A Walker’s Wrant Top Ten List
My dear reader, I hope you are doing wonderful today.
As you have seen in the past few weeks, I have a passion for the NBA and french toast sticks. I’m passionate about a lot of things, and today, I’m going to explore one of the greatest passions in my life: Comedy.
Now, I know my passion for comedy shines through in all of my blogs. I truly do apologize for any sides I may have split. Please direct your medical bills to Officials Depot.
Warning - Mild Spoilers
Today’s top ten list is going to focus on the world of sitcoms. However, most of these shows have been on since at least 2007, so I’m not going to lose much sleep. Buckle up, dear reader, because
Walker’s Wrantings Presents:
A Walker’s Wrant Top Ten List:
Top 10 Sitcom Antagonists
Everybody loves a good sitcom and Raymond. Every good sitcom has a character that is the thorn in the side of the goofy, loveable main characters. This list celebrates the art of Sitcom antagonism. A good sitcom antagonist is the right blend of crazy, funny, and annoying - you either love them or love to hate them. A well written sitcom antagonist isn’t necessarily cartoonishly evil, they are usually otherwise normal people who just oppose the main character of the show. Sitcom’s can take ordinary situations - like parking a car - and create a villain in the span of 5 minutes that fans will talk about for years to come.
So, let’s hop into this list -
10. Councilman Jeremy Jamm
Parks and Rec
Portrayed by: Jon Glaser
Favorite Quote:
‘’The thing is, Leslie, this kind of decision is-- it's not really up to you anymore. Because the voters, to use a technical political term, gave you the stanky boot.’’
Parks and Rec is a mockumentary style show that follows the optimistic and sometimes overbearing Leslie Knope as she navigates the insanity that plagues the Parks department of Pawnee, Indiana. As Leslie grows in her political career, she is eventually elected to the Pawnee City Council, but her lifelong dream is anything but pleasant thanks to clueless citizens, bureaucratic red tape and Councilman Jeremy Jamm.
A self proclaimed Japanophile, Jamm is an orthodontist who also serves on the city council. Jamm frequently opposes Leslie on many major votes and legislation, often using his catchphrase, “You just got Jammed”, whenever he gets over on Leslie. Jamm is the perfect heel to the optimistic Knope - sketchy, conniving, and a little bit dumb. From putting Leslie on trial for inappropriate tweets sent by the Parks and Rec department to singing Summer Nights as Sandra Dee in karaoke, Jamm is sure to make you laugh and groan whenever he appears on screen.
9. Susie Greene
Curb Your Enthusiasm
Portrayed by: Susie Essman
Favorite Quote:
After being seated in the ugly section of a restaurant with Larry David:
“The only reason I was over there the other day was 'cause I was with you and fat boy.’’
Curb Your Enthusiasm follows the awkward day to day life of Seinfeld co creator Larry David. Larry’s quirks and neuroticisms often have him at odds with the world around him, most often with Susie Greene, wife of Larry’s agent Jeff Greene.
Susie and Larry are longtime friends, but Larry’s constant scheming with Jeff and lack of social graces often cause Susie to verbally abuse Larry with a tirade of yelling. Susie often kicks Larry out of her house for various infractions – from Larry not wanting a tour of Susie’s new house to Larry taking the head off of a doll that belongs to the Greene's daughter. Susie is sophisticated and fashionable - a stark contrast to the socially inept Larry. Susie loves to host dinner parties that usually result in her throwing Larry out, due to Larry’s reluctance to adapt to social norms. The often volatile frenemy relationship between Larry and Susie earns Susie a spot on this list.
8. Barry Dylan/Other Barry
Archer
Voiced by: Dave Willis
Favorite Quote:
"Barry, are we losing our mind?" "Could be, Other Barry. Could be."
Archer is an animated series about the fictional spy agency ‘ISIS’ focused on the titular Sterling Mallory Archer, the perpetually drunk, self proclaimed greatest secret agent in the world. Season one introduces a competing agency, ‘ODIN’ and their top agent Barry Dylan. It’s revealed that Archer and Barry worked on a mission together in Berlin where Archer let Barry drop from a balcony and break his leg in retaliation for tearing his suit during a fight.
