Bill Hader knows his comedy. If that wasn’t obvious from his Emmy nominated eight-season run on “Saturday Night Live” or his appearances in films like Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs or the upcoming Sundance award-winner The Skeleton Twins, it’s going to be abundantly clear one you read his list of 200 movies every comedy writer should see.
The list appears in the new book Poking a Dead Frog: Conversations with Today’s Top Comedy Writers, and was lovingly transcribed by the folks at xoJane. Hader proves his cinephile mettle by including films from the silent era (The Gold Rush, The General) all the way through to the present day (Toy Story 3 and Four Lions are the most recent entries, each from 2010), and what’s more, he doesn’t limit his picks to just comedies. Bill Hader’s picks are mostly comedy classics, but films like Ace in the Hole, A Clockwork Orange, Grand Illusion, Eyes Wide Shut and L’Atalante aren’t exactly famous for being thigh-slappers.
Related: Bill Hader Does Must-See ‘Star Wars’ Impersonations (Video)
Comedies don’t get their due often enough in a cultural atmosphere that tends to celebrate dramas and genre fare more often than the films that make us laugh, and Bill Hader has put together a series of films that everyone – casual fans, aspiring comedy writers and serious students of film – should take a good, hard look at. We’re going to take our own advice: we’d never even heard of Ruggles of Red Gap before, and we’re going to track down a copy post haste!
The list is below. Thanks again to xoJane for doing the leg work and Mike Sacks, the author of Poking a Dead Frog, for getting Bill Hader to share this in the first place.
1. 9 to 5 (1980)
2. 1941 (1979)
3. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
4. Ace in the Hole (1951)
5. The Adventures of Baron Munchausen (1988)
6. After Hours (1985)
7. Airplane! (1980)
8. Amarcord (1973)
9. American Graffiti (1973)
10. An American in Paris (1951)
11. Animal Crackers (1930)
12. Annie Hall (1977)
13. The Apartment (1960)
14. Army of Darkness (1992)
15. Arsenic and Old Lace (1944)
16. Back to the Future (1985)
17. The Bad News Bears (1976)
18. Bananas (1971)
19. The Band Wagon (1953)
20. The Bank Dick (1940)
21. Barton Fink (1991)
22. Beetlejuice (1988)
23. Being There (1979)
24. Best in Show (2000)
25. Better Off Dead (1985)
26. Big Deal on Madonna Street (1958)
27. The Big Lebowski (1998)
28. The Birdcage (1996)
29. Blazing Saddles (1974)
30. The Blues Brothers (1980)
31. Boogie Nights (1997)
32. Born Yesterday (1950)
33. Bottle Rocket (1996)
34. Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932)
35. Brazil (1985)
36. Broadway Danny Rose (1984)
37. Bullets Over Broadway (1994)
38. The ‘Burbs (1989)
39. Cabin in the Sky (1943)
40. Caddyshack (1980)
41. Catch-22 (1970)
42. The Circus (1928)
43. City Lights (1931)
44. A Clockwork Orange (1971)
45. Closely Watched Trains (1966)
46. The Cocoanuts (1929)
47. Coming to America (1988)
48. The Court Jester (1956)
49. Crimes and Misdemeanors (1989)
50. Dames (1934)
51. A Day at the Races (1937)
52. Dazed and Confused (1993)
53. Design for Living (1933)
54. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (1988)
55. Down by Law (1986)
56. Dr. Strangelove (1964)
57. Drag Me to Hell (2009)
58. Duck Soup (1933)
59. Ed Wood (1994)
60. Election (1999)
61. The Evil Dead (1981)
62. Evil Dead 2 (1987)
63. Eyes Wide Shut (1999)
64. Fargo (1996)
65. Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
66. The Firemen’s Ball (1967)
67. A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
68. The Foot Fist Way (2006)
69. The Fortune (1975)
70. Four Lions (2010)
71. Gates of Heaven (1978)
72. The General (1926)
73. Get Shorty (1995)
74. Ghostbusters (1984)
75. The Gold Rush (1925)
76. Good Morning (1959)
77. The Goonies (1985)
78. The Graduate (1967)
79. Grand Illusion (1937)
