TV’s Greatest Comedy Antiheroes

COMEDY ANTIHEROS

Have you ever noticed that some of the characters you love may not be the best people in the world? It doesn’t make you like ’em any less– in fact, it may actually make you like them even more. But here are some of the worst people you loved inviting into your home every week.

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Andrew Dice Clay, “Dice”

Although the show is only 6 episodes in, Dice has fulfilled on his promise that the theme of the show is “Dice ruins everything”. Dice spends the entire first episode trying to get out of an ATM fee by gambling as much money as possible just so he can give someone a wedding gift. He would rather be right than do things the easy way. He took that rough and tough stage persona of the ultimate alpha male, or “savage beast” as he likes to say, and translated it to the Showtime series named after himself.

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Larry David, “Curb Your Enthusiasm”

The best people suited to mock someone is the person themselves. Larry David’s over the top portrayal of himself and his daily life on Curb Your Enthusiasm found David getting into arguments and altercations with people every week, most of the time because people don’t see things the way he sees them. Larry says whatever is on his mind and will go out of his way to stop people from doing things that bother him. It never mattered if the person was older, bigger, a different race, different sex, a child or even if that person was right. Larry did what Larry did.

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Al Bundy, “Married With Children”

There were a few episodes of Married…With Children that showed you Al Bundy wasn’t all bad, but a very few. The rest of the time, although beloved by the viewing audience, Al was a miserable guy that hated what his life had become. He openly told his wife how much he despised her, told his kids how they were a disappointment and let all of his family members know that, in his opinion, they had ruined his bright future and crushed his dreams. He spent most episodes of the show scheming to get little amounts of money, staring at women or using the people around him for his benefit. One episode revolved around him pushing his daughter to date a local politician, even cutting her dress to make it more revealing just so he could get some potholes fixed and be the “Godfather” of the neighborhood.

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GOB Bluth, “Arrested Development”

Will Arnett plays the perfect bad guy, and he does it so well that it doesn’t even matter in Arrested Development. GOB’s entire life is centered around himself and figuring out ways to get more attention, which is why he works as a flashy musician and rides around on a segway. GOB chose to avoid his biological son who wanted someone to participate in a father-son race with him and then cut off his own brother’s handlebars out of jealousy. What kind of guy would fake a crucifixion to get out of a marriage? GOB Bluth, that’s who.

LOS ANGELES - JANUARY 25: ALL IN THE FAMILY Carroll O'Connor as Archie Bunker in "Archie and The Quiz". Image dated January 24, 1975. (Photo by CBS via Getty Images)

Archie Bunker, “All in the Family”

Archie Bunker could be considered the forefather of anti-heroes in sitcoms. Bunker was as popular as he was offensive. The things Bunker said back then would not even be allowed on TV now, but back then people would roar with laughter when he made as many racist remarks as he could in a minute. Bunker didn’t just hold his contempt for other races though, he also had pretty extreme opinions and views on homosexuality and religion. His opinion on neighborhoods becoming more integrated will make you cringe.

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Larry Sanders, “The Larry Sanders Show”

Don’t you love it when actors play themselves as unlikable assholes? Well that all started with The Larry Sanders Show, and the only way to not hate those people completely would be to have a main character that was even less likable than the guests on the show. Larry was a neurotic and paranoid guy who would do whatever it took to get his way and keep his spot in the Late Night world. He would undercut people he thought were threatening him and start feuds with guests who he thought had done him wrong.

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Kenny Powers, “East Bound and Down”

Kenny Powers is probably the worst person on this list, yet he somehow may be the most likable as well. Although he did some awful things, you wanted to see Kenny come out on top, whether it was just in a middle school or fighting Guy Young over who would control Sports Sesh. He had his awful moments and was dumb, vulgar and put himself over everyone around him no matter how important they were to him. He pouted in a corner while his wife won an award because he couldn’t handle not being in the spotlight and he kept a coyote chained up in his garage to make a point to his son. He did drugs around children, constantly lied to get his way and would mess up anything good that happened to him. All of that yet you still wanted Kenny to end up with April and be happy.

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Jerry Seinfeld, “Seinfeld”

A case could be made for every character from the Seinfeld clan but Jerry may be the worst of them all. The easiest one to point out is the way he treats women, every week it seemed like Jerry had a new girlfriend and would have no problem breaking up with her for the smallest of reasons, it actually became his thing he did it so much. Even when Jerry tried to do nice things for people it would cause chaos like when he not only got Babu’s restaurant closed down after giving him bad advice, but still ended up getting him deported after he got him a job at Monk’s cafe.

 

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