HBO has spent decades building its identity on comedy, from satirical sketches to stand-up specials to full series. Some of those shows became massive hits. Others faded fast and hardly anyone remembers them now. A new list makes the case for five of those lesser-known comedies, arguing that they deserve a second look before they disappear entirely.
The network launched in 1972 as an alternative to traditional TV, and comedy was always part of the plan. Early shows included “Not Necessarily The News,” a satirical sketch series that later inspired John Oliver’s “Last Week Tonight.” Jim Henson brought the musical puppet show “Fraggle Rock” to HBO for younger audiences, and stand-up specials featuring George Carlin, Sam Kinison, Tracey Ullman, and Chris Rock earned a reputation as a serious honor.
Some of HBO’s best-known comedies — “Sex and the City,” “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” “Girls,” “Silicon Valley,” and “Veep” — remain firmly in the cultural conversation. But for every show that everyone still quotes, there are plenty of excellent offerings that have fallen off the radar. Here is the paper’s rundown of five great HBO comedies that almost nobody talks about anymore.
Tenacious D: The Prequel to the Cult Hit
Jack Black and Kyle Gass first appeared on HBO in the late 1990s, before “Flight of the Conchords” made New Zealand’s “fourth-most-popular comedy-folk duo” famous in the late 2000s. Their series, “Tenacious D,” ran for just three half-hour episodes from 1997 to 2000, but it introduced the world to JB and KG as “the greatest band on Earth.”
The show acts as a prequel to the band’s feature film, “Tenacious D in The Pick of Destiny.” Fans can see the band playing open mics and debuting early versions of songs that would become familiar, including “History,” “Kyle Quit The Band,” and “Tribute.” The episode where JB and KG nearly give up their dream of being in a band features a memorable moment: they are nearly burning their guitars while camping when Sasquatch (played by John C. Reilly) stops them. The mythical creature tries to join the band as the drummer, but the duo ends up writing a song about him instead.
Garfunkel and Oates: The Duo That Split HBO’s Pilot
Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci met at the Upright Citizens Brigade in Los Angeles and built a career through YouTube in the late 2000s. Their observational songs, like “Pregnant Women Are Smug” and “Me, You, and Steve,” earned them spots on “The Tonight Show,” “Scrubs,” and a collaboration with Donald Glover’s musical alter ego Childish Gambino. In 2011, they signed a deal with HBO to develop a series based on their act.
The pilot was shot, but the network did not give it a full series order. Instead of letting the work go to waste, Lindhome and Micucci split the episode into five webisodes for HBO Go, a precursor to HBO Max, and released them in 2012. The sitcom “Garfunkel and Oates” eventually premiered on IFC in 2014, but the HBO version has a lot of fun moments and serves as an interesting prequel to their time on television.
High Maintenance: The Series That Started on Vimeo
HBO continued its tradition of experimentation with “High Maintenance,” a cannabis comedy-drama that premiered on YouTube alternative Vimeo in 2012. Created by Ben Sinclair and Katja Blichfeld, the series follows a marijuana delivery guy known only as The Guy as he makes deliveries around New York City.
The show aired for six seasons until 2015, with episodes ranging from five to 20 minutes. In 2016, it jumped to HBO and switched to a standard 30-minute television format. Regardless of the presentation, the show maintains its silly premise, sharp writing, and succinct stories about the diverse melting pot of people you might see around NYC on any given day.
Sinclair’s Guy encounters chefs, authors, dog walkers, and computer programmers. Big name guest stars include Dan Stevens, Greta Lee, Britt Lower, Ken Leung, Hannibal Buress, Margaret Cho, and even Martha Stewart. The show always surprises with how The Guy intersects with so many different facets of the human condition.
Arli$$: The Blueprint for Ballers
HBO has featured shows that pull back the curtain on the entertainment industry since the 1990s. “Entourage” and “Ballers” are the most famous examples, but Robert Wuhl’s “Arli$$” created the blueprint for them to follow. The show’s premise centered on a sports agent’s life and the athletes he represented.
What This List Actually Argues
The list’s argument is simple: these shows were good, they were on HBO, and they should be remembered. The problem is that none of them stayed on the air for very long. Tenacious D lasted three episodes. Garfunkel and Oates got one pilot. High Maintenance started on Vimeo. Arli$$ was an early entry in the sports agent genre.
The shows are not obscure because they were bad. They are obscure because HBO moved on quickly, and the streaming era has not brought them back into the light.
The Shows By Order of Debut
| Show | Network | Years |
|---|---|---|
| Tenacious D | HBO | 1997–2000 |
| Garfunkel and Oates | HBO | 2012 |
| High Maintenance | Vimeo / HBO | 2012–2016 |
| Arli$$ | HBO | not stated in the source |
The list is a reminder that HBO’s history is deeper than the handful of shows everyone quotes. These five comedies represent a range of styles and eras, from sketch comedy to folk music to weed deliveries. They are not the network’s biggest hits, but they are part of its legacy.
Whether anyone will watch them again is another question. The list makes the case. The audience decides.
Source material: “5 Great HBO Comedies That Almost Nobody Talks About Anymore,” TVLine.
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