10 HBO Comedy Shows That Are Perfect Weekend Binges

Published Nov 14, 2026, 1:04 PM EST Sign in to your Collider account A good comedy only has to make people laugh. That sounds simple, but it's one of the hardest things to pull off on TV. Jokes that land in the first episode can wear thin by the fifth, and plenty of sitcoms end up running on autopilot and recycling the same predictable jokes. HBO has never been interested in the traditional sitcom formula, though, and its comedies tend to be stranger and sharper than most. The network's best comedies often come with a lot more depth than one might expect from the genre, to the point where some of them barely even look like comedies. However, the important thing is that they manage to make even the darkest subject matter feel funny. Better yet, most of them are short enough to finish in a couple of sittings, so there’s no need to commit to years of episodes just to get to the good part. Here are HBO comedy shows that are perfect weekend binges. 10 'DTF St. Louis' (2026) Image via HBO DTF St. Louis is a rare comedy that opens with a dead body. The seven-episode limited series follows a love triangle between local TV weatherman Clark Forrest (Jason Bateman), his sign language interpreter, Floyd Smernitch (David Harbour), and Floyd's wife, Carol (Linda Cardellini). All three are stuck in a midlife slump, and things get messy when a local hookup app enters the picture, and Clark starts an affair with Carol behind his friend's back. By the end of the first episode, one of them is dead, and the show slowly rewinds to explain how these three ordinary people ended up here. The murder is definitely a hook, but the real joke is watching these adults make increasingly bad decisions. Creator Steven Conrad fills the show with odd, rambling conversations that feel almost too real, and the humor comes from how desperately everyone wants to feel something new. The show’s strange mix of crime story and suburban comedy is definitely strange. However, for viewers who can appreciate some good dark humor, DTF St. Louis is one of HBO's most unique shows in years and is absolutely impossible to stop watching until the very end. 9 'The Chair Company' (2025–Present) Image via HBO Only Tim Robinson could turn a broken chair into an eight-episode conspiracy thriller that just keeps tightening the noose. The story follows Robinson as Ron Trosper, a project manager who is about to give an important presentation at work when his chair suddenly collapses underneath him. Everyone laughs and moves on, but Ron just can't let it go. His hunt for someone to blame leads him to the company that made the chair, and before long, he is convinced he has uncovered a much bigger conspiracy. That isn't great news for his wife, Barb (Lake Bell), who just wants her husband to go back to normal. The premise sounds absolutely absurd, but the deeper Ron digs, the more the show feels like a real paranoid thriller. The Chair Company does a great job of taking a tiny embarrassment and making it spiral into total madness, but that contrast brings Robinson’s signature humor to the show. Ron is desperately trying to win back his dignity, but the harder he tries, the more of it he loses. Anyone who has ever obsessed over one embarrassing moment will see a little of themselves in his meltdown. The Chair Company is one of the weirdest comedies of all time, but also the funniest. 8 'The Regime' (2024) Image via HBO The Regime is a political satire with a very fragile yet complex dictator at its center. Kate Winslet stars as Chancellor Elena Vernham, the leader of a fictional Central European country who is slowly losing her grip on power. Elena is so terrified of mold that she has her palace constantly checked, and she relies on a soldier named Herbert Zubak (Matthias Schoenaerts) to carry a humidity monitor everywhere she goes. Soon enough, Herbert becomes her closest advisor, and his questionable advice starts to shape the entire country's future. The Regime works because it shows how ridiculous power can be when the wrong person holds it. Elena is paranoid and desperate to be loved by her people, and nearly every major decision she makes comes from fear instead of strategy. The show uses her strange dynamic with Herbert to fuel the narrative that’s both uncomfortable and endlessly hilarious to watch. One can tell how much fun Winslet has with this role. The Regime doesn’t follow the usual beats of a comedy, but its sharp take on leadership makes it well worth six episodes. 7 'Mrs. Fletcher' (2019) Image via HBO Mrs. Fletcher is a coming-of-age story, except the person coming of age is a middle-aged mom. The show stars Kathryn Hahn as Eve Fletcher, a divorced single mother who suddenly finds herself alone when her son, Brendan (Jackson White), leaves for college. For the first time in years, Eve decides to do something for herself and signs up for a writing class. At the same time, Brendan discovers that the confident act that worked in high school doesn't get him very far in college. The best thing about Mrs. Fletcher is how honestly it shows two people starting over at completely different points in their lives. Eve's journey is awkward and funny, but it's also freeing, and the show treats her search for something new with real warmth. Brendan's side of the story is less likable, but it's a realistic look at a young man who has never been told no. Mrs. Fletcher is an easy binge with its seven half-hour episodes that operate like a feel-good comedy, but are far more thoughtful than it might initially seem. 6 'Run' (2020) Image via HBO Run starts with a text message and turns into one of HBO's most fun romantic comedies. The show begins when college sweethearts Ruby (Merritt Wever) and Billy (Domhnall Gleeson) make a pact that if either of them ever texted the word "RUN" and the other replied, they would drop everything and meet up. Seventeen years later, Ruby is stuck in a dull suburban marriage when she finally gets the text she has been waiting for. She walks out on her life without a second thought and boards a train across America to meet