When evaluating each show based on its humour, Seinfeld is easily a better sitcom than Friends.
Seinfeld and Friends are similar in many ways. If you haven’t seen either show, you may think they’re more or less the same. They both depict a group of friends hanging out in New York, finding themselves in zany situations. But as sitcoms, they couldn’t be less alike.
I believe that the primary goal of a sitcom should be to make the viewer laugh. Sitcoms can have other goals, like making the viewer cheer, cry or learn a lesson — all of which Friends does.
Seinfeld is a show that strives only to be funny, and nothing else. On the basic premise that the quality of a sitcom is directly linked to its humour, it is inherently the better show. You will almost certainly laugh more when you watch it. How funny you find the jokes or characters is a separate, subjective conversation. All else being equal, Seinfeld is funnier because every plot point is part of a joke with no other purpose.
Let’s look at two episodes from each show that reflect this.
In an episode of Friends, titled “The One Where Joey Moves Out” (Season 2, Episode 16), Joey moves out of the apartment he shared with Chandler since the start of the show. The episode ends on a very sombre tone — one that you would expect if this happened in real life. After Joey and Chandler say their goodbyes and Joey leaves, you can tell both characters feel sad about leaving each other. No laugh track plays out the episode; we instead hear sad guitar music as the screen fades to black.
Let’s compare this with an episode of Seinfeld.
In an episode titled “The Invitations” (Season 7, Episode 22), George buys cheap envelopes for his fiancée to use for their wedding invitations. As it turns out, the envelopes were cheap because they were made with a toxic glue, and as a result, George’s fiancée dies. The tone of this episode is unlike the episode of Friends. George’s fiancée’s death is a part of the joke. There’s even a laugh track when she dies. Later, when George and his friends are told of her death in the hospital, you can see a sense of relief come across George’s face, as he had been dreading marrying this woman for the entire length of their engagement. A friend leaving an apartment in Friends is treated very seriously, whereas the death of a recurring side character in Seinfeld is a punchline.
You can see the stark contrast between their approaches to comedy the most in each show’s finale. Arguably the greatest scene in the Friends finale, titled “The Last One: Part 2,” is the part where Rachel gets off the plane to be with Ross. It’s really one of the most heartwarming moments of the show because suspense surrounding their romance builds throughout the series. The “everyone lives happily ever after” ending may have been satisfying for viewers, but in terms of comedy, it dropped the ball. The characters would still tell jokes at each other and get into funny situations, but the plot itself didn’t have a punchline.
Seinfeld’s ending is entirely different. In fact, the finale was not well received by fans. They were expecting each character to have a heartwarming ending, but what happens is the opposite.
In the Seinfeld finale, “The Finale,” all the main characters go to jail. The reason for their being sentenced had to do with a Good Samaritan Law they broke in another state, and past side characters of the show are brought back to testify as character witnesses. It’s clear from the testimonies that the main characters we’ve been watching for the past nine years are pretty awful people, and their ending matches their character. We see them piled into a cell and the camera zooms out as they start talking about George’s shirt as a call back to the very first episode of the show. As much hate as this episode gets, I think it stays true to the soul of Seinfeld as a series. It took nothing seriously, and it used every situation as a set up and punchline. The characters all going to jail is the punchline of the whole show. You could even say the finale is a joke that was played on the viewer.
Friends is truly a great show for many reasons. It’s easy to get attached to these characters, and you do want to see moments in their lives taken seriously. But if we’re asking which shows makes the viewer laugh more, it’s Seinfeld. Friends is trying to evoke an emotional response, which is great, but it makes the show less funny — and being funny is the most important thing a sitcom can be.