Spoof disaster film Airplane is funniest movie ever made and gets us laughing three times a minute

Experts measured how often people laughed every 60 seconds to settle one of the oldest arguments

Spoof disaster movie Airplane is the funniest film ever - generating three laughs a minute on average, according to new research.



The movie starring Leslie Neilsen - which features classic one liners such as ‘I am serious....and don’t call me Shirley’ - came out top in research conducted by a panel of members of movie subscription service Lovefilm.



They calculated the precise number of ‘laughs a minute’ for the top 10 comedies chosen by Lovefilm members.

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Funniest ever: The comedy caper Airplane, starring Leslie Neilsen, is based around a jet getting into trouble, which generated three laughs a minute

Funny: Veteran war pilot Ted Striker is forced to land the plane after food poisoning sweeps through the plane

Funnymen: Lloyd Bridges and Robert Stack makes the audience keel over three times a minute in Airplane

The panel recorded the total number of times each film generated a laugh, before dividing it by the films’ total length in minutes to calculate the precise ‘laugh a minute’ rating for each movie.

With a ‘laugh a minute’ score of three, Airplane beat nine rival comedies to top the list which has been created to mark The Hangover becoming available to stream on Lovefilm Instant.



The Las Vegas man-movie featuring the bachelor party to end all bachelor parties marked its arrival onto the Lovefilm Instant service by scoring a ‘Laugh A Minute’ rating of 2.4.



Almost as funny: 2009 film the Hangover, based on a disastrous trip to Las Vegas, was a close second with 2.4 laughs a minute Laughing at Leslie: The Naked Gun from 1993 is the second Leslie Nielsen film on the list, seen here in a scene with Raquel Welch Parental guidance: Outrageous teen comedy Superbad, starring Jonah Hill and Michael Cera, came fourth

Yakshemash: Sacha Baron Cohen's portrayal of Kazakh journalist Borat in Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan makes viewers laugh nearly twice a minute



TOP TEN FUNNIEST FILMS

1. Airplane - 3 Laughs A Minute

2. The Hangover - 2.4 Laughs A Minute

3. The Naked Gun - 2.3 Laughs A Minute

4. Superbad - 1.9 Laughs A Minute

5. Borat - 1.7 Laughs A Minute

6. Anchorman - 1.6 Laughs A Minute

7. American Pie - 1.5 Laughs A Minute

8. Bridesmaids - 1.4 Laughs A Minute

9. Shaun of the Dead - 1.3 Laughs A Minute

10. Life of Brian - 1.2 Laughs A Minute

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad completed the top three with a ‘laugh a minute’ score of 2.3.



Foul-mouthed Superbad managed a ‘laugh a minute’ score of 1.9, followed closely by the outrageous and least politically correct movie ever made, Borat, with 1.7.



Modern classic Anchorman reported in at sixth place. This battle of the sexes in a newsroom has spawned a whole range of one liners and manages to make audiences laugh 1.6 times per minute on average.



Helen Cowley, editor of Lovefilm, said: 'After many heated debates about whether The Hangover really is the funniest movie ever, we asked our members to vote for the 10 movies that make them laugh the most, and then conducted our own research into how many times those included in this list made us giggle.



'Interestingly, while Lovefilm members voted Life of Brian as the funniest film, our research shows that for laughs a minute the hilarious aircraft-based satire of Airplane beats the Monty Python epic hands-down.'

The legend of Ron Burgundy: Funny film Anchorman starring, left to right, Paul Rudd, David Koechner, Will Ferrell, Christina Applegate and Steve Carell, will get a sequel next year

Teen comedy: Jason Biggs shows off his dancing skills, or lack thereof, in American Pie 2



Never the bride: Last year's super success Bridesmaids saw Brit Matt Lucas play Kristen Wiig's less than ideal roommate Pride of Britain: British horror-zombie-comedy Shaun of the Dead from 2004 came ninth Despite being voted the funniest film of all times, Monty Python's Life of Brian did not bring the most laughs

