“Cartoons? Those are for kids.” BZZZT, wrong. Do NOT let kids watch these adult animated shows! But while they’re not for kids, they’re not all just full of mindless, crude jokes, and lewd content. While some adult shows might include such, they can be so much more. Clever satire on current events, commentaries on social and political topics, relatable struggles from mundane adversities to full-blown existential crises, and, of course, absolutely hilarious cartoonish antics. After all, while sometimes life may be tough, may as well not take it too seriously.
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While most stereotypical adults may defer to live action shows as a more “respected”, distinguished medium for drama and realism, through colorful backdrops and distinct characters, expressing a premise through the medium of 2D animation can give a different perspective. After all, animation allows for much more exaggerated expressions, situations, and settings, giving way to some of the craziest shenanigans that just wouldn’t be able to be properly conveyed otherwise. So, if you’re looking to maybe find a series you’ve yet to discover or you’re willing to give adult cartoons a try, you might just find a new favorite here!
10) Mission Hill
Andy French is a 24-year-old Gen X’er who is a salesman at Waterbed World and endeavors to be a cartoonist. Living with roommates Posey Tyler and Jim Kuback, Andy spends his free time partying. But when his 17-year-old nerdy younger brother Kevin knocks on his door, Andy’s life and living situation is thrown totally out of whack, responsibility thrust upon him as Kevin and the family dog, Stogie, also become roommates.
Mission Hill is unavailable for streaming.
9) South Park
Just your typical tetrad of grade-schoolers in a typical Colorado town. Except when they encounter aliens. Or the president. Or Jesus. Okay, so neither the children nor the town are very normal… Following the misadventures of four kids named Stan, Kyle, Cartman, and Kenny, South Park is a dysfunctional town filled with wacky characters. The series provides social commentary through exaggerated, vulgar, and sometimes nonsensical humor, often satirizing real-world issues and exploring controversial topics like religion, social issues, politics, media, and pop culture.
South Park can be streamed on Paramount+ or Pluto where available.
8) The Boondocks
When Robert “Granddad” Freeman becomes legal guardian of his two grandsons, he believes they can live in safety and comfort upon moving to the upscale neighborhood of Woodcrest, leaving behind the dangerous streets of Chicago. But with these two unruly boys, Huey, a 10-year-old leftist revolutionary, and Riley, Huey’s eight-year-old rebellious younger brother, and a neighborhood with some pretty odd characters, living a peaceful life isn’t exactly in the cards…
The Boondocks can be streamed on Max where available.
7) Close Enough
Josh and Emily are your typical couple in their early thirties just trying their best to raise their daughter Candice in a Los Angeles duplex with their divorced friends, Alex and Bridgette. With their daily lives spent trying to deal with average struggles like parenthood, nurturing their marriage, maintaining friendships, and getting older, things often tend to escalate into bizarre scenarios, sometimes involving ham theft or stripper clowns. Life may not be perfect, but it’s close enough. By the creator of Regular Show, J.G. Quintel, this surreal, absurdism adult animated comedy centers on the relatable themes within transitioning from one’s 20’s to one’s 30’s.
Close Enough is unavailable for streaming.
6) Helluva Boss
The business carried out by I.M.P., the Immediate Murder Professionals, isn’t the only thing that’s messy—so are the employees themselves. Following their myriad of misadventures, the homicidal staff find their way in not just making a living off killing the living, but navigating their personal lives living in literal Hell. Or, as the founder and manager of I.M.P., Blitzo, explains: “Thanks to our company’s special access to the living world, we can help you take care of your unfinished business by taking out anyone who screwed you over when you were alive!”
Created by Vivienne “VivziePop” Medrano and produced by SpindleHorse Toons in 2020 following the success of its pilot episode on YouTube, alongside its sister series Hazbin Hotel, this adult animated comedy series fills in the gaps of world-building for the Hellaverse and sets the scene for what life is really like in Hell by mostly focusing on average native Hellborn demons like Imps, Succubi, and Hellhounds, and how they exploit the sinful ways of humans and each other.
