25 comedy directors I (and maybe you , too will) like
by unkle_weaser | created - 24 Feb 2011 | updated - 25 Feb 2011 | PublicHere are 25 comedy directors I like. This list isn't complete, nor is it comprehensive.
1. Mel Brooks
Actor | Spaceballs
Mel Brooks was born Melvin Kaminsky on June 28, 1926 in Brooklyn, New York. He served in WWII, and afterwards got a job playing the drums at nightclubs in the Catskills. Brooks eventually started a comedy act and also worked in radio and as Master Entertainer at Grossinger's Resort before going to ...
Blazing Saddles, The Producers, Silent Movie, Young Frankenstein. 'nuff said
2. Jerry Lewis
Actor | The Nutty Professor
Jerry Lewis (born March 16, 1926 - August 20, 2017) was an American comedian, actor, singer, film producer, screenwriter and film director. He is known for his slapstick humor in film, television, stage and radio. He was originally paired up with Dean Martin in 1946, forming the famed comedy team ...
He pretty much invented the video instant feed back idea. he also directed The Bellboy, The Nutty Professor, The Patsy and lots of other movies I like. I more-or-less worked for him at the Muscular Dystrophy Association. (I rounded up local business volunteers to call for donations at a Jail-and-Bail event.) But obviously never met him, or even heard from him. I was merely a cog in the wheel...
3. Peter Bogdanovich
Director | The Last Picture Show
Peter Bogdanovich was conceived in Europe but born in Kingston, New York. He is the son of immigrants fleeing the Nazis, Herma (Robinson) and Borislav Bogdanovich, a painter and pianist. His father was a Serbian Orthodox Christian, and his mother was from a wealthy Austrian Jewish family. Peter ...
not merely a comedy director, he made serious movies too. What's Up Doc? Paper Moon, They All Laughed are some of his comedies. Last Picture Show, Mask and Saint Jack are some of his dramas. Look him up, you'll see some gems there.
4. Blake Edwards
Writer | The Pink Panther Strikes Again
Blake Edwards' stepfather's father J. Gordon Edwards was a silent screen director, and his stepfather Jack McEdward was a stage director and movie production manager. Blake acted in a number films, beginning with Ten Gentlemen from West Point (1942) and wrote a number of others, beginning with ...
The man who invented Inspector Clouseau. The Pink Panther, A Shot in the Dark, all the Clouseau movies with Peter Sellers... also 10, Victor/Victoria, The Party, Operation Petticoat, and loads of dramas too... Peter Gunn, Days of Wine and Roses, a great director. Look him up, and try some of his lesser-known movies as well as Breakfast at Tiffany's, The Tamarind Seed, etc.
5. Charles Chaplin
Writer | The Great Dictator
Considered to be one of the most pivotal stars of the early days of Hollywood, Charlie Chaplin lived an interesting life both in his films and behind the camera. He is most recognized as an icon of the silent film era, often associated with his popular character, the Little Tramp; the man with the ...
You knew I couldn't let a list like this go by without him, didn't you? City Lights, The Great Dictator, The Gold Rush, A Woman of Paris (he doesn't act in it, but Edna Purviance was the star)The Pilgrim, He was a director who didn't get much done after 1940 because of legal troubles, but check out Monsieur Verdoux, a black comedy co-starring Martha Raye.
6. Leo McCarey
Director | An Affair to Remember
Leo McCarey was born on October 3, 1896 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He was a director and writer, known for An Affair to Remember (1957), Going My Way (1944) and Love Affair (1939). He was married to Virginia Stella Martin. He died on July 5, 1969 in Santa Monica, California, USA.
He directed the Marx Bros. in Duck Soup, he pretty much invented Laurel and Hardy, and he directed a move with Laurel and Hardy called "Duck Soup" as well. He also directed drama pictures; "Going My Way" won Oscars for Leo and Bing Crosby.
