Kenny Powers vs. Michael Bluth

I’ve come to realization that my favorite comedies are funny either because a.) the central character is unrealistically outlandish, surrounded by normal(ish) people who have to deal with him/her , or b.) most of the surrounding characters are unrealistically outlandish, and the central character has to cope with being with them. Examples of a.) include Eastbound and Down, Curb Your Enthusiasm, The Office (to a certain extent); examples of b.) include Arrested Development, 30 Rock, Seinfeld (sort of), etc. 

There is of course a c.), where everyone is unrealistically outlandish. Most cartoon sitcoms seem to follow this formula. My guess is that since the audience never really connects with animated characters the way that they need to with human characters, there doesn’t need to be stable, sympathetic characters.

With the exception of family comedies, where the unrealistic characters are children, and their behavior is attributed not to their bizarre behavior, but their child-ness. Because they’re young (the thinking goes) they can get into any sort of trouble each week, and the parents have to sort things out.