50 Fun Facts About Comedy Movies

What is the final line of Some Like It Hot, after Jack Lemmon's character pulls off his wig?

Osgood (Joe E. Brown) answers Daphne's wig-off confession with 'Well, nobody's perfect!', the closing line of the 1959 film Billy Wilder co-wrote, produced and directed.

In Some Like It Hot, what names do Curtis and Lemmon adopt in the all-female band?

Curtis becomes Josephine and Lemmon becomes Daphne; Lemmon's character was supposed to be Geraldine but blurts out Daphne, and later ends up engaged to millionaire Osgood.

Airplane! (1980) is a scene-for-scene parody of which 1957 Paramount disaster film?

Zero Hour! (1957) supplied the plot and much of the dialogue; the Zuckers and Jim Abrahams bought its remake rights and played the lines straight for laughs.

Which NBA legend plays co-pilot Roger Murdock in Airplane!?

Kareem Abdul-Jabbar finally breaks character to snap at the kid about dragging Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes.

In Airplane!, what is the name of Leslie Nielsen's deadpan doctor who does not want to be called Shirley?

Dr. Rumack ('I am serious, and don't call me Shirley') relaunched Leslie Nielsen, until then a dramatic actor, as a comic star and led to Police Squad! and The Naked Gun.

Which comedian was offered the role of Louis Tully in Ghostbusters (1984) before Rick Moranis took it?

John Candy was offered Louis Tully but wanted to play him as a German with a pair of dogs and walked; Rick Moranis made the nebbish accountant one of the film's best-loved parts.

The Ghostbusters' firehouse, Hook & Ladder Company 8, is in which Manhattan neighborhood?

Hook & Ladder 8 stands at 14 North Moore Street in Tribeca; the working FDNY firehouse supplied the Ghostbusters' headquarters exterior in 1984.

Huey Lewis turned down writing the Ghostbusters theme because he was already committed to which 1985 film?

Back to the Future had his commitment, so Ray Parker Jr. wrote the Ghostbusters theme instead, and Lewis later sued over its resemblance to his hit 'I Want a New Drug'.

Which town stood in for Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, in Groundhog Day (1993)?

Woodstock, Illinois hosted the shoot from March to June 1992; its town square played Punxsutawney's, and the town began an annual Groundhog Days celebration for fans.

Which song does Bill Murray's Phil Connors wake up to on the radio every morning in Groundhog Day?

'I Got You Babe' by Sonny & Cher plays at 6:00 a.m. with identical DJ banter, the first sign each day that Phil is trapped in February 2.

What happened to Bill Murray while filming his scenes with the groundhog in Groundhog Day?

The groundhog bit him twice during the shoot, the bites going through his gloves, and Murray had to have rabies shots as a precaution.

What is the name of Ron Burgundy's beloved dog in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy?

Baxter, Ron's dog, gets punted off a bridge by a furious biker (Jack Black) after Ron's thrown burrito hits him, sending Ron into a spiral of despair.

What was the straight-to-DVD film assembled from Anchorman's outtakes and abandoned subplots called?

Wake Up, Ron Burgundy: The Lost Movie, cut from outtakes and a dropped bank-robbery subplot, arrived on DVD on December 28, 2004, the same year Adam McKay made his directorial debut with the original.

In The Hangover, at which Las Vegas hotel do the friends book their suite for the bachelor party?

Caesars Palace is where the four book their villa; they wake there to a tiger in the bathroom, a baby in the closet and Stu missing a tooth, with no memory of the night.

The Hangover became the highest-grossing R-rated comedy in US history, taking the record from which film?

Beverly Hills Cop (1984) had held the R-rated comedy record for 25 years until The Hangover passed it in 2009; the film also won the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy.

Which Bridesmaids cast member earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress?

Melissa McCarthy was nominated for Best Supporting Actress at the 2012 Oscars for playing Megan; Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo were nominated the same year for Best Original Screenplay.

In Bridesmaids, what failed business did Kristen Wiig's Annie run?

