The Official Comedy Challenge of May 2020!

[flavo5000]

Greetings, folks! As many of us fight the pandemic, fight foolish government mandates or just fight the doldrums stuck at home, the gift of a smile is a precious one to be treasured, savored and passed along to others. With that being said, let's run down the rules much of which I have stolen shamelessly from albajos when it was last held in 2018.

Goal:
Watch as many comedies as you can (or want to).

Definition:
Virtually all scenes should contain characters participating in humorous or comedic experiences. The comedy can be exclusively for the viewer, at the expense of the characters in the title, or be shared with them. Subjective. (from imdb)

A comedy do not have to be funny to you, but the intension from the filmmakers is that it is funny to them. As is subjective, I'll allow anything classified as comedy on imdb (unless it's clearly a mistake) and everything on the four official comedy lists. If you find something that is neither, ask. Movies that are "so bad that they're good" are not comedies unless that was the original intent.

Rules:
- A feature film (anything over 40 minutes) counts as one entry
- A total of 60 minutes of short films count as one entry
- For mini-series, an episode over 40 minutes counts as one entry, or else they have to be added up to 60 minutes.
-No TV series. C'mon people. We've got thousands and thousands of funny movies out there. No reason to fall back on just binging the same old stuff.
A total of 60 minutes of short films count as one entry
- Rewatches are allowed and good for the soul.
-Don't edit posts to include new watches. Just make a new post.
-Only list new watches in your post. If including previous watches, please put them in a spoiler tag.
-Challenge runs from May 1st to May 31st (based on your local time)

Please post original title (and aka if you want) and year.
Also if you're in the top 5, please post regularly (at least every second day). So that the competition stays fair. Also I won't accept anyone posting in the last three days of the challenge that would put them in the top 5.
Finally, you have 72 hours to post the final results in this thread. So when I post my standings June 4th those will be final.

Official Lists:
AFI's 100 years...100 laughs
Film Comedy
IMDb Top 50 comedies

Other notable lists:
AFI's 100 years...100 laughs - The nominations
Empire's 50 Funniest Comedies Ever
Paste's 100 Best Romantic Comedies
Time Out London: 100 best comedy movies
Writers' Guild of America 101 Funniest Screenplays
iCM Forum's Favourite Comedies (2016)

Personal lists:
Classic British Comedy

1	flavo5000	191
2	blueboybob	142
3	Traveller	137
4	psychotronicbeatnik	110
5	allisoncm	88
6	Obgeoff	74
7	Kublai Khan	65
8	jdidaco	64
9	sol	61
10	AssOnFire	56
11	jeroeno	54
12	hurluberlu	53
13	maxwelldeux	52
14	AB537	41
15	vortexsurfer	38
15	Mochard	38
17	drayton_cross	32
18	Daviddoes	31
19	zzzorf	30
19	cinepage	30
21	VincentPrice	29
22	shugs	28
22	OldAle1	28
24	mathiasa	25
25	PUNQ	24
25	ororama	24
27	blocho	19
28	RogerTheMovieManiac88	16
28	India Istanbul	16
30	morrison-dylan-fan	12
31	Melvelet	8
32	mightysparks	6
32	LoneWolf2003	6
32	connordenney	6
35	nimimerkillinen	3
35	frbrown	3
37	lineuphere	1
37	Knaldskalle	1

Ok, so now comes the BONUS CHALLENGE! This one is gonna be a whopper. Based on Daviddoes' suggestion, we are going to have a Comedy Scavenger Hunt! I have in the spoiler tag below a list of 30 Challenges.

Rules of the Bonus:
-You get one bonus point for each challenge completed.
-A watched movie cannot count against more than one challenge.
-Please post the name of the challenge in your post along with anything else the challenge asks of you.
-Some challenges may require more than one movie watched. While the movies altogether add up to one bonus point, they will still count as separate points for the main challenge.
-If the challenge requires posting a screenshot and the screenshot in question is NSFW, just toss it in a spoiler tag to be on the safe side. Not everyone is working from home.

