Basil Fawlty (to Polly): “Oh, its my fault, is it? I thought it was your fault for falling asleep or Manuel’s fault for not waking you, and all the while it was my fault. Oh, its so obvious now I’ve seen the light! Well, I must be punished then, mustn’t I?” [Basil spanks himself…]
In her short-lived sitcom, Ellen Degeneres once did an opening scene where she went to get a drink from a water cooler in her kitchen and it was empty, so she struggled to lift a new bottle of water into place. She staggered all over the kitchen, spraying water everywhere, and finally got the bottle into place with maybe ten percent of the water remaining in the bottle; she then got herself a glass of water and squelched out of the kitchen. Comedy GOLD.
The famous “mirror scene” in Duck Soup has to be one of the most imitated physical comedy bits.
There are way too many in The General to count, but I love the basic structure of the movie - they go somewhere and then they come back. So every single set piece in the first half pays off in the second. God, it’s funny. If you don’t think you like silents, give it a try.
For another silent masterpiece, the dance scene with the behind the scenes tailor in The Freshman.
Ab Fab: Patsy drunk and falling into the open grave at the cemetery.
Peter Sellers on the parallel bars, then dismounting down the stairwell.
Peter Sellers trying to control his hand (as Dr. Strangelove).
Clouseau and Cato fighting in his apartment.
Peter Boyle as the monster, dancing to Puttin’ On The Ritz.
Jackie Gleason had his moments on The Honeymooners. My favorite bit of physical comedy was in the episode where he has a really bad backache.
He’s all hunched over, and trying to hide it from Alice, but the slightest touch sends him into agony. He finally gets himself more or less under control, when his uncle drops by to see him. You can see it coming, but it’s still priceless when Uncle Leo bellows, “It’s GOOD to see you Ralph!”
And slaps him on the back.
EDIT: Found a link.
That’s part 2 of the episode, and probably should be watched from the beginning. But the moment I’ve referred to begins around 7:40.
And smashing the piano with the flail attached to the armor gauntlet.
“That’s a priceless Steinway!”
“Nut anymore.”
Easily missed:
The background antics of the court reporter in the courtroom scene in Kentucky Fried Movie.
" " Airplane.
" " Airplane II.
Curly gets the worst of a pie fight http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qwirWWnzJKM#t=2m45s
The very end of Hoi Polloi http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvjvYA5zAfA#t=7m41s (colorized really well IMHO)
And I think the original Ministry of Silly Walks is just as funny as the Fawlty Towers goose step. In fact, contrary to what Cleese thinks, him doing the silly walk is inherently hilarious.
I disagree. The setting and most of the action is exactly as you say. But surely the ape using the timpani mallets on the other ape in sync with the music is pure physical comedy, made funnier by the setting. It’d work in a cartoon, for example.
I came in to mention The General. Another Buster Keaton favorite of mine that is chockful of physical comedy is Seven Chances (1925). Wonderful stuff.
There is a scene in The General where Buster Keaton is chasing the stolen train across a bridge. He leaps to catch the end of the train, misses…and falls right off the bottom of the screen (turns out there was a hole in the tracks). That scene made me laugh out loud in astonishment. I don’t I’ve before or since seen a film that had the actor actually vanish off the bottom of the screen. It’s amazingly funny!
BTW for The General: The destruction of the bridge with the train on it toward the end was the most expensive movie stunt up to that date.