The BEST Episodes of Taxi
Every episode ever - ranked by fan votes!
Last Updated: Jun 28, 2020
Network: ABC (US)
Taxi's success was due to its excellent writing, Burrows's award-winning directing using his innovative four-camera technique, and its largely unknown but talented cast. Danny DeVito's Louie DePalma soon became one of the most despised men on television--possibly the most unredeemable and worthless louse of a character ever to reside on the small screen. Andy Kaufman's foreign mechanic Latka Gravas provided over-the-top comedy within an ensemble emphasizing subtle character humor.
#1 - Elegant Iggy
Season 4 - Episode 20 - Aired Mar 11, 1982
Jim invites Elaine to a concert, and while there, they run into an important patron at Elaine's art gallery. The woman invites them both to a party, although Elaine is very worried that Jim will embarrass her in an event that's important to her career. Still, she doesn't quite have it in her to ask Jim not to go. At the party, Elaine's worst fears are realized with Jim's behavior, until he surprisingly wows the crowd on the piano and turns things around.
8.98 
#2 - Simka Returns
Season 4 - Episode 15 - Aired Feb 4, 1982
Latka is eagerly anticipating a reunion with his ex-girlfriend from the old country, Simka. She arrives at the garage and while Latka is in the bathroom, Alex warns her of Latka's multiple personalities. Sure enough, at Latka's apartment later, Vic Ferrarri makes his appearance and seduces Simka. Much to Latka's dismay, soon his alter-ego, Vic, and Simka seem to be an item. Alex encourages Latka to fight Vic for Simka, which he does in hilarious fashion and Vic never returns.
8.91 
#3 - Alex Goes off the Wagon
Season 5 - Episode 3 - Aired Oct 14, 1982
In this episode, we learn that Alex can be a compulsive gambler. Alex even scares Louie off with his compulsion, but Jim talks some sense into Alex at the end (after having bankrolled him initially).
8.87 
#4 - Tony's Comeback
Season 4 - Episode 19 - Aired Mar 4, 1982
Tony begins working out with a new cabbie, Lucius, who is a former football player. Tony is in great shape all of a sudden and Lucius inspires Tony to try to get his boxing license reinstated. Tony is not hopeful that the boxing commission will reinstate him, so he is surprised when he gets his license back. In addition, he getes a major fight scheduled with a promising young fighter. Meanwhile, Lucius goes away to Miami to try out for the Dolphins. Without Lucius around, Tony loses his motivation and his training suffers. At the fight, he is getting pummelled until Lucius, who has learned that he has made the Dolphins, arrives to inspire him. With Lucius' support, Tony turns the fight around and knocks out his opponent.
8.79 
#5 - Of Mice and Tony
Season 4 - Episode 9 - Aired Dec 10, 1981
Tony becomes the manager of a promising young heavyweight boxer at his gym, but after the boxer wins a major fight, the "syndicate" (which turns out to be some doctors looking for an investment, rather than the mob) makes Tony an offer he can't refuse and takes over the boxer's management.
8.76 
#6 - Tony's Lady
Season 4 - Episode 14 - Aired Jan 28, 1982
Tony takes a second job working as a chauffer for a wealthy but friendly woman named Christina. The two of them hit it off while he's driving her around, and Tony develops a crush on her. By the time Tony finally gets up the nerve to ask her out, it's too late-- she has just become engaged.
8.74 
#7 - I Wanna Be Around
Season 4 - Episode 11 - Aired Jan 7, 1982
Louie becomes scared of nuclear war after hearing someone talk on Donahue, and he sets up a bomb shelter in the garage. He schedules a weekend drill with Jeff and Tony in tow, but finds he's too "soft" to survive if war really broke out, since he is unwilling to throw Jim (who has stowed away in a radiation suit) out of the shelter.
8.65 
#8 - The Unkindest Cut
Season 4 - Episode 18 - Aired Feb 25, 1982
Elaine spends over $200 to go to a trendy hairstylist before a special date, but the result is outrageously bad. When she expresses some disappointment, the hairstylist insults her and she leaves, crying, but still pays. Alex talks her into going back and standing up for herself, so she can get her hair fixed and her money back. That doesn't go too well, but in the end, Louie, who has followed Alex and Elaine to the hairstylist, exacts revenge on the guy by pouring a bucket of red hair dye on him.
8.57 
#9 - The Road Not Taken (2)
Season 4 - Episode 24 - Aired May 6, 1982
(Part two) In a continuation of the previous episode, the cabbies share past experiences with Elaine. Latka discusses his decision to leave his mother and move to America. Alex talks about an opportunity for a major promotion at a desk job he had, but would not compromise his principles to take it. Meanwhile, the man who offered Elaine a job comes to the garage to get a decision from her, but he withdraws his offer when he sees how wishy washy Elaine is being about it.
