In today’s weekend blog, I am going back to the 1990s and early 2000s, and I am talking about COMEDY SERIALS of that era. That era was the golden period of clean humour. While today’s comedy shows like The Kapil Sharma Show rely on problematic and regressive themes under the guise of humour, that era was completely different. Unlike today, the shows of that era did not rely on sexist or regressive jokes.
Here is the list of the best old Hindi Comedy TV Serials from the glory days that are timeless and insanely hilarious:
1 DEKH BHAI DEKH
On the top of the list is Dekh Bhai Dekh. Yes, this was one of the most popular comedy show on Indian Television in the 1990s. Every character of Diwan family was unique and made us fall in love with them! From Shekhar Suman, Navin Nischal, Farida Jalal to Sushma Seth was insanely funny and hilarious.
2 TU TU MAIN MAIN
Much before Ekta Kapoor came up with twisted Saas-Bahu relationships, Reema Lagoo and Supriya Pilgaonkar gave us hilarious take on the regular banter between saas and her bahu. Yes, this light hearted comedy serial captured these mischievous women brilliantly.
3 FLOP SHOW
While talking about the Best Old Hindi Comedy TV serials, how can one forget Flop Show? Jaspal Bhatti’s Flop Show is still relevant three decades later. The show revolved around day to day problems of common man in satirical ways. It was impossible to watch this comedy serial without a hearty laugh.
4 ZABAN SAMBHALKE
This serial starring Pankaj Kapoor in the main role was a Hindi remake of British sitcom ‘Mind Your Language’. The show was based on hilarious Hindi classes for adults belonging to different cultures. Pankaj Kapoor, an engineer-turned-Hindi-teacher, made us laugh with his hilarious comeback for every odd question that his multi-lingual students threw at him.
5 SHRIMAAN SHRIMATI
Next on the list is of Best old Hindi Comedy TV serial is Shrimaan Shrimati. With the power packed performances of Reema Lagoo, Jatin Kanakia, Archana Puran Singh and Rakesh Bedi, this show was immensely loved and adored by the audience. In case you haven’t watched it yet, please do. It is super hilarious.
6 HUM PAANCH
This was first serial produced by Ekta Kapoor. A middle-class family with members who love taking digs at each other, so much so that the dead talk through the picture too. Sweety’s craziness, Kajal’s bhaigiri, and Anand Mathur’s constant struggle to keep with chaos-all these made Hum Paanch one of the most loved TV shows.
7 PHILIPS TOP TEN
Starring Pankaj Kapoor and Satish Kaushik as Santa & Banta, the show updated us with latest most popular songs of the week, with a heavy dose of laugher with antics of Santa & Banta.
8 FAMILY NO. 1
Very refreshing take on single parenting, this show was so much fun to watch. With power-packed performances by Kawaljeet and Tanvi Azmi, the show revolved around two families sharing a house. The constant fights between the kids and parents of both families cracked us up. The show also captured how these two families come together, which made this serial more heart-warming.
9 FILMI CHAKKAR
Much before Sarabhai vs Sarabhai, we saw Satish Shah and Ratna Pathak Shah as Bollywood obsessed couple in Filmi Chakkar. The show revolved around a family, who was totally obsessed and sold out on Bollywood.
10 OFFICE OFFICE
Mussadilal (played by Pankaj Kapoor) has to deal with the lethargy of government officials in different departments to get the small things done. The show highlighted the problems with officials in public sector while tickling our funny bones.
11 JI MANTRIJI
This serial was an adaption of the British satirical sitcom- ‘Yes Minister’. The show starred Farroq Sheikh as Minister of Administrative Affairs Satya Prakash Singh and Jayant Kriplani as the department’s Secretary. The show was not only intelligent but it was uproariously hilarious too.
12 SHRIMATI SHARMA NA KEHTI THI
Along the lines of Philips top Ten, this show also combined comedy with music together. The show revolved around the life of Mrs Sharma, who was about all things Bollywood. The unique thing about this show was, it had just one character –Mrs Sharma (played by Bharati Achrekar)-with a face, the rest of the characters were just voices.
Other honorable mention comedy shows of that era were Dam Dama Dam, Hasna Mat and Hudd Kar Di.
Sorry, but today’s comedy shows can never match up to the awesome level of comedy we saw in that era.
Anil Malik
Mumbai, India
20th February 2026