The 50 Funniest Scenes in the History of Film

By Dustin Rowles | Guides | April 22, 2011 |

Coming up with the 50 funniest scenes in the history of cinema turned out to be much easier than I expected, thanks to the stellar efforts of our readership, who essentially nominated hundreds of clips to choose from. Narrowing it down to 50 was another matter, and then attempting to rank them in order of hilariousness was an almost impossible task. But we rank, therefore we are. There’s not a lot of fun to be had in a perfect list; it forecloses the possibility of discussion. And if I haven’t left off a few of your favorite scenes, then you haven’t seen enough comedies, and if you’re completely happy with the way these scenes are ranked, you are either an idiot, separated at me from birth, or both. There’s no scientific method to ranking funny — it’s largely a matter of weighing a film’s classic status along with the amount of pain each scene caused my ribs. It was essentially an all day exercise, and by the end of it, I had to have my spleen removed.

That said, if you’re a fan of Peter Sellers, Bill Murray, John Cleese, or Steve Martin, you’re probably going to like this list more than not. But if you’re knowledge of comedies extends only back to 1990 or so, you’ll probably be a little lost. Like no Guide we’ve ever put together, this one goes back even to the silent era, though obviously modern sensibilities were weighed in the decision-making factor. I will also note that many of the movies that scenes were taken from had dozens of scenes to choose from, but out of fairness, there’s only one scene per movie included among the top 50, which offers yet another opportunity for you folks to take umbrage.

At any rate, here are your 50 Funniest Movie Scenes of All Time. There’s a lot here NSFW, and there’s a couple of hours, at least, of humor to be had on this page. Bookmark it. Come back to it on days that life pummels you. If laughter is indeed the best medicine, there’s enough here for a few overdoses.



50. The Pink Panther Strikes Again featuring Peter Sellers

49. Duck Soup, featuring Harpo & Groucho Marx

48. Ghostbusters featuring Bill Murray

47. Wet Hot American Summer, featuring Michael Showalter and Christopher Meloni

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46. Best in Show, featuring Parker Posey and Michael Hitchcock

45. The Birdcage, featuring Robin Williams and Nathan Lane

44. Little Miss Sunshine featuring Abigal Breslin

43. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels featuring Steven Martin and Michael Caine

42. Austin Powers featuring Carrie Fisher, Seth Green, and Mike Meyers

41. Love and Death featuring Woody Allen and Diane Keaton

Scenes 40 - 31 >> Scenes 30 - 21 >> Scenes 20 - 11 >> Scenes 10 - 1

Dustin is the founder and co-owner of Pajiba. You may email him here, follow him on Twitter, or listen to his weekly TV podcast, Podjiba.