From Seinfeld ’s Frank Costanza to Parks and Recreation ’s Tammy 2, plenty of hilarious sitcom side characters have stolen the show. They say that there are no small parts, only small actors, and that’s clearer than ever in the sitcom genre , where an actor with a couple of lines in a couple of episodes can overshadow the entire main cast.

Sitcoms couldn’t survive without their main characters. Veep is carried by the unscrupulous Selina Meyer , Family Guy is carried by the Griffin family, and The Mary Tyler Moore Show is carried by, well, Mary Tyler Moore. But Uncle Jeff, Mayor West, and Sue Ann Nivens are among the funniest characters in those shows, and they’re only in a few episodes.

Sometimes, side characters make their shows even better. Silicon Valley wouldn’t be as

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