# List of American comedy films
A list of American comedy films is a curated inventory of feature-length comic films produced with significant United States creative or financial involvement, organized either by a fixed canon such as the [American Film Institute](https://www.edgepedia.org/american-film-institute)'s *100 Years...100 Laughs*, by decade of release, or by subgenre. The most widely cited such list is AFI's, announced on June 14, 2000, which ranked *Some Like It Hot* (1959) as the funniest American film of all time.[1](https://web.archive.org/web/20090121192437/http:/www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/laughs.aspx)
| Key fact | Detail |
|---|---|
| Canonical list | AFI's *100 Years...100 Laughs*, announced June 14, 2000, ranking the 100 funniest American films; #1 is *Some Like It Hot* (1959)[1](https://web.archive.org/web/20090121192437/http:/www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/laughs.aspx) |
| Top film | *Some Like It Hot* (1959), written, directed and produced by Billy Wilder, starring Marilyn Monroe, Tony Curtis and Jack Lemmon[1](https://web.archive.org/web/20090121192437/http:/www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/laughs.aspx) |
| Selection method | A ballot of 500 nominated films sent to a jury of 1,800 film artists, critics, historians and executives[1](https://web.archive.org/web/20090121192437/http:/www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/laughs.aspx) |
| Eligibility | Feature-length narrative fiction film typically over 60 minutes, in English, with significant US creative and/or financial production elements[1](https://web.archive.org/web/20090121192437/http:/www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/laughs.aspx) |
| Most-represented decade | The 1980s, with 22 films on the AFI list; the 1930s follow with 19[2](https://www.filmsite.org/afi100laughs1.html) |
| Most-represented figures | Cary Grant, eight films as actor; Woody Allen, five films as director[1](https://web.archive.org/web/20090121192437/http:/www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/laughs.aspx) |
| First feature comedy | *Tillie's Punctured Romance* (1914), identified by scholarship as the first feature-length comedy[3](https://bibliotheques-specialisees.paris.fr/ark:/73873/pf0000527206) |
## Definition and scope
**What counts as American.** AFI's eligibility rules define an American film as one in the English language with significant creative and/or financial production elements from the United States, so nationality rests on language and production elements rather than on studio ownership alone.[1](https://web.archive.org/web/20090121192437/http:/www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/laughs.aspx) The format test requires a narrative fiction film typically more than 60 minutes long.[4](https://web.archive.org/web/20210429174149/https:/www.filmsite.org/afi500laughs.html)
**What counts as comedy.** AFI's judging criteria do not ask whether a film is labeled a comedy, a dramedy, or a satire. Under the "funny" test, no matter what genre a film belongs to, its various elements must together produce comedic effect exceeding what the individual smiles would add up to; the "legacy" test measures whether the laughter endures over the years.[4](https://web.archive.org/web/20210429174149/https:/www.filmsite.org/afi500laughs.html) This is why films usually filed under other labels, such as [Stanley Kubrick](https://www.edgepedia.org/stanley-kubrick)'s satire *Dr. Strangelove*, rank high on a comedy list.[1](https://web.archive.org/web/20090121192437/http:/www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/laughs.aspx) AFI describes the resulting list as the 100 funniest American movies of all time, reflecting the collective opinion of a wide range of the film community.[5](https://www.afi.com/afis-100-years-100-laughs/)
## Historical overview of American film comedy
The feature-length American comedy begins with *[Tillie's Punctured Romance](https://www.edgepedia.org/tillies-punctured-romance)* in 1914, which scholarship identifies as the first feature-length comedy.[3](https://bibliotheques-specialisees.paris.fr/ark:/73873/pf0000527206) The silent era that followed is remembered as the heyday of slapstick, though on the AFI list the 1920s placed only five films, the same count as the 1990s.[2](https://www.filmsite.org/afi100laughs1.html)
