Television series

Vice Principals

Name: Vice Principals
Genre: Comedy
Released: 2016
Cast: Danny McBride, Walton Goggins, Georgia King, Shea Whigham, Busy Philipps

Danny McBride and Walton Goggins play two vice principals who loathe each other and want the same job badly enough to burn down what's left of their dignity - literally, eventually. It's cringe comedy with teeth: petty office politics escalate into genuine cruelty and violence, and the show dares you to keep laughing as it gets uncomfortably serious. Pitch black, very funny, not for the faint of heart.

TVMaze rating

6.7

If you liked this

Eastbound & Down2009

McBride and creator Jody Hill's earlier collaboration, following a washed-up pitcher whose ego makes him nearly unbearable and somehow magnetic. Same DNA: a delusional man convinced the world owes him status.

But Kenny Powers is even more repellent than Gamby, with less redemption on offer - some viewers just can't stomach him.

The Righteous Gemstones2019

McBride again, this time running a corrupt televangelist dynasty, with the same escalating pettiness turned into full-blown family warfare. Bigger budget, bigger stunts, same rotten hearts underneath the comedy.

But Runs longer and broader than Vice Principals; the shock-value set pieces can feel like diminishing returns after a while.

Barry2018

A hitman trying to become an actor sounds like pure farce, but the show keeps swerving into real dread and grief without losing its laughs. Same tonal tightrope, arguably walked even better.

But It's slower and more melancholic than Vice Principals - less pure gleeful chaos, more existential ache.

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Election1999

This is the blueprint: an adult's wounded ego turning a trivial institutional contest into a full moral collapse, told with the same nasty, gleeful precision - nearly two decades earlier.

Reese Witherspoon and Matthew Broderick as a student and teacher locked in a petty, escalating war over a school election that neither can let go of. Whip-smart, cruel, hilarious.

But Quieter and more restrained than Vice Principals - the violence is emotional, not literal, and the pace is stagier.

Veep2012

Political ambition stripped of any nobility, played by people who are brilliant at being awful to each other. If you liked watching two people humiliate themselves chasing a job, this is the mothership.

But Faster, wordier, and more purely verbal - less physical slapstick, more rapid-fire insult comedy.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia2005

A gang of narcissists scheming against each other and the world with zero self-awareness, for decades now. The purest distillation of comedy built on people being terrible on purpose.

But No arc, no growth, no consequences that stick - if you wanted Vice Principals' eventual weight, this won't deliver it.

It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia poster

Silicon Valley2014

Petty rivalries among people who think they're geniuses, set in an institution that rewards the wrong kind of confidence. Smart, quick, similarly obsessed with humiliation as currency.

But Tech-world satire instead of school-hallway grime - lower stakes, less physical menace, more inside-baseball jokes.

Fargo2014

Small-town pettiness curdling into shocking violence, treated with the same straight-faced comic horror. Proof that a story can be funny and genuinely frightening in the same scene.

But Anthology crime drama, not workplace comedy - the laughs are much darker and rarer than in Vice Principals.

Review2014no page yet

A man destroys his own life in pursuit of a ridiculous premise, and the show refuses to let him off the hook. Similarly committed to watching a fool's dignity collapse in real time.

But Bleaker and more repetitive in structure - less plot, more slow-motion self-immolation.

Bad Education2012

British sitcom set in a comprehensive school with an utterly useless, self-serving teacher at its centre. Smaller scale, same appetite for humiliating the adults meant to be in charge.

But Broader, sillier, aimed at a younger audience - it never goes anywhere near as dark as Vice Principals does.

American Vandal2017

Same target - the theatre of school authority and the petty investigations that consume it - but shot as a true-crime doc instead of a comedy, which makes the absurdity land differently and harder.

A mockumentary about a high school vandalism scandal, played with dead-serious true-crime conviction. It's absurd, but it takes the absurdity of institutional stupidity completely seriously.

But Format is a deadpan parody rather than a straight sitcom - if you want jokes delivered fast, this slow-burn style might frustrate you.