Bring on the Comedy Scavenger Hunt Challenges!

Challenge Name	Challenge Description
Workin' That List	Post 3 watches from the Film Comedy list in one post.
Splat	Watch a film featuring a pie in the face and post with accompanying screenshot of the event.
Roll of the Dice	Watch the first movie here you haven't seen with the "comedy" genre tag onICM.
Triple Threat	Watch a Western Comedy from the Iberian Peninsula to get a triple.
What's Eatin' You?	Watch a comedy featuring cannibalism
My Gal Thursday	Post 2 Screwball Comedy watches in one post with your favorite dialogue exchange from each one.
.....	Watch a silent comedy and post a screenshot of your favorite physical gag.
Too Funny for Fiction	Watch a comedic documentary and post a brief description of why it was funny (no sarcasm please...Shoah is not a comedy).
Woah	Watch a film featuring a drug trip and post a clip or screenshot of the trip in question.
Skiing ,Camping and Swimming Is Partying	Watch 3 films from the '80s, one taking place in each of the locations: summer camp, beach, ski resort.
Hababam Saves Christmas	Watch a Turkish comedy and an Ernest movie. Compare and contrast.
Great Minds Think Alike	Go here and watch an unseen comedy that a friend recently watched in the last two days.
A Kid at Heart	Watch a comedy intended for children that features at least one fart joke. Describe the joke for the benefit of the rest of the forum so we can all understand the hilarity at play.
Comedy Inception	Watch a comedy with a comedic audio commentary over it (Rifftrax, Cinematic Titanic, The Film Crew or any number of youtubers).
Rock Out With Your Cockles Out	Watch a comedy featuring a band and a post a link to your favorite song from the movie.
I Hate You All	Watch one of the first five comedies on your Unchecked ICM Dislikes list
Harem Scarem	Watch one anime film or OVA that features at least one of the following:a bloody nose, a large sweat drop appearing on the side of the head, a perverted old man, a scene where a guy gets punched so hard he is sent flying into the air by a girl after he inadvertently sees her in a state of undress.
Cumming To A Theater Near You	Watch one sex comedy featuring a sight gag involving ejaculate and post a screenshot (please put in NSFW spoiler tag).
Freaky Thursday	Watch a body swap comedy and post a screenshot of the inevitable scene when they first realized they've swapped bodies
What Did You Say?	Watch a mumblecore comedy and post your favorite dialogue.
Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery	Watch a parody movie and post two screenshots side by side of both the parody scene and the scene being parodied.
Happy Birthday To Me	Watch a comedy from the year you were born.
It Could Happen To You	Watch a comedy that features a situation that actually happened to you in real life and provide details of what happened in both movie and reality.
Not How I Remembered	Watch an erotic parody of a mainstream movie and post a screenshot of the most convincing parody aspect of the movie. Please use spoiler tags if NSFW.
Share The Love	Re-watch one of your favorite comedies with someone who has never seen it before. Describe who they are and what their reaction to it was.
Homie Don't Play That	Watch a comedy featuring a predominantly black cast.
The Worst of the Worst	Watch a comedy from this list and describe whether or not it deserves the distinction.
The Best of the Best	Watch a comedy from this list and describe whether or not it deserves the distinction.
The Last of the Last	Watch a comedy where the main character dies.

Bonus Challenge Participant Rank

Rank	Participant	Count
1	Kublai Khan	29
1	flavo5000	29
3	maxwelldeux	23
4	Mochard	14
5	psychotronicbeatnik	12
6	Daviddoes	10
7	alisoncm	8
8	drayton_cross	7
9	cinephage	5
10	Traveller	4
10	AssOnFire	4
12	shugs	3
13	vortexsurfer	2
13	morrison-dylan-fan	2
13	AB537	2
16	mightysparks	1
16	frbrown	1

Bonus Breakdown of How Many Folks Have Completed Each Challenge

This is to just give an idea of what the most and least popular challenges are.