**Screwball and the studio era.** Sound-era comedy in the 1930s and 1940s included screwball comedy, in which scholarship places *It Happened One Night* (1934), *[Bringing Up Baby](https://www.edgepedia.org/bringing-up-baby)* (1938), and *I Was a Male War Bride* (1949), films that follow the humorous conflicts of a couple.[6](https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1586&context=theses) The 1930s are the second most-represented decade on the AFI list with 19 films.[2](https://www.filmsite.org/afi100laughs1.html)
**Postwar and modern comedy.** Later traditions include dark comedy, which scholarship describes as the most negative or sarcastic type, focusing on gloomier subjects, and the parody and spoof traditions.[6](https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1586&context=theses) The 1980s lead the AFI canon with 22 films, making it by that measure the most represented decade in the AFI canon.[2](https://www.filmsite.org/afi100laughs1.html)
## The AFI canon: 100 Years...100 Laughs
AFI announced the list on June 14, 2000, during a three-hour television special, selected by a blue-ribbon panel of leaders from across the film community.[1](https://web.archive.org/web/20090121192437/http:/www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/laughs.aspx) The process began with a ballot of 500 nominated films distributed to a jury of 1,800 leaders including film artists (directors, screenwriters, actors, editors, cinematographers, and others), critics, historians and film executives.[1](https://web.archive.org/web/20090121192437/http:/www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/laughs.aspx)
The top ten, in order:
1. *Some Like It Hot* (1959)
2. *Tootsie* (1982)
3. *Dr. Strangelove* (1964)
4. *Annie Hall* (1977)
5. *Duck Soup* (1933)
6. *Blazing Saddles* (1974)
7. *M*A*S*H* (1970)
8. *It Happened One Night* (1934)
9. *The Graduate* (1967)
10. *Airplane!* (1980)[1](https://web.archive.org/web/20090121192437/http:/www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/laughs.aspx)
The list remains AFI's official published canon: the institute's own site presents it as the 100 funniest American movies of all time,[5](https://www.afi.com/afis-100-years-100-laughs/) and AFI HQ republished the full list on [Letterboxd](https://www.edgepedia.org/letterboxd) on August 1, 2023.[7](https://letterboxd.com/afi/list/afis-100-years100-laughs/)
## Major subgenres
Scholarly taxonomies of American film comedy distinguish several principal subgenres:[6](https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1586&context=theses)
- **Slapstick**, physical comedy descended from traditions the academy traces to commedia dell'arte.[8](https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1525/9780520923546-016/html)
- **Verbal comedy**, associated with W.C. Fields and the [Marx Brothers](https://www.edgepedia.org/marx-brothers).[6](https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1586&context=theses)
- **Screwball comedy**, the couple-conflict films of the 1930s and 1940s such as *It Happened One Night*, *Bringing Up Baby*, and *I Was a Male War Bride*.[6](https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1586&context=theses)
- **Dark comedy**, the most negative or sarcastic type, focused on gloomier subjects; Filmsite characterizes *[M*A*S*H](https://www.edgepedia.org/m-a-s-h-film)* (1970) as bawdy black comedy.[6](https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1586&context=theses) • [2](https://www.filmsite.org/afi100laughs1.html)
- **Parody and spoof**, including *Blazing Saddles* (1974), which Filmsite describes as a Western spoof, and *Some Like It Hot* (1959), which scholarship classifies as a parody even though it also uses verbal comedy and deadpan at times.[2](https://www.filmsite.org/afi100laughs1.html) • [6](https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1586&context=theses)
- **Deadpan**, a restrained delivery style that scholarship treats as one of the principal subgenres.[6](https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1586&context=theses)
Individual films can sit in more than one category: *Duck Soup* (1933) is classified by scholarship as both slapstick/verbal comedy and a spoof, and Filmsite describes it as the quintessential, anarchic Marx Brothers comedy about [Rufus T. Firefly](https://www.edgepedia.org/rufus-t-firefly), Prime Minister of Freedonia, and his war on the fictional country Sylvania.[6](https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1586&context=theses) • [2](https://www.filmsite.org/afi100laughs1.html) Academic treatments also organize the field by traditions, tracing anarchistic and romantic comedy from stage and page to screen.[8](https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1525/9780520923546-016/html)
## Patterns in the canon
The AFI list rewards certain decades, people and plot devices unevenly, and the counts are a measure of how the film community's sense of comedy clusters in time.