the man she never got over. However, the real story starts when that fantasy starts to crack. Turns out that both Ruby and Billy have been hiding things about the lives they left behind, and soon enough, the show starts adding twists that push the romance closer to a thriller. The show cleverly suggests that Ruby and Billy might be more in love with the people they used to be than with each other, which makes every sweet moment between them feel a little bittersweet at the same time. HBO canceled the show after one season, which is a shame, but its seven episodes still make for a quick and gripping binge. Collider Exclusive · 8 Questions · 2 Minutes Which Iconic Fandom Should You Join? Harry Potter · Lord of the Rings · Star Wars · Star Trek Eight honest questions about how you actually are: what you put on when you need cheering up, how deep you go into the things you love, what you argue about, what you keep on your shelf. Answer them and we will tell you where you belong. Four of the biggest fandoms on earth are taking new members, and they could not be more different from one another. ⚡Harry Potter(Wizarding World) 💍Lord of the Rings(Middle-earth) ⚔️Star Wars(A Galaxy Far Away) 🖖Star Trek(The Final Frontier) FIND YOUR PEOPLE → 01 What do you put on when you need cheering up? Nobody is brave about this one. AThe same thing I have watched a hundred times. BSomething long, slow and beautiful. CSomething big and loud with a great score. DOne clever episode of something hopeful. NEXT QUESTION → 02 How deep do you go into something you love? There is no shallow end here, only different deep ends. AI know every character and all the gossip. BI have read the appendices and studied the maps. CI have a ranked opinion on every instalment. DI want to know how the world actually works. NEXT QUESTION → 03 What do you and your friends actually argue about? Every fandom has one argument it has been having for years. AWhich one of us is which type. BWhether the adaptation got it right. CWhether the new stuff ruined the old stuff. DWhether the right thing was actually done. NEXT QUESTION → 04 How do you feel about a room full of strangers? Every one of these comes with a very big room. AGreat, and I will know everybody by the end. BFine, as long as they take it seriously. CBrilliant, especially if there is something to dress up for. DHappy, provided the conversation is interesting. NEXT QUESTION → 05 Where would you rather spend a week? Pick on instinct rather than on budget. AAn old castle somewhere rainy. BMountains, long walks, no phone signal. CA desert with an unbelievable night sky. DA city built around a university. NEXT QUESTION → 06 What do you believe about people, mostly? All four of these stories have an answer, and they disagree. AMost of them turn out better than expected. BThe smallest ones decide the biggest things. CAnybody can change, even very late on. DWe work it out if we keep talking. NEXT QUESTION → 07 What is actually on your shelf? Look over at it before you answer. AEverything I owned when I was twelve. BHardbacks, in order, read more than once. CFigures, posters, and a few things still boxed. DBooks about how things work, plus a model or two. NEXT QUESTION → 08 What do you actually want from a story? Eight questions in, this is the one that picks your fandom. AA place I can go back to whenever I need it. BA world complete enough to get lost in. CSomething huge I can share with everybody. DAn idea that changes how I think. REVEAL MY FANDOM → Membership Confirmed Your Fandom Is…Four of the largest communities on the planet, and four completely different reasons to belong to one. Here is yours, what it would give you, and the argument you would be having within a week. Harry PotterYou belong to the fandom that is really about comfort. Hogwarts works on people because it is a place rather than a plot, and the pull is not the wizard war so much as the corridors, the food, the weather and the sense that somebody is expecting you. You are drawn to belonging, which is why this fandom sorted itself into houses within about five minutes and has never stopped. This is the most social of the four, and the one most likely to know which type every single person in your life would be. The books are built to be reread rather than analysed, and rereading is exactly what you do with things you love. The new HBO series is bringing the whole thing back one book at a time, which means the arguments are about to start all over again. Lord of the RingsYou belong to the deepest fandom on this list, the one where somebody has always read further than you and is quietly delighted to say so. Middle-earth rewards patience more than any other world in popular culture. You like the sense that the story you are reading is only the visible part of something enormous, which is precisely how Tolkien built it. This fandom takes adaptation seriously to a degree that other fandoms find slightly alarming, and it has good reasons for that. Your favourite thing about the books is probably the bit that is not action at all, which is the walking, the songs and the long goodbyes. Nobody here thinks heroism belongs to the powerful, and the whole story exists to make that argument. Star WarsYou belong to the loudest and largest tent of the four, the one where three generations are all watching the same thing and none of them agree about any of it. That disagreement is not a flaw in this fandom, it is the main activity. You want something you can share with absolutely everybody, from a six year old to a grandparent, and this is the only one on the list that really does that. Nobody argues like Star Wars fans argue, and the argument has been running since roughly 1980 with no sign of resolution. The pull here is sensory before it is narrative, since it is the sound design, the score and the look of a used and dented galaxy. You would be first in the queue, in costume, with strong opinions and a genuinely good time. Star TrekYou belong to the thinking fandom, the one that turns up for the argument rather than the explosion. Trek has always been a series of ethical