7. Billy Wilder
Writer | The Apartment
Originally planning to become a lawyer, Billy Wilder abandoned that career in favor of working as a reporter for a Viennese newspaper, using this experience to move to Berlin, where he worked for the city's largest tabloid. He broke into films as a screenwriter in 1929 and wrote scripts for many ...
He directed the #1 funniest movie of all time according to the American Film Institute, "Some Like it Hot". Some of his other comedies include "Kiss Me, Stupid" with Dean Martin and Ray Walston, and "The Apartment" with Jack Lemmon. He also directed drama and even film noir, "Double Indemnity" starring Barbara Stanwyck.
8. Preston Sturges
Writer | Sullivan's Travels
Preston Sturges' own life is as unlikely as some of the plots of his best work. He was born into a wealthy family. As a boy he helped out on stage productions for his mother's friend, Isadora Duncan (the scarf that strangled her was made by his mother's company, Maison Desti). He served in the U.S....
He was constantly trying to get around the censors. "The Miracle of Morgan's Creek" was about a girl who drinks too much, can't remember the name of the man to whom she was married, and eventually has sextuplets. "The Great McGinty" was about a bum who was paid $2 a vote to vote for a candidate, so he votes 32 times! Eventually he becomes Governor, proving corruption pays, but only if in a big way. Sturges won the Oscar for best screenplay for that one. A great comedy director.
9. Norman Z. McLeod
Director | Remember?
Norman Z. McLeod was one of Hollywood's leading early comedy directors. Born in Grayling, Michigan, he came from a family that had no connections to show business (his father was a clergyman). He was educated at the University of Washington and spent two years as a fighter pilot in the US Army in ...
He directed the Marx Bros. in TWO movies,Bob Hope, Danny Kaye, and Cary Grant in "Topper", which should qualify him for one of the all-time best comedy directors in history. A very light style , claiming the best director is one you don't see.
10. Buster Keaton
Actor | The General
Joseph Frank Keaton was born on October 4, 1895 in Piqua, Kansas, to Joe Keaton and Myra Keaton. Joe and Myra were Vaudevillian comedians with a popular, ever-changing variety act, giving Keaton an eclectic and interesting upbringing. In the earliest days on stage, they traveled with a medicine ...
His direction was over when sound came in, but he did "The General", "Our Hospitality", "College", several two-reel comedies, and eventually was married to his fourth wife, a wonderful card-nut named Eleanore. After he left MGM, he was in several two-reel talkie comedies and some features. "A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum", and a cameo in "Sunset Boulevard" among other things.
11. Ivan Reitman
Producer | Up in the Air
Canadian producer and director Ivan Reitman created many of American cinema's most successful and best loved feature film comedies and worked with Hollywood's acting elite. Reitman produced such hits as the ground-breaking sensation National Lampoon's National Lampoon's Animal House (1978), which ...
He directed "Ghost Busters", "Groundhog Day", "Caddyshack", and "Kindergarten Cop", his movies make lots of money, and lots of people laugh at them.
12. Frank Capra
Director | It's a Wonderful Life
One of seven children, Frank Capra was born on May 18, 1897, in Bisacquino, Sicily. On May 10, 1903, his family left for America aboard the ship Germania, arriving in New York on May 23rd. "There's no ventilation, and it stinks like hell. They're all miserable. It's the most degrading place you ...
He got his start in silent movies making gags for Ben Turpin and wound up directing for Harry Langdon. He won the Oscar for "It Happened One Night", and another for "You Can't Take it With You". He worked with James Stewart, Frank Sinatra, and Barbara Stanwyck among others. Besides the comedies, he directed "Lost Horizon", and the "Why We Fight " documentaries during World War 2.
13. Jules White
Producer | The Ghost Talks
Jules White was born on September 17, 1900 in Budapest, Hungary. He was a producer and director, known for The Ghost Talks (1949), Hiss and Yell (1946) and The Jury Goes Round 'n' Round (1945). He was married to Judith and Margaret. He died on April 30, 1985 in Van Nuys, Los Angeles, California, ...
