The Best St. Patrick’s Day TV Specials and Where to Watch Them Online

St. Patrick’s Day is usually a time for celebration, but COVID-19 has ruined the party for the second year in a row. Viewers can enjoy St. Paddy’s at home, however, by watching the best TV specials.

30 Rock, “St. Patrick’s Day” (Season 6, Episode 12)

The second of two St. Patrick’s Day specials from the NBC comedy, which features Alec Baldwin as the Irish American Jack Donaghy. This episode has everything you need to enjoy the day: a parade, general disdain for the holiday from the non-Irish Liz Lemon (Tina Fey), plus some good old-fashioned Catholic guilt from Jack.

Where to watch: Peacock

Boardwalk Empire, “Nights in Ballygran” (Season 1, Episode 5)

As a show about Irish American gangsters, Boardwalk Empire was bound to have a St. Patrick’s Day special at some point. It arrived just five episodes in, with Nucky (Steve Buscemi) preparing for a Celtic Dinner by hiring a group of little people to play leprechauns. As you might expect, it does not go well.

Where to watch: HBO Max

Charmed, “Lucky Charmed” (Season 5, Episode 17)

Not every St. Paddy’s Day special can get away with featuring actual leprechauns, but in Charmed they are par for the course. In “Lucky Charmed,” Paige, Piper and Phoebe team up with the leprechauns to fight a demon who is stealing all their good luck.

Where to watch: Peacock

Cheers, “Bar Wars III: The Return of Tecumseh” (Season 8, Episode 21)

With so many St. Patrick’s Day celebrations taking place in pubs, it is no surprise that one of pop culture’s most famous bars got in on the action. In this Season 8 episode, the gang is getting ready for the holiday when their rivalry with another tavern escalates.

Where to watch: Hulu, Peacock and Paramount+

CSI: NY, “Pot of Gold” (Season 6, Episode 17)

Two people definitely do not have the luck of the Irish in this episode of the crime procedural. The CSI: New York team has to solve a double murder with only a few St. Patrick’s Day-related clues, including a clover, some gold and a stain from the coloring used to turn beer green.

Where to watch: Available to buy on Apple TV, Amazon, Vudu and Microsoft

Futurama, “The Luck of the Fryish” (Season 3, Episode 10)

Fry and his seven-leaf clover in the Irish-themed episode of ‘Futurama.’ 20th Television

Released in 2001, the year that St. Patrick’s Day celebrations had to be postponed in Ireland because of an outbreak of foot and mouth disease, this poignant episode of the animated classic shows Fry hunting for his seven-leaf clover.

Where to watch: Hulu

How I Met Your Mother, “No Tomorrow” (Season 3, Episode 12)

The gang wants to spend the night playing board games, but Barney (Neil Patrick Harris) has other ideas. Dressed in a green suit, he heads out looking for a little green beer. What he gets instead is one of the wildest nights of his life.

Where to watch: Amazon Prime Video and Hulu

It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, “Charlie Catches a Leprechaun” (Season 11, Episode 8)

Kevin Thompson and Charlie Day in the St. Patrick’s Day episode of ‘It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia.’ FX

As a show set in an Irish bar, it was only a matter of time before Always Sunny had a St. Patrick’s episode. It came in Season 11, as Dennis (Glenn Howerton) created a mobile bar and Charlie (Charlie Day)—as the title suggests—set a glue trap to try to catch a “leprechaun.”

How to watch: Hulu

The Office, “St. Patrick’s Day” (Season 6, Episode 19)

St. Patrick’s Day is “the closest the Irish will ever get to Christmas,” according to Michael Scott (Steve Carrell). So, he lets everyone leave early to celebrate in this episode of the NBC comedy that recently left Netflix.

Where to watch: Peacock

The Simpsons, “Homer vs. the Eighteenth Amendment” (Season 8, Episode 18)

Many have experienced apocalyptic hangovers and big regrets after a night of St. Patrick’s debauchery. No one, however, has gone as far as the residents of Springfield, who enact Prohibition after a particularly raucous celebration.

Where to watch: Disney+