Favorite Comedies - From the Marx Brothers to the Farrelly Brothers
by thefunkytuxedo | created - 11 Nov 2017 | updated - 10 Mar 2018 | Public"A good laugh overcomes more difficulties and dissipates more dark clouds than any other one thing." - Laura Ingalls Wilder.
I'm fascinated by the history of comedy, how it evolved over the decades, which comedians shaped it. Below are my favorites, as well as significant works/artists.
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1. Blazing Saddles (1974)
R | 93 min | Comedy, Western
In order to ruin a western town, a corrupt politician appoints a black Sheriff, who promptly becomes his most formidable adversary.
Director: Mel Brooks | Stars: Cleavon Little, Gene Wilder, Slim Pickens, Harvey Korman
Votes: 152,611 | Gross: $119.50M
(Mel Brooks) AFI thinks Blazing Saddles is the 6th best comedy ever made. Mel Brooks thinks it's number one. I'm with Melvin. In Blazing Saddles, Brooks introduces the shameless, full throttle brand of humor Zucker Abrahams Zucker later champion in Airplane! Naked Gun and others. But where Zucker Abrahams Zucker skewer disaster movies and pop culture trends, Brooks goes after racism and bigotry; while championing the fallen. I wish there was a Blazing Saddles for every regressive attitude we see in our imperfect world. Really, imagine that.
2. Airplane! (1980)
PG | 88 min | Comedy
After the crew becomes sick with food poisoning, a neurotic ex-fighter pilot must safely land a commercial airplane full of passengers.
Directors: Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker | Stars: Robert Hays, Julie Hagerty, Leslie Nielsen, Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Votes: 261,390 | Gross: $83.40M
(Zucker/Abrahams/Zucker) Everyone knows where they were when JFK was killed. And no one forgets the first time they saw Airplane! and were pummeled by joke after joke, and found themselves in a world were everything was hysterical. If you can't use unhinged hysteria to ridicule racism and bigotry (Blazing Saddles) use it for the sake of making millions of people laugh.
3. This Is Spinal Tap (1984)
R | 82 min | Comedy, Music
Spinal Tap, one of England's loudest bands, is chronicled by film director Marty DiBergi on what proves to be a fateful tour.
Director: Rob Reiner | Stars: Rob Reiner, Michael McKean, Christopher Guest, Kimberly Stringer
Votes: 147,433 | Gross: $4.74M
(Christopher Guest) The first of Christopher Guest's mockumentaries, Spinal Tap is pure satire. The world of hard rock behavior and pretense prove to be even more fertile ground for comedy than international dog breeding competitions which Guest & Co. has a good laugh at in Best In Show.
4. Young Frankenstein (1974)
PG | 106 min | Comedy
An American grandson of the infamous scientist, struggling to prove that his grandfather was not as insane as people believe, is invited to Transylvania, where he discovers the process that reanimates a dead body.
Director: Mel Brooks | Stars: Gene Wilder, Madeline Kahn, Marty Feldman, Peter Boyle
Votes: 168,987 | Gross: $86.30M
(Mel Brooks)
5. Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964)
PG | 95 min | Comedy, War
An unhinged American general orders a bombing attack on the Soviet Union, triggering a path to nuclear holocaust that a war room full of politicians and generals frantically tries to stop.
Director: Stanley Kubrick | Stars: Peter Sellers, George C. Scott, Sterling Hayden, Keenan Wynn
Votes: 518,597 | Gross: $0.28M
(Kubrick) Where Brooks roasts racism and bigotry in Blazing Saddles, Kubrick uses humor to ridicule man's destructive, senseless, and psychotic potential in Dr. Strangelove. The quintessential dark comedy.
6. Annie Hall (1977)
PG | 93 min | Comedy, Romance
Alvy Singer, a divorced Jewish comedian, reflects on his relationship with ex-lover Annie Hall, an aspiring nightclub singer, which ended abruptly just like his previous marriages.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, Tony Roberts, Carol Kane
Votes: 278,555 | Gross: $39.20M
(Woody Allen) Ah insecurity... anxiety... neurosis... guilt... worry... Woody Allen is the patron Saint of all things Fearful.
7. Napoleon Dynamite (2004)
PG | 96 min | Comedy
A listless and alienated teenager decides to help his new friend win the class presidency in their small western high school, while he must deal with his bizarre family life back home.
Director: Jared Hess | Stars: Jon Heder, Efren Ramirez, Jon Gries, Aaron Ruell
Votes: 237,966 | Gross: $44.54M
8. National Lampoon's Animal House (1978)
R | 109 min | Comedy
At a 1962 college, Dean Vernon Wormer is determined to expel the entire Delta Tau Chi Fraternity, but those troublemakers have other plans for him.
