Comedy

Comedy is on my mind today because we are planning to go see The Naked Gun, the Liam Neeson and Pamela Anderson remake by Seth MacFarlane of the 1988 Leslie Nielsen classic by the same name. I watch a lot of Liam Neeson (who doesn’t?) and just saw several of his new thrillers recently, so when I saw the New York Times profile on him in this new comedic role where he puts his gravitas up for Celtic laughs, it got me thinking. When I think of what makes me laugh the most these days, I think of The Death of Stalin, which makes humor out of one of the dark moments in modern history. While the movie would be hilarious in almost any context (it is THAT good in my opinion), it is especially poignant in the era of Trump where absurdities abound and get more surreal with every passing day. I imagine the goings on at the White House as being very similar to the events in Stalin’s Kuntsevo dacha where he succumbed to a stroke in 1953. The brutal and obsequious bumblefucks surrounding Stalin were the funniest part of the story and it would be hard not to compare those bumblefucks against the current array of bumblefucks surrounding Donald Trump. In fact, I doubt the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union had as many peccadillos to their credit as do the likes of Pete Hegseth, Tulsi Gabbard, Steven Miller, Howard Lutnik, Peter Navarro and RFK Jr.. I’m sure RFK Jr. himself could out-peccadillo them all in a blink of an eye. Leslie Nielsen was classic because he was such a convincing straight man. Liam Neeson is attempting to do the same thing this time around. Jeffrey Tambor as Malenkov, Steve Buscemi as Khrushchev and Jacob Isaacs as Field Marshal Zhukov are wonderful role models for Neeson. I laugh just thinking about the dark comedy that Armando Iannucci had the foresight to make eight years ago, even before Trump made this portrayal seem too silly to believe and yet too real to cry about.

When I think of movie comedy, there are so many directions I can go. Going back before I was born is a bit disingenuous, so I tend to start with Some Like It Hot, when Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon got laughs by cross-dressing. It’s hard to ignore Lucy & Desi, not to mention Ralph & Norton even though they were on the small screen. But Dr. Strangelove (1964), The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming (1966) and The Producers (1967) brought the dark Cold War and post-Nazi themes into the mainstream on the big screen. It also brought Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks into our lives (I have a hard time including Stanley Kubrick as a comedic influencer). Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple (1968) deserves special mention as does Walter Matthau During those years.

The 1970’s seemed heavily dominated for me by Woody Allen (Take The Money And Run, Bananas, Annie Hall, Sleeper, Play It Again Sam) and Monty Python (John Cleese), but others like Peter Sellers with The Pink Panther, ongoing hits from Mel Brooks (Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles), and National Lampoon getting its start with Animal House and Caddyshack made big impacts. It felt like comedy was building to a crescendo and that we were being taught to find everything about the world funny with less and less effort. Harold and Maude (1971) was the perfect role model. In the 1980s there were many classics like Airplane! (1980), all the Eddie Murphy movies (48 Hrs., Trading Places and Beverly Hills Cop) and well as the John Hughes suite of Sixteen Candles (1984), The Breakfast Club (1985), and Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986). Both Ghostbusters (1984) and Back to the Future (1985) were equally special if somewhat bubblegum. British comedy like A Fish Called Wanda (1988) and Beetlejuice (1988), Tim Burton’s gothic comedy entry, are set against the realism of Billy Crystal in When Harry Met Sally (1989), the redefining of the RomCom era.

This Is Spinal Tap (1984) made fun of our own rock era while The Princess Bride (1987) anachronistically brought fantasy and fairy tales back into vogue. And who can ever forget Best in Show (2000). The 80s comedy style was broader and more physical than today, and gave way to an even more physical and quirky 1990’s style of comedy, in what some call the golden decade of comedy, because of its diverse style. Topping that list were the Jim Carrey wonders like Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), The Mask (1994), Dumb and Dumber (1994) and The Truman Show (1998). This all gave way to what can only be called mainstream ensemble comedy including Wayne’s World (1992), Groundhog Day (1993), Tommy Boy (1995), Austin Powers (1997), Pretty Woman (1990), My Best Friend’s Wedding (1997), You’ve Got Mail (1998), and Notting Hill (1999). Then came the darker comedies like Fargo (1996) and The Big Lebowski (1998), contrasted with the kid favorites like Home Alone (1990) and Toy Story (1995). The decade ended with another classic teen comedy, American Pie (1999)

I think it started to go overboard with all the Anchorman (2004), Borat (2006), Superbad (2007), Tropic Thunder (2008), and Pineapple Express (2008) genre. Everyone loves Wes Anderson except me. I find The Royal Tenenbaums (2001), Moonrise Kingdom (2012) and The Grand Budapest Hotel (2014) more absurd and demented than funny. I much prefer the best of Judd Apatow’s selection of The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), Knocked Up (2007) and Trainwreck (2015). Or maybe Peter Hedges’ Dan in Real Life (2007). There are also outliers like My Big Fat Greek Wedding (2002), In Bruges (2008), Little Miss Sunshine (2006) and Jojo Rabbit (2019). And for extra quirky we can go with Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004) or Napoleon Dynamite (2004). For the life of me I cannot get into (or even finish) Everything Everywhere All at Once (2022), the Multiverse comedy-drama that belongs in a room at Meow Wolf from what I can tell.

Every time I think I have thought of all my favorite comedy movies, another pops into my memory from nowhere and makes me chuckle under my breath. At this moment I am still mesmerized by the comedy of The Death of Stalin and am not sure I will ever replace it as my favorite. I almost can’t help myself from wanting to watch it over and over. But I will keep looking for a next classic. I love Liam Neeson and every interview I read that he gives lends more and more respect for the man as well as the actor, so I am hoping that The Naked Gun is another great one for my list.