For the majority of the time, male characters always seem to be funnier than female characters.

There are of course, rare instances when the females outshine the males.

For example....
Lucille Ball on any Lucy series.
Diane on Cheers may not have been funnier than everyone in the bar, but she got more laughs than Sam.
Roseanne
Ellen


I would say Murphy Brown, but honestly, I found the guys on the show to be funnier. Actually, Murphy was probably my least favorite character on the show.


Any others?

All in the Family, at times Edith would outshine Archie.

not counting "obvious" shows like Golden Girls, Sex And The City, Facts Of Life, Desperate Housewives where all the leads were women.


Roseanne - be it Roseanne, Jackie or Darlene, I thought the female characters were stronger than Dan and DJ. I never was crazy about Becky regardless of either actress, but Darlene was great.
Friends - the female characters were better, had more depth and were less of caricatures than the male counterparts
Buffy The Vampire Slayer - Buffy, Willow, Anya, Tara, Cordelia.... I love the female characters of this show (save Dawn the spawn). Spike's the only male I would rank in the same regard. Xander was deadweight in latter seasons for the most part, he was only useful when the plot regarded him and Anya.

Friends - the female characters were better, had more depth and were less of caricatures than the male counterparts

Friends was a series where I much prefered the male characters.

Friends was a series where I much prefered the male characters.

I liked them in the early seasons but by the end, they were so typecast it was unbearable. Joey went from naive in season 1 to a pure idiot in season 10. Ross went from quirky to annoying. Chandler's sarcasm lost a lot of it's bite toward the end because by then he was happily married and it wasn't the same as when he was a bachelor, because he was supposed to have changed.

Friends was a series where I much prefered the male characters.

"Friends" is one of the shows where I find the guys and the girls equally funny.

As for the actual thread topic,

Ellen DeGeneres in "Ellen". I found everyone on that show funny, but Ellen was always a notch funnier.

I wouldn't say she was funnier. There was no real funny character on the show, but Anita Barone was the only reason I enjoyed the first season of "The Jeff Foxworthy Show" (No offense to Jeff Foxworthy show fans).

I thought Jackie was the funniest on "Roseanne", mainly in the later seasons. Which most fans, probably didn't like her then because she (and the show itself)was extra silly.

Roseanne defientely! It was the most female-centric sitcom ever produced.

Ellen was great too and she defintely stole that show.

I always found Carla to be the funniest Cheers character.

I also thought Edith stole a lot of Archie's thunder in All In The Family as well.

Well, not necessarily all the women of Friends, but Phoebe and Monica were the funniest ones on the show, IMO. Rachel not so much.

I know I'll probably be in the minority, but I alwasy found Clair to be faaaarrr funnier than Cliff on The Cosby Show. He often irriated me on that show but I loved Clair Huxtable.

Diane, Lilith, and Carla on Cheers were all funnier for the most part than the male cast members, with the exception of Coach.

Lauren Lane as C.C and Renee Taylor as Sylvia always outshined the other characters on The Nanny, including Fran (who was actually one of the least funny characters on the show).

Park Overall was the funniest character on Empty Nest. In fact, all the female characters were funnier than either Harry or Charley.

and then of course there are the more obvious ones such as Murphy Brown on Murphy Brown, Ellen Morgan on Ellen, Roseanne on Roseanne, Thelma on Mama's Family, Mary, Rhoda, Phyllis, and Sue Ann on Mary Tyler Moore, Lucy and Ethel in I Love Lucy, etc.

I know I'll probably be in the minority, but I alwasy found Clair to be faaaarrr funnier than Cliff on The Cosby Show. He often irriated me on that show but I loved Clair Huxtable.

Not only are you in the minority, but I think you're alone on this one. Bill Cosby was "The Cosby Show." He made it funny. Sure, occassionally one of the other characters got some laughs, but Bill Cosby made the show for me.

Well, as I said, I figured I would be in the minority. While Cosby certainly had his moments on that show, I always found Clair funnier. Of course I'm really not a huge fan of the show or of Cosby himself so that may explain it.

The old Mary Tyler More show...Ted, Lou and Murray were funny, but....Rhoda, Phillis and Sue-Ann STOLE the show

The old Mary Tyler More show...Ted, Lou and Murray were funny, but....Rhoda, Phillis and Sue-Ann STOLE the show

I agree that they were all funny. But Ted completely ruled the show.

On The Jeffersons, even though every character was funny as hell, I found Florence and to a lesser degree Weezie to be funnier than George. If you see any of the arguments between George and Florence, Florence always won each and every time.

On The Jeffersons, even though every character was funny as hell, I found Florence and to a lesser degree Weezie to be funnier than George. If you see any of the arguments between George and Florence, Florence always won each and every time.

I always found the guys funnier on every Norman Lear sitcom. Weezie and Florence were funny, but they were no match for George, Mr. Bentley, or even Tom. (Helen was just dull, maybe thats why I think the women on The Jeffersons weren't as funny)

... I know I'll probably be in the minority, but I alwasy found Clair to be faaaarrr funnier than Cliff on The Cosby Show. He often irriated me on that show but I loved Clair Huxtable.
You are not alone.
Not that Clair never did anything annoying, but Cliff was annoying far more than she was. Mostly when he would do sound effects or carry something on and on or make more facial expressions than necessary or...

what about Aunt Esther on sanford and son sometimes she get bigger cheers n laughs then Redd Foxx.

The old Mary Tyler More show...Ted, Lou and Murray were funny, but....Rhoda, Phillis and Sue-Ann STOLE the show

You put Betty White in any show and she steals the show.

Roseanne

what about Aunt Esther on sanford and son sometimes she get bigger cheers n laughs then Redd Foxx.

I think it would be her actions more than what she said. Anyway, I think Alice would sometimes outshine Ralph on the Honeymooners.

The first ones that came to mind were
Lucille Ball-All of Lucy's series
Roseanne
Ellen

Lucille Ball any Lucy series

Ellen Morgan - Ellen
Laverne Defazio and Shirley Feeney - Laverne & Shirley
Chrissy Snow - Three's Company
Karen Walker - Will & Grace
Rhoda Morganstern and Phyllis Lindstrom - The Mary Tyler Moore Show
Carla Tortelli - Cheers
Roseanne Conner - Roseanne
Ethel Mertz - I Love Lucy
Edith Bunker - All In The Family
Florence Johnston - The Jeffersons
Thelma Harpa (Mama) - Mama's Family
Eunice - The Carol Burnett Show
Grandma Ida - Malcolm In The Middle

I always thought the female characters of "Cheers" were funnier than the males.

Definitely Barbara Eden's role in "I dream of Jeannie".

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Willona sometimes got a lot more cheers than J.J.