Director: John Landis | Stars: John Belushi, Karen Allen, Tom Hulce, Stephen Furst
Votes: 129,412
(Harold Ramis/John Landis) Harold Ramis wrote Animal House, Meatballs, Caddyshack, Stripes and Ghostbusters. That's some career. Animal House pulls the chair out from under elitism and knights the benevolent beer drinker and slob as king. I wanna say Animal House changed the face of comedy to follow it, but it's probably more accurate to say Harold Ramis did.
9. Chappelle's Show (2003–2006)
TV-MA | 22 min | Comedy, Music
Comedian Dave Chappelle hosts this sketch-comedy show that parodies many of the nuances of race and culture.
Stars: Dave Chappelle, Donnell Rawlings, Rudy Rush, Charlie Murphy
Votes: 71,840
10. Saturday Night Live (1975– )
TV-14 | 90 min | Comedy, Music
A famous guest host stars in parodies and sketches created by the cast of this witty show.
Stars: The Saturday Night Live Band, Don Pardo, Darrell Hammond, Kenan Thompson
Votes: 52,774
11. SCTV Network (1981–1983)
TV-PG | 90 min | Comedy
Comedy parody about TV.
Stars: John Candy, Joe Flaherty, Eugene Levy, Andrea Martin
Votes: 2,182
12. Mad TV (1995–2016)
TV-14 | 60 min | Comedy
A sketch comedy show based on the seminal Mad Magazine.
Stars: Michael McDonald, Debra Wilson, Aries Spears, Bobby Lee
Votes: 11,932
13. In Living Color (1990–1994)
TV-14 | 30 min | Comedy, Music
The Wayans siblings present an African-American focused sketch comedy show.
Stars: Keenen Ivory Wayans, Jim Carrey, Kelly Coffield Park, Terrence Brown
Votes: 12,769
14. The Honeymooners (1955–1956)
TV-PG | 30 min | Comedy, Family
A bus driver and his sewer worker friend struggle to strike it rich while their wives look on with weary patience.
Stars: Jackie Gleason, Art Carney, Audrey Meadows, Joyce Randolph
Votes: 6,235
15. The Carol Burnett Show (1967–1978)
TV-G | 60 min | Comedy, Family
Television show featuring skits by Carol Burnett and her comedy troupe.
Stars: Carol Burnett, Vicki Lawrence, The Ernie Flatt Dancers, Harvey Korman
Votes: 7,311
16. Monty Python's Flying Circus (1969–1974)
TV-14 | 30 min | Comedy
The original surreal sketch comedy showcase for the Monty Python troupe.
Stars: Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Terry Gilliam, Eric Idle
Votes: 78,833
17. The Odd Couple (1970–1975)
TV-G | 30 min | Comedy
Two men, a neat freak and a slob separated from their wives, have to live together despite their differences.
Stars: Tony Randall, Jack Klugman, Al Molinaro, Penny Marshall
Votes: 7,185
(Neil Simon) At one point Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner and Neil Simon all worked together on Sid Ceasar's Your Show of Shows. The Odd Couple is fun to watch and Felix Ungar is one of the most entertaining characters ever created.
18. Soap (1977–1981)
TV-14 | 30 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
The soap-operish antics of two families: the Campbells and the Tates.
Stars: Katherine Helmond, Rod Roddy, Richard Mulligan, Cathryn Damon
Votes: 8,287
19. WKRP in Cincinnati (1978–1982)
TV-PG | 30 min | Comedy
The misadventures of the staff of a struggling Top 40 rock radio station in Cincinnati, Ohio.
Stars: Gary Sandy, Gordon Jump, Loni Anderson, Howard Hesseman
Votes: 11,256
20. Seinfeld (1989–1998)
TV-PG | 22 min | Comedy
The continuing misadventures of neurotic New York City stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld and his equally neurotic New York City friends.
Stars: Jerry Seinfeld, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Michael Richards, Jason Alexander
Votes: 351,947
21. The Larry Sanders Show (1992–1998)
TV-MA | 30 min | Comedy
A comedic behind the scenes look at a late night talk show.
Stars: Garry Shandling, Jeffrey Tambor, Wallace Langham, Rip Torn
Votes: 9,386
22. Curb Your Enthusiasm (2000–2024)
TV-MA | 30 min | Comedy
Larry David stars as an over-the-top version of himself in this comedy series that shows how seemingly trivial details of day-to-day life can precipitate a catastrophic chain of events.
Stars: Larry David, Cheryl Hines, Jeff Garlin, Susie Essman
Votes: 147,690
23. A Night at the Opera (1935)
Passed | 96 min | Comedy, Music, Musical
A sly business manager and the wacky friends of two opera singers in Italy help them achieve success in America while humiliating their stuffy and snobbish enemies.
