The Top 100 Best Comedies (Time Out Magazine)

British Time Out magazine recently held a poll among 200 'experts' in comedy (stand-up comedians, actors, directors, writers) to find out what they thought to be the greatest comedy of all time.

You can see the entire list right HERE. The top 20 is as follows:

20. Trading Places
19. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut
18. The Naked Gun
17. Duck Soup
16. Shaun of the Dead
15. Blazing Saddles
14. Dr. Strangelove
13. The Big Lebowski
12. Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan
11. Team America: World Police
10. The Jerk
9. Some Like It Hot
8. Groundhog Day
7. Withnail & I
6. Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy
5. Monty Python & The Holy Grail
4. Annie Hall
3. Monty Python's Life of Brian
2. Airplane!
1. This is Spinal Tap

Thoughts on the top 20? On the overall list? Surprised about some film(s) not making the cut? Outraged that some are too high / too low?

Let's hear it.

Normally, i'd be sceptical about the recent films in there but can't say I disagree with any really. Nor surprised as comedy tends to flourish in contemporary setting and not date so well. Glad Four Lions and In The Loop got in.

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Seems alright, out of the ones I've seen Old School is probably the only one I'd seriously disagree with. Always good to see Withnail and I get some recognition.

No W.C. Fields and not enough "classics" in general, and except for one Jacques Tati movie I think they're all English/American. No Harold Lloyd or Mae West, either?

I can understand the English bias but it leaves too much out. No Jackie Chan, Sammo Hung, Juzo Itami, Stephen Chow, or Lina Wertmuller to mention just a few.

I would also include a lot of movies that aren't strictly part of the comedy pseudo-genre but are still hilarious, like Die Hard. Would have had Return of the Living Dead before Shawn of the Dead.

It's nice to see all the British comedies on there. Another one I would have included would be Make Mine Mink (1960).

For modern comedy I would have included at least one Wayans Brothers movie, probably Don't Be a Menace...

Other glaring omissions include MASH, Gremlins and How to Murder Your Wife.

Anchorman is probably the only one I'd really disagree with. My personal #1 would be Annie Hall, good to see it high up the list.

Danny DeVito is another big miss. Throw Momma From the Train should have made it at the very least.

Anyway, I think the list overall is okay, keeping in mind it's poll of top tens and not a personal 200. Some of the individual lists are pretty interesting.

Team America i think should be lower than South Park:BLU

I concur with Lines in that there aren't enough classics on the list. Only one Buster Keaton and Charlie Chaplin isn't nearly enough, especially when you see that about 10 films starring Woody Allen are in it.

The lack of foreign films is indeed glaring and a bit odd considering they asked 'experts'. Couldn't believe L'Aile ou La Cuisse and Le Dîner de Cons weren't on it.

Anchorman FTW!

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"Puns are the highest form of literature." -Alfred Hitchcock

WTF. Coming To America should be in the Top 20! So much better than Trading Places IMO. I also think Caddyshack should be in the Top 20.

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A comedy list must be difficult. There are those who list Monty Python, Airplane!, Groundhog Day and other more recent films as the best, but on lists of the greatest movies ever made Dr. Strangelove, Some Like it Hot, and Charlie Chaplin ranks the highest. Very interesting...

Nice, gonna have to check out Four Lions. Just watched the trailer and it looks pretty funny.

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"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

The last time I watched Wayne's World, I thought it was horrible. Why is it #28?

I hate looking at comedy lists. What other people find funny I typically don't, it seems.

None of them are there because it's about being funny.

See above.


Jesus! How many times!

HK you crack me up

I should think so. I'm a professional comedian.... No, wait.... I'm a joke. That's right.

Honeykid disagrees with general consensus. Film at 11.

I'd also point out that the funniest film of all time is (correctly) at #1. That, and I think 11 of those 20 are funny. That's f'cking amazing!

News is always at 11.

So much for being a contrarian. But yeah, Spinal Tap is definitely one of my top 5 comedies.

Actually, out of that top 20 I think only 11 out of 20 are funny. Stuff like Blazing Saddles, Airplane! and Monty Python... it's not for me to say the least.