problems in space, and the people who love it love being asked what they would have done. You are an optimist in a way that is currently unfashionable, and this is the only major franchise still willing to say the future might be better. The best episodes are the ones where nobody fires anything, which is a sentence that makes perfect sense to this fandom and to nobody else. Starfleet Academy brought the franchise back to a classroom in 2026, which is appropriate, because Trek has always been a bit of a seminar. You would want the conversation afterwards more than the episode itself, and here you will always find somebody willing to have it. ↻ RETAKE THE QUIZ 5 'The Franchise' (2024) Image via HBO The Franchise is a love letter to everyone who has ever had to work on a terrible superhero movie, or a terrible set in general. Daniel (Himesh Patel) is a first assistant director trying to keep the troubled production of “Tecto,” a forgettable comic book film, from falling apart. The director has big artistic dreams, while the studio keeps changing its mind about everything. Unfortunately, Daniel is caught in the middle, and he spends every day putting out fires that only seem to get bigger. The Franchise is packed with fast, cutting dialogue. The show pokes fun at how Hollywood treats superhero movies like products instead of stories, and anyone who has followed behind-the-scenes drama on big-budget films will find plenty to laugh at. Despite its sharp critique of the industry, though, the show is surprisingly sympathetic toward the crew members who actually keep everything running against all odds. It’s unfortunate that the show only aired for one season, but it is still one of the funniest workplace comedies of recent years. 4 'Somebody Somewhere' (2022–2024) Image via HBO Somebody Somewhere feels like a warm hug. The show follows Sam (Bridget Everett), a woman in her 40s who moves back to her hometown of Manhattan, Kansas, after the death of her sister. Sam feels completely lost, stuck in a job she doesn't care about and a town where she never quite fit in. However, everything changes when she reconnects with Joel (Jeff Hiller), an old high school classmate who introduces her to a group of fellow misfits and finally gives her a reason to sing again. There are no big twists or wild plotlines in Somebody Somewhere, and that's exactly what makes it special. The show finds humor in everyday life, from awkward family dinners to small-town gossip, and it treats grief with a lightness that feels honest. Sam and Joel's friendship is the heart of the series, and it's easily one of the most wholesome relationships on TV. Three short, sweet seasons make Somebody Somewhere the perfect comfort watch for a slow weekend. 3 'Enlightened' (2011–2013) Image via HBO Enlightened was ahead of its time, and it deserves way more appreciation than it gets. The show features the brilliant Laura Dern as Amy Jellicoe, a corporate executive who has a very public breakdown at work after an affair with her boss goes wrong. After some time at a wellness retreat in Hawaii, she comes back determined to live a calmer, more meaningful life. Her old company doesn't share her new outlook, though, and it buries her in a basement department full of misfits doing data entry. Now, Amy is both the hero and the problem in Enlightened. She genuinely wants to change her life and make the world better, but she’s so wrapped up in her own journey that she rarely notices how exhausting she is to the people around her. The show never mocks her for trying, but it never lets her off the hook either. That balance makes her one of the most complicated characters on TV, and her quiet struggle against her corporate employer becomes surprisingly inspiring. What starts as a story about one woman's personal growth slowly turns into broader commentary about capitalism. While it only lasted two seasons, Enlightened remains one of HBO's most underrated comedies that is impossible to stop watching until the final episode. 2 'How To with John Wilson' (2020–2023) Image via HBO How To with John Wilson looks like a simple documentary series, but it's unlike anything else on TV. Each episode starts with a basic question, like how to make small talk or how to find a parking spot in New York City. Filmmaker John Wilson then wanders around the city with his camera and narrates in his soft, nervous voice, and the answer always takes him somewhere completely unexpected. Along the way, he meets some of the strangest and most fascinating people New York has to offer. The genius of How To with John Wilson is how it turns everyday life into something strange and beautiful. Wilson’s camera catches tiny, ridiculous moments that most people would walk right past, and his narration connects them in ways that are both funny and fascinating. It’s a show about how hard it is to connect with other people, made by someone who clearly finds that hard too, and that’s where its charming humor comes from. How To with John Wilson is effortless to binge, and it might just make viewers look at their own city differently. 1 'Avenue 5' (2020–2022) Image via HBO Avenue 5 is a satire about what happens when the people in charge are only pretending to know what they’re doing, but in space. Hugh Laurie stars as Ryan Clark, the charming captain of a luxury spaceship touring around Saturn. When a minor technical glitch knocks the ship off course, an eight-week trip suddenly turns into a journey of more than three years. The problem is that Ryan isn't really a captain at all, and neither he nor the ship's clueless billionaire owner, Herman Judd (Josh Gad), has any idea how to fix things. Every attempt they make to keep the passengers calm only makes the panic worse, and the show has a lot of fun with how quickly a luxury vacation turns into a survival situation. It’s silly on the surface, but its jokes about bad leadership and blind faith in billionaires land a little too close to home if one pays attention. Avenue 5 is absurd from start to finish, but that exaggeration is the entire point. Avenue 5 Release Date 2020 - 2022-00-00 Network HBO