The Simpsons have consistently nailed Halloween episodes.

Happy Halloween! It’s time to put on your ‘stume and get real ghoulish with it! This is of course the spookiest day of the year, which means that many people will be watching the scariest horror movies to get into the “spirit” of things.

But if pure horror isn’t your speed and you still wish to celebrate the Halloween season, you could always bust a gut laughing at these sitcoms who absolutely NAIL  their Halloween episodes.

The best part of Halloween episodes is that they allow TV shows to break away from their traditional plot structures and characterizations. The gloves come off as the masks go on, and the more devilish qualities of the show’s characters are amped up to utterly frightening levels.

I’m a huge fan of the horror AND comedy genres, so naturally, I always gravitate to shows that can blend fear with laughs. And it seems I’m not alone in my fandoms. According to this report from Statista, there’s an immense amount of crossover between fans of horror and comedy.

It’s not an easy feat combining fear and humor, but there are a few shows that I think pull it off perfectly. Keep in mind, for this list I will only be touching on sitcoms that aren’t normally horror-based until Halloween rolls around. This excludes sitcoms like The Munsters and What We Do In The Shadows, as the horror-esque aesthetics are a consistent part of their programming.

So if you’d rather howl with laughter than scream in terror, these are the shows for you! In no particular order, here are the sitcoms that capture that hilarious Halloween spirit with perfection.

  • Brooklyn Nine-Nine

     

    Brooklyn Nine-Nine is hilarious and amazing in its own right, but the Halloween Heist episodes are always a special treat with plenty of tricks! What starts in season one as a simple wager between detective Jake Peralta and Captain Holt quickly devolves into a chaotic free-for-all where alliances are broken as quickly as they’re formed, as everyone vies for the title of Amazing Detective/Human/Genius.

  • Modern Family

     

    If it’s gut-busting laughs you want for the Halloween season, the Dunphy family has you covered! Modern Family has a wide assortment of hysterical Halloween episodes, usually centered around Claire’s outrageous efforts to establish herself as the Hallo-queen. One thing you learn from these episodes: NEVER try to out-scare Claire.

  • Community

     

    Despite its dedicated cult following, Community was a criminally slept on series in its original run. And that’s a shame since it’s legitimately some of the best television I’ve ever watched (final season notwithstanding).

    But the show’s Halloween episodes are when the already mentally unwell students of Greendale Community College are able to flourish in all their frightening glory. There’s an entire episode where the school is infested with zombies, and it’s so ridiculously funny that I make sure to show it to everyone I can.

  • The Office

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C_gVDfKSms8

     

    With rumors of The Office possibly being rebooted sometime in the near future, I’m clamoring for more Halloween content among the workers of Dunder Mifflin. These Halloween episodes will have you wishing your office Halloween parties were even half as exciting. Just don’t be a total Jim and act like you’re too cool for Halloween.

  • The Simpsons

    The Treehouse of Horror saga of The Simpsons is so impressively dense that they could be a spin-off on their own. The Simpsons’ Halloween episodes are completely detached from the regular minutiae of the show’s established universe, existing in a space all its own.

    These episodes will usually spoof popular horror franchises like A Nightmare on Elm Street, The Shining and The Fly, but will also feature original stories that are just as hysterical as they are nightmare-inducing. How The Simpsons manages to make nuclear apocalypses and demonic possession so outrageously funny I will never understand. But thank Kang and Kodos that these episodes exist.

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