Workin' That List	10
Great Minds Think Alike	9
Imitation is the Sincerest Form of Flattery	8
Happy Birthday To Me	8
.....	8
What's Eatin' You?	7
I Hate You All	7
Splat	6
Share The Love	6
Homie Don't Play That	6
Comedy Inception	6
Too Funny for Fiction	5
The Worst of the Worst	5
The Best of the Best	5
Roll of the Dice	5
It Could Happen To You	5
A Kid at Heart	5
Woah	4
What Did You Say?	4
Triple Threat	4
The Last of the Last	4
Skiing, Camping and Swimming Is Partying	4
Rock Out With Your Cockles Out	4
Freaky Thursday	4
Splooge	3
Not How I Remembered	3
My Gal Thursday	3
Hababam Saves Christmas	3
Harem Scarem	2

[shugs]

I'm in. Planning on watching some silent classics and a bunch of newer horror comedies. The scavenger hunt looks dope!

[allisoncm]

In for a laugh or two!

[maxwelldeux]

The scavenger hunt looks wicked hard... I'm excited!

[Daviddoes]

I think you did a good job with the scavenger hunt. I look forward to working on it.

[Traveller]

In as well. Thanks for hosting, flavo.

[VincentPrice]

Sure

[flavo5000]

Btw, if anyone has any non-official lists you'd want to add to the OP, let me know.

[flavo5000]

The scavenger hunt looks wicked hard... I'm excited!

It wouldn't be a challenge if it wasn't challenging, right?

[Mochard]

I wasn't going to do the comedy challenge as I'm not a big fan of comedies, however I can't resist the scavenger hunt so I'm most definitely in! There are quite a few comedies I was planning on seeing anyway, so I will just watch them sooner.

[mightysparks]

Challenge Name	Challenge Description
Hababam Saves Christmas	Watch a Turkish comedy and an Ernest movie. Compare and contrast.

I plan to watch a few comedies this month, but this is one challenge I shall not be scavenging.

[blocho]

Let's get this laugh riot started.

1. The Birdcage (1996)
I hadn't seen this movie since 1996, and I was curious to see whether it held up. The answer is yes, for the most part. Some of the stereotypes and cliches are a bit much, but there are some great lines here. Some comedies are lean and rely on only a few jokes or set-ups. This comedy is fat, stuffed with plenty of excellent throwaway gags. Also, I appreciated a lot of the political and gay jokes which I think probably went over my head when I was 11 years old.

[VincentPrice]

1. Grace of My Heart-1996: 9/10

[vortexsurfer]

1. Accepted (Steve Pink, 2006)

[cinephage]

1. The 'Maggie' by Alexander MacKendrick (1954) 7,5/10

The classic Urban life (stressed and meaningless) vs Country life (enjoying life and human) theme, but here it is in Scotland, and it turns around an old boat and its captain. Quite funny at times...

[mightysparks]

1. Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988) 5/10
I saw an Elvira film when I was about 11, I gave it 1/10 and have ignored anything to do with her since. This was slightly better than I'd expected, but it's still not very good. Cassandra Peterson has a very likable presence and handles the material decently, but that's about the end of the good things. It's not very funny with most of the humour being really mindless, childish jokes centered around sex, boobs, and sexual harassment and assault. At first the character appears to be fighting off the stereotypes and judgments the others around her make, but then she manipulates and uses all the people around her, and as it goes on she begins to get more unlikable. There also isn't a lot of horror stuff here, it's like it's just tacked on at the end.

