Honestly, comedy is one of those genres that changes so much so fast that it doesn't often age well. Jokes that were hilarious might no longer work as we advance.
What made younger-you cackle might make current-you cringe and all it takes is one technological leap for an entire bit to not work anymore. Bart Simpson calling Moe's Tavern, for example, just isn't funny in a world of caller ID and an ability to block a number with the touch of a button.
But sometimes magic happens.
Sometimes the casting is so perfect, the timing so flawless, the writing so superb that the inconsistencies just don't matter.
Reddit user CityVirtual4704 asked:
"What the funniest comedy movie you’ve ever seen?"
You ready to laugh? Of course you are, we've all seen the doom and gloom on the timeline. Let's take a break.
Deadpan In The Face Of So Much
"The fact that OJ is in it makes it super weird now, but I’m not sure I ever laughed harder or more consistently than I did the first time I saw The Naked Gun."
"Something about Leslie Nielsen’s deadpan delivery and expression in the face of that much stupidity is amazing."
- jpiro
"Even as a child, this movie brought tears of laughter to my eyes."
"I remember the one time it was played in a bus on a six-hour travel and there was this teenage guy across us that was genuinely laughing his ass off. I really love seeing people enjoy this just as much as we did."
- CalmBeforePsych
"Leslie Nielsen was originally a serious dramatic actor, and he was cast for Airplane! in order to make the delivery as serious as possible, which made it much funnier, and got him more comedic roles."
- SeanTheProGamer
GiphyThe Movie AND The Show Are Spectacular
"I loved 'What we do in the Shadows' - Specifically the movie, but the show is spectacular, too. That's rare."
- Melancholy_Madness_
"I love the show, but have never got around to seeing the movie. I'll make sure to watch it asap!"
- actionjerk
"The series is awesome too! I love both. But that Colin Robinson energy vampire really cracks me up."
- ThinNotSmall
"Watched this for the 10th time over the weekend & it’s still laugh out loud funny. It’s one of those movies you miss little lines because you’re laughing at a previous one."
"Vampire: 'Take this bundle o’ sticks!” *pretends to throw bundle o’ sticks.* "
"Werewolf: *Takes off running before he realizes there was nothing actually thrown to run after.* "
"I lost it."
"I know I’ve seen it before & even remember that part but for some reason I laughed so hard I cried. I was quite literally howling in a fit of laughter."
- DicksOfPompeii
GiphyIt's Not Exactly About The Dogs
"I watched 'Best in Show' for the first time 2 weeks ago."
"I was on a flight back home and could not stop laughing. Good stuff."
- murky_thames
"I have watched 'Best in Show' so many times."
"What a cast! The clever, subtle, humor is just the best. Fred Willard is hysterical!"
- dottegirl59
"I had the pleasure of photographing the Westminster Dog Show one year and let me tell you, I'm convinced 'Best in Show' is not a satire, it's a straight up documentary."
"All of those people are real. Dog show people are wild."
- Santos_L_Halper
GiphyApocalypse In The UK
"As a hardcore zombie fan, 'Shaun of the Dead' holds a special place in my heart."
- regachoisiah
"I used to say: If you took the comedy out of it, it’d probably be the most accurate portrayal of a zombie apocalypse breaking out in the UK."
"But now I realize - the comedy actually makes it even more accurate, and therefore even more terrifying as a concept.
What a film."
- LynchMaleIdeal
"The first time I saw it, I just wasn’t getting it until halfway through when the zombies started really showing up. Then I loved it."
"Then I re-watched it, and realized just how brilliant the first half actually was, I'd just missed the subtleties. Now it’s quite possibly my favorite movie of all time."
- DerpNinjaWarrior
GiphyMust Be Complicated
"The Gods Must Be Crazy."
- atomicknyte
"Oh wow, this movie was the first one that came to mind but I hadn't expected to find it in the comments!"
"I'm not sure I've ever met anyone in real life who's even heard of it, but I used to laugh so hard it hurt when I'd watch this with my dad as a kid. Haven't seen it in years and should really do something about it."
- UndercoverBirb
"My fondest, most vivid memory I have of my grandmother was the time we watched 'The Gods Must Be Crazy' in the theater."
"I was probably 7 or 8 at the time. Seeing her laughing so much really left an impression. I don't remember much of my interactions with her nowadays."
"Makes me sad that I didn't spend more time with her."
- mikecgatus
"I guess I'm older than most here -- in my fifties, but even back in the eighties, this film was criticized as racist."
"I can't imagine that anyone who knows the history of Apartheid could still enjoy this film in quite the same way."
- facebook_twitterjail
"I have so much issues with this one. Haven’t seen it since the late 80s but even then the blatant racism just screamed to me."
"Just about one of the only movies I would never allow my kid to watch."
- pehr71
"It’s disappointing that there are so many comments singing praise for this movie and yours is one of the only ones I can find that sees it for what it is."
"This movie is made by racist White South Africans and intended to paint Black South Africans in an incredibly negative and condescending light. To put it politely."
- _zoso_
GiphyThunderous Performances
"Tropic Thunder"
- LondonIsBoss
"Tom Cruises scenes were so unexpected. Put that movie on another level."
