Best Comedies on Netflix: Films, Series and Stand-Up

The most-watched comedy with real actors in it is Red Notice. It sits second on Netflix’s own all-time list of English-language films, and the only film above it is a cartoon. For a series, the first season of Wednesday tops the same list for shows. For stand-up, the Golden Globe for a stand-up special went to Netflix in 2024, 2025 and 2026: Ricky Gervais twice, Ali Wong once.

Searches for Netflix comedies split between films, series and stand-up, so this list has all three. We did not rank anything by how funny we find it. Each title is here for a reason you can check: Netflix’s viewing lists, an award, the number of seasons, or who made it. We opened every title’s Netflix page.

Before you pick: your Netflix may differ

Netflix’s catalogue differs from country to country. The pages we opened were the ones Netflix serves in Nigeria, so a title here may be missing where you are. Click a title in the table, and its page tells you if your country lacks it.

The safest picks are Netflix’s own productions, because Netflix says it holds worldwide rights to most of its originals. The table marks them. Anything marked licensed comes and goes by country.

The age ratings are the Nigerian ones too. Netflix says ratings vary by region, and Nigeria’s run high: six of the ten series below are marked 18+.

Comedies on Netflix at a glance

For a series, the year is the one on its Netflix page, which follows the newest season.

Comedy films

Red Notice (2021). An FBI profiler chasing the world’s most wanted art thief ends up as his partner, because a third crook keeps getting there first. It is an action comedy from director Rawson Marshall Thurber. Only one film sits above it on Netflix’s all-time list of English-language films.

Don’t Look Up (2021). Two astronomers go on a media tour to warn that a comet is about to wipe out the planet, and the world shrugs. Adam McKay directs. Netflix tags it a satire and a Golden Globe nominee, and it is fourth on that all-time list.

Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery (2022). Detective Benoit Blanc travels to Greece to untangle a mystery around a tech billionaire and his circle of friends. Daniel Craig plays Blanc and Rian Johnson directs. Netflix tags this one a Golden Globe nominee as well. The follow-up, Wake Up Dead Man (2025, 16+), is there too.

Happy Gilmore 2 (2025). Adam Sandler’s short-tempered golfer comes back to the game to make his child’s dream come true. Director Kyle Newacheck also made Murder Mystery (2019, 16+), a Netflix film with Sandler and Jennifer Aniston as a New York policeman and his wife caught up in a killing on a billionaire’s yacht.

Beverly Hills Cop: Axel F (2024). Eddie Murphy is Detroit policeman Axel Foley again, back in Beverly Hills forty years after his first case there. Kevin Bacon is in the cast.

Leo (2023). An animated musical about the last year of primary school, seen through the eyes of the class pet, a lizard voiced by Adam Sandler. At 7+ it has the lowest rating of any film here. KPop Demon Hunters (2025, 10+), the cartoon at the top of Netflix’s all-time list, is filed under comedy as well. It follows three pop stars who use secret powers to protect their fans, with the voices of Arden Cho and Ken Jeong.

Nollywood comedies

In Nigeria, the first row on Netflix’s comedy films page is African films, and it opens with Nollywood.

A Naija Christmas (2021). A mother’s Christmas wish, and the prize she attaches to it, sets her sons competing with each other. Kunle Afolayan directs. It is a Netflix film, so it is the Nollywood comedy most likely to be in your catalogue wherever you are.

Oversabi Aunty (2025). A self-righteous church usher tries to fix everyone around her and throws her own family into chaos just before her daughter’s wedding. Toyin Abraham directs and stars. It led that African row when we looked.

The same row had two more licensed films. In Chief Daddy (2018, 13+) a rich patriarch drops dead and everyone around him scrambles for the fortune, with Joke Silva, Falz and Funke Akindele. Aki and Paw Paw (2021, 13+) has Chinedu Ikedieze and Osita Iheme as brothers who move to Lagos and chase social media fame.

Hindi comedies such as Maa Behen, Toaster and Laapataa Ladies are in our list of the best Hindi movies on Netflix.

Comedy series

Wednesday. Wednesday Addams, sharp-tongued and gloomy, investigates mysteries at Nevermore Academy. Jenna Ortega plays her. Netflix tags it a dark comedy. Its first season is the most-watched English-language season on Netflix’s all-time list, and its second is sixth.

Nobody Wants This. A woman who hosts a podcast about sex and a newly single rabbi fall for each other, and their families and very different lives get in the way. Kristen Bell and Adam Brody star, and Erin Foster created it. The Golden Globes’ own site lists six nominations for it over two years.

A Man on the Inside. Ted Danson plays a retired professor whom a private investigator sends undercover to crack a case. Its creator is Michael Schur, whom Netflix also credits as a creator of Brooklyn Nine-Nine.

The Four Seasons. Three married couples have gone on weekend trips together for decades, and the habit is tested when one couple divorces. Tina Fey stars and is one of its three creators.

BEEF. Each season tells a new story. The second has two couples whose blackmail war turns a country club upside down. The Television Academy’s site credits the series with 11 Emmys. Netflix tags it a dark comedy.

