In this episode of Family Guy, Joe reflects on how he became paralyzed from the waist down. His doctor calls his insurance company and explains to them that there’s a surgery that will restore his ability to walk which costs $200,000, meanwhile a wheelchair would cost $60. The doctor then hangs up the phone and tells Joe that they chose the latter, which resulted in Joe being paralyzed from the waist down forever.

Family Guy uses hyperbole to exaggerate how cold insurance companies are, and irony can be seen because health insurance companies are supposed to help people by covering hospital bills. Instead, they prevent Joe from getting better by refusing to help cover the cost of his surgery. Additionally, understatement is used here because the viewer can’t hear the insurance company talking on the phone, and the doctor casually hangs up and tells Joe that they chose the wheelchair.

This show isn’t just making a joke because, by exaggerating how blunt and cold the insurance company’s decision was, the show highlights how counter intuitive U.S. healthcare insurance is.

In the television show Ted, elements like humor and an inappropriate teddy bear are used to satirize suburban family life, specifically in the 1990s. The series follows a teenager, John Bennett, living with his talking teddy bear, Ted, whose childish and irresponsible behavior creates chaos that reveals deeper issues in the Bennett home. Through irony, like the fact that a teddy bear (with a deep, adult-male’s voice) which is typically meant to symbolize innocence behaves worse than any adult, and through hyperbole, like Ted’s exaggerated selfishness and immaturity, the series is able to expose the unrealistic expectations that are placed on kids compared to the low standards that society has for adults. The show, made in 2024, also parodies classic 90s sitcoms (that include and satirize themes like the trope of a magical best friend, “coming-of-age” stories, sentimental holiday specials, and more) by showing how messy and imperfect families really are behind the nostalgia, and by including a talking, walking teddy bear into a 90s-style sitcom, it almost feels like its poking fun at the overdone, unrealistic, and “perfect”-seeming sitcoms of the time. Also, understatement is used a lot in the show, with the family brushing off or acting like Ted’s outrageous behavior is normal. Their calm reactions to his shocking actions make the jokes funnier and prove a larger point that people often ignore problems instead of confronting them. Connecting the understatement technique back to the hyperbole; because Ted is portrayed as an adult [teddy bear…] he is disciplined less and allowed to get away with more things, showing that in society we let adults get off the hook easier, with John getting in trouble or even sometimes blamed for Ted’s actions in almost every episode. While on the surface Ted is very crude and funny, its satire critiques serious themes like toxic masculinity, denial within families, and the false belief that the past was simpler (rejecting the image/idealization of nostalgia), using humor to not only entertain and get a laugh out of the audience, but to highlight the flaws in American culture.

At first glance, Bojack Horseman might seem like just another absurd adult animation. But under the talking animals and celebrity satire, the show delivers profound critiques of modern society, tackling themes of mental health, toxic celebrity culture, and the way the media handles political issues. Created by Raphael Bob-Waksberg, the show follows the life of BoJack Horseman, a washed-up sitcom actor from the ’90s struggling with addiction, depression, and his inability to escape the toxic cycles of his past.

One episode in particular strikes me as a true work of satire: “Thoughts and Prayers” (Season 4, Episode 5), tackles America’s ineffective response to gun violence. The episode satirizes the way politicians, Hollywood executives, and the media treat mass shootings as PR problems rather than human tragedies.

The episode uses irony to expose the hollowness of “thoughts and prayers.” A phrase repeated by Princess Carolyn, a Hollywood agent, and her as she works on promoting an upcoming action film, Ms. Taken, starring Courtney Portnoy.

Instead of advocating for policy change, Hollywood executives and politicians repeat this phrase as a meaningless PR move, mirroring how real-world leaders offer sympathy while refusing to take action. This irony highlights the disconnect between public outrage and actual reform, forcing viewers to question whether these gestures are genuine or just a tool to quiet the public.

The absurd escalation of events, when the government finally bans guns only after women start carrying them, exaggerates how political decisions are often based on power dynamics rather than public safety. The same politicians who ignored mass shootings for years suddenly panic when their sense of power is disrupted. This extreme reversal of roles forces the viewer to confront the underlying biases in gun legislation, especially how laws are shaped not by morality but by who holds power.

This episode also uses parody to mock the media’s performative coverage of gun violence. News outlets treat mass shootings as just another trending cycle, and Hollywood executives scramble not to address the issue but to spin it in a way that keeps their profits. Their decision to rebrand Ms. Taken as a feminist empowerment film is a direct satire of how corporations exploit social issues for financial gain rather than advocating for a real change.

Understatement and situational irony are used for a comedic effect when the government’s reaction to the mass shootings is suddenly outraged when a woman is the cause of the tragedy, and men begin to feel personally threatened. After years of inaction, congressmen now argue for gun control, but only because women are armed, making them uncomfortable.

“What are my constituents supposed to do, NOT compliment random women on the street because they might be carrying a gun? We cannot allow our lives to be dictated by that kind of fear!”

This moment perfectly encapsulates the hypocrisy of gun politics, showing how lawmakers prioritize preserving male dominance over genuine public safety. “Bojack Horseman” isn’t just making fun of politicians; it’s criticizing the societal cycle of inaction. The episode forces viewers to recognize how mass shootings have become normalized and how real change only happens when those in power feel threatened.

Diane’s final line,

I can’t believe this country hates women more than it loves guns.

serves as a devastating critique of how deeply ingrained bias shapes policy more than logic ever does. The satire isn’t just exposing the American government’s hypocrisy, it’s compelling viewers to ask why we accept this reality and whether we’re willing to demand actual change.

Don’t Hug Me I’m Scared is a TV show where three character, Yellow Guy, Red Guy, and Duck; learn about educational topics from different characters. The show is presented like a kids show but takes dark and disturbing turns in order to satirize the topics that the characters are learning about. In the first episode, the three main characters learn about jobs from a talking briefcase before being dropped into a factory producing bits and parts.

Yellow Guy goes to a conveyor belt, makes a part, and is told “good job teammate” by one of the workers. This is then contrasted with Duck failing to make a part and his work being grinded into dust. After his work is destroyed, Duck says “hey, my thing that I did.” The show parodies how jobs treat their workers by rewarding Yellow Guy for successfully making a part and then destroying the thing that Duck made. Duck is proud of what he made but it is destroyed because it’s not what the company wants. Duck’s work being destroyed shows how companies don’t care about people and only value employees based on their worth to the company.

Meanwhile, Red Guy answers a phone and is told that he is upper management despite having no qualifications. While the other characters eat lunch from a vending machine, Red Guy is given a salmon with diamonds. The hyperbole of Red Guy getting a salmon with real diamonds shows how much unnecessary wealth higher ups in companies have. And, when Red Guy asks if you can eat diamonds, his assistant says that they’ll get something else and throws the food on the floor. The show employs situational irony by subverting what the audience thinks will happen with the food in order to further the idea that higher ups have more wealth than they need. While the other characters can only afford lunch from a vending machine, Red Guy gets extravagant food which is thrown away if he doesn’t like it.

Then, Duck watches a video which parodies training videos used by companies. In the video, it says “health and safety is important to us in our own special way.” Instead of claiming that the company will prevent accidents from happening like the audience expects, the video says that “at some point, we will have an accident. And that’s a promise. Because we feel that only a freak accident helps us appreciate all the times we’re not being burned in a grease fire or mangled in a piece of machinery.” In the video, situational irony is used to show that companies don’t actually care about their employees safety.

And after working at the factory, the briefcase comes back and throws the characters a coin which stabs Duck’s eye. Again, situational irony is used to show that after doing all their work, the thing that is meant to be a reward only hurts them.