- trplOG
"Everyone needs to do themselves a favor and watch this movie with the commentary. Its even funnier, if that’s possible."
- C_Saunders
"Ya I have to agree. It's Tropic Thunder."
"Though I have seen all the movies above your comment, when I re-watch them I don’t really laugh at the jokes anymore. But no matter what when I see Robert Downey Juniors face when he is about to steal the map I f*cking lose it."
"There are hundreds of scenes like that too, the delivery and timing every actor gives is astounding."
- Hereiamhereibe2
GiphyGet Your Groove On
" 'Emperor's New Groove' is up there for me."
"Bonus points for being very family friendly and still gut bustingly funny."
- Masalar
"It’s Kronk that does it for me."
"His spinach puffs, being fluent in squirrel, the angel and devil on his shoulders insulting each other like 'that’s a harp and that’s a dress.' ”
- SassyPikachuu
"This was my first thought."
"As I scrolled through, there were a lot of other movies that I probably would find funnier on a first watch now, but 'The Emperor's New Groove?' I've literally never laughed harder at a movie in my entire life than the day I first watched it as a kid."
- lifelongfreshman
"I hadn’t seen that movie until college."
"My roommates and I decided to do a family movie night one night and watch it. Most of us either had never seen it or hadn’t seen it since childhood."
"We completely lost it. We were laughing the entire time decided to watch it again the next night cause we missed like half of it from laughing to hard."
- The_Mighty_Pato
GiphyMore Than Just A Robin In This Cage
"The Birdcage."
"The way Robin Williams and Nathan Lane play off of each other is amazing, and it’s easily my favorite comedy. Gene Hackman and Hank Azaria just make the movie that much better."
- chessie222
"My partner and I watch The Birdcage a few times a year - and we laugh every time. We probably know half the lines by heart now."
" 'Mmm Turkish Coffee... delicious!' "
- rushboyoz
"Nathan Lane playing a flamboyant gay man playing a straight man is absolute gold."
- yrntmysupervisor
"In my humble opinion, Hank Azaria steals the show in that film."
"He is the funniest part of that movie. Considering the cast includes the comedic gods that are Nathan Lane and Robin F*cking Williams? Yeah. Azaria deserved an Oscar for that role."
"We adapt and use the 'Guatamala-ness' quote all the time when someone says "No" to a request."
- TrapperJon
GiphyEveryone's Favorite Lawyer Movie
"My Cousin Vinny."
"The part that always kills me is where the judge tells Vinny to stand up and says 'I thought I told you not to come dressed like that in my court room?' and Vinny says 'You were serious about that?' And the very next shot is him on the bus on the way to jail."
"The comedic timing of that scene is one of the best of any movie."
- down_R_up_L_Y_B
"I used to work with an attorney who was originally from Philadelphia. Before he moved to the South, he watched My Cousin Vinny."
"He said some of the courtroom scenes were a little too spot on to what he saw in some counties."
- eejm
"As a lawyer, it’s my favorite lawyer movie."
"Also, I have never been in love with a fictional character as much as I fell in love with Marisa Tomei’s in that movie."
- kingoflint282
"This movie is, unironically, the best trial movie you will ever see in terms of best defense attorney performance."
"Not in the sense of 'oh this is the most important trial ever,' but 'this is what actual good defense lawyering looks like at trial.' ”
"Like, holy sh*t, defense attorneys DREAM of doing cross examinations like the Grits guy or the Tape Measurer. That is the shit that slam dunks a victory at trial."
"Every juror completely understood that both of those witnesses knew absolutely nothing about the case. It was beautiful."
"99% of the time tv and movies get what trial lawyering looks like wrong. 1% of the time you are watching 'My Cousin Vinnie.' "
- Ikeddit
GiphyThese Low Effort Jobs Have Surprisingly High Salaries | George Takei’s Oh Myyy
Have you ever worked one of those jobs that paid you to kinda sit there? If you have, you know the joy that comes with watching the entirety of Breaking Bad ...Quietly Hilarious
"Napoleon Dynamite. Mind you, the first time I saw it I couldn’t finish watching it - I thought it was horrible."
"A few months later a group of friends rented it and I was forced to watch it again. I gained a whole new level of respect for it & the writing & acting."
"Quietly hilarious. I regret not sticking with it the first time."
- Roadrage000
"A friend tricked me into watching it thinking we were seeing another movie. When the credits came up and I was like 'dude we’re in the wrong movie.' "
"He convinced me to stay and halfway through I was like 'This is so stupid. I want to go.' "
"By the time it got to the talent show dance, I realized this movie was gold!"
- cak91687
"Haha yeah, this movie is like that. I remember the first fifteen minutes or so thinking it was garbage, and then it randomly clicked and I was dying laughing for minutes at a time."
- vheissu
"I hated every minute of this movie as I watched it; but then I couldn't stop laughing about it in the weeks after. It took me a second to get it."
- nsfredditkarma
GiphyQuotables
"So I Married an Axe Murderer, in which Mike Myers is brilliant."
"I especially love him playing the father with a thick Scottish brogue."
