Like most people, I maintain a spreadsheet containing a list of all the movies I’ve watched over the last 4 1/2 years. I'm going to draw from that list a bit to bring you the authoritative (for now) list of my five favorite comedies.

1. Bringing Up Baby
   a classic from 1938 starring katherine hepburn, cary grant, and a leopard. this is hepburn and grant's second time to team. howard hawks directed and his signature dialog method is what makes this film so frenetic. he directed his actors to start their lines when the other actor still had a word or two left in their lines, so that they over-lapped slightly. this has the effect of shortening the screenplay when filmed (his screenplays would typically be almost twice as long as a movie with the same running length), stepping up the pace of the movie and making the dialogue more natural; think about it, most conversations involve you formulating a response before the other person has stopped talking. then again maybe you're not as impatient as i am. ok, i'm a jerk who can't wait for you to stop talking. shhh, i have something to say.

   the performances are chock full of good physical comedy and sight gags. part of the comedy comes from a technique also exploited by hitchcock (to different effect): telling the audience something that the characters don't know and won't find out until it's funny. hint, it involves the leopard.

2. Flirting With Disaster
   little-known throwback to ensemble farces from the 70s (think MASH or American Graffiti). i mean, patricia arquette, ben stiller, téa leoni, mary tyler moore, george segal, alan alda, and lily tomlin? was jack nicholson unavailable? written and directed by david o. russell (yes, the three kings guy), it deftly combines identity issues, neuroticism, erotic frisson, and lsd.

   great writing, good physical comedy. and a friggin' funny joke involving the surname Schlichting.
   
   

3. Raising Arizona
   (maybe too) obvious choice from the coen brothers (directed and co-written by joel, co-written by ethan). featuring one of my favorite actors of all time, holly hunter, this gem has all the pacing of a howard hawks movie, physical comedy involving a bunch of babies and the signature camera work of barry sonnenfeld (yes, the director of men in black and that dreadful pos, wild wild west).

   son, you've got a panty on your head.

4. Planes, Trains and Automobiles
   over-the-top romp from the former master of modern melodrama, john hughes. classic mis-matched buddy comedy broadly in the style of abbott and costello or laurel and hardy. steve martin plays it straight and john candy plays it jolly. john hughes is most famous for teen comedies from the 80s (pretty in pink, anyone? side note: who reading this blog didn't identify with duckie, at least a little bit) but this one was more for adults (immature adults, like me). it plays on adult fears like "being trapped in an airport", "having to ride on a bus" and "living a life of poverty and loneliness". see, basic comedy material!

   possibly the funniest quote from a movie that you've felt like saying yourself.

5. Three-way tie (ok, i suck at top five lists) between:
   His Girl Friday - another howard hawks movie starring cary grant and rosalind russell. it's been remade a hundred times (in fact this is a remake, too); but this is my favorite version. it's a battle-of-the-sexes comedy, the dialogue crackles, and has some hilarious schtick involving the death penalty.

   The Producers - mel brooks in top form. yes, it's since been super-commercialized as a broadway play and roadshow but the original will make your gut hurt from laughing. i'm just waiting for the spin-off full-blown broadway production of "Springtime for Hitler". that i might go see. zero mostel and gene wilder do the mis-matched buddy thing.

   Annie Hall - the best picture winner from 1976. can you believe that woody allen is responsible for academy awards? i love his movies and i'm still shocked to find out that he used to be commercial enough to garner academy attention. his movies have spawned 44 nominations and 9 awards (including 2 for director, 2 for writer and 1 for best picture). this one is a key part of the 70s american film revival and one of the more personal films from that era to be widely lauded. it also has one of the single greatest on-screen jokes, involves marshall mcluhan and the sorrow and the pity.

so, looking back, funny to me involves good dialogue, physical comedy, and the exploitation of your inner-most fears.