Directors: Sam Wood, Edmund Goulding | Stars: Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, Kitty Carlisle
Votes: 34,775 | Gross: $2.54M
24. A Day at the Races (1937)
Passed | 111 min | Comedy, Family, Musical
A veterinarian posing as a doctor teams with a singer and his friends as they struggle to save an upstate New York sanitarium with the help of a misfit racehorse.
Director: Sam Wood | Stars: Groucho Marx, Chico Marx, Harpo Marx, Allan Jones
Votes: 14,588
25. A Night in Casablanca (1946)
Passed | 85 min | Comedy, Family
The Marx Brothers are employed at a hotel in postwar Casablanca, where a ring of Nazis is trying to recover a cache of stolen treasure.
Director: Archie Mayo | Stars: Groucho Marx, Harpo Marx, Chico Marx, Charles Drake
Votes: 7,485
(Marx Bros.)
26. Modern Times (1936)
G | 87 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
The Tramp struggles to live in modern industrial society with the help of a young homeless woman.
Director: Charles Chaplin | Stars: Charles Chaplin, Paulette Goddard, Henry Bergman, Tiny Sandford
Votes: 259,672 | Gross: $0.16M
27. Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
Not Rated | 118 min | Comedy, Crime, Thriller
A Brooklyn writer of books on the futility of marriage risks his reputation after he decides to tie the knot. Things get even more complicated when he learns on his wedding day that his beloved maiden aunts are habitual murderers.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Cary Grant, Priscilla Lane, Raymond Massey, Jack Carson
Votes: 75,000
(Capra)
28. You Can't Take It with You (1938)
Passed | 126 min | Comedy, Drama, Romance
The son of a snobbish Wall Street banker becomes engaged to a woman from a good-natured but decidedly eccentric family not realizing that his father is trying to force her family from their home for a real estate development.
Director: Frank Capra | Stars: Jean Arthur, James Stewart, Lionel Barrymore, Edward Arnold
Votes: 27,922 | Gross: $4.66M
(Capra)
29. The Court Jester (1955)
Approved | 101 min | Adventure, Comedy, Family
A hapless carnival performer masquerades as the court jester as part of a plot against an evil ruler who has overthrown the rightful King.
Directors: Melvin Frank, Norman Panama | Stars: Danny Kaye, Glynis Johns, Basil Rathbone, Angela Lansbury
Votes: 13,960 | Gross: $0.02M
30. Who's Minding the Store? (1963)
Approved | 90 min | Comedy
Norman Phiffier works as a store clerk in a large department store. Clumsy and inept, he can't do anything right. Boy are they in trouble!
Director: Frank Tashlin | Stars: Jerry Lewis, Jill St. John, Ray Walston, John McGiver
Votes: 2,778
(Jerry Lewis)
31. Bananas (1971)
PG-13 | 82 min | Comedy
When a bumbling New Yorker is dumped by his activist girlfriend, he travels to a tiny Latin American nation and becomes involved in its latest rebellion.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Louise Lasser, Carlos Montalbán, Nati Abascal
Votes: 37,834 | Gross: $11.80M
32. Sleeper (1973)
PG | 89 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi
A nerdish store owner is revived out of cryostasis into a future world to fight an oppressive government.
Director: Woody Allen | Stars: Woody Allen, Diane Keaton, John Beck, Mary Gregory
Votes: 44,840 | Gross: $2.91M
33. Vacation (1983)
R | 98 min | Adventure, Comedy
The Griswold family's cross-country drive to the Walley World theme park proves to be much more arduous than they ever anticipated.
Director: Harold Ramis | Stars: Chevy Chase, Beverly D'Angelo, Imogene Coca, Randy Quaid
Votes: 120,195 | Gross: $61.40M
(John Hughes/Harold Ramis) The only 80s comedy writer more prodigious than Harold Ramis was John Hughes who wrote Sixteen Candles, the Breakfast Club, Weird Science, Pretty In Pink, Ferris Beuller's Day Off, Planes Trains and Automobiles, Christmas Vacation, Home Alone and National Lampoon's Vacation. The two worked together on Vacation with Harold Ramis directing.
34. The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)
R | 83 min | Comedy
The daily programming of a fictional local TV channel presented as a series of highly irreverent skits.
Director: John Landis | Stars: Evan C. Kim, Bong Soo Han, Bill Bixby, George Lazenby
Votes: 20,271
The maiden voyage of the Zucker Abraham Zucker comedy team and satire of television programming and culture.
35. Amazon Women on the Moon (1987)
R | 85 min | Comedy, Sci-Fi
A spoof of low budget 1950s science-fiction movies, interspersed with various comedy sketches and fake commercials making fun of late-night television.
