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Speaker 1: I have to ask, did either of you ever dress

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Speaker 1: up for a rocky horror screening?

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Speaker 2: I did.

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Speaker 3: I've been to those, but I never participated.

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Speaker 1: Dressed up, brought toast to throw at the screen whole

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Speaker 1: nine yards, begged my parents to let me go to

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Speaker 1: a midnight screening. Welcome to Daily Variety, your daily dose

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Speaker 1: of news and analysis for entertainment industry insiders. It's Tuesday,

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Speaker 1: November twenty fifth, twenty twenty five. I'm your host, Cynthia Littleton.

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Speaker 1: I am co editor in chief of Variety alongside Ramin Setuda.

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Speaker 1: I'm in LA He's in New York, and Bridy has

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Speaker 1: reporters around the world covering the business of entertainment. In

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Speaker 1: today's episode, We Yuck It Up, we talk with Variety's

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Speaker 1: chief film critics Owen Gleiberman and Peter de Bruges. The

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Speaker 1: two have just assembled the one hundred Best Comedy Movies

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Speaker 1: of All Time list that published on Variety dot com

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Speaker 1: and is in Variety's November twenty sixth print edition. Owen

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Speaker 1: in Peter dive into the how and why of their

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Speaker 1: great selections in a very animated conversation. But before we

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Speaker 1: get to that, here are a few headlines just in

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Speaker 1: this morning that you need to know. Scarlett Johansson is

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Speaker 1: following in Linda Blair's footsteps. She'll star in a new

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Speaker 1: Exorcist movie from Universal and Blumhouse. Mike Flanagan is writing

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Speaker 1: and directing. India's Reliance Animation is producing a scripted series

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Speaker 1: about Argentine soccer great Diego Maridona. The company is working

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Speaker 1: with the Late Stars Family. My colleague Nomen Ramachandron has

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Speaker 1: the scoop. Speaking of the Global Village, Disney Entertainment co

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Speaker 1: chair Dana Walden received the Founder's Award on Monday night

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Speaker 1: at the International Emmy Awards. Ryan Murphy presented her the honor.

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Speaker 1: Walden told the crowd in New York that she believes

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Speaker 1: in the strong bond that quote exists between the creator

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Speaker 1: who dreams the dream and the team that believes in

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Speaker 1: it enough to clear the path. All of these stories

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Speaker 1: ends so much more can be found on Variety dot

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Speaker 1: com Right now and now it's time for conversations with

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Speaker 1: Friday journalists about news and trends and show business. By now,

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Speaker 1: most Daily Variety listeners probably know that Variety chose police

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Speaker 1: squad from the files of the Naked Gun as our

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Speaker 1: number one comedy movie of all time. It's an unconventional choice.

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Speaker 1: I love it. It's not predictable. The nineteen eighty eight release

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Speaker 1: came from the zany, raunchy trio of Jerry Zucker, Jim Abrams,

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Speaker 1: and David Zucker or Zaz or Zazz as they're sometimes known.

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Speaker 1: The Naked Gun had its origins in the Zazz produced

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Speaker 1: ABC TV series Police Squad that was a relentless spoof

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Speaker 1: of TV cop shows. Lease Squad introduced Leslie Nielsen as

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Speaker 1: the Lieutenant Frank Dreben character. It ran for all of

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Speaker 1: six episodes in nineteen eighty two, but it was the

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Speaker 1: velvet underground of TV series because it inspired a generation

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Speaker 1: of comedy writers to get weird and bend the form,

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Speaker 1: and six years after Police Squad, the concept was adapted

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Speaker 1: into a feature film starring Nielsen and Priscilla Presley. Here's

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Speaker 1: a clip from the Police Squad series that captures the

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Speaker 1: fast paced, gag filled style that marked Police Squad and

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Speaker 1: later The Naked Gun. It's a spoof of the stereotypical

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Speaker 1: police interview of the victim. Here's Leslie Nielsen, he's co

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Speaker 1: star Alex North and an actress. I can't quite identify.

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Speaker 1: I'm Captain Frank Grevin.

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Speaker 4: I understand you had a pretty red time.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it was pretty bad.

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Speaker 4: When was the first time you noticed something was wrong?

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Speaker 3: Well, when I first heard the shot, and as I turned,

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Speaker 3: Jim felt.

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Speaker 4: He's a teller, Frank, Jim Fell's a teller.

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Speaker 1: No, Jim Johnson Who.

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Speaker 4: Jim Fell, He's the auditor, Frank.

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Speaker 3: He had the flu. So Jim filled in.

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Speaker 2: Philip filled in.

