Top 10 TV Characters Who Give The Best Insults

10 Bugs Bunny – ‘Looney Tunes’ Franchise (1930-)

Bugs Bunny is the most well-known character to appear in Looney Tunes. The main reason is due to his timeless catchphrases, and unflinching aura of sarcasm. He delivers every insult with his signature dry wit, which usually goes right over the victim’s head.

Fun fact: Bugs Bunny is the character who popularized the term ‘nimrod.’ Nimrod is a biblical figure who was an expert hunter, and Bugs first uses it when he ironically calls Elmer Fudd ‘nimrod’ due to Fudd being a terrible hunter. Today, the term is used to describe anyone dim-witted or foolish. You know someone’s good at insults when they create and popularize a whole new term.

9 Sandor ‘The Hound’ Clegane – ‘Game of Thrones’ (2011-2019)

Sandor Clegane’s (Rory McCann) insults are typically laced with profanity and delivered through gritted teeth. What’s great about his insults though, is that they don’t really take a lot of wit to understand. They’re just plain harsh.

The Hound really knows how to get under someone’s skin, usually by means of brutal honesty. For example, when Thoros (Paul Kaye) sports a topknot, the Hound comments that Thoros is obviously trying to hide the fact that he’s going bald. The Hound makes it pretty apparent that he has no qualms about saying exactly what he thinks, and he doesn’t care what happens to him as a result.

8 Queen Maeve – ‘The Boys’ (2019-)

Queen Maeve (Dominique McElligott), also known as Maggie Shaw, is one of the many superheroes featured in The Boys. Her superpowers include super strength, invulnerability, super speed, and destroying her opponents with words.

Despite the fact that what she says can often be brutal, she is actually the most well-intentioned character in the series, and is probably the closest thing to a real superhero to be found within the existing seasons. She can even pretty kind to her friends, but cross her the wrong way, and boy are you in for it.

7 Dr. Gregory House – ‘House’ (2004-2012)

The titular Dr. House (Hugh Laurie) from House walks with a limp and with an air of permanent cynicism. He suffered a hard life, which has left him very mistrustful and misanthropic. Fortunately for the viewers though, that makes him all the more entertaining.

His sense of humour is often acerbic–he has no problem telling his patients exactly what they need to hear, even if it’s harsh. But sometimes, the tough approach he takes is necessary. Some of his patients just won’t listen to him if he takes the nice and friendly route.

6 Dr. Perry Cox – ‘Scrubs’ (2001-2010)

Dr. Cox (John C. McGinley) is the cynical doctor at New Sacred Heart Hospital. He hates pretty much everyone and always has a standoffish demeanour about him. He also hates a lot of oddly specific things, such as license plates that say “Party Doc.”

What he does like is going on long rants and insulting optimistic people. And he’s exceptionally good at it, too. He’s got a great sense of sarcasm and delivers it all with a perfectly straight face. His words often sting, but that’s sort of the point.

5 Squidward Tentacles – ‘Spongebob Squarepants’ (1999-)

Squidward (Rodger Bumpass) is one of those characters where the older you get, the more you understand him. When you’re a kid, he just seems like a grumpy old fart. But then you start to realize he’s just a regular guy who hates his job.

His two next door neighbours and his cheapskate boss are his two primary annoyances in life, and it’s caused him to develop a strong sense of sarcasm. In the earlier episodes, it’s not uncommon to see him expressing his dislike of Spongebob (Tom Kenny) through a hefty dose of dry jabs.

4 Eric Cartman – ‘South Park’ (1997-)

Eric Cartman (Trey Parker) is a foul-mouthed ten-year-old who has no respect for anyone. Much like the Hound, the way he delivers his insults doesn’t require a lot of wit to understand, as they’re straight to the point. They’re also crude and often full of swear words.

If Cartman were real, it’s likely that he’d be loathed by everyone around him. Luckily, he’s in a comedy series, which leaves him one of the better characters with his crass language and deep-cutting words. Let’s be real, who else could create a whole choreographed song and dance about how much he hates his friend’s mom?

3 Shoresy – ‘Letterkenny’ (2016-)

Shoresy (Jared Keeso) is a character so popular that they showrunners of Letterkenny even gave him his own spin-off show in 2022. He, like many characters in the show, is a hockey player. But don’t expect to find a sense of teamwork and camaraderie in him.

He has no problem telling his teammates what for, usually using foul language or abrasive jabs. He is the perfect antithesis to the stereotype that all Canadians are nice and friendly.

2 Sterling Archer – ‘Archer’ (2009-)

Archer (H. Jon Benjamin) is an IIA superspy featured in the show of the same name. Despite being someone who is supposed to uphold the law and prevent international threats, he is far from a model citizen. He is portrayed as a rude, narcissistic, sex-crazed man with little concern for others. It’s almost like he only does his job so that he gets paid.

His self-absorption makes him an ideal fit for his job since he has little regard for human life, and doesn’t have to grapple with his conscience to take another person’s life. He is also known to be very cold and unforthcoming, and gives his viewers occasional (and unethical) tidbits of advice. For example, he says if you’re having trouble getting rid of a one night stand the next morning, feed them a bowl of cereal for breakfast. Because “nothing says ‘go away’ like Raisin Bran.”

1 Bender Bending Rodríguez- ‘Futurama’ (1999-2023)

Bender (John DiMaggio) may be just a robot, but he has the demeanour of a human middle-aged cynic. He is often portrayed as a narcissistic pleasure-seeker, and will say or do whatever he wants without thinking about the repercussions. This allows him to dish out some pretty nasty insults to the other characters.

Though he does on occasion show a softer side, for the most part he is downright rude. But that doesn’t mean he isn’t hilarious. He also has a handful of quotable catchphrases, such as telling others to bite his shiny metal butt.