" 'We have a piper down. I repeat, a piper is down! '"
" 'His head's like Sputnik.' "
" 'Light a match!' "
"And the classic from Charlie: 'You know, Scotland has its own martial arts ... it's called Fa Que ... it's mostly head butting and kicking people when they're on the ground.' "
" From beginning to end it's chockful of quotables."
- rluymes
piper GIFGiphyA Friend I Haven't Met Yet
"It has to be The Producers."
" 'How could this happen? I picked the wrong play, the wrong director, the wrong cast. Where did I go right?' "
"I can always tell a friend I’ve never met yet by saying 'Don’t be stupid, be a smartie.' and seeing if I get a smile back."
- kbanian
GiphyPeter The Panther
"The Peter Sellers Pink Panther movies were my favorites. I even named my cats Jacques and Katie (after Kato) since they emulated the ridiculous chase and fight scenes between the two."
"My absolute favorite is probably 'A Shot in The Dark,' with wonderful moments like Clouseau going into a nudist camp and the guitar he's holding twanging as he sees an arousing female."
"The outtakes with Sellers constantly cracking up showed how masterful he was to play the character so ridiculously serious and self-important."
"I'll never forgive Roberto Benigni and Steve Martin for daring to try to repeat Clouseau - although Benigni's manic taxi driver in "Night on Earth" made me roll with laughter, giving a priest a heart attack with a story of sheep sex."
- [Reddit]
peter sellers pink GIFGiphySnubbed By The Academy
"When I was in my youth, my friends and I used to drink cough syrup and watch movies."
"I swear to god that watching Team America: World Police was one of the top 5 experiences that changed my life."
"I laughed until I cried, cried because I couldn't stop laughing, then gave a standing ovation before rambling at my buddies about its brilliance while proclaiming the sheer injustice that it was snubbed by the academy."
- 11_12123
team america help GIFGiphyThe Criminally Underrated
"Honestly, I don't know if there is a ‘best’ comedy if someone asked me."
"But I do know the movie I continually laugh out loud while watching, no matter how many times I've seen it, is Forgetting Sarah Marshall."
"It’s criminally underrated in my opinion. Every performance was brilliantly funny."
- doodybutter
flexible russell brand GIFGiphyBritish Death
"Death at a Funeral (the British version) never fails to crack me up."
"I am American and tried the American version. I'm a fan of a lot of the cast, actually, but it just didn't work the same as the original."
"Props to Peter Dinklage for reprising his role."
- ShortnSimple1284
"Death at a Funeral, the 2007 British version. It is hilarious."
- ShortnSimple1284
Game Of Thrones Thank You GIF by EmmysGiphySlaughtering The Elderly
"Hot Fuzz."
"This movie is brilliant."
"The entire movie is building up to a finale that, if it was in any other movie, wouldn’t be as funny. It shouldn’t be as funny. Seeing a clip of it wouldn’t do it justice."
"The movie creates a tone and mental space in the viewer that somehow results in them brutally slaughtering a bunch of elderly people in a rain of gunfire becoming the funniest thing I’ve ever seen."
- MarmosetSweat
"A movie where EVERY LINE IS A BRICK JOKE THAT COMES BACK."
"Seriously. Genius level writing."
- itsmevichet
"This is extremely anecdotal. I worked at a video store back in 07 through 09 and the most consistently rented dvds were Hotfuzz and Shaun of the Dead."
"We had like 10 copies of each and they were always consistently out. People would constantly have us call other stores to see if they had copies which they never did."
"I am certain those movies did better more consistent numbers than our weekly new releases."
- trolleezus
hot fuzz GIFGiphyO Brother
"O Brother Where Art Thou had me laughing out loud the whole time the first time I watched it."
- BigBillSmash
"Not just great comedy, but a flawless film."
"The cadence of the language is critical. It's literally poetry. Shakespeare. Or, dare I say... Homer."
" 'Don't tell me how to court the electorate.' "
- SerendiPetey
"I love that George Clooney has an Uncle who sounds exactly like his part, so he sent him the script to record."
"Clooney learned his lines by listening to his Uncle's recording."
"He shows up on set, and starts filming a few scenes, and the Cohen's are like, 'Why the f*ck are you changing the lines?' and Clooney doesn't understand."
"Turns out, his Uncle didn't approve of all the cussing, so he didn't record any. Clooney learned all his lines wrong."
"Makes me laugh whenever I think about it."
- MatthewCruikshank
o brother GIF by hero0fwarGiphyNever Even Worked In A Restaurant
"Waiting."
"I've never even worked in a restaurant and I could not stop laughing."
- KingoreP99
"It's one of those movies that's important to see because if you didn't already know how stressful it is to work in a restaurant, it's a crash course in empathy and consequences for being what later became known as a Karen."
"It's the Office Space of the food service industry."
- FishSauceFogMachine
"I have it."
"While the movie is hilarious, it’s also way to real and brings up bad memories. Working at a restaurant was easily the shittiest job I’ve ever held."
- KingUnder_Mountain
You know what makes Reddit laugh, but what about you? Is there a movie you keep going back to over and over that's never not funny?
We want to laugh with you, so tell us in the comments!
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