He was the producer for the Three Stooges shorts, and directed several of them,including "Malice in the Palace", "Three Lost Souls", and"Hoi Polloi". He made shorts for over thirty years, a record in longevity, if nothing else. He also made shorts with others like Charley Chase, Andy Clyde, and even Buster Keaton. The majority of his movies ( he made at least ten a year) are good, considering his proliferation.
14. Carl Reiner
Writer | The Dick Van Dyke Show
Carl Reiner is a legend of American comedy, who achieved great success as a comic actor, a director, producer and recording artist. He won nine Emmy Awards, three as an actor, four as a writer and two as a producer. He also won a Grammy Award for his album "The 2,000 Year Old Man", based on his ...
Yes, he's Rob's father, but we'll get to Rob later. Carl created "The Dick Van Dyke Show", and wrote the majority of the scripts there. He directed Ruth Gordon and George Siegel in a movie called "Where's Poppa?" and also directed "Summer School" with Mark Harmon and Kirstie Alley. Besides all this, he won Grammys with Mel Brooks for "Best spoken comedy record" "The 2,000 Year-Old Man" making him one of the most diverse award winner on this list. (For the record, Mel Brooks has won Tonys, Emmys, Oscars, and Grammys, making him a very diverse award-winner.)
15. Rob Reiner
Actor | All in the Family
Robert Reiner was born in New York City, to Estelle Reiner (née Lebost) and Emmy-winning actor, comedian, writer, and producer Carl Reiner.
As a child, his father was his role model, as Carl Reiner created and starred in The Dick Van Dyke Show. Estelle was also an inspiration for him to become a ...
He directed "This is Spinal Tap", "The Princess Bride", and "When Harry Met Sally" a great comedy director, and once in a while a drama, like "Stand By Me". Carl's son, whom Carl calls "The genius in the family".
16. Edward Bernds
Director | Assignment: Underwater
Edward Bernds was born in 1905 in Chicago, Illinois. While in his junior year in Lake View High School, he and several friends formed a small radio club and obtained amateur licenses. In the early '20s there was considerable prestige for an amateur operator (a "ham") to have commercial radio ...
He directed the Three Stooges in features like "The Three Stooges Meet Hercules", shorts like "Three Arabian Nuts", and other movies as well. One of my favorites, "Queen of Outer Space" (my nickname at the Pacific Science Center) went a good twenty-four minutes before the title sequence. He also directed "Rocketship X-7" and "Bowery Boys Meet the Monsters". A good director of comedies where one doesn't normally look, and science-fiction as well.
17. Sydney Pollack
Director | Tootsie
Sydney Pollack was an Academy Award-winning director, producer, actor, writer and public figure, who directed and produced over 40 films.
Sydney Irwin Pollack was born July 1, 1934 in Lafayette, Indiana, USA, to Rebecca (Miller), a homemaker, and David Pollack, a professional boxer turned pharmacist...
He directed movies like "Tootsie", acted in them as well, and was a producer once in a while.
18. Woody Allen
Writer | Annie Hall
Woody Allen was born on November 30, 1935, as Allen Konigsberg, in The Bronx, NY, the son of Martin Konigsberg and Nettie Konigsberg. He has one younger sister, Letty Aronson. As a young boy, he became intrigued with magic tricks and playing the clarinet, two hobbies that he continues today.
Allen ...
He won Oscars for directing and writing movies like "Hannah and her Sisters", "Annie Hall", and "Sleeper". He usually appears in the movies he makes. His best comedies include, "Sleeper", "Bananas", "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About Sex (But Were Afraid to Ask)", "Everyone Says 'I Love You'", and "Don't Drink the Water". He sometimes does dramas as well.
