Dark comedy requires the right balance, or else shows can become too dreary. Fortunately, there are plenty of hilarious TV shows which have the perfect blend of darkness and comedy. Without enough comedy, these shows could easily veer off into melodrama, but they wouldn't be recognizable without their hard-hitting themes and some intelligently scripted drama.

Dark humor isn't for everyone. Some people would rather watch comedy as an escape from the troubles of the world, and they would prefer warm, uplifting comedies. However, people have always used humor to explore uncomfortable subjects, such as death, violence and mental illness. Dark comedy allows us to laugh at things which we don't often talk about, and this removes some of the stigma attached to these subjects.

10 Fleabag

Fleabag Explores Humor As A Coping Mechanism

Phoebe Waller-Bridge's dark comedy series was originally an award-winning one-woman show, but Fleabag is just as sharp on TV. Waller-Bridge stars as an unnamed woman reeling from the death of her best friend. Throughout the series, she is plagued by money troubles, but her dysfunctional family is even more stressful. For a show that touches on mental illness, suicide and violence, Fleabag is surprisingly funny.

For a show that touches on mental illness, suicide and violence, Fleabag is surprisingly funny.

Fleabag's dark comedy is baked into the premise of the show. Waller-Bridge's character uses wry humor to shield herself from the discomfort of facing up to the consequences of her actions. By breaking the fourth wall, she maintains a layer of separation between herself and her circumstances, as if she can treat her life like nothing more than a TV show. The season 1 finale starts to show the cracks in this coping mechanism, as she is unable to escape the omnipresent gaze of the camera. This sets up a brilliant second season, and two seasons is all Fleabag needs to leave its mark.

9 Beef

Beef Is One Of The Best Recent Dark Comedies

While A24 is most famous for its movies, it has also produced a few outstanding TV shows. Beef stars Ali Wong and Steven Yeun as two strangers who refuse to move on from an incident of road rage. Their escalating feud soon becomes personal. Wong and Yeun make a delightful pair in Beef, even while they are at each other's throats. They are both masters of comedic rage, which suits the show perfectly.

Wong and Yeun make a delightful pair in Beef, even while they are at each other's throats.

Beef's road rage incident is an absurd overreaction from both parties, but the show gradually reveals the deeper reasons why the characters allow themselves to give into their anger for one brief moment. In the end, it's surprisingly relatable that two people dealing with so much stress without any outlet might find some kind of animal catharsis in the heat of the moment. Beef keeps things moving with some brilliant plot twists, meaning that it never wears out its premise.

8 Atlanta

Donald Glover's Comedy Has Room To Explore

On the surface, Atlanta is about two cousins hustling to make their way in the music industry, but it's really about so much more than that. Atlanta takes the show further and further from this initial premise. The show expands its scope to include stories of social commentary and character-driven humor that have nothing to do with the music industry. In fact, some of Atlanta's best episodes don't feature any of the main characters.

Atlanta often examines race and social inequality in the United States.

One thing that ties the different stories of Atlanta together is the show's dark comedy. Atlanta often examines race and social inequality in the United States, making it more urgent and less abstract than other dark comedies which focus on death, for example. While death is unavoidable, Atlanta's twisted view of the world suggests that people are trapped in a nonsensical form of torture that we are inflicting on ourselves and each other.

7 BoJack Horseman

BoJack Horseman's Creative Character Design Conceals A Cynical Heart

The bright colors and whimsical design of BoJack Horseman evoke a much more lighthearted comedy, but this is merely the set-up for a deep exploration of trauma, addiction and depression. BoJack Horseman does deliver plenty of fun and games, with some light ribbing of the Hollywood machine and some great animal-based sight gags. However, there are also entire episodes which by without offering much to laugh at.

There are entire episodes which by without offering much to laugh at.

BoJack Horseman's best lines are split between hilarious jokes and gut-wrenching philosophical insights. Sometimes, BoJack Horseman can combine these two disparate styles in a single moment. As the show progresses, BoJack repeats the same patterns, suggesting that his soul is incapable of change. This is the darkest idea in the entire show, despite BoJack believing for so long that he just needs saving.

6 It's Always Sunny In Philadelphia

The Gang's Antics Subvert The Norms Of Friend-Based Sitcoms

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia season 17 is on the way, which will extend the show's remarkable record as the longest-running live-action sitcom on TV. This speaks to the show's enduring quality, and its dark humor is central to its longevity. Many It's Always Sunny episodes from almost two decades ago still hold up today, because the show's detestable characters are immune to changing social attitudes.

It's Always Sunny seems to be in a competition with itself to find new depths of human depravity.

