Before Movieline flees for the new year, one last year-end roundup is necessary: a retrospective of 2010's funniest TV characters. Will Community's kooks outrank Modern Family's earnest in-laws? Will Parks and Recreation or Glee supplant 30 Rock for top honors? Join us for our biggest list yet.
25. George Christopher (Bored to Death)
If Ted Danson's character from Damages, the hilariously amoral Arthur Frobisher, were given a proper comic setting, he might turn out like George Christopher: a magazine editor who sleeps around and never breaks from his high-brow monotone.
24. Laurie Keller (Cougar Town)
Busy Philipps' good-time girl makes Cougar Town worthy of the hipster following that's rallied behind Parks and Recreation, but creator Bill Lawrence's series is still waiting to be "cool." A real shame, as Philipps is as good here as she was as the immortal Kim Kelly on Freaks and Geeks.
23. Andy Botwin (Weeds)
Even though Weeds has exhausted every plausible suburban drug dealer mom storyline, Justin Kirk still manages to find laughs in every episode whether he is posing as his dead brother to access a bank account, rechristening himself Randy Newman, performing trailer park baptisms or binge-eating butter sculptures of NFL hall-of-famers.
22. Kalinda Sharma (The Good Wife)
The Good Wife remains an unexpectedly great drama, and the Emmy-winning Archie Panjabi played one of the year's most unexpected characters, period. The cynical Kalinda emits the kind of self-possessed sass that gets better as she gets colder. She can be dead serious and dead funny, often in the same breath.
21. Jeff Winger (Community)
The naked billiards duel alone qualifies Jeff for this list, but the Greendale group's detached ringmaster is constantly hilarious. The look on his face during that blissful trampoline romp refuses to leave my brain.
20. Sue Sylvester (Glee)
Thanks to her whistle and punchline crackle, Sue's Cheerios will never disgrace Madonna's "Express Yourself" again.
19. Tom Haverford (Parks and Recreation)
Tom provides Parks & Rec with the bro-wooing dude humor that's made the show something of a fully Americanized successor to The Office.
18. Tracy Jordan (30 Rock)
Tracy's insanity culminated in one magnificent monologue about his childhood during 30 Rock's "Emanuelle Goes to Dinosaurland" episode. Here are just some of the horrors young Mr. Jordan witnessed: "I've seen a blind guy bite a police horse! A puppy committed suicide after he saw our bathroom! I once bit into a burrito and there was a child's shoe in it! I've seen a hooker eat a tire! A pack of wild dogs took over and successfully ran a Wendy's! The sewer people stole my skateboard! The projects I lived in were named after Zachary Taylor, generally considered to be one of the worst presidents of all time! I once saw a baby give another baby a tattoo! They were very drunk!"
17. Barney Stinson (How I Met Your Mother)
Apparently I was way off to suggest that Neil Patrick Harris was due an Emmy win this year for his portrayal of HIMYM's well-suited womanizer, but the fact remains: When it comes to multi-cam flair, Barney's an indefatigable presence.
16. Veronica Palmer (Better Off Ted)
2010's most lamentable cancellation, Better Off Ted, meant the demise of one of TV's best female characters. Veronica was the only workplace character I recall who played harder than the men at the office while doubling as a magician's assistant at night.
15. Claire Dunphy (Modern Family)
Modern Family's most realistic character is also its most harried: Claire's ferocity both alienates her from her family and holds the entire clan together.
14. Abed Nadir (Community)
Hard to believe that Abed could add to his bubbling-over character in Community's second season, but with a Mean Girls-style bitchiness, he fileted guest-star (and popular Greendale student) Hilary Duff. Now, he's not only primetime's biggest pop-culture junkie -- he's also its finest insult comic.
13. Gloria Delgado-Pritchett (Modern Family)
I almost feel sorry that Gloria only ranks at #13, because I don't believe she's uttered a single un-funny line in all 1.5 seasons of Modern Family. Her wonderful accent does some of the work, but she was funniest during the Halloween episode when trying to speak without it.
12. Dr. Gregory House (House)
Years into his Emmy-unrewarded trajectory, Hugh Laurie still injects TV medicine with misanthropic gravitas. Conan O'Brien's observation that his performance -- with its funny and fatalist moments -- is one of the best in any medium ever, remains fitting.
11. Leslie Knope (Parks and Recreation)
Pawnee's quasi-dignified bureaucrat is enthusiastic at all odds, and thank God: Her ebullience undercuts Parks and Rec's genius drollness.
10. Brittany S. Pierce (Glee)
Gleebasers and Glee haters (present!) unite: The one undeniable strength in Ryan Murphy's pop vaudeville is Heather Morris's blockheaded character Brittany. Not only can she dance for real, but Brittany's utter weirdness makes a line like, "Coach Beiste didn't touch my boobs. Actually, I wanna touch her boobs" both creepy and hysterical.
9. Sheldon Cooper (The Big Bang Theory)
Jim Parsons walked home with an Emmy in August, and not a moment too soon: This year he compared Roger Murdoch to Darth Vader for canceling Firefly. Let's dropkick more statues his way.
8. Eric Cartman (South Park)
For organizing an illegal KFC cartel, co-writing the most profane literary work and aspiring to be poor and stupid -- just so that he can become a NASCAR racer -- Eric Cartman is included on this list.
7. Phil Dunphy (Modern Family)
Phil practically auditioned for the list this year, trying out some stand-up at a corporate banquet (to Claire's chagrin) and slaying the room with his interactive humor. Though a shelf he made almost fell onto his son Luke, it's Phil's spirited effort that counts.
6. Michael Scott (The Office)
Sad that all of The Office's funniest moments feel like gongs preceding Steve Carell's departure, but you can't not laugh at a character who picks Andy's mom as his favorite Toy Story character. "Because without Andy's mom there is no plot, and without a plot there is no movie."
5. Roger Sterling (Mad Men)
There's a reason John Slattery's bastardly misogynist earned a book deal this year: He's a limitless reserve of idiocies and yuks. He also had sex with Ida Blankenship sometime before her sudden demise, which makes him a demigod.
4. Cameron Tucker (Modern Family)
Fizbo the Clown outdid himself this year with a bike-shorts snafu that riled both his partner and the Dunphy family. It's only right that Modern Family's best character combine the show's two biggest strengths: sensitivity and wisecracks.
3. Jenna Maroney (30 Rock)
As I've said before, Jane Krakowski is TV's best supporting actress since Laurie Metcalf -- and her interactions with boyfriend/doppelganger Paul have provided us with unbeatable moments of fun. Like when they contrived the following "couples Halloween costume" concept: "You dress as Natalie Portman from the movie Black Swan and I dress and former Pittsburgh Steelers wide receiver and Pennsylvania gubernatorial nominee Lynn Swann! We're two black swans!"
2. Liz Lemon (30 Rock)
You will now be directed to Liz Lemon's Julia Roberts laugh.
1. Jack Donaghy (30 Rock)
Is it nerdy, anticlimactic, and a little lame to stack three 30 Rock characters at the top of our 2010 comedy list? Maybe. But it's also accurate: Out of all the ensemble comedies on TV today, 30 Rock's roles are the cleverest, wackiest, and most well-defined. Following three consecutive seasons of Emmy glory, Alec Baldwin still led the way in 2010 as CEO Jack Donaghy, who has the self-awareness to tell his girlfriend Avery, "Drive, Intelligence, Humility, Chaos. Or the acronym D.I.H.C. I'm looking for D.I.H.C., Avery, and I'm gonna take it wherever I can find it." Yes, that sounds like you think it does.