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Speaker 3: He's a night watcher, Frank, police fill it. Be here

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Speaker 3: and wait a minute, let me get this straight. Twice

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Speaker 3: came in and shot the teller and Jim Fell.

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Speaker 2: No, he only shot a teller, Jim Johnson Fell is ill?

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Speaker 4: Okay? Then after he shot the teller, you shot twice?

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Speaker 3: No?

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Speaker 1: I only shot once?

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Speaker 2: Twice? Is the hold up man?

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Speaker 1: Then I guess I did shoo twice? Wasn't how you're

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Speaker 1: changing a story? The absurdity goes on forever, and now

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Speaker 1: here's our conversation about the hundred best comedy movies of

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Speaker 1: all time. Peter de Bruges and Owen Gleiberman Varieties, Intrepid

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Speaker 1: Chief film Critics. Thank you for joining me.

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Speaker 2: Thanks Santa, good to be here.

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Speaker 1: Cynthia, Well, you two have definitely been busy've done some

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Speaker 1: heavy lifting on a big list. It's a list designed

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Speaker 1: to spark debate, discussion social media means you too, put

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Speaker 1: your minds to assembling the one hundred best comedy films

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Speaker 1: of all time. That's a big assignment. It shot right

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Speaker 1: to the top of our most read stories. Was there

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Speaker 1: something about this year? Was there an anniversary or something

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Speaker 1: that made you want to focus on comedy right now?

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Speaker 3: This was more than a year in the making, and

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Speaker 3: it comes out of a series of these greatest Movies lists,

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Speaker 3: starting with the one hundred Greatest Films of All Time

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Speaker 3: that we did a few years back. Giving ourselves this

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Speaker 3: long run way really allowed us to brush up on

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Speaker 3: films we hadn't watched in years, to incorporate the opinion

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Speaker 3: of our colleagues, and so we really had the luxury

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Speaker 3: of time to get this list right.

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Speaker 1: Owen, what did you find most challenging about winnowing it

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Speaker 1: to one hundred titles?

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Speaker 2: The thing about comedy is that you've really got to

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Speaker 2: look at it with fresh eyes, because there are comedies

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Speaker 2: that stand the test of time, and then a lot

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Speaker 2: of comedy doesn't because comedy is always about raising the

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Speaker 2: bar on what is shocking and what has an edge

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Speaker 2: to it. Our agenda in this list, to the extent

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Speaker 2: that we had one, was to just go back to

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Speaker 2: the drawing board and see all these movies with fresh eyes,

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Speaker 2: and also really kind of obliterate any sense of demarcation

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Speaker 2: between highbrow and lowbrow, because comedy is really the ultimate

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Speaker 2: form where it's one or the other. And there's plenty

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Speaker 2: of lowbrow comedies that are just completely hilarious and deserve

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Speaker 2: to place on this list.

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Speaker 1: Like country music comedy is three jokes and the truth

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Speaker 1: it is you've got to hit a truth. And when

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Speaker 1: you look at the indelible titles on this list, it

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Speaker 1: all put a light on some hilarious, funny aspects of

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Speaker 1: the human condition. The relationship comedy that is featured in

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Speaker 1: The Philadelphia Story, which is one of my all time

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Speaker 1: favorite movies. I'm so glad you included it. That is timeless,

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Speaker 1: that is boy Meets Girl for all time. I'm just

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Speaker 1: gonna run down the top ten listeners. Run to Variety

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Speaker 1: dot com, where you can find the list. You won't

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Speaker 1: be able to miss it on our website. It's also

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Speaker 1: in our Precious November twenty fifth print edition. It's a

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Speaker 1: beautiful layout. The top ten in order, starting with number one,

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Speaker 1: The Naked Gun from the Files of Police Squad, the

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Speaker 1: nineteen eighty eight film. That's a bold choice, followed by

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Speaker 1: some like It, Hot Annie Hall, The Great Dictator, Waiting

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Speaker 1: for Guffman, Monty Python and The Holy Grail, Duck Soup Fargo,

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Speaker 1: Young Frankenstein, and Groundhog Day.

