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What's the funniest film ever made

01:00 Mon 20th Aug 2001 |

A.� According to the American Film Institute, it was the Marilyn Monroe classic Some Like it Hot. The Billy Wilder classic with Jack Lemmon and Tony Curtis, which was made in black and white 42 years ago, was voted the funniest film in history. Dustin Hoffman's Tootsie was voted in second place, and Stanley Kubrick's black comedy Dr Strangeglove� - Or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb, which was made in 1964.

The institute voted for films made in the first part of the century such as Duck Soup, made in 1933, and more contemporary movies such as John Cleese's A Fish Called Wanda.

Q.� What was their criteria

A.� The institute says it looked at the films which had raised the biggest laugh among worldwide audiences during the first century of cinema.

�The list includes classics such as� Blazing Saddles (1974), M*A*S*H (1970), The Graduate (1967), and the 1952 classic Singin' In The Rain.� The top 100 also voted for modern classics such as When Harry Met Sally (1989), There's Something About Mary (1998), Mrs Doubtfire (1993), Arthur (1981), and Robin Williams' manic appearance in Good Morning Vietnam (1987).

From an initial list of 500 nominated titles, members of the institute looked at a broad mix�of comedy from the genius of Charlie Chaplin and the Marx Brothers to the humour of Robin Wiliams (Mrs Doubtfire and Good Morning Vietnam) and the unusual innovative comedy of Woody Allen.

The 100 funniest films are:

1. Some Like It Hot

2. Tootsie

3. Dr Strangelove

4. Annie Hall

5. Duck Doup

6. Blazing Saddles

7. M*A*S*H

8. It Happened One Night

9. The Graduate

10. Airplane

11. The Producers

12. A Night At The Opera

13. Young Frankenstein

14. bringin Up Baby

15. The Philadelphia Story

16. Singin' In The Rain#

17. The Odd Couple

18;. The Genera

�19. His Girl Friday

20. The apartment

21. A Fish Called Wanda

22. Adam's Rib

23. When Harry Met Sally

24. Born Yesterday

25. The Gold Rush

26. Being There

27. There's Something About Mary

28. Ghostbusters

29. this Is Spinal Tap

30. Arsenic and Old Lace

31. Raising Arizona

32. The Thin Man

33. Modern Times

34. Groundhog day

35. Harvey

36. National Lampoon's Animal House

37. the Great Dictator

38. City Lights

39. Sullivan's Travels

40. It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

41. moonstruck

42. Big

43. American Graffiti

44. My Man Godfry

46. �Manhattan

47. Shampoo

48. A Shot In The Dark

49. To Be Or Not To Be

50. Cat Ballou

51. The Seven year Itch

52. Ninotchka

53. Arthur

54. The Miracle of Morgan's Creek

55. The Lady Eve

56. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

57. Diner

58. It's A Gift

59. A Day At The Races

60. Topper

61. What's Up Doc

62. Sherlock, Jr

63. Beverly Hills Cop

64. Broadcast News

65. Horse Feathers

66. Take The Money and Run

67. Mrs Doubtfire

68. The Awful Truth

69. Bananas

70. Mr Deeds Goes to Town

71. Caddyshack

72. Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House

73. Monkey Business

74. 9 to 5

75. She's Done Him Wrong

76. Victor/Victoria

77. The Palm beach Story

78. Road to Morocco

79. The Freshman

80. Sleeper

81. The Navigator

82.� Private benjamin

83. Father of the Bride

84. Lost in America

85. Dinner At Eight

86. City Slickers

87. Fast Times at Ridgemont High

88. Beetlejuice

89. The Jerk

90. Woman of the Year

91. The Heartbreak Kid

92. Ball of Fire

�93. Fargo

94. Auntie Mame

95. Silver Streak

96. Sons of the Desert

97. BHull Durham

98. The Court Jester

99. The Nutty Professor

100. Good Morning, Vietnam

For more film and television questions and answers, click here

By Katharine MacColl

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