As seems to be the wont of various bloggers to come up with a list of their favorite 20 songs from an era or their favorite 15 Happy Meal toys from McDonald’s, I have come up with a list of what, from personal belief, are my ten favorite motion picture comedies. These are the films that I will see more than once. More than ten times. I’ve got their best lines memorized. I’ve had copies of these films on VHS and DVD and if I ever get around to getting a Blu-Ray player, I’ll get these films on Blu-Ray.
Is my list the same as yours? I don’t know. I’m sure that our tastes in humor are subjective – what I find humorous you might find droll and drab. Or you might find something side-splittingly hilarious, while I look at you as if you’ve passed gas in church.
So … in no particular order… here they are, along with their original movie trailers, when available.
| SLAP SHOT
The greatest hockey film ever made – and that includes Youngblood and Miracle. Paul Newman curses like a longshoreman, and the Hanson Brothers – those bespectacled skating wonders – made this film absolutely hilarious. |
http://www.iviewtube.com/flvplayer.swf |
| NATIONAL LAMPOON’S ANIMAL HOUSE
No list of Top 10 comedies would be complete without the classic college film Animal House. Toga! Toga!! TOGA!!!! |
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| BILL AND TED’S EXCELLENT ADVENTURE
Two slackers travel through time, visit historical figures, and through the whole movie, have a fantastic and most excellent time. George Carlin should have gotten an Oscar nomination as Best Supporting Actor in this film – had the Academy not been so bogus… |
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| AIRPLANE!
This was the film that started the whole trend of super-spoof MAD Magazine-style parodies of motion picture genres and their foibles. I am serious… and don’t call me Shirley. |
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| MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL
Just as AIRPLANE! skewered disaster movie cliches, MONTY PYTHON AND THE HOLY GRAIL eviscerated the stale old conventions of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table and all the rubric inherent thereto. |
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| THE GENERAL
This silent film was Buster Keaton’s tour de force; maybe his greatest film of all time. All scenes were done without miniatures or stunt doubles; including a scene of a bridge collapsing, taking a locomotive to the ravine below. A classic. The clip at right is from a Keaton documentary. |
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| THIS IS SPINAL TAP
The funniest “mocumentary” about the music industry I’ve ever seen. And yes, those amplifiers do go all the the way up to 11. |
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| UHF
A cult classic that skewers popular television and pop culture. And the only feature film ever made with “Weird Al” Yankovic as the lead actor. |
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| THE GODS MUST BE CRAZY
An absolutely fantastic cross-cultural film with equal amounts of slapstick and farce. All about a Kalahari bushman who has to get rid of a Coca-Cola bottle – and his adventures as he runs into modern society. |
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| PORKY’S
The comedic coming-of-age movie about kids who want to experience te goings-on at an out-of-town roadhouse called Porky’s. This was a sleeper film that caught fire and became a major 80’s hit. Also features Kim Cattral in one of her earliest roles. And yes, she was hot back then too… |
Yeah, I know I left off some of your favorites. So feel free to add to the list – how many of these are your favorite comedy films, and what others should be added (or removed) from this list?
Chuck The Writer 
Fun fact for wrestling fans about “Slap Shot”: the ECW/WWE characters Buh Buh Ray & D-Von Dudley were based on the Hanson Brothers.
I love “This is Spinal Tap.” One of my favorite movies ever, and includes a line I often quote: “One those cases where they said, you know…best left unsolved.”
“Airplane!” is simultaneously one of the best and one of the worst things to happen to comedy. One of the best because of the pure genius of balancing seemingly stupid silly humor with brilliant timing and situational writing. But also one of the worst things because as you said it launched so many other like-minded, but wrong-headed, films. “Scary Movie” franchise, I’m looking at you, you chronically unfunny boils on the rear end of comedy.
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I was absolutely with you until you hit Buster Keaton, and that’s when I started not having seen a bunch of them. Then again, I’d include a bunch of Mel Brooks movies (starting with Spaceballs and Blazing Saddles), so my tastes in comedy are somewhat suspect.
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Slapshot, Animal House, Holy Grail, would make my Top 10.
Add Life of Brian, Young Frankenstien, Spaceballs, History of the World, Groundhog Day, and Caddyshack, and Blues Brothers and I am up to 10.
with Honorable Mention to : The Man in the Moon
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No Caddyshack???@@@@@
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I’m surprised that one of my favorite comedy films is a fairly recent one, since comedy hasn’t had that great a time in Hollywood lately:
“Wedding Crashers” … and not just because of its individually hilarious moments (an incredulous Vince Vaughn getting called out by an impatient kid while making a balloon animal, for instance), but also because it leaves you with the satisfying feeling of having watched a movie that has accomplished what it set out to do really, really well.
Another favorite, besides “Animal House” (Bluto going down the cafeteria line!), is “Risky Business.” Not only amusing, but also sort of hypnotic in its style. And just plain smart.
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The scene near the end of the upcoming Baker Films production of Trivia Bowl 6: The Movie where the guy is dancing and squealing while holding a mixing bowl is sure to make a lot of Top 10 lists.
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So what happened after they took the mixing bowl away from you, Dan? 🙂
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The Big Lebowski.
It’s so good it needs it’s own paragraph in my post. Also, I’m not aware of festivals devoted to any of the other comedies you named.
http://www.lebowskifest.com/
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“The Gods Must Be Crazy” (the original) is a comedy that does not get old, and can be enjoyed periodically without losing its originality of edge. I dig it out whenever I need a lift. I would add “Little Big Man” to the list, for its interplay between comedy and dead seriousness.
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