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Speaker 2: It makes me realize, listening to that top ten, there's

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Speaker 2: no assignment actually more fun than making a list like this,

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Speaker 2: a comedy list. But I think the most fun thing

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Speaker 2: about it is to see the way that certain titles

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Speaker 2: jump forward into your top ten or even to your

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Speaker 2: number one, that people aren't expecting. And we didn't do

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Speaker 2: it for that reason. It's because we realize these are

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Speaker 2: great comedies that now people have a certain feeling about,

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Speaker 2: and they've become classics. I think The Naked Gun is

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Speaker 2: like that. I mean, if this wore back in nineteen

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Speaker 2: eighty eight and you ask someone do you think comedies

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Speaker 2: by the Marx Brothers and Charlie Chaplin are great works

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Speaker 2: of art? They would go yeah, of course. And then

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Speaker 2: if you asked that same person, well, all right, what

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Speaker 2: about the Naked Gun? They would probably say, well, that's

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Speaker 2: a very silly movie, but it's got some great laughs

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Speaker 2: in it. But our feeling about The Naked Gun and

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Speaker 2: the whole Airplane School, Pucker, Abraham's and Zucker is that

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Speaker 2: these guys were working on this absolutely insane and inspired

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Speaker 2: level that was very much like the contemporary equivalent of

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Speaker 2: the Marx Brothers, and now movie like The Naked Gun

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Speaker 2: can take its place alongside the Marx Brothers as being

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Speaker 2: the media age equivalent of that.

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Speaker 3: In that top ten, I think you really see to

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Speaker 3: reflected just the power of certain voices who really shaped

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Speaker 3: what we think of is comedy. You know the Zaz

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Speaker 3: school there with Naked Gun and of course Airplane, and

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Speaker 3: we have the Christopher Guest innovation with mockumentaries represented by

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Speaker 3: Waiting for Guffman. Monty Python was a huge force really

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Speaker 3: on TV, but starting with Monty Python, the Holy Grail

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Speaker 3: began this wave into film. If their tagline was now

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Speaker 3: for something completely different, the challenge and the movies became

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Speaker 3: finding some sort of cohesive lunacy to tie everything together.

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Speaker 3: Of course, chaplain the Marx Brothers and let's not leave

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Speaker 3: off Mel Brooks, and.

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Speaker 1: It's interesting that we're doing this right now because comedies,

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Speaker 1: I know from talking to Rebecca Rubin every week about

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Speaker 1: the box office, traditional adult comedies are really struggling. And

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Speaker 1: it strikes me that there's nothing on the top ten

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Speaker 1: that was produced later than the late nineties.

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Speaker 3: We've got movies like Bride'smaids, Everything everywhere, all at once.

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Speaker 3: From the list. You've got things up right there at

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Speaker 3: the turn of the century, like Being John Malkovich that

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Speaker 3: are still reverberating today. Some of it, though, is that

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Speaker 3: there's a disposability maybe to a lot of the comedy

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Speaker 3: that's coming out of studios. Quite recently, I think that

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Speaker 3: television has really stepped up.

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Speaker 2: The movie that I'm very proud is in the Top

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Speaker 2: ten is Waiting for Guffman, because it's a movie I

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Speaker 2: feel very close to and I just watch again and again.

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Speaker 2: And it's interesting because it goes out of the same

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Speaker 2: school as Spinal Tap. You can say that Spinal Tap

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Speaker 2: in spirit, even though it was directed by Rob Reiner,

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Speaker 2: was the first Christopher Guest movie. It's the invention of

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Speaker 2: that mockumentary form. And Spinal Tap is a hilarious movie

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Speaker 2: that is on our list, but we thought Waiting for Guffman. Ultimately,

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Speaker 2: this one of a kind movie about a small town

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Speaker 2: theater troop with just this amazing performance by Christopher guests

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Speaker 2: quirky Saint Clair, the closeted head of the theater troop,

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Speaker 2: and there is just something magical about it, and it

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Speaker 2: just touches the bone of reality, almost like reality TV

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Speaker 2: before its time. And so that's a movie that we found.

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Speaker 2: There is quite an enraptured cult for it, and we're

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Speaker 2: part of the cult. I noticed as I was going

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Speaker 2: through the final list. Naked Gunn was released in nineteen

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Speaker 2: eighty eight, and as I was going through, teen eighty

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Speaker 2: eight was a hell of a year for comedies. Titles

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Speaker 2: that made the list include Hairspray, A fish called Wanda,

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Speaker 2: Big Coming to America. There's probably a few more in there.

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Speaker 2: It goes to tell you that the volume was a

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Speaker 2: lot bigger, but also just the playing field was bigger

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Speaker 2: because there just was less competition for movies. I hadn't

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Speaker 2: really thought about that till you mentioned it, but now

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Speaker 2: that I think about it, the East was really a

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Speaker 2: big period for comedy. It often seemed as if Hollywood

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Speaker 2: would have been taken over by common and it seems

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Speaker 2: like as the decade went on, a lot of film

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Speaker 2: artists figured out how to do it. John Waters had

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Speaker 2: been playing with his post Pink Flamingo's career throughout the eighties,

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Speaker 2: and then he makes this great movie where he actually

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Speaker 2: moves into the main stream and it remains just enchanting.