8.42 
#10 - The Road Not Taken (1)
Season 4 - Episode 23 - Aired Apr 29, 1982
When Elaine is offered a job as an art gallery manager in Seattle, she asks the gang for help in making a decision. The cabbies share with Elaine some stories about life changing decisions they once had to make. Tony talks about how he refused to take a dive in a major fight, even though he will likely be in trouble with the mob. In the fight, Tony learns that the other fighter has also been paid to take a dive, and the fighter does so in comic fashion. Next, Louie talks about how he became a taxi dispatcher after mercifully taking over for the kindly old dispatcher who had to take his wife to the doctor. Louie finds he likes the job and forces the old man out of the dispatcher's job into retirement. Finally, Jim tells of how he was very studious at Harvard, until his free-spirit girlfriend turned him on to hash brownies. (Part one of two)
8.38 
#11 - Substitute Father
Season 1 - Episode 22 - Aired May 15, 1979
With Elaine going out of town to visit her sick aunt, the guys at the garage takes turns watching over her son so that he can compete in a spelling bee.
8.23 
#12 - Elaine's Secret Admirer
Season 2 - Episode 12 - Aired Dec 4, 1979
Elaine is upset after having just ended a relationship, but soon begins receiving love poems from a secret admirer. She is eventually convinced that the poems are coming from a new handsome cab driver named Don, and they begin dating. However, Jim has confessed to Alex that he has been the one writing the letters, in an effort to make Elaine feel better. Alex reveals this to Elaine, so she won't continue dating Don under false pretenses. This upsets Elaine greatly, but she is later comforted when she gets home by the gift of a metal sculpture that Jim has made for her out of the roof of his van.
8.12 
#13 - A Taxi Celebration (2)
Season 5 - Episode 17 - Aired Mar 23, 1983
Part two of a two part clip show featuring highlights of Taxi.
8.09 
#14 - Alex's Romance
Season 2 - Episode 10 - Aired Nov 20, 1979
Alex falls for Joyce, an actress friend of Bobby's, in part because (seemingly) he marvels in being a stabilizing factor in her life. When she gets an acting job in Los Angeles, he prepares to propose to her, in the hopes of keeping her in New York. When she learns of his plans, though, she discourages this, and they part on sad but positive note. Later, Jim hilariously and unwittingly makes Alex feel better, involving a case of mistaken identity.
8.00 
#15 - Fledgling
Season 4 - Episode 8 - Aired Nov 26, 1981
Elaine makes it her mission to try to cure a talented and friendly but troubled artist of his severe agoraphobia (fear of public places). Alex (possibly jealous of Elaine spending time with another man) advises Elaine to leave the treatment to a professional, but she ignores his advice and eventually brings the artist to the garage. Predictably, the artist is scared to leave the cab but while Alex and Elaine bicker about her methods, the artist walks out of the cab and appears to be making progress.
7.92 
#16 - Elaine's Strange Triangle
Season 3 - Episode 4 - Aired Dec 10, 1980
At Mario's, while Elaine is complaining about problems with her love life, a handsome man named Kirk approaches. Tony then plays matchmaker for Elaine and soon she and Kirk are dating happily. Kirk later tells Tony in private that he has a problem: he is interested romantically in someone else-- Tony! Tony, who is not gay but does not want to see Elaine hurt over this, tells Alex and although he doesn't really want to get involved, Alex agrees to meet Tony and Kirk at a gay bar to help smooth over the situation. Alex arrives at the bar before Tony and is nervous, but relaxes after Kirk tells him he knows Tony isn't interested and he's already gently broken things off with Elaine. Alex begins to feel more at ease, but soon he is asked to dance by a large man. Alex is then pulled on to the dance floor and is eventually chased on to the bar itself by a chorus of gay dancers and unable to escape, begins dancing on the bar, when Tony arrives..
7.87 
#17 - Art Work
Season 2 - Episode 22 - Aired Mar 4, 1980
The cabbies are faring poorly at various gambling schemes, but Elaine alerts the gang about a moneymaking tip for an art auction. It seems a terminally ill artist's painting is up for auction, and when an artist dies, the value of his paintings goes up considerably. She estimates that they need to pool $2,000 to win the auction and the gang, including Louie, barely scrapes up enough. At the auction, Louie attempts various dirty tricks to ensure a successful bid, but the bidding quickly goes above $2,000 and another bidder snares the painting. It is then announced that the artist has passed away, which rubs salt in the wounds of the already dejected cabbies.
