The Comedy Factory

Not every great comedy makes it onto the major platforms, and The Comedy Factory is a reminder of why it is always worth looking beyond the obvious. 2 seasons and 16 episodes of content is out there — TV Butler finds it for you instantly without the guesswork. The reputation it built during its original run has lasted, which is its own form of quality assurance. The challenge with shows that are not on the biggest platforms is simply knowing where to look, and that is exactly what TV Butler is built for. Search by title, find out which service has it in your country, and go from there. No app-switching, no guessing — just a direct path to watching.

Originally commissioned by ABC, The Comedy Factory quickly became exactly the kind of show that viewers rearrange their evenings for. The Comedy Factory (no known affiliation with the comedy club of the same name) was a live-action, scripted comedy series that ran during the summers of 1985 and 1986 on ABC in the United States and CTV in Canada (who also oversaw production). The show revolved around comedians and actors acting out scenes from television pilots that had been passed on previously by ABC. Further information on the show is scarce and nearly every episode of the show is presumed lost; only the premiere episode, "Honey, It's the Mayor," is known to survive in its entirety (uploaded to YouTube). The series ran for 2 seasons (1985–1986), building a story that gave its audience time to invest properly. The real test of any comedy is whether it is still funny once you know all the jokes, and The Comedy Factory holds up on rewatch in a way that separates it from one-season curiosities. It delivers reliably on what it promises, which is more than most of its competition manages.

Ideal for when you want something light without wanting something stupid. The Comedy Factory respects its audience — rarer than it should be. The writing assumes you can keep up and rewards you when you do, with jokes that have layers and callbacks that make rewatches genuinely worthwhile. The complete run is available and short enough to finish before the weekend is over. The kind of comedy that you recommend to someone who claims they do not really watch much TV, and then check back in a week to find they have finished it.