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Ive been rewatching a bunch of old comedys and I gotta say... the Golden Age of Comedy movies has got to be the dead pan absurdist comedys of the late 70s-early 90s. I'm talking anything with Leslie Nielson or made by Mel Brooks. Not only are these movies still hilarious, but they totally hold up. Yeah, there are some problematic bits (some racism or sexism in some of them) but god damn do they work. And sometimes that racism is used to deliver a message (looking at you Blazing Saddles).

It makes me incredibly sad that Mel Brooks maybe has 1 more movie in him (Space Balls sequel that may or may not be happening). And with Leslie passing we may never see a movie like these again. Some comedys released today are pretty good. But they loose a lot of their shine on subsequent watches. And I can't see any of the ones released since 2000 leaving a mark like these movies have. So general discussion... what are your favorites? What was your favorite actors/roles? Do you mourn their passing like I do?

Comedies seem to go through cycles. It seems like someone cracks a new take on how to make a comedy movie and spawns a trend for most of a decade until the formula is completely stale. Then something new comes along. The Slapstick of the Stooges gave way to the more sophisticated Marx Brothers, then the fast-talking screwball comedies, raunchy comedies, the ZAZ school, etc.. There’s overlap usually, but these days I think most comedy talent is working in TV.

I love all the early ZAZ movies, many Steve Martin comedies, a few of the less recent Mel Brooks movies, Clue, Ghostbusters, UHF. The early Will Farrell movies were really funny, but they got stale. There were tons of low budget comedies in the 80’s that were quotable, but probably wouldn’t strike a chord with younger audiences today. (Thinking of Men at Work, Weekend at Bernies, etc..)


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Oh, for absolute deadpan absurdist comedy, check out the old Batman movie (or series).

“What weighs six ounces and is lethal?”
“A sparrow with a machine gun!”
“Yes. Of course.”


...”Some days you just can’t get rid of a bomb.”