It's the pandemic, so I've been re-watching a few old favorite comedies, and I got to thinking two things: first, that comedies evoke intensely personal reactions. I think virtually everyone has a sense of humor, but they impact us all differently. For example, to me, Woody Allen is amusing rather than funny. I find most comic actors very hit-and-miss. So maybe my tastes are eclectic.
The second thing is that I'd always believed the Golden Age of Comedy started with Animal House (1979). That was the first movie that I thought was side-splittingly funny, followed in rapid fashion by Caddyshack, Blues Brothers, Airplane, Stripes, 48 Hours, Fast Times at Ridgmont High, Tootsie, Trading Places, Ghostbusters, Beverly Hills Cop, Sixteen Candles, This is Spinal Tap, Better Off Dead, Breakfast Club, Back to The Future and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Those 17 movies were released between 1979 and 1986. For the longest time, I thought of that period as the Golden Age of Comedy, or at least my Golden Age of Comedy.
Then, there was a long period of lightly amusing comedies, puncutated by occasional really funny movies. From 1990 to 1992, I couldn't find an "A" level comedy, at least not for me. I didn't think there were any hilarious movies for the decade following 1986, with the exception of Say Anything, Groundhog Day, Sleepless in Seattle and The Mask.
In 1997; Liar Liar, Grosse Pointe Blank, Men in Black and As Good As It Gets all came out, followed by The Big Lebowski, There's Something About Mary, Waking Ned Devine, Rushmore, 10 Things I Hate About You, Election, Office Space, and What Women Want, all in the space of four years. A mini-Golden Age of Comedy, if you will, followed by another drought.
Then, between 2003 and 2005, what I think of as my personal Golden age of Comedy: Old School, Bruce Almighty, Elf, School of Rock, Love Actually, Dodgeball, Anchorman: the Story of Ron Burgundy, Sideways, Shaun of the Dead, Wedding Crashers, and 40 Year Old Virgin.
In the 15 years since, there's only been a few solid comedies: Tropic Thunder, The Hangover, Crazy Stupid Love, Bridesmaids, We're the Millers.
I omitted sequels, and while I thought Chaplin and Buster Keaton were gifted physical comedians, Abbott & Costello were the height of vaudeville humor, the Three Stooges were tough to take for more than about 15 minutes at a time, I didn't include any of them. Nor did I include Hope & Crosby (who had some very funny lines) or Martin & Lewis.
What's been your experience?
The second thing is that I'd always believed the Golden Age of Comedy started with Animal House (1979). That was the first movie that I thought was side-splittingly funny, followed in rapid fashion by Caddyshack, Blues Brothers, Airplane, Stripes, 48 Hours, Fast Times at Ridgmont High, Tootsie, Trading Places, Ghostbusters, Beverly Hills Cop, Sixteen Candles, This is Spinal Tap, Better Off Dead, Breakfast Club, Back to The Future and Ferris Bueller's Day Off. Those 17 movies were released between 1979 and 1986. For the longest time, I thought of that period as the Golden Age of Comedy, or at least my Golden Age of Comedy.
Then, there was a long period of lightly amusing comedies, puncutated by occasional really funny movies. From 1990 to 1992, I couldn't find an "A" level comedy, at least not for me. I didn't think there were any hilarious movies for the decade following 1986, with the exception of Say Anything, Groundhog Day, Sleepless in Seattle and The Mask.
In 1997; Liar Liar, Grosse Pointe Blank, Men in Black and As Good As It Gets all came out, followed by The Big Lebowski, There's Something About Mary, Waking Ned Devine, Rushmore, 10 Things I Hate About You, Election, Office Space, and What Women Want, all in the space of four years. A mini-Golden Age of Comedy, if you will, followed by another drought.
Then, between 2003 and 2005, what I think of as my personal Golden age of Comedy: Old School, Bruce Almighty, Elf, School of Rock, Love Actually, Dodgeball, Anchorman: the Story of Ron Burgundy, Sideways, Shaun of the Dead, Wedding Crashers, and 40 Year Old Virgin.
In the 15 years since, there's only been a few solid comedies: Tropic Thunder, The Hangover, Crazy Stupid Love, Bridesmaids, We're the Millers.
I omitted sequels, and while I thought Chaplin and Buster Keaton were gifted physical comedians, Abbott & Costello were the height of vaudeville humor, the Three Stooges were tough to take for more than about 15 minutes at a time, I didn't include any of them. Nor did I include Hope & Crosby (who had some very funny lines) or Martin & Lewis.
What's been your experience?
Audaces fortuna iuvat