It's Always Sunny follows the gang on whatever scheme they cook up and whatever ill-fated adventure they go on. This often amounts to a litany of crimes. The gang have kidnapped a critic, trapped people in a burning apartment and staged a fake baby funeral. It's Always Sunny seems to be in a competition with itself to find new depths of human depravity, and there's no telling what the future holds.

5 Barry

Bill Hader's Killer Comedy Also Delivers Some Great Action

Barry stars Bill Hader as a contract killer who gets the acting bug when he takes a job in Los Angeles. As he tries to start a new career as an actor and live something which resembles a normal life, he is inexorably dragged back into the criminal underworld. This means that Barry often lurches from acting classes and social situations to scenes of violent murder. As well as being a hilarious dark comedy, Barry has some thrilling action scenes.

Barry's in-depth character study is vital to its humor and its emotional drama.

Barry's in-depth character study is vital to its humor and its emotional drama. Barry constantly has to reckon with his violent past and the darkness that still exists within him, and he asks himself whether absolution for his sins is even possible. He is surrounded by a cast of quirky characters. Henry Winkler is outstanding as Barry's cheap and deeply uncool acting teacher, while Anthony Carrigan steals every one of his scenes as the flamboyant gangster NoHo Hank.

4 What We Do In The Shadows

The Horror Comedy Is Soaked In Blood

What We Do in the Shadows is based on a movie of the same name created by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi. The show moves the action from New Zealand to New York, but it retains the same dark humor, with plenty of references to the history of dark mythology across the globe. With its mockumentary format and its zany characters, What We Do in the Shadows can sometimes look like a more ordinary sitcom, but this familiar context only makes its darker scenes more shocking.

Whenever What We Do in the Shadows threatens to resemble a normal apartment-share sitcom, the show throws in a scene of disturbing horror.

Whenever What We Do in the Shadows threatens to resemble a normal apartment-share sitcom, the show throws in a scene of disturbing horror. For example, although Guillermo romanticizes the lifestyle of the vampires, he can't stomach their barbaric feeding rituals when he finally gets his chance. Death is commonplace in What We Do in the Shadows, even for the recurring characters. The Baron's bizarre living situation highlights how the show blends the mundane with the macabre. The What We Do in the Shadows is now underway.

3 The End Of The F***ing World

British Comedies Excel At Dark Humor

The End of the F***ing World has just 16 episodes in total, but it's still one of the best dark comedies of recent years. The British show follows a teenager who believes himself to be a psychopath, so he singles out one of his classmates for his first murder. Once James and Alyssa leave their dreary lives behind, they both discover new things about themselves, as they develop a strangely intimate relationship that defies convention.

The End of the F***ing World has just 16 episodes in total, but it's still one of the best dark comedies of recent years.

From its downbeat dialogue to the thick gray clouds which seem to hang over every shot, The End of the F***ing World paints a depressing portrait of disillusionment. It's the darkest kind of love story, one in which the characters don't believe that they are even capable of feeling love or being loved. Soon enough, James and Alyssa's impromptu adventure gets them into legal trouble and mortal danger, leading to some shocking scenes of horror.

2 Deadloch

The Australian Crime Comedy Has An Intriguing Mystery

Deadloch is an underappreciated Australian crime comedy that deserves a bigger international audience. The show takes place in a small town on the island of Tasmania. It's the kind of town which rarely sees any excitement beyond its esoteric cultural events, but the case of an elusive serial killer reveals the dark secrets tearing the town apart. Deadloch has the perfect blend of mystery and comedy, never neglecting either for too long.

Deadloch has the perfect blend of mystery and comedy, never neglecting either for too long.

Deadloch's dark humor questions the typical angle of detective shows. While it has become the industry standard to show a flawed detective battling their own demons while trying to solve a case, Deadloch adds the extra layer that many detectives are also lazy, incompetent or both. This shatters the fantasy that mystery shows perpetuate, but it's much truer to life. Deadloch season 2 has gotten the green light, but it faces a tough challenge replicating the quality of the first season.

1 The Boys

The Superhero Satire Feels Surprisingly Relevant

The Boys satirizes the current landscape of superhero movies and TV shows. At the same time, it also presents a surprisingly lifelike vision of government corruption, corporate greed, the military-industrial complex and the effects of the media on a politically divided nation. Juggling these heavy themes could be a daunting task, but The Boys always does so with plenty of snarky humor. The show makes light of these depressing issues by blowing them up to ludicrous proportions.

The Boys has been repeatedly outdoing itself in of gore and raunchy humor.

The Boys season 5 will be the show's last. If the trajectory of previous seasons is anything to go by, fans can expect some even more shocking moments. The Boys has been repeatedly outdoing itself in of gore and raunchy humor, using the powers of the supes to explore new depths of human cruelty. The Boys has always been about the corrupting nature of power, showing that some forms of violence are only limited by what is physically possible.