Grace and Frankie. Two women who are not friends are pushed together when their husbands leave them for each other. At seven seasons it is the longest Netflix series here. One of its two creators, Marta Kauffman, also co-created Friends.

Man Vs Bee. Rowan Atkinson is a father house-sitting a mansion and losing a war with a bee. The nine chapters run 10 to 19 minutes each. Atkinson’s follow-up, Man Vs Baby (2025), has four episodes and a 7+ rating.

Olóládé. Two friends get rich overnight and find themselves inside a deadly money laundering scheme. It is a Nigerian Netflix series in Yoruba, with an English audio track, and Netflix tags it a dark comedy.

The Great Indian Kapil Show. A Hindi variety talk show. Kapil Sharma hosts celebrity guests with his regular supporting cast.

Friends. Six friends in their twenties get through work, life and love in 1990s Manhattan. The Nigerian catalogue also had The Big Bang Theory (12 seasons), Brooklyn Nine-Nine (8), Seinfeld (9) and the American version of The Office (9), all licensed.

Stand-up specials

Every special here is Netflix’s own, and most are rated 18+.

Ricky Gervais: Mortality (2025). Gervais on life, death and the state of the world, his own death included. The Golden Globes’ site lists it as the 2026 winner for stand-up comedy on television. His earlier special, Armageddon (2023, 18+), won the same award in 2024.

Ali Wong: Single Lady (2024). Wong on dating again after her divorce. It won the Golden Globe in the year between Gervais’s two.

Dave Chappelle: Sticks & Stones (2019). Chappelle on gun culture, the opioid crisis and celebrity scandals. The Television Academy lists three Emmys for it, including the one for pre-recorded variety special. His newest on Netflix is The Unstoppable… (2025, 18+).

Bo Burnham: Inside (2021). A musical comedy special that Burnham shot and performed alone over the course of a year. It also has three Emmys: for directing, writing and music direction.

Trevor Noah: Joy in The Trenches (2026). Noah’s subjects run from a row on social media to a hard truth from a therapist. Netflix tags his 2023 special, Where Was I (18+), a Golden Globe nominee.

Kevin Hart: Acting My Age (2025). Hart on the mishaps of middle age. The Golden Globes’ site lists it as a 2026 nominee and calls it his fifth Netflix special.

Your Friend, Nate Bargatze (2024). Bargatze’s third Netflix special covers ordering pizza, wanting a second dog and leaning on his responsible wife. Netflix puts it in its “Clean-Cut Comics” row, and at 10+ it has the lowest rating of the specials here.

Papa Yaar by Zakir Khan (2026). Khan’s memories of his father and his childhood. The audio is Hindi, and the page lists English subtitles.

What happened to our earlier list

This article first ran in 2019 with twenty films. Two are still on Netflix where we looked, both Netflix’s own.

The Incredible Jessica James (2017, 18+). A struggling New York playwright, fresh from a bad breakup, makes an unlikely connection with a divorced app designer she meets on a blind date. Jessica Williams, Chris O’Dowd and LaKeith Stanfield star.

The Legacy of a Whitetail Deer Hunter (2018, 13+). A star of hunting videos takes his 12-year-old son into the wilderness to bond with him. Josh Brolin and Danny McBride star. Netflix lists it as a drama first.

Ten more have a Netflix page that Netflix marks as not available in our country: Baby Mama, Billy Madison, Catfight, Don’t Think Twice, The Edge of Seventeen, Hot Fuzz, I Love You, Man, The Informant!, Kicking and Screaming and Life of Brian. They may be in yours. The pages for American Pie, Bachelorette, The Birdcage, Dumplin’, Frances Ha, Goon and Heathers would not open at all, and we found no page for G.B.F.

Where to start

• One film: Red Notice. It is second on Netflix’s all-time film list and rated 13+.
• One series: Nobody Wants This for a romantic comedy, Wednesday if you like your comedy dark.
• One stand-up special: Ricky Gervais: Mortality or Ali Wong: Single Lady, the two most recent Golden Globe winners.
• With children in the room: Leo for a film, Man Vs Bee for a series, Nate Bargatze for stand-up.
• In Nigeria: Oversabi Aunty, the newest of the Nollywood picks.

Quick answers

What is the most-watched comedy on Netflix?

On Netflix’s all-time list of English-language films, KPop Demon Hunters is first and Red Notice second, and Netflix files both under comedy. Among shows, the first season of Wednesday leads.

Which comedies on Netflix are good for family viewing?

Going by the ratings on the pages we opened: Leo (7+), Man Vs Baby (7+), KPop Demon Hunters (10+), Man Vs Bee (10+) and Your Friend, Nate Bargatze (10+).

Are there Nollywood comedies on Netflix?

Yes. A Naija Christmas is a Netflix film, and Oversabi Aunty, Chief Daddy and Aki and Paw Paw are licensed ones in the Nigerian catalogue.

Why can I not find a comedy from this list on my Netflix?

Netflix licenses most films and series country by country. Our guide to searching Netflix explains why a title you know exists may not appear.