2. The Jerk (1979) 7/10
Having seen (little) and not liked any of Steve Martin's work that I'd seen previously, honestly was expecting to hate this. It's not really my type of humour, a lot of jokes fall flat, and towards the end it does drag a bit. But I dunno. Some of the jokes were quite clever and there's something charming and genuine about it. It's random, but there never feels like a punchline. Some jokes go on for ages, others are just dropped and left. Normally don't laugh even during some of my favourite comedies, but I laughed quite a few times so it was refreshing. The whole gag with the 'random' assassin was one of my favourites.

Films Watched

1. Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988) 5/10
2. The Jerk (1979) 7/10

[flavo5000]

2. The Jerk (1979) 7/10
Having seen (little) and not liked any of Steve Martin's work that I'd seen previously, honestly was expecting to hate this. It's not really my type of humour, a lot of jokes fall flat, and towards the end it does drag a bit. But I dunno. Some of the jokes were quite clever and there's something charming and genuine about it. It's random, but there never feels like a punchline. Some jokes go on for ages, others are just dropped and left. Normally don't laugh even during some of my favourite comedies, but I laughed quite a few times so it was refreshing. The whole gag with the 'random' assassin was one of my favourites.

Films Watched

1. Elvira: Mistress of the Dark (1988) 5/10
2. The Jerk (1979) 7/10

[drayton_cross]

I'm in. Can't wait for some laughs.

[flavo5000]

I'm in. Can't wait for some laughs.

Welcome to the forum!

[Traveller]

01. Dinner at Eight (1933) - 6/10
02. The Court Jester (1955) - 7/10
03. Working Girl (1988) - 3/10
04. Clerks (1994) - 6/10

[blueboybob]

Can someone add "May" to the title please

[flavo5000]

Can someone add "May" to the title please

Done.

[India Istanbul]

I'm in.

Psychotronicbeatnik, please step forward!

[drayton_cross]

1. Chris D'Elia: No Pain (2020).

Solid standup set from a guy I don't know a lot about. Consistently laughing out loud. Would recommend.

[jeroeno]

Would you consider "Playhouse 90: Days of Wine and Roses (1958)" as a valid entry or is that a TV-episode?

[shugs]

1. Hot Rod (Akiva Schaffer, 2007) - 7/10 REWATCH
I loved this movie as a teen, but it didn't really hold up. It's still stupid and fun, but not as good as I remembered it. Watched it with my girlfriend, and while she had a good time, she wasn't blown away by it either.
Bonus challenge completed: Share The Love

2. This Is the End (Evan Goldberg, Seth Rogen, 2013) - 7/10 REWATCH
Bonus challenge completed:

Spoiler

What's Eatin' You? Danny McBride and crew eat James Franco towards the end.

3. The Final Girls (Todd Strauss-Schulson, 2015) - 8/10

Completed Bonus Challenges (contains possible spoilers)

1. Share The Love --- Hot Rod
2. What's Eatin' You? --- This Is The End

[maxwelldeux]

1. Al este del oeste (1984, Spain) SH: Triple Threat

Honestly, I was not expecting a lot from a random western comedy from Spain with only 5 checks... but this was hilarious. Tons of references to classic westerns, some awesome jokes (e.g., the conversation between the Navajo and the guy from India wondering why they were both called "Indians"), and a surprisingly well-paced story. A load of fun and definitely recommended!

[Obgeoff]

1. Tom Jones (1963, Richardson) 5
2. The Thin Man (1934, Van Dyke) 8
3. Three Colours: White (1994, Kieslowski) 8

[flavo5000]

Would you consider "Playhouse 90: Days of Wine and Roses (1958)" as a valid entry or is that a TV-episode?

Anthologies are a tricky one. I think just to simplify, I'd say probably not. Otherwise it's a slippery slope to start figuring out what TV counts and what doesn't. Like if I allowed that, would I have to start allowing 3 episodes of Tales from the Crypt to count also?

