To my mind, comedies are at their absolute best when they treat such things as plot, character and cohesiveness as needless trivialities and just go balls to the wall with a brilliant and superfluous comic premise. Obviously, then, this is my attempt to compile ten of the most brilliant yet superfluous comic scenes in cinema history.
...Shouldn’t be too hard.
10. Top Secret – The Bookstore
It takes a few seconds to work out and... there we go. What a brilliantly unnecessary gimmick. A great scene in a criminally underrated spoof.
9. Annie Hall – Duane
As one of the earliest films Christopher Walken ever did, and also his only scene in the entirety of Annie Hall, I can’t help but feel he’s spent the rest of his career being kinda typecast. With that said, this is quite superb and the pay-off is immense. Although, best line in this film still goes to Woody’s “I don't use any major hallucinogenics because I took a puff like five years ago at a party and tried to take my pants off over my head”. Now there’s an image.
8. The Big Lebowski - Jesus
Not really the most out and out comic thing on here, but as a completely unnecessary scene that is better than almost everything in an already brilliant film, I felt it worthy of inclusion. And bonus points for Jesus’ sidekick. What a role. What a dude.
7. The Three Stooges – The Pie Fight
It salves my childhood to know that there was actually an entire comic routine devoted to people getting pies to the face. As good an exercise in slapstick comedy as you’re ever likely to see. And as my friend Dan said ‘That “splat” sound should be in the Smithsonian’. If you feel time poor, just head to 1:44 for 30 seconds of glory.
6. Monty Python and the Holy Grail – The Black Knight
In many ways Monty Python has been forever ruined for me due to an admixture of over-exposure and over-exposure to people of low social competence who quote it like it’s a substitute for regular human conversation. See ‘Me in Year Twelve’. But still there is no denying that this is quite simply one of the best comic set pieces ever committed to film.
5. Austin Powers – The Three Point Turn
And while we’re in the mood for over-exposure, God, remember when Austin Powers still felt like revolutionary comedy? Good to go back and realise that was for a reason.
4. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels - Ruprecht
“Why exactly is the cork on the fork?”
This is a 90 second comedy writing masterclass. The pacing, the character dynamics, the setting, the fact his name is fucking ‘Ruprecht’. It just makes me want to grab the nearest person by the shoulders and shake them, yelling “CAN’T YOU SEE HOW GOOD THIS IS?!”
Which is why I generally watch movies alone.
3. Ace Ventura 2 – The Rhino
Because what isn’t funny about the phrase “A naked Jim Carrey forces himself out of the arsehole of a rhino”.
2. There’s Something About Mary – The Bathroom
Top to bottom this scene is unmitigated genius; rarely has a movie played with a sense of escalating chaos quite so well. Second to second, character by character the tension and stakes keep getting higher and higher until at 3:40 you are greeted with one of the most unexpected and memorable sights in modern cinema. CAN’T YOU SEE HOW GOOD THIS I- Oh, sorry, I’m doing it again.
While the rest of the film had its moments, I think you could quite easily have left at this point and still not feel like you’d wasted your money.
1. Monty Python and the Life of Brian – Biggus Dickus
Two Monty Python sketches in a single list of ten may seem like an indulgence, but it just serves as a reminder that - at their best - they have, in all likelihood, never been bettered. Patently absurd and absurdly simple, this is them at their very best.