Comedian Danny McBride has been the mastermind behind three comedy TV shows with HBO, and here are all three of them, ranked. McBride started his collaborations with HBO with Eastbound & Down, which started in 2009 and ran for four seasons. Then, McBride reunited with HBO for Vice Principals, which ran for two seasons, in 2016 and 2017. Danny McBride’s third show, The Righteous Gemstones, made its debut only two years later, with season 1 starting in 2019. 2025’s The Righteous Gemstones season 4 will finish the series, meaning that it is time to look back at all of McBride’s works.
Danny McBride is an actor and comedian who has appeared in all kinds of incredibly popular films, such as This Is the End, Pineapple Express, and Hot Rod. While he has quickly become one of the most notable comedic actors working today, many viewers don’t realize how prolific his career behind the camera has been. Danny McBride has written and produced a variety of projects, such as the 2018 Halloween reboot trilogy, Fatman, and The Exorcist: Believer. However, McBride’s most notable contributions come in the form of Eastbound & Down, Vice Principals, and The Righteous Gemstones.
3
Vice Principals
2016-2017
All three of Danny McBride’s TV shows are some of the funniest comedy content that HBO has ever put out, and any ranking order would be valid. However, when it comes to this list, Vice Principals is the lesser of the three Danny McBride shows. Vice Principals follows Danny McBride’s Neal Gamby and Walton Goggins’ Lee Russell as co-vice principals at North Jackson High School, with the school’s administrative staff fighting as the previous principal retires. The hilarious comedy series lasted for two seasons, with it being the middle child of Danny McBride’s partnership with HBO.
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Vice Principals is an incredible show, and fans of Eastbound & Down or The Righteous Gemstones will undoubtedly find a lot of enjoyment in it. However, what is good about Vice Principals can be found even better in the other two shows. Vice Principals isn’t as funny as Eastbound & Down, and the story isn’t as good as The Righteous Gemstones, meaning that it doesn’t stand out quite as much. While Vice Principals did start McBride’s iconic collaboration with Walton Goggins, it doesn’t quite live up to the other two shows.
2
Eastbound & Down
2009-2013
The second best of Danny McBride’s HBO shows is Eastbound & Down, the first product of his collaboration with the network. Eastbound & Down tells the story of Danny McBride’s Kenny Powers, a former professional baseball player who finds everything around him crumbling thanks to his self-destructive behavior. In an attempt to rebound, Powers begins teaching physical education at a middle school in North Carolina, leading to all kinds of shenanigans.
Of Danny McBride’s three HBO series, it is hard to deny that Eastbound & Down is the funniest. The series is absolutely hilarious, with it setting the stage for the style of comedy that was to come. While the filmmaking and storytelling isn’t quite as good as The Righteous Gemstones, this is mostly because it was McBride’s first series. Despite this, Eastbound & Down is still a fantastic show, although it isn’t the best that McBride has to offer.
1
The Righteous Gemstones
2019-2025
The Righteous Gemstones is Danny McBride’s most recent HBO show, and it is also his best. The Righteous Gemstones tells the story of the titular Gemstones, a family of wealthy televangelists who can’t seem to stay out of trouble. Danny McBride stars as Jesse Gemstone, with Edi Patterson, Adam DeVine, John Goodman, and Walton Goggins making up the rest of The Righteous Gemstones‘ cast. The four-season series spans multiple generations of the Gemstone family, with each new story bringing in new extended family members to cause trouble.
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Of Danny McBride’s three HBO shows, The Righteous Gemstones tells the most complex story, narratively and thematically. The “Interlude” episodes and The Righteous Gemstones‘ season 4 premiere prove that the storytelling from McBride and his team has grown immensely since the days of Eastbound & Down. While the series continues the profane comedy of McBride’s other two shows, there is so much to dig into when analyzing The Righteous Gemstones. Thus, of the three Danny McBride shows, The Righteous Gemstones tops Vice Principals and Eastbound & Down.
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