80. The Great Race (1965)
81. The Groove Tube (1974)
82. Groundhog Day (1993)
83. Hail the Conquering Hero (1944)
84. Heaven Can Wait (1943)
85. His Girl Friday (1940)
86. Horse Feathers (1932)
87. The Hudsucker Proxy (1994)
88. I Vitelloni (1953)
89. I Wanna Hold Your Hand (1978)
90. I’m Gonna Git You Sucka (1988)
91. The Incredibles (2004)
92. It Happened One Night (1934)
93. It’s a Gift (1934)
94. It’s Always Fair Weather (1955)
95. The Jerk (1979)
96. Jules and Jim (1962)
97. The Kentucky Fried Movie (1977)
98. The King of Comedy (1983)
99. Kung Fu Hustle (2004)
100. L’Atalante (1934)
101. The Ladykillers (1955)
102. The Last Detail (1973)
103. The Lavender Hill Mob (1951)
104. Let It Ride (1989)
105. The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou (2004)
106. The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (1943)
107. Little Murders (1971)
108. Lolita (1962)
109. The Long Goodbye (1973)
110. Lost in America (1985)
111. Love and Death (1975)
112. Loves of a Blonde (1965)
113. M*A*S*H (1970)
114. The Man in the White Suit (1951)
115. The Man with Two Brains (1983)
116. A Matter of Life and Death (1946)
117. The Merry Widow (1934)
118. Midnight Run (1988)
119. The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek (1944)
120. Modern Romance (1981)
121. Mon Oncle (1958)
122. Monkey Business (1931)
123. Monsters, Inc. (2001)
124. Monty Python and the Holy Grail (1975)
125. Monty Python’s Life of Brian (1979)
126. Mr. Hulot’s Holiday (1953)
127. Mr. Mom (1983)
128. Mystery Train (1989)
129. The Naked Gun (1988)
130. Nashville (1975)
131. National Lampoon’s Animal House (1978)
132. Never Give a Sucker an Even Break (1941)
133. A Night at the Opera (1935)
134. Noises Off (1992)
135. One, Two, Three (1961)
136. Orgazmo (1997)
137. Our Hospitality (1923)
138. Out of Sight (1998)
139. The Palm Beach Story (1942)
140. Parenthood (1989)
141. Pee-wee’s Big Adventure (1985)
142. Play Time (1967)
143. The Player (1992)
144. The Princess Bride (1987)
145. The Producers (1968)
146. Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
147. Radio Days (1987)
148. Raising Arizona (1987)
149. Real Life (1979)
150. The Royal Tenenbaums (2001)
151. Ruggles of Red Gap (1935)
152. Rushmore (1998)
153. Safe Men (1998)
154. Salesman (1968)
155. Schizopolis (1996)
156. A Serious Man (2009)
157. Shaolin Soccer (2001)
158. Shaun of the Dead (2004)
159. Sherlock Jr. (1924)
160. Shoot the Pianist (1960)
161. The Shop Around the Corner (1940)
162. Short Cuts (1993)
163. Singin’ in the Rain (1952)
164. Sixteen Candles (1984)
165. Songs from the Second Floor (2000)
166. South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (1999)
167. The Squid and the Whale (2005)
168. Stranger Than Paradise (1984)
169. Stripes (1981)
170. Sullivan’s Travels (1941)
171. Take the Money and Run (1969)
172. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby (2006)
173. Team America: World Police (2004)
174. This is Spinal Tap (1984)
175. Three Amigos! (1986)
176. Time Bandits (1981)
177. To Be or Not to Be (1942)
178. Toy Story (1995)
179. Toy Story 2 (1999)
180. Toy Story 3 (2010)
181. Trading Places (1983)
182. Trouble in Paradise (1932)
183. Twentieth Century (1934)
184. Unfaithfully Yours (1948)
185. Up (2009)
186. Used Cars (1980)
187. Vernon, Florida (1981)
188. Waiting for Guffman (1996)
189. A Wedding (1978)
190. Wet Hot American Summer (2001)
191. What’s Up, Doc? (1972)
192. What’s Up Tiger Lily? (1966)
193. The White Sheik (1952)
194. Withnail and I (1987)
195. You Can’t Cheat an Honest Man (1939)
196. You Can’t Take It with You (1938)
197. You the Living (2007)
198. Young Frankenstein (1974)
199. Zelig (1983)
200. Zero for Conduct (1933)
William Bibbiani is the editor of CraveOnline’s Film Channel and the host of The B-Movies Podcast and The Blue Movies Podcast. Follow him on Twitter at @WilliamBibbiani.
