What do you get when a delivery boy gets cryogenically frozen and wakes up in the year 3000? The answer is surprisingly not the punchline to a corny joke, but the hilarity of Matt Groening's award winning animated tv show Futurama. Futurama has viewers constantly laughing from its odd plots such as a revolution led by sewer mutants, to its eccentric characters like Dr. Zoidberg, a crab like alien surgeon who lives in a dumpster. For someone who enjoys strange and morbid humor Futurama is a perfect match.

The show is centered around the life of the main character Phillip J. Fry (Fry) (voiced by Billy West), a pizza delivery boy who get's cryogenically frozen on New Year's Eve 1999 and is awoken over 1000 years later in the strange year 3000. He sees this as a second chance and is eager to be more than a delivery boy. However Fry ends up working at Planet Express a space delivery company. The whole show doesn't have one consistent plot, indivual episodes vary from minor issues like Fry finding a fossil of his old dog to the fate of the universe. There are some recurring types of conflicts such as Fry's romantic interest in his co-worker and the invasion of earth which happens several times. Someone watching the show doesn't need to watch all the episodes to enjoy it because the episodes don't follow one specific plot line. However, especially towards the end of the show there are many references back to other episodes, so it helps to watch all the episodes in order.

Part of what makes Futurama such a great show is the hilarious characters who work with Fry at Planet Express. The pilot of the Planet Express ship, Leela(voiced by Katey Segal), is an alien cyclops with purple hair who is the last of her species. She brings an aspect of physical comedy to the show due to her short violent temper. The company's robot Bender (voiced by John DiMaggio) is almost everyone's favorite character. He is the opposite of an ideal role model, but his rudeness, drinking, smoking, gambling, and many catchphrases like "Fun on the bun" and "Bite my shiny metal a**" are the funniest parts of the show.

Another essentially funny part of the show are the non major characters. Of the other workers at Planet Express one particularly funny character is Doctor Zoidberg (Billy West)who is a homeless crab like alien surgeon. He is constantly the victim of jokes about his poverty and bad hygiene. Another funny character is the Professor (Billy West) a relative of Fry who is an old man that is a mad scientist. He is constantly sending the main characters off to their doom and sharing his odd inventions. There are many other hilarious minor characters like the company's Rastafarian accountant , Hermes Conrad (Phil Lamarr), Amy Wong (Lauren Tom) an oblivious intern who is the daughter of Martian billionaires, and also the beloved janitor scruffy (David Herman).

Futurama is currently off the air, but can be streamed on Netflix. During the on and off periods of time Futurama was on air from 1999 to 2014 it won many awards. The producers, animators and writers have won 2 Emmys and have been nominated five other times. The voice actor Maurice LaMarch has won two Emmys for her own individual performances on the show and two of the animators, Rodney Clouden and Bari Kumar, have won Emmys for the animation of the episodes "Parasites Lost" and "Bicyclops Built For Two". Even though Futurama is off the air (probably  for ever) they will soon do a crossover with the Simpsons.

So if you haven't stopped reading this article to rush to your Netflix que I reiterate that Futurama is a hilarious tv show. Its unusual characters will leave you on the floor laughing and it's strange plots will make you simultaneously saying "What?" and laughing your sides out. The morbid sense of humor the writers have may turn of some, but if you like it Futurama is where you can find the best of it.