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Speaker 2: Is really a high concept movie, and there were a

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Speaker 2: lot of dope high concept movies in the eighties, but

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Speaker 2: Penny Marshall figured out how to do it artfully. So

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Speaker 2: some of those movies from eighty eight building on things

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Speaker 2: that had been done in the years before and now

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Speaker 2: just doing them better.

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Speaker 3: We were reminded this year on the fiftieth anniversary of

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Speaker 3: two Titanic movies of comedy genius. One is Money, Python

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Speaker 3: in the Holy Grail celebrating its mid century anniversary, and

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Speaker 3: also The Rocky Horror Picture Show. Those are two just

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Speaker 3: iconic cult comedies that arrived at a time when it

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Speaker 3: seemed like maybe audiences were really receptive to things that

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Speaker 3: were major counterprogramming. The Academy debuted The four K Restoration

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Speaker 3: earlier this year, and it was so cool. It felt

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Speaker 3: like the lunatics had taken over the asylum to see

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Speaker 3: rocky horror play at the museum on their kind of

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Speaker 3: hallowed screen.

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Speaker 1: You have a couple of key international filmmakers represented, including

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Speaker 1: the great Jacques Tati, who delivers slapstick entertainment with a

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Speaker 1: French twist. But how did you balance those considerations when

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Speaker 1: comedy is a so American.

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Speaker 3: You know, sometimes it just works differently across borders. Tati,

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Speaker 3: of course, is partly because his is a silent form

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Speaker 3: of comedy, like chaplain, he became this just beloved international figure.

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Speaker 3: But I think we were very selective about the international films.

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Speaker 3: We did choose Adovars, while this film Women on the

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Speaker 3: Verge of a nervous breakdown? Is there the really anarchic

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Speaker 3: Bertromplier movie going places. The one that I think really

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Speaker 3: stands in for a major phenomenon is The Tall Blonde

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Speaker 3: Man with One Black Shoe, because that is representative of

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Speaker 3: this thing that happened in France where these high concept

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Speaker 3: farces were ripe for remake, and that movie was a

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Speaker 3: huge hit with Pierrie shar in its original form. And

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Speaker 3: I also think The Tall Blonde Man with One Black

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Speaker 3: Shoe is a very special movie. It just came out

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Speaker 3: of this time in the early seventies when that kind

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Speaker 3: of French farce had become much crazier than it had

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Speaker 3: ever been before.

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Speaker 2: And I said in the capsule right up that to me,

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Speaker 2: that movie was funnier than all the Pink Panther movies.

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Speaker 2: But together, that was my little dig at the Pink

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Speaker 2: Panther movies because I'm not so crazy about them.

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Speaker 1: Are there any other movies and maybe even some lesser

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Speaker 1: known titles on the list that are really important to you?

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Speaker 2: Well, I have two of them that I was just

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Speaker 2: particularly interested in having on the list. One of them

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Speaker 2: is Richard Pryor Live in Concert, because I think it's

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Speaker 2: a movie that a lot of people today probably haven't seen.

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Speaker 2: And stand up comedy is bigger than ever, but when

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Speaker 2: it comes to stand up comedy, Richard Pryor was I think,

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Speaker 2: unquestionably the greatest artist in that form who ever lived.

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Speaker 2: So if you want to see the best stand up

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Speaker 2: comedy performance that ever exist, watch Richard Pryor Live in Concert.

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Speaker 2: It really is just a great movie. The other one

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Speaker 2: for me is My best Friend's Wedding because we are

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Speaker 2: also in a rom com centric universe. I think it's

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Speaker 2: my Best Friend's Wedding was actually the greatest romantic comedy

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Speaker 2: of its time. I remember the second time especially I

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Speaker 2: saw that movie. I just got blown away by how

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Speaker 2: incredible it is. It is so moving, it is so funny.

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Speaker 2: I think it's Julia Roberts's greatest role as an actor,

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Speaker 2: and I think it's a movie that still does not

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Speaker 2: have the reputation that it deserves. So I was very

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Speaker 2: happy to see it on this list and have people

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Speaker 2: hopefully go and check it out and see how it

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Speaker 2: really is a classic.

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Speaker 3: There is a director who appears on this list more

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Speaker 3: than many people might expect. That's Rob Reiner, who I

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Speaker 3: think is the Billy Wilder of our time, the Ernst

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Speaker 3: Lubitch of our time. Those three movies are This is

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Speaker 3: Spinal Tap, of course, Garnie de Berghee exactly When Harry

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Speaker 3: Met Sally, which is the movie that relaunched the rom

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Speaker 3: com and my Desert Island favorite The Princess Bride, which

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Speaker 3: just is like the ultimate remix of all those funny

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Speaker 3: movies from the classic era.