Helluva Boss can be streamed on Prime and Youtube.
5) Bojack Horseman
While Bojack Horseman may have been a hit in his 90’s hayday as a beloved TV sitcom star, the course of the proceeding twenty years hasn’t exactly been kind to him. Feeling as though he’s become washed-up, Bojack had since struggled with the compiling issues both in his toxic show-biz setting, in his past, and within himself. Following a pipedream of trying to stay relevant, Bojack spends his time finding distractions from his inner demons. Beneath a comedic veneer, Bojack Horseman explores serious themes like depression, mental health, toxic relationships, addiction, self-destructive behaviors, the consequences of one’s actions, impacts of toxic behind-the-scenes of show business, and the search for meaning in a superficial world.
Bojack Horseman can be streamed on Netflix.
4) Futurama
After accidentally becoming cryogenically frozen for one thousand years, late-20th-century New York City pizza delivery boy Philip J. Fry finds his niche in a futuristic world by becoming employed at Planet Express, an interplanetary delivery company. Run by his distant nephew, Professor Farnsworth, Fry is accompanied by some odd characters in the delivery crew: the cycloptic ship captain Leela, the foul-mouthed robot Bender, the young intern Amy Wong, the Jamaican bureaucrat accountant Hermes, and… Zoidburg. As the crew work to deliver packages across the universe, they often come across some very strange characters and situations.
Futurama can be streamed on Disney+ or Hulu where available.
3) Bob’s Burgers
As a chef, Bob is just trying to go about running his restaurant, Bob’s Burgers, with the help of his wife Linda and their three kids Tina, Gene, and Louise. As a quirky but wholesome family, the Belcher’s daily lives running a restaurant aren’t as mundane as some would think. With their routines frequently becoming disrupted with eccentric adventures often involving the children’s schemes or the unique characters in their community, Bob and Linda constantly struggle to keep the restaurant afloat. Even so, at the end of the day, nothing can come between this family. And their burgers.
Bob’s Burgers can be streamed on Disney+ or Hulu where available.
2) King of the Hill
Just because Hank Hill is an average middle-class American suburbanite, doesn’t mean his life is anywhere near boring—as much as he would probably prefer it to be. Living with his overly confident substitute Spanish teacher wife Peggy, well-meaning, eccentric son Bobby, and naïve niece Luanne in Arlen, Texas, Hank loves nothing more than selling propane (and propane accessories), maintaining his lawn, and cracking open a cold one with the boys in the alley. Despite holding typical conservative Christian views and values, Hank is often challenged to consider things that lead him to grow outside his initial rigid beliefs.
As an animated sitcom, King of the Hill explores themes of tradition versus change, unconventional family relationships, and navigating a constantly evolving world. While the original series ran from 1997 until 2010, its 14th Season has since released as of 2025—featuring the characters having evolved through the years, aging them up, and updating their modern lives.
King of the Hill can be streamed on Disney+ or Hulu where available.
1) The Simpsons
The Simpsons follows the everyday antics of the Simpson family—Homer, Marge, Bart, Lisa and Maggie—along with their average American hometown of Springfield absolutely filled to the brim with eccentric characters. Ongoing since 1989 as the longest-running American animated series with hundreds of episodes, this series by Matt Groening has captured the hearts of many fans and become not just renowned to cartoon fans, but a leading pop culture icon.
Often featuring celebrities as guest stars, the series has covered a wide variety of topics on politics, media, and American life under satirical commentary. And with so much material built up over the years, the series has become so renowned to the point of having the strange infamy of predicting future events and audiences and other television series coining the catchphrase “The Simpsons Did It” to point out any ideas already used by the series.
The Simpsons can be streamed on Disney+ or Hulu where available.
What’s your favorite adult cartoon to relax to after paying bills and filing taxes? Let us know down in the comments!
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