- **By decade:** the 1980s lead with 22 films, the 1930s follow with 19, while the 1920s, the heyday of slapstick, and the 1990s each placed only five.[2](https://www.filmsite.org/afi100laughs1.html)
- **By performer:** [Cary Grant](https://www.edgepedia.org/cary-grant) is the most celebrated actor with eight films in the top 100.[1](https://web.archive.org/web/20090121192437/http:/www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/laughs.aspx)
- **By director:** [Woody Allen](https://www.edgepedia.org/woody-allen) directed the most films in the top 100, five in total.[2](https://www.filmsite.org/afi100laughs1.html) [Mel Brooks](https://www.edgepedia.org/mel-brooks) directed three films, all of which placed in the top 15.[2](https://www.filmsite.org/afi100laughs1.html)
- **By plot device:** four films in the top 100, including both the #1 and #2 entries, involve cross-dressing: *Some Like It Hot*, *Tootsie*, *Mrs. Doubtfire*, and *Victor/Victoria*.[1](https://web.archive.org/web/20090121192437/http:/www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/laughs.aspx)
## Critical recognition and awards
Comedies have occasionally reached the top of the Academy Awards. *It Happened One Night* (1934) was the first film to sweep the four top Academy Awards, winning Best Picture, Best Actor, Best Actress, and Best Director, and it established [Frank Capra](https://www.edgepedia.org/frank-capra) as the preeminent director of the 1930s; Filmsite also calls it the definitive screwball comedy.[2](https://www.filmsite.org/afi100laughs1.html) *The Apartment* (1960), [Billy Wilder](https://www.edgepedia.org/billy-wilder)'s follow-up to *Some Like It Hot*, won Academy Awards for Best Picture, Director, and Original Screenplay.[2](https://www.filmsite.org/afi100laughs1.html) *Annie Hall* (1977) won Best Picture and Best Actress for Diane Keaton in the title role, among others, and launched a women's fashion trend based on the character's look.[2](https://www.filmsite.org/afi100laughs1.html)
Two of these Oscar-winning comedies also sit in the AFI top ten, where *Annie Hall* ranks fourth and *It Happened One Night* eighth.[1](https://web.archive.org/web/20090121192437/http:/www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/laughs.aspx)
## References
1. [AFI's 100 YEARS...100 LAUGHS (AFI press release, June 14, 2000), archived](https://web.archive.org/web/20090121192437/http:/www.afi.com/tvevents/100years/laughs.aspx)
2. [AFI's 100 Greatest American Comedies, Filmsite.org](https://www.filmsite.org/afi100laughs1.html)
3. [American film comedy, reference work record, Bibliothèques spécialisées de Paris](https://bibliotheques-specialisees.paris.fr/ark:/73873/pf0000527206)
4. [AFI's 100 Greatest American Comedies, judging criteria (Filmsite, archived)](https://web.archive.org/web/20210429174149/https:/www.filmsite.org/afi500laughs.html)
5. [AFI's 100 YEARS…100 LAUGHS, American Film Institute](https://www.afi.com/afis-100-years-100-laughs/)
6. [American Comedy Film as Mass Communication: The Audience Experience, Lindenwood University thesis](https://digitalcommons.lindenwood.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1586&context=theses)
7. [AFI's 100 YEARS...100 LAUGHS, official AFI list on Letterboxd](https://letterboxd.com/afi/list/afis-100-years100-laughs/)
8. [A Writer's Overview of the Traditions and Genres of Comedy, De Gruyter](https://www.degruyterbrill.com/document/doi/10.1525/9780520923546-016/html)
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*Topic: Encyclopedia › Arts and culture › Screen and stage › Film and television › Films and standalone screen works › National and regional cinemas by year › Genre and era list systems › Comedy film lists*
*Initially written Sep 17, 2026 · Reviewed: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Edited: Sep 30, 2026; Oct 25, 2026 · Last review: Oct 25, 2026*
*Copyright 2026 EdgeChat AI, a subsidiary of Biostate AI.*
License: Edgepedia Community License 1.0, https://www.edgepedia.org/edgepedia/license