Monty Python's Flying Circus !

[GaryE]

I just don't laugh at some of the things I used to. I'd rather watch Derry Girls now than a show from 30 years ago.

So much of humour is slapping you with the unexpected, and that element falls away after it's been done a few times. I don't like shock humour, but rather absurd situations, good dialogue and timing. Monty Python was something completely different, and that's why it worked. Now? Not so much. You can predict it.
Taboos are also prime targets, but they keep changing. I don't find racist, sexist or anti-gay stuff funny. I didn't when it was new. Stuff that targets ideas and not people is harder to pull off.
Trailer Park Boys, Derry Girls, some of the wittier comedians (not the ones deliberately trying to shock us all - I'm too old to be shocked), regional 'situation comedies', good short sketch groups - there is a lot that can make me laugh. In the end, it's how comedians and writers play with ideas that stands out - sharp satire is great, and walking into doors isn't...

 

[TwoTankAmin]

It was the first in the UK though

But I am not from the UK It is not my fault the Brits are a tad slow

BTW- if we look beyond SitComs there were black and asian actors in the 1960s in American TV. Think Bill Coaby in I Spy (First episode date: September 15, 1965). Or the original Star Trek (First episode date: September 8, 1966)- Lt. Ohura play by Michelle Nichols (she and Capt. Kirk kissed in one episode). And then Walter Koenig as Pavel Chekov and George Takei as Sulu.

 

[Slaphppy7]

Not true- All in the Family went on the air in Jan 1971. They had three black actors, look it up- Sherman Hemsley, Mike Evans and Isabel Sanford.

And the show addressed racial bias since Archie Bunker was a racist and got called out on it a lot on the show.

Ground-breaking series for it's time....AND, inspired by a British sitcom, 'Til Death Do Us Part

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Speaking about taxi- this is two of the reasons it was so funny.