Comedy Movie Poll

The funniest films ever according to Red Dwarf fans.

18 May, 2001

The floodgates are closed and the votes have been tallied up. Mr Flibble has been working his flippers off compiling around 700 entries voting for over 800 films. The results went a little bit like this:

As with our last poll for science fiction movies, the top two places are held by a legend in the field. Monty Python and the Holy Grail healthily beat Life of Brian - but the pair of them were both streets ahead of the competition. Monty Python's Meaning of Life also just managed to snake (geddit?) its way into the top ten.

Mike Myers's Austin Powers managed to follow the Pythons, and showed up in his sequel at number 12. Mel Brooks, meanwhile, had a fabulous turnout, with Spaceballs at 4, Blazing Saddles at 9, Young Frankenstein ('It's Fronkenschteen!') at 16, Robin Hood - Men in Tights at 23 and The History of the World (Part One) at 29.

Elsewhere, there is clearly something to be said for star power. Dan Ackroyd, co-writer and star of Blues Brothers at 5 and Ghostbusters at 21, also shows up in Trading Places at 40. Ace Ventura (placed at 7, with the sequel at 37) himself Jim Carrey also emerged in Dumb and Dumber at 11, Liar Liar at 20 and The Mask at 18. Steve Martin made it in with early masterpiece The Jerk at 44 and following Ghostbusters, Bill Murray also managed to steal Groundhog Day at 32 and Caddyshack next door at 33.

Spoofs also scored highly - not least those from the Zucker-Abraham-Zucker stable, with Airplane! at 6, The Naked Gun at 14, Hot Shots at 24 and Hot Shots: Part Deux at 46. One of the biggest surprises of the chart is the remarkably low positioning of the Citizen Kane of mockumentaries, This is Spinal Tap, which charted at 33. The parodies continue with Scary Movie at 22, Galaxy Quest at 25 and MIB at 29.

Gross-out comedies also scored highly (what a classy bunch you are!). From the 'hair gel' of There's Something About Mary (8), the 'donation' of Road Trip (41) and the delicious desserts of American Pie (13) to the zit impersonations of Animal House (19) and the swearing Canadians of South Park, there's nothing you like better than things to make you go 'Ugh...'

Still, there's always room for the best of British, and The Full Monty, A Fish Called Wanda, Four Weddings, Bean and Kevin and Perry all beat out the unusual choice of Lock Stock, which just slipped in under the wire. The classics also had their day, and Dr Strangelove and Some Like it Hot represented the black and white brigade. (As, perhaps, did Clerks - although there's nothing old fashioned about Kevin Smith's ultra-cool indie movie.)

Finally, keep an eye out for some of the best of the 1980's. Matthew Broderick's Ferris Bueller has become a cultural icon for the skivers among us and The Princess Bride was a fairytale for the cynical generation. Plus - somewhat out of leftfield - there's 90's horror flick Army of Darkness. What were you thinking...?