[maxwelldeux]

Clinton-Dix

1. Al este del oeste (1984, Spain) SH: Triple Threat

2. Chuck Norris vs. Communism (2015) SH: Too Funny for Fiction

Why is this comedy documentary funny? For starters, the title - the title itself is awesome and hilarious. But there's a lot of comedy in the entire situation, which is about how underground dubbed VHS tapes helped bring down communism in Romania. EVERYONE in the communist administration wanted the tapes (funny) but dismissed them because they were "trivial" (hilarious) and had no idea how widespread they were (also funny). The selection of tapes that wielded influence (coughChuckNorriscough) was hilarious. But for me, the funniest moment was when they were talking about how the woman doing the dubbing would downplay the swearing (e.g., the f*** me in the a** line from "The Exorcist" was translated simply as "you bastard").

[VincentPrice]

2. The Passionate Plumber-1932: 6/10

Spoiler

1. Grace of My Heart-1996: 9/10

[Mochard]

1. Sex and the City 2 (2010) - 3/10 - SH: I Hate You All

While wrestling with the pressures of life, love, and work in Manhattan, Carrie, Miranda, and Charlotte join Samantha for a trip to Abu Dhabi (United Arab Emirates), where Samantha's ex is filming a new movie.



Does this film deserve the distinction of being on the most disliked list for films I hadn't seen? Absolutely it does! I hadn't seen the first film or any of the episodes from the tv series. Terrible film lacking a decent plot.

1 Funny not Funny

1. Sex and the City 2 (2010) - 3/10 - SH: I Hate You All

[allisoncm]

1. Selfie (VI) (2019) 6/10 Omnibus film directed by 5 guys streaming for free on Amazon (SXSW) through 5/6/20.

[Mochard]

2. Mad Monster Party (1968) - 3/10 - SH: Splat

When Dr Frankenstein decides to retire from the monster-making business, he calls an international roster of monsters to a creepy convention to elect his successor. Everyone is there including Dracula, The Werewolf, The Creature, Dr Jekyll & Mr Hyde and many more. But Frankenstein's title is not all that is at stake.



Below is the invisible man getting a pie in the face

2 Funny not Funny

1. Sex and the City 2 (2010) - 3/10 - SH: I Hate You All
2. Mad Monster Party (1968) - 3/10 - SH: Splat

[jeroeno]

1. An Extremely Goofy Movie (2000)
2. Only Two Can Play (1962)
3. Sedotta e abbandonata (1964)
4. Insignificance (1985)

[VincentPrice]

3. Fright Night-1985: 10/10

Spoiler

1. Grace of My Heart-1996: 9/10
2. The Passionate Plumber-1932: 6/10

[sol]

1. West and Soda (1965)



While the animation style is pretty basic here with the characters often moving against still backgrounds, there are some striking images/memorable sequences that simply would not play out the same in live action (his liquor glasses repeatedly being shot at whenever he tries to drink). The film is, however, only populated by characters that vary between annoying and flat. Two drunks are especially irksome with one of them constantly giggling.

[ororama]

1. Sheng si quan ma/ Sinful Confession (1974) * 97 min.

Michael Hui's last film for Shaw Brothers is only occasionally funny, focused primarily on showing as much naked female flesh as possible and secondarily on gambling, with comedy coming in a distant third. Any of his films for Golden Harvest that I have seen have many more laughs. Ricky Hui has the best sketch as a panty sniffing pervert.

*First time viewing

[sol]

Best Medicine

1. West and Soda (1965)

2. Stuber (2019)



Despite the silly title, this actually gets off to a decent start as the mismatched pair unexpectedly learning a few things from one another, with a particular highlight being Nanjiani using Twitter rather than violence to coerce a criminal into talking. As the film progresses though, there is less and less of Nanjiani relying on brains over brawn. Also, for a film that opposes toxic masculinity, his character trajectory comes close to reinforcing it.

[flavo5000]

...And we're off to the races!


