustrations are real, understandable and relatable. The situations he finds himself are absurd but also realistic. For example, finding yourself at the home of a retired male porn star for a dinner date and being asked to take your shoes off at the door. Absolutely absurd, but entirely possible given the characters connections to the famous.

The supporting cast are excellent, and the sitcoms part-improvised style just makes this show all the more exciting and compelling.

The Office (US)

The Office is an American mockumentary-style sitcom that depicts the day to day work lives of office employees at a fictional paper sales company named Dunder Miflin, based in Scranton, P.A.

This sitcom acts as the breaking show for so many careers and solidifies, without doubt, Steve Carell (Michael Scott) as a legend in the history books of comedy.

This sitcom is one of two that I put on at nighttime in bed, and probably always will. It is a comfort blanket to me, as I’m sure it is to many others.  The characters are so familiar to me now that they almost feel like family.

The situations are incredibly silly, but despite the situations being difficult to believe sometimes, certainly in the later seasons, they manage to still suspend disbelief enough that it remains a great show. A show that is so, so re-watchable.

The Office (UK)

The O.G. Office, and even better than The US version, without doubt. Certainly for the UK viewer.

The Office is a British television mockumentary-style sitcom that first aired in 2001.  Created, written and directed by Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant, it follows the day-to-day lives of office employees in the Slough branch of a fictional paper sales company named Wernham Hogg Paper Company.

The lead character, David Brent (Ricky Gervais), has become a national hero and a character known around the world.  His kind and innocent nature coupled with his need to be loved by his employees make him such a likeable character. You immediately buy in to the show based on how natural and hilarious David is from the opening scene.

The supporting characters are similarly believable, and a casual viewer back in 2001 would be forgiven for initially mistaking this show as a documentary if they were passing through and caught just a couple of minutes of a show.

I’ve laughed and cried at this show over and over. It has been there for me in the darkest of times, and in the best of times.

Seinfeld

The World’s greatest sitcom, without any doubt in my mind, is Seinfeld.  This is the second appearance in the list for Larry David who created the show along with its lead actor, Jerry Seinfeld.

So, what is the show about?

Famously: nothing.

Three friends (Jerry, a stand-up comic, Elaine, a copy editor, Kramer, an unemployed overly familiar neighbour, and George, well… George is George) just… exist. 

Living in New York City, the cast navigate relationships, work, ethics and morals.

How Larry and Jerry managed to sell this show is beyond me, but inspires me every day to aspire to greatness. I believe all things are possible through this sitcoms existence.

Its brilliance is that in this nothingness exists situations that are believable but farcical. 

If I’m not falling asleep to The US Office, I’m falling asleep to the best sitcom of all time, Seinfeld.