7.85 
#18 - Louie's Revenge
Season 5 - Episode 8 - Aired Nov 18, 1982
Louie gets a call from Emily, who jilted him in an earlier episode, who is drunk and drugged and wants to meet him at a nearby bar. Louie decides to go over there to throw a drink in her face and reject her, therefore getting the last laugh. However, when he gets to the bar, Emily serenades him and has Louie eating out of her hands. The next morning, she is shocked to see him wake up next to her, but Louie somehow convinces her that they are meant for each other. They begin a relationship but it becomes evident that Louie has become Emily's slave and he's starting to hate himself for it. Eventually she comes to a realization of what she's doing to him and breaks it off with Louie, who is relieved, but he finally exacts revenge by throwing orange juice in her face.
7.85 
#19 - Shut It Down (1)
Season 2 - Episode 19 - Aired Jan 29, 1980
After Tony's cab's brakes fail, the cabbies are all furious at the company's frugality when it comes to fixing/replacing cabs. Elaine is elected shop steward, and after an unsuccessful meeting with Mr. Mackenzie, the big boss, the cabbies go on strike. Louie is initially not conerned about the actions of the union, because he's altered the bookkeeping to show that the company spends adequate money on the upkeep of the taxis, but after Alex scares him with talk of God's vengeance, Louie softens. Louie calls in Elaine and agrees to her demands with the caveat that she go on a date with him (continued in the next episode).
7.81 
#20 - Louie Moves Uptown
Season 5 - Episode 13 - Aired Jan 22, 1983
Louie decides to buy a luxury co-op apartment with some help on the down payment from the newly wealthy Jim. Unfortunately, Louie first has to convince a snooty co-op board that he is right for their building (as he comes in, they are rejecting actress Penny Marshall because they don't approve of the actress lifestyle). Bringing Alex for support, Louie has his work cut out for him when he sees that the board is bigoted. Alex goes on a tirade against their discriminatory process, and the board accepts Louie just to spite Alex.
7.78 
#21 - Reverend Jim: A Space Odyssey
Season 2 - Episode 3 - Aired Sep 25, 1979
At Mario's, the cabbies run into the spaced-out derelict minister, Reverend Jim, who officiated at Latka's wedding. Charmed by him, yet taking pity on him, they make it their mission to get him a job as a cabbie. Louie is adverse to this at first, but Jim seems to slip a sedative into Louie's coffee and he then changes his tune. The next hurdle is getting Jim a driver's license, which is a challenge as he not only has trouble with his written exam, but his application, as well. Nonetheless, he gets the license and begins work at the garage.
7.76 
#22 - The Wedding of Latka and Simka
Season 4 - Episode 21 - Aired Mar 25, 1982
Latka, who Joyce Brothers has declared is cured of his multiple personality disorder, asks Simka to marry him. They then must endure a bizarre series of tests, as is the marital tradition for members of their religion. In hilarious fashion, things get ugly at the ceremony itself, and Simka denounces her religion, when her minister reveals that she has just passed the last test and they are now married.
7.75 
#23 - Latka the Playboy
Season 3 - Episode 20 - Aired May 21, 1981
After Latka is rejected by a snobbish, but beautiful woman at Mario's, he decides to change his image by taking some time off and studying Playboy magazines and English language tapes. When Latka reemerges from his sabbatical, he has lost his accent and now is a lounge lizard who goes by the name, Vic Ferrarri. He soon easily picks up on the woman who had rebuffed him earlier. Although amused, the cabbies become concerned about the changes Latka has gone through, since he has now lost all of his nice qualities and is constantly hitting on Elaine. Alex tells Latka/Vic off, and later Latka appears at Alex's apartment, saying that he's sorry and doesn't want to be Vic anymore. Alex works with Latka and manages to get the old Latka back, although there is a twinge in Latka's eye that suggests Vic isn't gone forever..
7.75 
#24 - Cooking for Two
Season 4 - Episode 22 - Aired Apr 8, 1982
After Jim's home is destroyed by a wrecking ball, he stays with Louie, much to Louie's dismay after Jim declares him his "best buddy." Jim soon burns Louie's apartment after a cooking accident, though. Initially, Louie is angry, but sees an opportunity to make some money, when he learns that Jim gets a blank check from his wealthy father to reimburse Louie for his losses. Louie is not sure how much to ask for, though, since Jim says he has to call his father to okay the amount. After much lamenting over the amount, Louie settles on about $30,000 and Jim's dad okays it. Louie is overjoyed until he learns that Jim's dad was expecting the amount to be more like $200,000.
7.74 
#25 - Louie Meets the Folks
Season 2 - Episode 13 - Aired Dec 11, 1979
When Zena insists that Louie meet her parents, Louie is so worried about it (Zena's father is a minister) that he bribes Alex to come along with them to dinner, to keep him from embarrassing himself. At dinner, despite Alex's attempts at keeping Louie from acting crude, Louie manages to offend Zena's parents, yet the parents still act gracious towards him. Still, Louie believes the parents have accepted him, until Zena's mother tells him in private that if he tries to marry Zena, she'll have him killed (but makes him vow to keep that a secret).
7.72