1. Butter (2011)
I like to try to start a new challenge with a tie to an old one, so here's a comedy from the Doubling the Canon 2020 nominees list. This story of a hyper-competitive trophy wife (played by Jennifer Garner very well) of a butter-carving champion (Ty Burrell in another of his dopey husband roles) clinging to any scrap of prestige she can can be pretty funny and more mean-spirited than I expected it to be. Pitting her against an orphan butter-carving prodigy and her husband's stripper mistress (as well as a delightfully hapless Kristen Schaal) leads to some very shady, underhanded business in the world of butter.


2. Every Which Way But Loose (1978)
This is one of those I feel like I should've watched a long time ago but never did. It wasn't bad and a little rougher around the edges than a movie pairing Eastwood with an orangutan would seem to be. Eastwood especially seemed to take great pleasure in punching people in the face which was a nice punctuation to the proceedings occasionally. I appreciated that it wasn't as wacky as I was expecting, but it was rarely more than mildly amusing.


3. E poi lo chiamarono il magnifico a.k.a. Man of the East (1972)
Terrence Hill is the man from the east that the alternate title alludes to, a fahncy educated fellow who is sent to hang with his dad's old rowdy gang in the wild west as a final dying wish. Most of the humor is derived from watching Hill at odds with the ways of the rough bandits in a Cabin Boy-esque plot. Terrence Hill can pull off a western comedy pretty well and if you're a fan of his, this one will sate your hunger.


4. Drawing Flies (1996)
One of the lesser known View Askew movies, Drawing Flies was filmed using the same equipment as Clerks and features most of the same cast as Mallrats (filmed right after Mallrats wrapped). It involves Jason Lee's character Donner tricking his friends into hiking out into the Canadian wilderness with him under the guise of going to his dad's cabin but in reality is on a hunt for the Sasquatch. While this one technically has more plot than Clerks or Mallrats, it still feels pretty aimless and doesn't have the benefit of Kevin Smith's amusing dialogue to keep you engaged. Honestly some of the behind-the-scenes stories I've heard around it are funnier. Apparently getting Jason Mewes to just act is a massive feat in and of itself.


5. Le million (1931) Bonus: The Best of the Best
Michel is a down-on-his-luck painter in debt up to his eyeballs with a fiancée who wants something more in life. When he discovers he won a million francs in the lottery, he thinks his troubles are over until his fiancée tells him she gave away the jacket containing his ticket to a homeless man. Thus begins a race across the city in search of the jacket containing the ticket. Much merriment and singing commence. While this was a decent movie, I'm not sure I'd say it's one of the best comedies ever made. I actually liked René Clair's film À Nous la Liberté more. The random bursting into song was at times more distracting than engaging.


6. Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003) Bonus: I Hate You All
The plot for this one is a mess, really more an excuse to string together constant changes into increasingly sillier disguises and showcase wacky action sequences with bad CGI. The camp factor is just off-the-charts with this one. Even more confusingly, the villains are surprisingly violent and sadistic which really doesn't seem to gel with the fun lovin', "I'm not taking this seriously at all" vibe of the rest of the movie. Probably the biggest reaction this movie got me from though is a scene with Drew Barrymore and Crispin Glover that had me saying 'what the fuck' out loud as I watched it. So the million dollar question is, does this movie deserve to have all the dislikes? I can definitely see a LOT of people not liking this movie, so it's place in the Dislikes ranking makes total sense.


7. Spies Like Us (1985)
I saw this one a LONG time ago but wanted to revisit it to see how it holds up. Much to my delight, it's still very funny and even more absurdist and goofy than I remembered with scenes like Bob Hope randomly popping in with a "Road To" cameo.

Yuck it up, chumps

1. Butter (2011)
2. Every Which Way But Loose (1978)
3. E poi lo chiamarono il magnifico a.k.a. Man of the East (1972)
4. Drawing Flies (1996)
5. Le million (1931)
6. Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (2003)
7. Spies Like Us (1985)