Halloween is meant to be a time for chills and thrills, but some of the greatest episodes timed to this season are also packed with laughs. It speaks to the wildness of how comedy and terror are closely tied together, united by the importance of set-up and timing.
The list below isn’t exclusively limited to sitcoms — there is in fact more than one drama here — and span a wild range of approaches to doing a scary story that also hits the funny bone. (Figuratively or even potentially literally.) The big takeaway from making this list: Halloween has brought out the weirdest impulses in shows likeThe Simpsons,Family Matters,The Daily Show, and a whole lot more.
Check out the list below to understand exactly what we mean. For more Halloween content, check outthe scariest TV episodes ever madeas well asthe best Halloween movies of all time.
30 Rock: “Stone Mountain”
This is a30 Rockepisode packed with storylines, but the two most Halloween-y have nothing to do with the case of food poisoning Liz Lemon (Tina Fey) gets while visiting Stone Mountain, Georgia in search of a newTGScast member. First, Tracy (Tracy Morgan) is caught up in paranoia when it comes to being the third semi-famous person to die (as part of the “rule of threes”), which leads to potentially deadly encounters with Betty White and Jimmy Fallon. Also, Frank (Judah Friedlander), Lutz (John Lutz), and Toofer (Keith Powell) try to throw a great Halloween party — realizing that in order to do so, they need to get Jenna (Jane Krakowski) and her team of fabulous gay male friends on board. The results, as you might expect, are worth it. -Liz Shannon Miller
Adventure Time: “Slumber Party Panic”
From its very first episode,Adventure Timeblew out of the gate with a raucous, unbridled, childlike-but-not-exactly-for-kids energy rife with silly nonsequiturs, quickly yet richly drawn characters, and a brightly colored world you want to get lost in. And in its very first episode, “Slumber Party Panic,” it does all of this tracked to a zombie apocalypse episode that has some sneaky social commentary, too! Finn (Jeremy Shada) and Princess Bubblegum (Hynden Walch) have accidentally unleashed an onslaught of candy zombies (as you do), breaking a mythological “royal promise” in the process. What do you do when you accidentally endanger the entire candy kingdom with sweets who wanna eat your flesh? You do what all good leaders in modern society do: Distract everyone with a slumber party! As they do their best to hide the gnarly truth from their party guests, including a betrayed-feeling Jake (John DiMaggio) who justknowssomething’s up with his BFF Finn, all heck breaks loose in the form of the goofiest zombie breakdown you’ll ever see on screen.Adventure Timeknew what the heck it was doing from frame one, and you will gut-laugh every step of the spooky way. -Gregory Lawrence
Angel: “Life of the Party”
The last couple of seasons ofAngelwere, in many ways, more interesting and way weirder than the last couple of seasons ofBuffy the Vampire Slayer, something that felt unfathomable when the spin-off series awkwardly began. By its final season, it had mutated into something wholly different, a kind of supernatural legal drama, with Angel (David Boreanaz) assuming control of the unholy Wolfram & Hart law firm and attempting to change the system from within. “Life of the Party” was one of the most fun installments from that final season, energetically written by secret weaponBen Edlundand directed byBill Norton, that also serves as a hell of a Halloween episode. The rare Lorne-centered episode, which makes a re-watch especially bittersweet (unbelievably talented actorAndy Hallettdied tragically in 2009 at the age of 33), it follows the fun-loving karaoke demon and current entertainment liaison for Wolfram & Hart as he attempts to plan a Halloween bash for the law firm that is visited by all sorts of crazy ghouls. Things go from bad to worse when Lorne’s magic, irritated by his stress and lack of sleep, starts to make everyone do what he says (Spike becomes cheerful, Angel and Eve have dirty, dirty sex, Gunn pees all over the place). Full of zingy ratatat dialogue (example: “You’re wound tighter than Martha Stewart’s… watch”) and nifty visual flourishes (embodied by a towering version of Lorne), “Life of the Party” rivals the very bestBuffyHalloween episodes, which is really saying something, and is proof of the unwavering excellent of the show, even as it neared its untimely end. –Drew Taylor
Bob’s Burgers: “The Hauntening”
Bob’s Burgersis routinely one of the funniest and sweetest shows on television, and its Halloween episode “The Hauntening” is no exception. Its first moment has a joke that made me cackle out loud (Teddy screaming at a dumb, motion triggered witch, LOL), and its last moments have character beats that made me “awww” out loud (Louise just so happy to be part of her family, AWWW), and every moment in between is the perfect blend of the two. Louise (Kristen Schaal), like many jaded horror fans reading this, loves being scared, but knows the tricks and tropes of the trade so well, it’s nigh on impossible. But that’s not gonna stop her parents (H. Jon Benjamin,John Roberts) from crafting the best, most scariest haunted house ever. As we stumble through Bob and Linda’s homemade house of horrors (it’s so adorable to see Bob perform his role with such commitment), Louise ain’t taking the bait… until something out of Bob and Linda’s plan happens. From there, we find ourselves thrust into a genuinely spooky horror/thriller plot with some genuinely spooky scares to boot (a shadow of a man with hedge clippers about to snatch Louise through the window shook me!), all beautifully filtered through the show’s rat-a-tat joke pace and loving sensibility. As for the ending? Well, you might see it coming from this synopsis alone, but I fell for it hook, line, and sinker, and I’ll swim in its sweetness for some time to come. -Gregory Lawrence
