Top Ten Desert Island Comedies…

Updated on January 5, 2011 By Ken Begg 27 Comments

(Subject to revision)

Black Dynamite
Dr. Strangelove
Duck Soup (or Night at the Opera or Horse Feathers)
My Man Godfrey (Thin Man is pretty damn close)
Monty Python and the Holy Grail (It just can’t be avoided; “Who are you who are so wise in the ways of science?” is one of the ten funniest lines ever)
Never Give a Sucker an Even Break
Road to Morocco (Zanzibar or Utopia will do in a pinch)
7 Chances / Cops double bill
A Shot in the Dark
Way Out West (or Sons of the Desert; a selection of a half dozen shorts would be even better)

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  • GalaxyJane

    All chosen arbitrarily based on personal rewatchability. YMMV based on whether you consider all of these to be, strictly speaking, comedies.

    A Night at the Opera (although, just one Marx Brothers film? That desert island might not be worth living on.)

    Airplane!

    Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (combines my two great loves, comedy and classic horror)

    It Happened One Night

    The Princess Bride

    Dodgeball (You’re not a pirate, Steve)

    Clue

    Sean of the Dead (or Hot Fuzz, but there had better be *something* from the still incomplete “Blood and Cornettos” trilogy)

    It (the Clara Bow flick,not The Terror from Beyond Space)

    And yes, Monty Python and the Holy Grail. Where would we nerdy types be without you, oh Pythons?

  • fish eye no miko

    I’m not going to list ten, just a few.

    Airplane! (“That’s an entirely different thing, altogether”)

    MP & the Holy Grail (“Can’t I have a little Peril?”)

    Clue (“All right, I’m shouting! I’m shouting, I’m shouting, I’m shout”-THUNK!-“ing…”)

  • BeckoningChasm

    I’d probably go with “It’s a Gift” over “Sucker.”

  • Many many of the great comics, Fields had a number of movies to choose from. It’s a Gift wouldn’t make my top list though. I’d take Bank Dick, My Little Chickadee, You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man or especially Man on the Flying Trapeze over that one…although it’s a perfectly good film; Fields just made a lot of great ones. I love the overt surrealism of Sucker best, though.

  • GenO2

    Tonight’s pulled from the air 10, with a few pairs that can be selected between with a coin toss:

    Animal Crackers: My favorite Marx Bros film, though any of the four post-Coconuts / pre-Night at the Opera films would be good picks

    Repo Man / Return of the Living Dead: Either one to satisfy my younger, punkier self’s sense of humor

    Monty Python & the Holy Grail: In this crowd, this almost earns a “Desert Island Books” exemption, like the Bible or Shakespeare

    Black Dynamite: All the crazy fun of Rudy Ray Moore, without the ass of Rudy Ray Moore

    Pee Wee’s Big Adventure: To cover the evenings when a bit of whimsy is needed

    Mil Máscaras vs. the Aztec Mummy : Lucha insanity, played straight – making it doubly hilarious. Mil never got the level of adoration he deserved back in the Lucha heyday, glad the masked man is grabbing a bit of well-deserved glory now. Wish they’d release this (legitimately) and the two sequels (in any way)

    Network: Biting 70’s satire that’s still funny, even if it all came sadly true

    The Producers / Young Frankenstein: One to fill the Mel Brooks slot (I really like Blazing Saddles, but love these two)

    Bringing Up Baby / Arsenic and Old Lace: Baby’s probably funnier, but Arsenic caught me younger and is some solid comfort comedy

    Wallace & Gromit in The Curse of the Were-Rabbit: Slightly less perfect than Wrong Trousers, but almost three times as long. Hopefully the Island comes equipped with a 35mm screening room (or massive HDTV), to better spend hours getting lost in the details

  • GalaxyJane

    And now I am kicking myself, wondering how I left Mel Brooks off my list. :-)

  • Yeah, I originally had Young Frankenstein on there, but between Brooks and Fields, it was no contest.

  • KeithB

    How about “The God’s Must Be Crazy”? (I or II)

  • I offer 6, in no particular order:

    Life of Brian is my Python of choice.

    Airplane!. ‘A hospital? What is it?’

    Clue. ‘Professor Plum, you were once a professor of psychiatry specializing in helping paranoid and homicidal lunatics suffering from delusions of grandeur.’ ‘Yes, but now I work for the United Nations.’ ‘So your work has not changed.’

    The Happening. Suicide has never been such fun!

    Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein. ‘Mine had so much bridgework, every time I kissed her, I had to pay toll!’

    Hot Fuzz is my Edgar Wright of choice.

    Dr. Strangelove. My favourite all-time comedy and my personal rebuttal to all those ‘No movie could’ve lived up to such high expectations’ apologists for The Phantom Menace.

