These are the characters who seem to live off the other characters in a show. They do little to no work, but always seem to be okay, prob. cuz they’re always eating everyone else’s food and having everything paid for.
I know there must be others but the two that made me think of this are:
Cosmo Kramer.
He’s gotta be the king of this trope. No job, but continually falls ass backwards into money, and seemingly eats 90% of his meals out of Jerry’s fridge. How’s he pay his rent? Easy. He owns his apartment, bought from Paul Reiser’s Mad About You character for the price of...one cigar.
Jack McFarland.
This guy is an actor who barely ever seems to act. He’s had multiple odd jobs that seem to last just long enough to get a few laughs out of them. Will Truman feeds him, has bought him clothes, and literally paid for elective surgery on his behalf, his other bestie Karen is obscenely rich so that helps. How he pays the rent I dont recall, but it’s gotta be someone else footing the bill.