BoJack Horseman: “Mr. Peanutbutter’s Boos”
What’s amazing about thisBoJack Horsemanepisode is how detailed a look it offers inside the mind of Mr. Peanutbutter (voiced byPaul F. Tompkins) and why, exactly, he keeps repeating his same romantic mistakes — a revelation both sad and hilarious in what it says about the character. But really, the joy of “Mr. Peanutbutter’s Boos” is in the details, from the random TV stars that Mr. Peanutbutter interrogates over the decades to all the costumes hovering in the background. You could rewatch it a dozen times (I think I might have, at this point) and still catch a new costume in the background that will knock you on your ass with laughter. -Liz Shannon Miller
Brooklyn Nine-Nine: The Halloween Heists
Honestly it was too hard to pick just one Halloween Heist episode ofBrooklyn Nine-Nineas the show’s funniest. This annual tradition for the former FOX/now NBC sitcom delivers every single year, as the detectives in the 99 attempt to steal an object on Halloween every year. They’re structured almost likeOcean’s Elevencomplete with genuine twists and turns, but the comedy is always at the forefront whether it’s everyone clowning on Boyle’s Mario Batali costume or Amy and Rosa arguing aboutThe Baby-Sitter’s Club. If you want a full rundown, check outmy rankingof all the Halloween Heist episodes, but really and truly you’d be fine just marathoning all seven. -Adam Chitwood
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: “Halloween”
It’s one ofBuffy the Vampire Slayer’s best stand-alone premises — on Halloween night, the Sunnydale residents who had the bad fortune to shop at a new costume shop find themselves transformed into the characters they’re dressed as. This casts Xander (Nicholas Brendon) as a macho soldier, Willow (Alyson Hannigan) as a ghost, and Buffy (Sarah Michelle Gellar) as a hapless damsel — very unlike the heroine we know and love — and important lessons are learned about being who we really are and not being afraid to show it. On top of the lessons learned, though, are some fantastic moments of comedy, chief of which might be Cordelia’s (Charisma Carpenter) horror at the thought that she’d buy a cheap store-made costume. -Liz Shannon Miller
Buffy the Vampire Slayer: “Fear, Itself”
Buffy the Vampire Slayerhas two perfect Halloween episodes, but my personal favorite is Season 4’s “Fear, Itself”, which sees the Scooby Gang trapped in a haunted house where their fears come true thanks to one of the series’ most surprising and laugh-out-loud funny monsters of the week. As I said in our picks for the scariest TV episodes of all time,Buffy’s fourth season isn’t the best, but it home to many of the show’s best standalone episodes, and that absolutely includes “Fear, Itself,” which is a showcase for the series’ signature sharp writing, great performances, and killer creature designs alike. And it’s extremely funny. In fact, the episode’s final gag/reveal remains one of my favoriteBuffyjokes of the entire show, and that’s on top ofSeth Green’s impeccable throwaway lines, giddy Giles in a sombrero, and the introduction of one of the show’s best running bits: Anya’s fear of bunnies. –Haleigh Foutch
Cheers: “Fairy Tales Can Come True”
A Halloween costume can give us a confidence boost lacking in our regular, everyday clothes lives. It’s what turns Abed Nadir into Batman. But this sense of one-night-only swagger comes at a cost: It’s not really “you” who’s confident, it’s whoever you’re wearing. This is the lesson Cliff Clavin (John Ratzenberger) must push past in “Fairy Tales Can Come True,” a particularly sweet Halloween episode ofCheers, which just might be the best multicam sitcom ever made. This Hallow’s Eve, Cliffy has dressed up as Ponce de León, and has taken to prattling off earnest facts about Florida to whomever will listen in the bar. And when he finds a woman dressed as Tinkerbell (Bernadette Birkett, daffy) who seems to respond and encourage his eccentricities, it’s an obvious match made in heaven, right? Well,maybe. See, Cliff is notoriously nervous around women, and is convinced that she’s not into him, she’s just into Ponce. So what does his bar family, the people who know his name, do? They razz him gently, sure (Carla calling Cliff a “dink” is one of my favorite insults in all of television). But more importantly, they love him. They support him. They exalt him. And the final conclusions of the episode are so earnest and pure I’m choking up just thinking about it! “Fairy Tales Can Come True” is a perfect Halloween reminder that a costume is fun, but it’s the person wearing it who makes it pop. -Gregory Lawrence
Community: “Epidemiology”
WhenCommunitywas on its peak game, it delivered some of thebest and funniest TV episodes of its time, and it was often on its game when it was playing into the tropes of a beloved genre. With the Season 2 episode “Epidemiology," that meant bringing the series’ signature sense of humor to the zombie genre when Dean Pelton’s bargain bin Halloween party catering turns the Greendale students into flesh-hungry fiends.Communitywas firing on all cylinders in Season 2, and “Epidemiology” is one of the best Halloween episodes of all time. The costume gags are top-notch, from Shirley’s ambiguous-but-definitely-not-Miss-Piggy ensemble to Troy and Abed’sAliens-inspired couples costume and Troy’s sudden quick-change to Sexy Dracula. And like all the bestCommunityepisodes, “Epidemiology” layers bit on bit, leading to payoff after payoff, from quippy lines to sight gags to the straight-up absurd, all to the dulcet sounds of ABBA… and Dean Pelton’s to-do list. –Haleigh Foutch