  • TongoRad

    A couple of Clue mentions already. I guess I’ll have to check that one out, though something about it never really seemed to appeal to me up until now.

    I may eventually flesh out my list with some that have already been mentioned, but here’s what comes to mind at first blush based on rewatchability (in no particular order):

    The Incredibles
    Caddyshack
    This is Spinal Tap
    The In Laws
    Bananas
    The Big Lebowski or Raising Arizona
    Office Space or Idiocracy

  • Rock Baker

    Buck Privates Come Home.
    The Long, Long Trailer.
    Clue.
    Arsenic and Old Lace.
    Whistling in the Dark.
    Whistling in Dixie.
    Whistling in Brooklyn.
    Hollywood or Bust.
    Wakko’s Wish.
    Looney Toons: Back in Action.

  • Chris Magyar

    Needs more Cary Grant. “His Girl Friday” or “Philadelphia Story” or “Bringing Up Baby” would all do the trick. Personally, I’d grab “Holiday” just for the whole “gape at the rich while hating them” vibe, which set the tone of Hollywood’s attitude toward wealth for, like, ever. (Rich people are evil, poor people are ugly, middle class people are secretly amoral, so be rich, but hate yourself for it.)

  • I considered Arsenic and Old Lace (which a few others have grabbed), but it got squeezed out. Philadelphia Story is another obvious choice. Tom Hanks is hilarious in that!

  • KeithB

    Is there going to be a separate Christmas movie list, or should we try to sneak in “A Christmas Story,” too.

  • Rock Baker

    Do the two Flint movies count as comedies, or are they firmly in the ‘adventure’ list?

  • Gristle McThornbody

    Airplane
    The Big Lebowski
    Arsenic and Old Lace
    MP & Holy Grail
    Dr. Strangelove
    Shaun of the Dead
    This is Spinal Tap (with the in-character commentary)
    Anchorman
    Evil Dead 2 (counts as a comedy, right?)
    Caddyshack

  • BeckoningChasm

    Since “a half dozen” L&H shorts are okay to choose, I’d pick the whole of “Arrested Development.”

    Also, “In Bruges.” It’s technically a comedy.

  • Aussiesmurf

    Ten movies :

    Ruthless People
    Clue
    Princess Bride
    Blazing Saddles
    Groundhog Day
    Arsenic and Old Lace
    Here Comes Mr Jordan
    His Girl Friday (Grant / Russell)
    Ghostbusters
    Life of Brian

    Honourable Mention : Australian classic The Castle.

  • Well, six shorts would basically equal a movie. Three seasons of Arrested Development would eat up the majority of your movies.

  • Well, the second Flint is definitely a comedy, but it’s kind of lame. The first is terrific, but more of a tongue in cheek action movie. But hey, it’s your list.

  • Rock Baker

    At risk of being tossed out of here, I think I might like In Like Flint a little better than ‘Our Man.’ The first film is a better movie, no disputes there, but I think the second one has gotten a bit of an undeserved knock. I like the evolved relationship between Flint and Kramden, the countdown sequence is nice and suspenseful, Lee J. Cobb’s scene where he outs the imposter president is nicely done, and Goldsmith’s score is grander than ever. Still not sure if they’re ‘comedies’ or not, though, since both deliver big time in the adventure and daring do.

  • JazzyJ

    Bum bum bum bum — Commence a dancin’!

    LOVE the “Way Out West” mention, Ken. My family plays that dance scene at least once a year…

  • Toby Clark

    Pretty sure all of these were mentioned in previous lists, but:

    Airplane!
    The Naked Gun
    The Naked Gun 2 1/2
    Hot Fuzz
    Galaxy Quest
    The Castle
    Monty Python and the Holy Grail
    Monty Python’s Life of Brian
    Tropic Thunder
    The Gods Must Be Crazy

  • BeckoningChasm

    Well, six shorts would basically equal a movie. Three seasons of Arrested Development would eat up the majority of your movies.

    I’d be pretty happy with that. :)

  • Lawyer Ku

    I second a bunch above. Don’t forget:

    Slap Shot
    Fear of a Black Hat
    Talladega Nights (maybe because I saw it at a drive-in between the airport and I-20 outside Midland, TX)
    The Gamers
    Major League (sequal could be on this site, however)
    Animal House
    Team America: World Police
    Death to Smoochy
    Return of the Pink Panther
    Top Secret!

  • Jimmy

    Hmmm, pretty much all my choices seem to have been picked by at least one other person here

    Airplane!
    Dr Strangelove
    Clue
    Hot Fuzz
    Team America
    Naked Gun!
    Monty Python and the Holy Grail
    Ghostbusters
    The Princess Bride
    Groundhog Day

  • JazzyJ — That dance scene is one of those ones that is just magical. Objectively, there’s no real reason it’s as great as it is, but man, it is.