20 Funny Shows Like New Girl You Need To Watch

After a devastating breakup, Jess (Zooey Deschanel) moves into an awesome loft with three single guys — Nick (Jake Johnson), Schmidt (Max Greenfield), and Coach (Damon Wayans Jr.) — in Los Angeles, California. Initially, the guys are a little put off by Jess' grieving process, which includes copious amounts of wine and "Dirty Dancing." But they soon discover that Jess' quirky personality is delightful and her best friend, Cece (Hannah Simone), is a model. What single guy doesn't want a model and her friends hanging around their apartment? Former roommate Winston Bishop (Lamorne Morris) moves back in after the first episode. He rounds out this crew as they quickly become a dysfunctional but funny family.

For many of us, "New Girl" is a happy, funny escape from reality. You can press play knowing that the quirky characters and their antics will make you laugh till your sides hurt. This hit sitcom follows the lives of a group of friends in their early 30s, as they struggle with adulting, relationships, career choices, and family. It proves that some of us are still figuring out who we are and how to shoulder the responsibilities of life even in our 30s. Like many sitcoms, most of the humor comes from the situations these characters find themselves in at work, home, and on dates. Jess' offbeat personality and her clear lack of boundaries get her into all kinds of trouble, making us laugh during each episode.

The NBC police procedural "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" follows detective Jake Peralta (Andy Samberg) and his co-workers at the 99th precinct of the NYPD. Jake has the best arrest record in the precinct. In fact, he's so good at his job that he even takes over Jess' car for a high-speed chase in a "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" and "New Girl' crossover. For five seasons we could watch this hilarious award-winning series on Fox. After Fox canceled the series, NBC picked it up for the last three seasons. "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" has been critically acclaimed for its portrayal of LGBTQ+ characters like police chief Raymond Holt (Andre Braugher), who is openly gay.

Braugher told The Advocate, "This happens to be groundbreaking comedy, believe it or not. And I'm not sure anybody intended it to be groundbreaking comedy — it's respectful and humane, and that happens to be surprising." The police procedural genre has been plagued by homophobic representations, and "Brooklyn Nine-Nine" is decidedly intolerant of homophobia. The humor comes instead from the daily activities of the people who make up the Nine-Nine. Who knew a police procedural could be so funny? 

Hulu's "Dollface," much like "New Girl," is about a young woman, Jules (Kat Dennings), who lives in Los Angeles. She doesn't know what to do with herself after her longtime boyfriend, Jeremy (Connor Hines), breaks up with her. Jules tries to reconnect with her college girlfriends, Madison (Brenda Song) and Stella (Shay Mitchell), whom she lost touch with during her relationship. Izzy (Esther Povitsky), Jules' new friend from work, and their boss Celeste (Malin Akerman) round out the central cast. Jules' job as a web designer at Woöm — a fictional, thinly veiled, tongue-in-cheek reference to Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop — is over-the-top LA, and Celeste is perfect as the CEO.

There was no critical consensus on Season 1, and Season 2 was delayed because of the pandemic (per Deadline). It was worth the wait as it presently has a great user score on Rotten Tomatoes. "Dollface" is about the importance of female friendship, especially during those unstable years in your late 20s, where everything in your life is constantly shifting. You might feel like you should have accomplished more by this age. Seeing old friends from college who have the house, marriage, and child can make you feel like you aren't really measuring up. Guys and jobs might come and go, but if you prioritize your girls, they can carry you through the tough times.

HBO's "Girls" is a story about a group of female friends, who are recently out of college and living in NYC. While every character on "New Girl" is likable in their own flawed way, this HBO series is distinctly different because the women in "Girls" are selfish, self-centered, and narcissistic. Despite their awful personalities, the series is funny, sharp, and engaging. The show was created by Lena Dunham, who stars as Hannah, an aspiring writer. Hannah's housemate and best friend Marnie (Allison Williams) begins the series as an overachiever working at an art gallery, only to go in another direction while trying to find herself. Hannah's sometimes-boyfriend Adam (Adam Driver) plays a major role throughout "Girls," as do Shoshanna (Zosia Mamet) and her free-spirited cousin Jessa (Jemima Kirke).

