The BEST Episodes of Taxi
Every episode ever - ranked by fan votes!
Last Updated: Sep 27, 2019
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 - Substitute Father
Season 1 - Episode 22
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 
#2 - Elaine's Secret Admirer
Season 2 - Episode 12
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 
#3 - A Taxi Celebration (2)
Season 5 - Episode 17
Part two of a two part clip show featuring highlights of Taxi.
8.09 
#4 - Louie Sees the Light
Season 1 - Episode 16
After an operation, Louie, the sharp-tongued dispatcher, panics when he has to keep a promise that he made to God during surgery to turn over a new leaf.
8.02 
#5 - Reverend Jim: A Space Odyssey
Season 2 - Episode 3
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.
8.02 
#6 - Alex's Romance
Season 2 - Episode 10
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 
#7 - Elegant Iggy
Season 4 - Episode 20
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.
7.93 
#8 - Alex Tastes Death and Finds a Nice Restaurant
Season 1 - Episode 20
When Alex's ear is nearly shot off in a holdup attempt in his cab, he stuns his fellow cabbies by quitting and exchanging his driving clothes for a waiter's tuxedo at a snobbish French restaurant.
7.91 
#9 - Like Father, Like Daughter
Season 1 - Episode 1
The cabbies embark on a frantic race against time when they team up in a wild nonstop drive from New York to Miami so that Alex can see his long-lost daughter on her twenty minute layover at the airport
7.86 
#10 - The Road Not Taken (2)
Season 4 - Episode 24
(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.
7.78 
#11 - Elaine's Strange Triangle
Season 3 - Episode 4
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..
7.78 
#12 - Louie Moves Uptown
Season 5 - Episode 13
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 
#13 - Louie's Revenge
Season 5 - Episode 8
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.
7.77 
#14 - Latka the Playboy
Season 3 - Episode 20
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..
7.74 
#15 - Cooking for Two
Season 4 - Episode 22
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 
#16 - Alex Goes off the Wagon
Season 5 - Episode 3
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).
7.74 
#17 - Louie Meets the Folks
Season 2 - Episode 13
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 
#18 - Art Work
Season 2 - Episode 22
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.
7.72 
#19 - Hollywood Calling
Season 1 - Episode 21
The cabbies fall victim to a Hollywood-style roller coaster ride when a production company visits to do a film on taxi drivers.
7.71 
#20 - The Apartment
Season 2 - Episode 9
When it is discovered that Latka is living at the garage after being kicked out of his apartment, Alex helps him find a place. Latka is able to find one on his own and invites Alex to see it. The apartment appears to be a beautiful luxury penthouse, and he has misunderstood that the $3000 rent is monthly, as opposed to a one time fee. Alex is about to get Latka out of the arrangement, when he gets the bright idea that the whole gang can share the apartment for the month and see how the other half lives. When the month is up, the gang is reluctant to give up their decadent new lifestyle, so they decide to throw a "rent party" in the hopes of staying another month. However, all the party goers (except Elaine) are male and demand their money back when they see there are no available women. Having lost their apartment, the cabbies agree to help Latka find a new place.
7.71 
#21 - Sugar Mama
Season 1 - Episode 14
Alex befriends a wealthy elderly lady who pays him to take her around the city.
7.71 
#22 - Mama Gravas
Season 1 - Episode 19
Mechanic Latka Gravas' youthful and attractive mother makes her first visit to America, and after she and Alex meet and have an evening love affair, Latka assumes that he will soon be getting a new daddy.
7.70 
#23 - Arnie Meets the Kids
Season 5 - Episode 20
Elaine is seriously dating the nerdy Arnie, also introduced in the Shloogel Show episode earlier this season, and decides it's time for him to meet her kids although she isn't sure if that's a great idea. Arnie is also very worried about the meeting and when he meets them, he tries a little too hard to make him their favorite person. In the process, he gives them presents and even money, to Elaine's dismay. In an effort to set things right, Arnie tells the kids that he didn't mean to try to buy their affection and it turns out they still like him. Elaine then realizes that now that the kids like Arnie so much, she's pretty much stuck with him-- but she's pleased about this.
7.70 
#24 - Jim the Psychic
Season 4 - Episode 1
Jim announces he has psychic dreams and unfortunately, he has had one about Alex, culminating in his death. The gang becomes increasingly worried about Alex, when one by one, all of the events Jim dreamed about start coming true. However, Alex continues to reject Jim's superstitions. Louie becomes so worried about Alex, he comes to Alex's apartment to take him somewhere (so the final part of Jim's dream doesn't come true, since he is to meet his doom that evening at home), but possibly to spite Louie, Alex decides to stay and tempt fate. In the end, it turns out that the doom Jim dreamed about was a girl scout knocking at Alex's door, instead of his death, but when Louie leaves, Alex actually appears very relieved that Jim's premonition was wrong.
7.70 
#25 - A Grand Gesture
Season 5 - Episode 23
Newly wealthy Jim gives each of the gang $1000 to give away, in an effort to teach them how good it feels to give someone else $1000. Latka & Simka give the money to their minister, who protests loudly (as is their custom) but accepts the money nonetheless. Tony uses the money to buy his friend Walt a large TV set. Elaine (inexplicably) gives the money to her daughter, suggesting that she split it with her brother. Louie gives the money to Jeff, who won't accept Louie's "dirty money" until he learns it was from Jim. Alex has trouble finding someone to give the money to until he comes accross an old lady in his cab with seven kids.
7.70