19. Paul Mazursky
Actor | An Unmarried Woman
Paul Mazursky was born on April 25, 1930 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. He was an actor and writer, known for An Unmarried Woman (1978), Harry and Tonto (1974) and Bob & Carol & Ted & Alice (1969). He was married to Betsy Mazursky. He died on June 30, 2014 in Beverly Grove, ...
He directed "Moscow on the Hudson", "Down and Out in Beverly Hills", "Harry and Tonto" and several comedies with a sentimental side to them. If you don't know who he is, look him up here. A good comedy director.
20. George Marshall
Director | How the West Was Won
George Marshall was a versatile American director who came to Hollywood to visit his mother and "have a bit of fun". Expelled from Chicago University in 1912, he was an unsettled young man, drifting from job to job, variously employed as a mechanic, newspaper reporter and lumberjack with a logging ...
He directed "Destry Rides Again" with James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich, "Ghost Breakers" With Bob Hope and Paulette Goddard, and "Hook, Line and Sinker" with Jerry Lewis. His record with comedies is pretty good, and even his serious movies have a comic ring to them with one or two exceptions:"The Blue Dahlia" with Alan Ladd is among them.
21. Ernst Lubitsch
Director | To Be or Not to Be
From Ernst Lubitsch's experiences in Sophien Gymnasium (high school) theater, he decided to leave school at the age of 16 and pursue a career on the stage. He had to compromise with his father and keep the account books for the family tailor business while he acted in cabarets and music halls at ...
He directed farces and satires, "To Be or Not to Be", "Ninotchka", and "Heaven Can Wait" among them. Several of his movies are classics.
22. Frank Tashlin
Director | Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?
Frank Tashlin was born on February 19, 1913 in Weehawken, New Jersey, USA. He was a director and writer, known for Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter? (1957), The Girl Can't Help It (1956) and Rock-a-Bye Baby (1958). He was married to Jean Deines, Mary Costa and Dorothy Marguerite Hill. He died on May ...
He directed "Son of Paleface" with Bob Hope, "The Girl Can't Help It" and "Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?" both with Jayne Mansfield and wrote gags for the Marx Bros. including the collapsing house with Harpo, and the Warner Bros. Cartoons. Give him a shot, he also directed Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis movies.
23. Frank Oz
Actor | The Muppet Show
Frank Richard Oznowicz was born in Hereford, England to puppeteers Frances and Isidore Oznowicz. His family moved to Montana in 1951, eventually settling in Oakland, California. As a teenager, he worked as an apprentice puppeteer at Children's Fairyland amusement park. He is one of the primary ...
"What About Bob?", "Little Shop of Horrors","Dirty Rotten Scoundrels", even "The Muppets Take Manhattan" you can't go wrong with Frank Oz directing. Even his dramas are good ("The Dark Crystal", "The Indian in the Cupboard")
24. Terry Gilliam
Writer | Brazil
Terry Gilliam was born near Medicine Lake, Minnesota. When he was 12 his family moved to Los Angeles where he became a fan of MAD magazine. In his early twenties he was often stopped by the police who suspected him of being a drug addict and Gilliam had to explain that he worked in advertising. In ...
He co-directed "Monty Python and the Holy Grail", and directed "Time Bandits", "Jabberwocky", "Brazil", "The Brothers Grimm" even his dramas have a semi-comic edge to them "Tidelands", "Twelve Monkeys", and the "Fisher King".
25. Larry Semon
Director | The Show
Slapstick comedian known for his charming, white-painted face and clownish smile, mugged his way to being a very highly paid and popular actor. His career was marred by personal problems, and his fortune was lost to high spending. By the time he died, he'd already been hospitalized for a nervous ...
Very prolific director from the silent era. Ignore his feature of the "Wizard of Oz", too weird to even contemplate, which is too bad. His shorts include "Boobs in the Woods", "Gall and Gasoline", and "Rubes and Romans". He featured Oliver Hardy as a villain usually and non-stop comic action featuring thrill comedy before Harold Lloyd did.
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