Laugh, Laugh, Revolution

April Ludgate- "Life is a picnic...with you."

Andy Dwyer- "That could be about a girl...or Peyton Manning."

Amongst my wide range of friends and aquaintances, The Office has been renowned as the comedy to watch over the past five years. Since Curb Your Enthusiasm is on HBO, and therefore unavailable to some people, you had to watch The Office to be in on all the best jokes in current pop culture.

When 30 Rock began three years ago, there was then two comedies that were cool to watch. The really interesting thing about this 2009-10 season is that there have been three new sitcoms that have outdone both the rising star (30 Rock) and the current king of comedy (The Office). Modern Family, Community and Parks and Recreation have all been fantastic this year. The Office and especially 30 Rock have been less than stellar. Now that may be because they are just getting stale. 30 Rock's only in season three, but we've known these Office characters for six years now and it could be the lack of freshness that is holding them back this year.

Two years ago, I think ABC's only sitcom was Cavemen. Now Modern Family leads a group of three that are doing very well (The Middle and Cougar Town). This week's episode went back to its best attribute, which is getting unusual pairings of this large family together. The Dunphy clan stayed in tact, while Jay and Cam switched partners for the ep (Jay, Manny and Mitch go star gazing as Cam and Gloria eat spicy foods).

The kids carried this ep for me. Although it was no surprise that Manny was one of the two best performers of the night, I am pleasantly surprised at how hilarious Luke is getting. Between him not knowing how 'sound reducing headphones' work, "Everyone is stupid...except me!" and turning his heartfelt voiceover into a PSA about aliens attacking the earth, "Wake up people, we're next!" he was 100% on his game this week.

Modern Family is easily the frontrunner for best new comedy, but it's crazy that we've had two first year shows that have done this well publicly and critically. Community has been my favorite show on NBC's comedy block week in and week out. Is that because these characters are fresh, and I'm getting to see a different style of comedy? Maybe.

Although he is the star of the show, Joel McHale as Jeff Winger is somewhat of a straight man here. He creates his own comedy at times, but is mostly there to help Abed, Pierce and more and more, Troy get the job done. I've long praised the work of Chevy Chase and Danny Pudi in their respective roles, but recently Troy is really growing on me.

Others (especially Rizzo) have loved him since day one, but this week's ep was a definite highlight for the former football player. Can we all take a minute and realize how hilarious his no-snake in the can prank was? "Lookin' for something?" Between that and him comparing Britta to a vampire, he was on his game early. "You're more of a fun vampire. 'Cause you don't suck blood, you just suck."

Which brings me to another reason why Community has been great. I haven't gone back and watched any of the first episodes, but I feel like they were trying to make Britta out to be cool. Recently the characters have been emulating me, by bagging on Britta any chance they get. Whether it is making fun of her for how she said Bagle a few weeks ago, or telling her she's a complete buzz kill last night, we've all realized how fun it is to hate on her.

Now it's not brand new, but Parks and Rec's first season was not good at all, so I lump it in with the first timers. Unlike Sepinwall, I don't think it's been close to the level of Modern Fam or Community, but I'd put it ahead of 30 Rock and slightly ahead of Office or right on par with it this season. A vast improvement from its first year.

The major reason for its improvement, the larger roles of Andy and April. Not only one of the best quasi-couples on television, but are both fantastic individually. Chris Pratt was being ridiculously underused early on as he just sat in Ann's house with a broken leg. Getting him involved in the city government issues was a great move. And then there is April who has taken on the Jim Halpert role of camera looks, only her eye rolling is miles better than Jim's smirk face ever was. She also adds gems like this from last night, "Can you photoshop your life with better decisions Jerry?"

T-time sees one of the problems with the show being that the auxilary characters just aren't funny or interesting. Unlike Kevin or Creed on the Office, Jerry and Donna just bring nothing to the table. The thing is that I'd be fine with that if a couple of the main characters were better. Ron and Tom are basically the male leads, and as much as my man Sepinwall loves Ron Swanson, I can't say that he's made me laugh out loud once this season.

Tom, on the other hand, is completely hit or miss. Within last night's episode, he completely bombed with the racoon bit in the beginning, but then killed it at the end with his massive criticism of Ann at the photoshoot. Adam Scott, if given a big enough role next season, could push this show over the top to compete for the top spot amongst the comedies.

It should be interesting to see who wins the Seinfeld Award at this year's Poolie Awards. The favorite has to be Curb, but with all the new competition anything as possible (not in the Kevin Garnett voice).