"Girls" was heavily criticized for its lack of ethnic diversity, especially considering its setting of NYC. In an interview on Fresh Air, Dunham responded by saying: "I wrote the first season primarily by myself, and I co-wrote a few episodes. But I am a half-Jew, half-WASP, and I wrote two Jews and two WASPs. Something I wanted to avoid was tokenism in casting. ... I did write something that was super-specific to my experience, and I always want to avoid rendering an experience I can't speak to accurately." Despite these criticisms, the series continues to be popular with critics and audiences alike.

Following on the heels of the super successful "How I Met Your Mother," Hilary Duff stars as Sophie in the spinoff series, "How I Met Your Father." Kim Cattrall plays the older version of Sophie, who tells her son all about how she met his dad. Season 1 dropped exclusively on Hulu in January 2022 and a longer Season 2 has already been approved. The story begins when hopeless romantic Sophie — a photographer living in New York City — calls an Uber so she can meet her 88th Tinder date of the year. Her Uber driver is Jesse (Christopher Lowell), an aspiring musician and music teacher, who introduces her to Sid (Suraj Sharma), a med student turned bar owner.

Sophie, her housemate Valentina (Francia Raisa), and Charlie (Tom Ainsley) — the Brit Valentina brought home from London fashion week — go to Sid's bar. There, they meet Jesse's sister, Ellen (Tien Tran), who has moved to Manhattan following her divorce. The six quickly become friends and get meshed in each other's lives. "How I Met Your Father" is about these six friends in their late 20s and early 30s braving those in-between years where some of their peers have everything together, while others are still trying to figure it all out. The laugh track is awful (hopefully they do away with it in Season 2) but the characters are fun and the cast shows promise. It's also nice to see a more diverse cast than its predecessor.

HBO's "Insecure" was co-created and co-written by its star Issa Rae and was loosely based on her web series, "Awkward Black Girl." The HBO series centers on the friendship of Issa (Rae) and her best friend Molly (Yvonne Orji), who met while attending Stanford, and explores the many awkward experiences they have while living in their hometown of Los Angeles. The series is about female friendship, figuring out who you are in your late 20s and early 30s, careers, relationships, and the Black experience in America.

This series is funny, fresh, and witty. All five seasons have been a hit, as seen by its stellar ratings on Rotten Tomatoes. When "Insecure" began back in 2016, Rae was the first Black woman to create and star in an HBO series. But Rae didn't want the series to always have to be about being Black, despite being steeped in Black culture (per Refinery29). NPR has said about the series, "It's also an example of how something that's culturally specific can also tell a universal story." If you always think you are the most awkward person in the room, you will enjoy and relate to this hilarious show about the searching and struggle of being 30-something.

When 23-year-old Jane Villanueva (Gina Rodriguez) is accidentally artificially inseminated instead of another patient, her life is flipped upside down. When Jane discovers she's pregnant, she doesn't believe it because she's a virgin. Jane had resolved to wait until marriage because her mother, Xiomara (Andrea Navedo), got pregnant with Jane as a teenager. Jane is finishing school to become a teacher and is about to get engaged to her boyfriend, Michael (Brett Dier). But when Jane learns she is pregnant with the baby of her boss, Rafael (Justin Baldoni), her life plan goes out the window. Despite the wild premise of "Jane the Virgin," it is a funny satire of the telenovelas Jane watches with her mom and her abuela, Alba (Ivonne Coll). 

The show is a fresh perspective on what it means to be a young Latina woman, who is trying to figure out who she is and what she wants from life, all with her friends and family by her side. Jane struggles with career choices: Should she follow her dreams or play it safe? And she considers relationship questions: Should she stick with Michael or consider a future with Rafael, the father of her child? "Jane the Virgin" was an instant critical hit and has an exceptional rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Vulture went as far as calling it "the best show on TV" in 2018. In 2015, Gina Rodriguez won a Golden Globe for her performance and the series won a Peabody Award that same year (per IMDb).