Throughout the series, Archer sleeps with Barry’s fiance, ruins ODIN’s plans to buy ISIS and drops Barry from a fire escape in Russia, leading Russia to turn Barry into a Cyborg who becomes the acting head of the KGB. Barry constantly talks to himself as “Other Barry”, often to agree with himself on whatever plan he has just come up with. He makes it his mission to ruin Archer’s life - from murdering Archer’s fiance to trying to kill Archer when he goes to space. Barry is completely motivated by his burning hatred for Archer and is often foiled by Archer’s dumb luck and aloofness. Barry and Archer’s constant bickering and pettiness make for a fantastic dynamic, and earns Barry a spot on this list.
7. Commissioner Madeline Wuntch
Brooklyn 99
Portrayed by: Kyra Sedgwick
Favorite Quote:
"Those are my tissues Raymond. If you were planning on sneezing you should have brought your own."
Brooklyn 99 delves into the day to day life of Brooklyn’s 99th police precinct, commanded by Captain Raymond Holt. Madeline Wuntch is introduced to us as Captain Wuntch, a longtime rival of Holt’s, who has just been promoted and is in charge of inspecting the precinct. Throughout the show, Wuntch and Holt repeatedly exchange insults and barbs, with Wuntch consistently using her power over Holt to make his life miserable.
Wuntch uses her power to transfer Holt to a meaningless PR job, she tricks Holt into giving her a good review for a promotion and she uses that promotion to demote Holt down to beat cop when she finds out he was promoted too soon. Wuntch’s pettiness with Holt and their verbal sparring matches cement Wuntch as one of the best sitcom antagonists.
6. Lois
Malcolm in the Middle
Portrayed by: Jane Kaczmarek
Favorite Quote:
“Fate is just what you call it when you don't know the name of the person screwing you over.”
Malcolm in the Middle follows a middle class family struggling to make ends meet. Malcolm is the third of five boys, and is constantly getting into trouble with his brother, to the frustration of their parents, most notably their mom, Lois. Lois is a strict authoritarian who works at a supermarket called Lucky Aide. She is constantly having to punish Malcolm and his brothers, Reese and Dewey, often grounding them and making them clean the house.
Lois is shown to love her boys very much, although their antics force her to be the bad guy more often than not. She is shown to be a reasonable person, but the constant misbehavior of her boys makes her have to resort to using extreme punishments and deterrents. She constantly outsmarts Malcolm and his brothers and their contentious and often hilarious dynamic gives her a spot on my list.
5. Señor Benjamin Franklin “El Tigre” Chang
Community
Portrayed by: Ken Jeong
Favorite Quote:
Annie - “You’re going to burn down the school and kill everyone!”
Chang - “Fire can’t go through doors, stupid. It’s not ghosts!”
Community follows a group of students at “Greendale Community College” - a small community college in Colorado. The study group is led by Jeff Winger, who starts a study group of unlikely friends from Señor Chang’s Spanish class. Chang is a slightly unhinged Spanish professor who uses his tiny bit of power to make life hard for his students. After revealing that his teaching credentials are fake, he becomes a student at Greendale.
Chang blames the group for losing his job and he eventually becomes head of security at Greendale, engineering a coup of the school board and installing himself as Emperor of Greendale. The study group foils his plan and Chang develops a little known psychological condition called “Changnesia” causing him to forget his past and call himself Kevin. He eventually reveals that ‘Changnesia’ was made up and joins the study group. His constant insanity and over the top antics earned him his spot on my list.
4. The Janitor
Scrubs
Portrayed by: Neil Flynn
Favorite Quote:
Janitor - “Boo-hoo. Where's my win? Think anybody thanks me for cleaning bathrooms?”
Turk - “Janitor, the bathrooms are filthy.”
Janitor - “Well, no one was thanking me, so I quit cleaning 'em.”
Scrubs takes place at Sacred Heart hospital and follows Dr. John Dorian, or JD for short. The show follows JD as he deals with the eccentric staff at Sacred Heart - the corner cutting Chief of Medicine Dr. Kelso, the long winded and ranting Dr. Cox and his best friend, Dr. Turk. Among the staff is the Janitor - who’s name is kept secret. The Janitor constantly messes with JD, stemming from their first meeting where the Janitor accuses JD of putting a penny in an automatic door, causing it to break.
The Janitor does numerous things to torture JD throughout the show - he helps Dr. Cox break into JD’s house and move his mattress to the street while JD is sleeping on it causing him to wake up in the middle of morning traffic, he locks JD in a water tower for an entire day, and he convinces the entire staff to gaslight JD into thinking they all play a game called ‘Jiggly Ball’ which the staff only goes along with because the Janitor promises them that they get to pelt JD with tennis balls, which the staff enthusiastically does. The Janitors constant torment of JD puts him among the ranks of the greatest sitcom antagonists.
