Every HBO Comedy Ranked From Worst To Best

Danny McBride’s ongoing HBO project is his most ambitious to date. It’s the story of a multigenerational family of televangelists, the titular Gemstones, who rake in the cash in their megachurch, preaching the word of God while engaging in all manner of unseemly, avaristic, and downright amoral acts behind closed doors.

The family is run by John Goodman in one of his trademark blusterous performances. As Eli Gemstone he’s a man of power and greed, but, in flashbacks especially, Goodman illustrates a softer side to his widower character.

The rest of the cast is made up of McBride regulars - he plays the oldest son in an impressively layered turn; Edi Patterson is hilarious as sister Judy, unpredictable and bonkers, and Adam DeVine takes the sadsack role as youngster Kelvin. Then there’s Walton Goggins having a whale of a time as Eli’s brother-in-law "Baby" Billy Freeman.

If you’ve seen much of McBride’s work you can imagine the kind of humour on show here, but The Righteous Gemstones’ ambition and purview goes beyond that of his earlier work, and manages to work character development and real pathos into a supremely confident debut season.