"Seinfeld" is the quintessential sitcom of a group of single friends hanging out, which gets its observational humor from the absurdity of their daily lives in New York City. Jerry Seinfeld plays a fictionalized version of himself, with Elaine (Julia Louis-Dreyfus), George (Jason Alexander), and Jerry's eccentric neighbor, Cosmo Kramer (Michael Richards), rounding out their foursome. The group hangs out mostly in Jerry's apartment — much like the gang in "New Girl" or "Friends" — with occasional lunches at the diner, and maybe a trip to the Soup Nazi if they are feeling brave.

The series has famously been called "the show about nothing," but it is also famous for the many ways it changed sitcoms, as explored on Vox. From implementing different story structure techniques to focusing on largely self-involved, unlikable people, "Seinfeld" showed America that characters didn't have to be nice to be entertaining. We wouldn't have shows like "It's Always Sunny" or "Girls" without "Seinfeld" paving the path for funny narcissists to take over our televisions. Despite its lack of diversity and aged look, the series still has an impressive audience score on Rotten Tomatoes plus 10 Emmys, proving it's funny and absolutely worth your time.

For six seasons, audiences tuned in to watch the wacky employees at a big-box store in NBC's "Superstore." America Ferrera leads this ensemble cast as Amelia "Amy" Sosa, the floor manager of Cloud 9. The cast's regulars include Jonah (Ben Feldman), assistant manager Dina (Lauren Ash), general manager Glenn (Mark McKinney), Garrett (Colton Dunn), Mateo (Nico Santos), and Cheyenne (Nichole Sakura). Rather than living together, this group of hilarious weirdos are brought together by their jobs. The humor of the series centers on the interactions of the employees of Cloud 9 and the strange customers they deal with every day.

"Superstore" floundered a bit in Season 1, but found its stride in Season 2 and gained an overall stellar rating on Rotten Tomatoes. Variety said the show is "a sharp yet warm workplace comedy, and it manages to be both nimble and incisive about an array of issues a lot of comedies artfully avoid." NBC's "Superstore" is charming and goofy, but as Vox noted, the series doesn't shy away from taking on contemporary "social issues, from sexual harassment to cultural appropriation. But it never feels like an 'issue of the week' show — tough to do. The writers are careful to make sure that the social issues arise from the storytelling."

Created by and starring Mindy Kaling, "The Mindy Project" is about the life and work of quirky Mindy Lahiri, a South Asian-American doctor living in New York City. Mindy is an OB/GYN and partner in a medical practice, who has a rom-com obsession. Like Jess in "New Girl," Mindy might be in her early 30s and have her career figured out, but her love life is chaotic and she feels like she struggles with adulting. The other doctors and support staff in her medical practice are just as neurotic and eccentric as Mindy, which leads to plenty of laughs and awkward situations.

The first three seasons of the series were on Fox, and then Hulu took over for the last three. "The Mindy Project" has been praised by IndieWire, which said the show "has always existed in a fantastical plane of reality in which nothing terribly wretched can happen, which makes it easy to embrace these well-meaning, imperfect weirdos." But the series has also faced its fair share of criticism for sidestepping serious women's issues like abortion and for the lack of diversity in the casting of Mindy's love interests (per Jezebel). If you want to decide for yourself, you can stream every episode on Hulu.

Set in the start-up tech culture of San Francisco, "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist" centers on Zoey Clarke (Jane Levy), a talented computer programmer, who has a strange experience in an MRI during an earthquake. She suddenly gets the ability to understand people's emotions through musical numbers that only she witnesses. Initially, she questions her sanity, but after consulting with her neighbor Mo (Alex Newell), Zoey begins to think of these distracting musical numbers as heart songs that can give her personal insight into those around her.

Of course, this new gift causes many humorous situations, including Zoey realizing her best friend and coworker Max (Skylar Astin) just might be in love with her. These heart songs lead to Zoey having a complete lack of boundaries, as she inserts herself into the lives of those around her, which is a personality trait Zoey shares with Jess. Like "New Girl," this series offers the quirky, irreverent, and surreal break from reality so many of us have needed over the last couple years. Liked by audiences and critics alike as seen by its high rating on Rotten Tomatoes, "Zoey's Extraordinary Playlist" is a delightfully wacky series you must check out.