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Speaker 1: This gives people a lot to look for during the downtime.

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Speaker 1: Thank you both so much for taking the time, because again,

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Speaker 1: at this time in the world. We all need some

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Speaker 1: good laughs, really appreciate it. All of this talk about

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Speaker 1: great comedies made me want to share some clips from

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Speaker 1: my most recent Strictly Business podcast interview. I spoke with

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Speaker 1: UTA partners Blair Cohen and Jason Hayman about the business

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Speaker 1: of comedy, from stand up to showrunners to directors and writers.

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Speaker 1: They address the challenges that the genre faces, and they

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Speaker 1: pointed to where they see a lot of growth. Here

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Speaker 1: are some excerpts from that conversation, published last week on

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Speaker 1: our companion long form interview podcast, Strictly Business.

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Speaker 4: Can Modern Family exist again? Can Everybody Loves Raymond exist?

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Speaker 4: It's a really good question. The good side of it

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Speaker 4: is that schedule, that routine that we all grew up

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Speaker 4: with of you know, pilot season and upfronts and fall

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Speaker 4: schedule and all of that, right, that's all gone. So

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Speaker 4: you have a little more flexibility and the talent can

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Speaker 4: go off to do other things, come back when they

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Speaker 4: feel creatively inspired. And and there's something great about that

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Speaker 4: that you're not just churning it out based on you know,

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Speaker 4: existential things that you actually the creative ambition and what

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Speaker 4: the creator is feeling they want to put out there

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Speaker 4: they can do it on their urn.

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Speaker 5: I think people want to laugh in community. I think

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Speaker 5: what's driving this live experience is being together in a

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Speaker 5: room and laughing together. And that was what when we

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Speaker 5: talk about all these great movies, these great comedies of

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Speaker 5: the last twenty five to fifty However many years it

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Speaker 5: was going to the theater and laughing in community. And

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Speaker 5: I think we are missing that in the old days,

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Speaker 5: where the holy grail was the half hour network show

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Speaker 5: or a movie. Now so many of our clients they

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Speaker 5: had twenty different things. They can do a podcast, they

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Speaker 5: can write book, they have so many things to explore

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Speaker 5: their passion that isn't the holy grail. And we just

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Speaker 5: want to provide them with every possible opportunity, even things

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Speaker 5: they're not thinking about.

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Speaker 1: As we close out today's episode, here's a few things

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Speaker 1: we're watching for today, we unveiled that Elton John is

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Speaker 1: Variety's Philanthropist of the Year. He's raised more than six

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Speaker 1: hundred and fifty million dollars for the Elton John Aids

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Speaker 1: Foundation over the past few decades, and he does a

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Speaker 1: whole lot more. We have a great interview with Elton

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Speaker 1: by our own Chris Willman in case you hadn't heard,

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Speaker 1: the first hunk of Stranger Things final season episodes drop

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Speaker 1: tomorrow on Netflix. We have everything you need to know

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Speaker 1: about this at Variety dot com, and tomorrow on Daily

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Speaker 1: Variety we'll hear from Ike Baronholtz. He's helping the Motion

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Speaker 1: Picture and Television Fund raise money for its second act

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Speaker 1: capital campaign. Baron Holtz explains his personal connection to the MPTF,

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Speaker 1: and of course he answers the question, what would sal

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Speaker 1: Sapristin do to support this great industry institution? Jeene Herschelt

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Speaker 1: would be so proud. Once again, we'd love to hear

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Speaker 1: from our listeners on Variety's Core podcasts, Daily Variety, Strictly Business,

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Speaker 1: Aword Circuit and Variety Confidential, So please send feedback to

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Speaker 1: podcasts at Variety dot com. That's podcasts at Variety dot

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Speaker 1: com before we go. Congrats to Moirahgan. She's been appointed

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Speaker 1: Executive VP of Sales for the Asia Pacific region of

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Speaker 1: ITV Studios. She'll lead sales teams out of Singapore and Sydney.

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Speaker 1: She was most recently part of the team that launched

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Speaker 1: Brittbox Australia. Thanks for listening. This episode was written and

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Speaker 1: reported by me Cynthia Littleton, with contributions from Peter Debruges

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Speaker 1: and Owen Gleiberman. Stick Snick's hick picks. Please leave us

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Speaker 1: a review at the podcast platform of your choice, and

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Speaker 1: please tune in tomorrow for another episode of Daily Variety,

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Speaker 1: podcasts at variety dot com