3. Robert Underdunk Terwilliger Jr., PhD - Sideshow Bob
The Simpsons
Voiced by: Kelsey Grammer
Favorite Quote:
“Attempted murder! Now honestly, what is that? Do they give a Nobel prize for attempted chemistry?”
America’s longest running animated series needs no introduction. Sideshow Bob first appears as a character on Bart Simpson’s favorite TV show “Krusty the Clown”. After Krusty is jailed for armed robbery, Bart figures out that Sideshow Bob had framed Krusty, leading to one of the greatest sitcom rivalries of all time. Sideshow Bob makes it his life’s mission to kill Bart and his plans are often foiled by the 10 year old.
Bart frequently thwarts Bob’s plans - When Bob becomes Mayor of Springfield, Bart proves that he won through election fraud, when Bob marries Bart’s aunt Selma, it’s Bart who uncovers Bob’s plot to kill her. In the episode “Brother from Another Series” Bob’s brother Cecil (Voiced by David Hyde Pierce) gets Bob out of prison and frames him for stealing money from his construction company and planning to destroy Springfield. Bart foils this plan as well, but the local police don’t believe that Cecil was the only one in on the plan they take Bob to jail as well. Bart and Sideshow Bob’s rivalry is classic and has earned Mr. Terwilliger a Top 3 spot on my list.
2. Devon Banks
30 Rock
Portrayed by: Will Arnett
Favorite Quote:
Devon - “Revenge is a dish best served cold, Jack, like sashimi or pizza.”
Jack - “You prefer cold pizza?”
Devon - “The morning after? It’s the best.”
Jack - “Better than hot pizza? That’s insane.”
Devon - “You don’t tell me what kind of pizza to like! You don’t tell me anything anymore Jack!”
30 Rock takes us into the day to day operation of ‘TGS with Tracy Jordan’ a Saturday Night Live inspired sketch show managed by head writer Liz Lemon. Her boss, Jack Donaghy is the head of NBC and next in line to become the CEO of General Electric. Jack’s rival and main competition for the job is Devon Banks, a young hotshot eager to defeat Jack and take the CEO job.
Devon is constantly trying to undermine Jack, from disclosing Jack’s secret heart attack to GE CEO Don Geiss, to pretending to be straight and proposing to Geiss’ daughter Kathy. When Jack drives Devon out of the company, Devon joins the Federal Government where he forces Jack to accept a government bailout so he can control him. Devon later uses his triplets to trick Jack’s new family man boss into giving him preferential treatment and teams up with Jack’s teenage nemesis to destroy him. Devon’s constant scheming to get one over on Jack paired with their hate-respect dynamic earns Devon his number 2 spot on my list.
1. Newman
Seinfeld
Portrayed by: Wayne Knight
Favorite Quote:
“Alright! But hear me and hear me well. The day will come - oh, yes, mark my words, Seinfeld - your day of reckoning is coming, when an evil wind will blow through your little play world and wipe that smug smile off your face. And I'll be there in all my glory, watching, watching as it all comes crumbling down!”
No surprises here. Newman is a cultural icon and even if you haven’t watched Seinfeld from that rock you live under, you have probably heard someone purse their lips and let out a vitriolic “Newman”. The mononymous Newman is a postal worker who lives in the same building as Jerry Seinfeld and Cosmo Kramer and delights in the misfortunes of Jerry.
Newman is perhaps one of the most well known sitcom antagonists of all time. Busting Jerry for mail fraud, telling Jerry’s parents that Jerry made out during a viewing of Schindler’s list, and infesting Jerry’s apartment with fleas are only a few of the shenanigans that America's favorite postman (Sorry Mr. Clavin) gets into. His bumbling, over dramatic personality and half witted attempts to take down Jerry makes Newman the greatest sitcom antagonist, and I’m certain that very few people disagree with me.
Walker’s Weekly Wrecommendations
Each week I’m gonna review and recommend random things - TV shows, music, or a restaurant. IDK. Whatever I feel like. This is my blog.
This week's Triple W is for you to watch any show from this week’s top 10 list that you haven’t seen. I have seen every episode of every show on this list multiple times, and I assure you that you can’t go wrong with any of them.
NEXT WEEK: Walker’s Wranting’s presents “We’re Halfway There: Unprofessional Opinions on the First Half of the NBA Season”