The 41 Greatest Sitcom Characters of All Time

Catchphrase machines, lovable monsters and a few genuinely decent people, spread across seven decades of studio audiences and single-camera cringe.

1. 1
   Michael Scott

   Steve Carell played the Scranton regional manager of Dunder Mifflin for seven seasons of NBC's The Office.
   1000pts
2. 2
   Archie Bunker

   Carroll O'Connor won four Emmys as the bigoted Queens loading-dock foreman on All in the Family.
   721pts
3. 3
   Charlie Kelly

   Charlie Day plays the illiterate, rat-bashing janitor of Paddy's Pub on It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, which he also writes and executive produces.
   712pts
4. 4
   Liz Lemon

   Tina Fey created 30 Rock and won the 2008 Emmy for Lead Actress as its frazzled sketch-show head writer.
   712pts
5. 5
   Sam Malone

   Ted Danson played the former Red Sox relief pitcher who owns the Boston bar across all 11 seasons of Cheers.
   653pts
6. 6
   Niles Crane

   David Hyde Pierce won four Emmys as Frasier's fastidious younger brother.
   631pts
7. 7
   Del Boy Trotter

   David Jason played the Peckham market trader with big schemes in the BBC's Only Fools and Horses from 1981 to 2003.
   614pts
8. 8
   Al Bundy

   Ed O'Neill played the miserable shoe salesman and former high-school football hero on Married... with Children for 11 seasons.
   570pts
9. 9
   Cosmo Kramer

   Michael Richards won three Emmys as Jerry's neighbour, famous for sliding through the apartment door, on Seinfeld.
   521pts
10. 10
    Barney Fife

    Don Knotts won five Emmys as the jumpy Mayberry deputy on The Andy Griffith Show.
    521pts
11. 11
    Steve Urkel

    Jaleel White's nerdy neighbour on Family Matters began as a one-episode guest in season one and became the show's central character.
    521pts
12. 12
    Lucille Bluth

    Jessica Walter played the acid-tongued Bluth family matriarch on Arrested Development, earning a 2005 Emmy nomination.
    521pts
13. 13
    Ralph Kramden

    Jackie Gleason's blustering Brooklyn bus driver anchored The Honeymooners, whose 39 filmed episodes aired on CBS in 1955–56.
    521pts
14. 14
    Hawkeye Pierce

    Alan Alda played the wisecracking Army surgeon through all 11 seasons of M*A*S*H, whose 1983 finale drew more than 100 million US viewers.
    521pts
15. 15
    Phoebe Buffay

    Lisa Kudrow won a 1998 Emmy as the eccentric masseuse and "Smelly Cat" songwriter on Friends.
    521pts
16. 16
    Frasier Crane

    Kelsey Grammer played the Boston-turned-Seattle psychiatrist for 20 straight seasons across Cheers and Frasier, then again in the 2023 revival.
    466pts
17. 17
    Lucy Ricardo

    Lucille Ball played the scheming, stage-struck Manhattan housewife on CBS's I Love Lucy from 1951 to 1957.
    466pts
18. 18
    Alex P. Keaton

    Michael J. Fox won three consecutive Emmys as the Reagan-admiring teenage conservative on Family Ties.
    466pts
19. 19
    Mary Richards

    Mary Tyler Moore played the single Minneapolis TV newsroom producer on The Mary Tyler Moore Show from 1970 to 1977.
    466pts
20. 20
    Karen Walker

    Megan Mullally won two Emmys as the boozy socialite who works as Grace's assistant on Will & Grace.
    404pts
21. 21
    Leslie Knope

    Amy Poehler won a Golden Globe for the relentlessly upbeat Pawnee, Indiana parks official on Parks and Recreation.
    404pts
22. 22
    Ron Swanson

    Nick Offerman's mustachioed, government-hating parks director appears in all seven seasons of Parks and Recreation.
    404pts
23. 23
    Larry David

    Larry David plays a fictionalised version of himself on HBO's Curb Your Enthusiasm, which ran for 12 seasons from 2000.
    404pts
24. 24
    Edina Monsoon

    Jennifer Saunders created Absolutely Fabulous and played its fashion-obsessed London PR agent.
    404pts
25. 25
    Phil Dunphy

    Ty Burrell won two Emmys as the self-styled cool dad and real estate agent on Modern Family.
    404pts
26. 26
    Elaine Benes

    Julia Louis-Dreyfus won a 1996 Emmy for playing Jerry's ex-girlfriend turned close friend on Seinfeld.
    404pts
27. 27
    Dwight Schrute

    Rainn Wilson's beet-farming assistant to the regional manager earned him three Emmy nominations on The Office.
    333pts
28. 28
    Abed Nadir

    Danny Pudi plays the pop-culture-obsessed film student at Greendale Community College on Community.
    333pts
29. 29
    Sophia Petrillo

    Estelle Getty played Dorothy's blunt Sicilian-born mother on The Golden Girls, despite being younger than Bea Arthur in real life.
    333pts
30. 30
    George Costanza

    Jason Alexander played Jerry's neurotic, perpetually scheming best friend, a character partly modelled on co-creator Larry David.
    333pts
31. 31
    Joey Tribbiani

    Matt LeBlanc's struggling soap actor from Friends got his own spin-off, Joey, in 2004.
    333pts
32. 32
    Barney Stinson

    Neil Patrick Harris received four Emmy nominations as the suit-obsessed serial dater on How I Met Your Mother.
    333pts
33. 33
    Sheldon Cooper

    Jim Parsons won four Emmys playing the rigid Caltech physicist on The Big Bang Theory.
    333pts
34. 34
    Mr. Bean

    Rowan Atkinson's near-silent man-child first appeared on ITV in 1990 and later carried two feature films.
    333pts
35. 35
    Basil Fawlty

    John Cleese co-wrote and played the rude Torquay hotelier in Fawlty Towers, which ran for just 12 episodes in 1975 and 1979.
    251pts
36. 36
    Raymond Holt

    Andre Braugher played the deadpan, openly gay precinct captain on Brooklyn Nine-Nine and drew several Emmy nominations for it.
    251pts
37. 37
    Chandler Bing

    Matthew Perry played the sarcastic office worker on all ten seasons of Friends (1994–2004).
    155pts
38. 38
    Fonzie

    Henry Winkler's leather-jacketed Arthur Fonzarelli grew from a supporting part into the main draw of ABC's Happy Days (1974–84).
    155pts
39. 39
    Jack Donaghy

    Alec Baldwin won two Emmys as Jack Donaghy, GE's vice president of East Coast television and microwave oven programming, who oversees the sketch show at the heart of 30 Rock.
    155pts
40. 40
    David Brent

    Ricky Gervais co-created and played the Wernham Hogg branch manager in the BBC's The Office (2001–03).
    0pts
41. 41
    Moira Rose

    Catherine O'Hara won the 2020 Emmy for the former soap star with a wall of wigs on Schitt's Creek.
    0pts

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