The Funniest Movie Ever, According To Science

Comedy, of course, is subjective. There's no one film that's going to be universally funny to every human being, as comedy is based on social mores, history, politics, and a slew of other cultural factors that mutate quickly and differ from neighborhood to neighborhood. Indeed, what one found funny in 2005 may not be as funny in 2025, so time also plays a factor. And while certain comedies have lasted for centuries — Shakespeare and Moliere are still being performed to this day — some comedies from just a few decades ago are already dated. Heck, sometimes the time of day can be a factor. A midnight movie may be funnier than a Sunday matinée of the same flick. 

But there is an objective, scientific way to gauge the effects comedy has on us: our laughter. If a film makes us laugh out loud repeatedly, then we can take measurements, right? And if one film makes us laugh 10 times, and another makes us laugh 30 times, then the latter film can be considered the funnier film. As such, to determine the funniest film of all time, one would merely need to gather a panel of test subjects, and then expose them to multiple comedy films, writing down how many times they laughed during a screening. One would then take that number and average out how many times they laughed, per minute of film. The film with the highest number of laughs-per-minute (lpm) would, scientifically, be the funniest ever. 

Back in 2012, Forbes magazine conducted such a study. The comedy films for the study were determined by a poll that had been conducted by the London-based Lovefilm, a now-defunct division of the Telegraph. This means all the films will be in the English language. 

The test subjects were a panel of Forbes employees open to giggling. After watching the top 10 films on the poll, Forbes was able to zero in on the one picture that elicited the most laughter. That film was the 1980 Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker spoof "Airplane!" 

"Airplane!" stands as a slapstick comedy of the highest order, even if one doesn't know the context of its satire. The movie is more or less a comedic remake of a 1957 disaster film called "Zero Hour!" directed by Hall Bartlett. Jim Abrahams, Jerry Zucker, and David Zucker found the film to be so corny and absurd that it would only take a slight push to make it into a stupid comedy. Indeed, both "Airplane!" and "Zero Hour!" feature the line of dialogue "We need to find someone back there who can not only fly this plane, but who didn't have fish for dinner." Both films are about characters named Ted Stryker (Dana Andrews in 1957, Robert Hays in 1980) who were former squadron pilots in WWII. They both find themselves on a commercial airliner whereon poisoned fish was served for dinner. Both Teds have to overcome their war trauma to fly the plane after the pilot becomes ill. Both Teds are also trying to re-spark relationships with women who are trying to leave them (Linda Darnell in 1957, Julie Hagerty in 1980). 

"Airplane!" is stone-faced in its delivery, but also features scenes of jumping human hearts, falling watermelons, and Lloyd Bridges high on modeling glue. There is also an inflatable automatic pilot that ... well, I'll let you see for yourself. 

By Forbes' measurements, "Airplane!" elicited three lpm, or one laugh every 20 seconds. The Forbes study doesn't seem to distinguish, however, between a slight giggle and a gut-busting scream. All laughs appear to be equal in the study. Regardless, three lpm is impressive by any measure. If one knowns Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker comedies, then one will know they tried to cram in as many jokes as possible. With that philosophy, it's no wonder "Airplane!" elicited as many laughs as it did. 

The Lovefilm poll asked its pollsters to rank which films they found the funniest, and the film that most consistently came in at #1 was Terry Jones' 1979 film "Monty Python's Life of Brian," a wry spoof of Biblical epics by one of England's most celebrated comedy troupes. Weirdly, though, the Forbes study found that "Life of Brian" actually produced the fewest laughs per minute of its top 10. It seems that "Life of Brian" only produced 1.2 lpm. Remember that this is based solely on Forbes' scientific readings, and doesn't factor in a more intellectual, critical response. 

The second-funniest film on the Forbes list was Todd Phillips' 2009 comedy "The Hangover," earning 2.4 lpm. That film is about a bachelor party gone awry, following a group of ne'er-do-wells after they wake up from an all-night bender they have no memory of. The film follows their investigation as to what happened the night before. Third funniest was another Zucker-Abrahams-Zucker film, their 1988 cop flick "The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad!," based on their TV series "Police Squad!" The ZAZ team are the only filmmakers whose films appear twice on the list. ("Naked Gun" got 2.3 lpm.) 

In descending order, the funniest films also included Greg Mottola's "Superbad" (2007) with 1.9 lpm, Larry Charles' "Borat! Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan" (2006) with 1.7 lpm, Adam McKay's "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" (2004) with 1.6 lpm, Paul Weitz's "American Pie" (1999) with 1.5 lpm, Paul Feig's "Bridesmaids" (2011) with 1.4 lpm, and Edgar Wright's "Shaun of the Dead" (2004), with 1.4 lpm. 

One can see the recency bias of the people polled. Five of the films come from the 2000s. One comes from the '70s, two from the '80s, one from the '90s, and one from the '10s. It's clearly not as thorough a sampling as, say, /Film's own list of the 113 best comedies of all time. But, given the parameters, "Airplane!" is still the clear winner.