A bakery, Cake Baby, that went out of business is Annie's backstory; Paul Feig directed and Judd Apatow produced the 2011 hit, made for about $32.5 million.

Tina Fey's screenplay for Mean Girls was based on which non-fiction parenting book by Rosalind Wiseman?

Queen Bees and Wannabes, Rosalind Wiseman's 2002 guide to teenage cliques, gave Fey her framework; the 2004 comedy grossed over $130 million on a budget under $18 million.

Which Mean Girls role was Lindsay Lohan first set to play before moving to Cady Heron?

Regina George was Lohan's first assignment; she moved to Cady and the queen bee part went to Rachel McAdams, whose leader of the Plastics became the film's defining performance.

Where was Mean Girls' Cady Heron homeschooled for years before transferring to an American high school?

Africa, where her zoologist parents did fieldwork, was Cady's home for most of her childhood and left her unprepared for the Plastics and the Burn Book at North Shore High.

In Monty Python and the Holy Grail, what do the knights use instead of real horses?

Servants banging coconut shells stand in for horses, a gag born of budget necessity that became one of the film's most quoted running jokes.

Which pair of rock bands helped finance Monty Python and the Holy Grail?

Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin, along with Jethro Tull and Genesis, put up money for the 1975 film, which was also the feature directing debut of Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail was shot mostly in Scotland, largely around which castle?

Doune Castle, a 14th-century stronghold near Stirling, stood in for several different castles in the film and later appeared in Outlander and Game of Thrones.

Which former Beatle arranged funding for Monty Python's Life of Brian through his new company, HandMade Films?

George Harrison mortgaged his house to fund it through HandMade Films, reportedly because he wanted to see the movie; Eric Idle called it the most expensive cinema ticket in history.

Life of Brian reused sets from Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth in which country?

Tunisia's Monastir, where Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth sets stood, hosted the shoot; Brian is born in a stable next door to Jesus, briefly confusing the three wise men.

Life of Brian was marketed in Sweden as 'the film so funny it was banned in' which neighboring country?

Norway banned it for a year and Ireland for eight, so Swedish posters called it 'the film so funny it was banned in Norway', all over a film ending with a sing-along at a crucifixion.

Which comedian was Mel Brooks's original choice for Sheriff Bart in Blazing Saddles, but stayed on only as co-writer?

Richard Pryor co-wrote the script and was Brooks's pick for Bart, but Warner Bros. balked; Cleavon Little got the badge and Brooks fought executives over gags like the campfire beans scene.

Which actor was first cast as Blazing Saddles' Waco Kid but collapsed on set, opening the door for Gene Wilder?

Gig Young collapsed on set, later attributed to alcohol withdrawal, and Wilder stepped in to play the shakiest gunslinger in the West.

Which effects man built the original 1931 Universal lab props reused in Young Frankenstein?

Kenneth Strickfaden, who built the electrical gizmos for Universal's 1931 Frankenstein, had kept them in his garage; Brooks borrowed them to give his 1974 parody an authentic look.

What unusual visual choice, a rarity in the 1970s, did Mel Brooks make for Young Frankenstein in 1974?

Entirely in black and white was the look, and with Gene Wilder's insistence on 'Fronkensteen' and Marty Feldman's 'Eye-gore' it earned Wilder and Brooks a screenplay Oscar nomination.

Which comedian plays loud developer Al Czervik in Caddyshack?

Rodney Dangerfield plays Al Czervik in his first major film role; the 1980 film was Harold Ramis's directorial debut, with Kenny Loggins's 'I'm Alright' as its theme.

In Dumb and Dumber, Lloyd and Harry drive cross-country to return a briefcase to which resort town?

Aspen, Colorado, is where Mary Swanson lives; the briefcase turns out to be full of ransom money, and the 1994 film grossed about $247 million on a $17 million budget.

Jim Carrey earned $7 million for Dumb and Dumber; roughly how much was co-star Jeff Daniels paid for the same film?

$50,000 was the lowball offer, reportedly meant to make Daniels walk away because the studio wanted a bigger name; he took it anyway.

Which future Oscar winner made her feature film debut as Jules in Superbad (2007)?

