Gintama is the best comedy anime ever made. No other anime makes you laugh nearly as much. It also has a nice nationalistic vibe. If you know other anime and manga you'll appreciate it more but it's great even if you don't get all the references.
There are some very good battles too, it really is a masterpiece. The Kintaro arc and MADAO episode will make you cry and laugh so hard at the same time, it's amazing. The umbrella episode will make you smile and give you diabetes... Gintama has everything.
The new English dub on Hulu makes pop culture references like John Cena, Michael Bay and things that happened after it originally aired. That plus the silly voices make it really feel like an abridged series. I find original Japanese Gintama annoying because everyone is screaming and obnoxious but I'll admit this dub actually makes it pretty tolerable and fun.