Directors: Joe Dante, Carl Gottlieb, Peter Horton, John Landis, Robert K. Weiss | Stars: Rosanna Arquette, Michelle Pfeiffer, Arsenio Hall, Donald F. Muhich
Votes: 12,640 | Gross: $0.55M
36. The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! (1988)
PG-13 | 85 min | Comedy, Crime
Incompetent police Detective Frank Drebin must foil an attempt to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II.
Director: David Zucker | Stars: Leslie Nielsen, Priscilla Presley, O.J. Simpson, Ricardo Montalban
Votes: 185,193 | Gross: $78.76M
(Zucker Abraham Zucker)
37. Hot Shots! (1991)
PG-13 | 85 min | Action, Comedy
A parody of Top Gun (1986) in which a talented but unstable fighter pilot must overcome the ghosts of his father and save a mission sabotaged by greedy weapons manufacturers.
Director: Jim Abrahams | Stars: Charlie Sheen, Cary Elwes, Valeria Golino, Lloyd Bridges
Votes: 116,719 | Gross: $69.47M
(Zucker Abraham Zucker)
38. Billy Madison (1995)
PG-13 | 89 min | Comedy
In order to inherit his fed up father's hotel empire, an immature and lazy man must repeat grades 1-12 all over again.
Director: Tamra Davis | Stars: Adam Sandler, Darren McGavin, Bridgette Wilson-Sampras, Bradley Whitford
Votes: 156,715 | Gross: $25.59M
(Sandler/SNL)
39. There's Something About Mary (1998)
R | 119 min | Comedy, Romance
A man gets a chance to meet up with his dream girl from high school, even though his date with her back then was a complete disaster.
Directors: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly | Stars: Cameron Diaz, Matt Dillon, Ben Stiller, Lee Evans
Votes: 329,124 | Gross: $176.48M
40. Dumb and Dumber (1994)
PG-13 | 107 min | Comedy
After a woman leaves a briefcase at the airport terminal, a dumb limo driver and his dumber friend set out on a hilarious cross-country road trip to Aspen to return it.
Directors: Peter Farrelly, Bobby Farrelly | Stars: Jim Carrey, Jeff Daniels, Lauren Holly, Mike Starr
Votes: 412,576 | Gross: $127.18M
41. Blades of Glory (2007)
PG-13 | 93 min | Comedy, Sport
In 2002, two rival Olympic ice skaters were stripped of their gold medals and permanently banned from men's single competition. Presently, however, they've found a loophole that will allow them to qualify as a pairs team.
Directors: Josh Gordon, Will Speck | Stars: Will Ferrell, Jon Heder, Amy Poehler, Will Arnett
Votes: 177,791 | Gross: $118.59M
42. Kingpin (1996)
PG-13 | 114 min | Comedy, Sport
A star bowler whose career was prematurely "cut off" hopes to ride a new prodigy to success and riches.
Directors: Bobby Farrelly, Peter Farrelly | Stars: Woody Harrelson, Randy Quaid, Bill Murray, Vanessa Angel
Votes: 91,130 | Gross: $24.94M
43. Best in Show (2000)
PG-13 | 90 min | Comedy
A behind-the-scenes look into the highly competitive and cut-throat world of dog shows through the eyes of a group of ruthless dog owners.
Director: Christopher Guest | Stars: Fred Willard, Eugene Levy, Catherine O'Hara, Jennifer Coolidge
Votes: 66,978 | Gross: $18.72M
(Christopher Guest)
44. Zoolander (2001)
PG-13 | 90 min | Comedy
At the end of his career, a clueless fashion model is brainwashed to kill the Prime Minister of Malaysia.
Director: Ben Stiller | Stars: Ben Stiller, Owen Wilson, Christine Taylor, Will Ferrell
Votes: 292,080 | Gross: $45.17M
(Ben Stiller)
45. The Independent (2000)
R | 81 min | Comedy
A notorious B-movie director tries for a comeback by seeking out the film rights to the life story of a serial killer who wants his biography film to be a musical.
Director: Stephen Kessler | Stars: Jerry Stiller, Janeane Garofalo, Max Perlich, Ted Demme
Votes: 1,372 | Gross: $0.24M
(Jerry Stiller)
46. Hot Rod (2007)
PG-13 | 88 min | Comedy, Sport
Self-proclaimed stuntman Rod Kimble is preparing for the jump of his life - to clear fifteen buses to raise money for his abusive stepfather Frank's life-saving heart operation.
Director: Akiva Schaffer | Stars: Andy Samberg, Isla Fisher, Ian McShane, Jorma Taccone
Votes: 93,481 | Gross: $13.92M
47. Superbad (2007)
R | 113 min | Comedy
Two co-dependent high school seniors are forced to deal with separation anxiety after their plan to stage a booze-soaked party goes awry.
Director: Greg Mottola | Stars: Michael Cera, Jonah Hill, Christopher Mintz-Plasse, Bill Hader
Votes: 633,351 | Gross: $121.46M
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