Emma Stone made her feature debut as Jules and later won Best Actress for La La Land; the film also made Christopher Mintz-Plasse's McLovin an instant fake-ID legend.

Which comedy legend plays Papa Elf, Buddy's adoptive father at the North Pole, in Jon Favreau's Elf (2003)?

Bob Newhart is Papa Elf and Ed Asner is Santa; Newhart's deadpan narration opens the film, which was made for about $33 million.

In Step Brothers, Brennan insists on running which major client event for Derek's helicopter-leasing company?

The Catalina Wine Mixer is the big event; the film began as a single image of bunk beds that came to Adam McKay and editor Brent White during post-production on Talladega Nights.

How much does Dr. Evil finally demand to hold the world ransom in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery?

$100 billion is his revised demand after Number Two laughs off his first instinct of one million dollars, since the Virtucon front company already makes more than that.

Which fictional country does Charlie Chaplin's dictator Adenoid Hynkel rule in The Great Dictator (1940)?

Tomainia is Hynkel's realm, neighbor of Osterlich and rival of Bacteria; Chaplin played both Hynkel and a persecuted Jewish barber in his first true sound film and biggest commercial hit.

Buster Keaton's 1926 masterpiece The General is named after what?

A locomotive, the Western & Atlantic engine General, gives the film its name; the plot follows the real Great Locomotive Chase of 1862, though the film flopped with critics and audiences on release.

In Home Alone, where is the McCallister family flying for Christmas when they leave Kevin behind?

Paris is the destination the family oversleeps for, leaving Kevin behind; Chris Columbus directed John Hughes's script, and the 1990 film was for years Guinness's highest-grossing live-action comedy.

In Duck Soup (1933), Groucho's Rufus T. Firefly becomes president of which fictional country?

Freedonia is Firefly's bankrupt republic, at war with neighboring Sylvania; the film flopped on release, yet is widely regarded as the brothers' finest and joined the National Film Registry in 1990.

Duck Soup marked the last film appearance of which Marx brother alongside his siblings?

Zeppo, the straight man, left performing after Duck Soup to become a talent agent, leaving Groucho, Chico and Harpo to carry on as a trio.

On which fictional daytime soap does Dustin Hoffman's actor land a role as Dorothy Michaels in Tootsie?

Southwest General is the soap that hires 'Dorothy Michaels'; the 1982 film earned ten Oscar nominations and was the year's second-highest grosser behind only E.T.

National Lampoon's Animal House was filmed on which real college campus in late 1977?

The University of Oregon in Eugene doubled as Faber College; made for under $3 million, the John Landis film grossed more than $141 million and is credited with launching the gross-out genre.

Which 1934 comedy was the first film to win all 'Big Five' Oscars?

It Happened One Night, Frank Capra's 1934 comedy with Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert, was the first film to win Best Picture, Director, Actor, Actress and Screenplay.

Which pub do Shaun and his friends choose as their zombie-apocalypse refuge in Shaun of the Dead?

The Winchester, their local, is the refuge; the film grew out of a zombie-hallucination episode of Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright's sitcom Spaced, and Nick Frost made his film debut in it.

What was the working title of Woody Allen's Annie Hall (1977)?

Anhedonia, the clinical term for an inability to feel pleasure, was the working title; the 1977 film won four Oscars including Best Picture, and Diane Keaton's real surname is Hall.

In The Naked Gun, which baseball star plays the hypnotized would-be assassin of Queen Elizabeth II?

Reggie Jackson plays the hypnotized right fielder who robotically intones 'I must kill the Queen' before Frank Drebin stops him during the game.

Which make of car does Cameron's father own, and Ferris borrow, in Ferris Bueller's Day Off?

A Ferrari, a 1961 250 GT California Spyder, meets a bad end after the odometer-reversing scheme fails, in a film John Hughes wrote in less than a week.

In what year did Swingline begin selling a red stapler in response to Office Space fans?

2002 is when Swingline released its red Rio stapler, three years after Mike Judge's film, based on his Milton shorts, flopped in cinemas and then became a cult hit on home video.