# Older Movies / shows / books that are STILL funny **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 28, 2025, 4:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-movies-shows-books-that-are-still-funny/1014929 "2025-02-28T16:20:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 8:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-movies-shows-books-that-are-still-funny/1014929/41 "2025-02-28T20:04:04Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I wouldn’t be in fuckin’ Bruges. “Fookin’ Brooozh.” ---
**Author:** ![Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/13edae/32.png) [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 9:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-movies-shows-books-that-are-still-funny/1014929/42 "2025-02-28T21:19:22Z")
> [@What\_Exit](#): > > I lean heavily towards: " “Louis, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship”." Certainly one of the most subtle homoerotic lines in cinema history. [“Well, Rick is the kind of man that…well, if I were a woman, and I were not around, I should be in love with Rick. But what a fool I am talking to a beautiful woman about another man.”](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0034583/quotes/?item=qt0429985&ref_=ext_shr_lnk) Stranger ---
**Author:** ![Czarcasm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/czarcasm/32/4050_2.png) [@Czarcasm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Czarcasm)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-movies-shows-books-that-are-still-funny/1014929/43 "2025-02-28T21:31:43Z")
I’ve always loved “Brain Donors”, which I think is a great pastiche of The Marx Brothers’ “A Night At The Opera”. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 11:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-movies-shows-books-that-are-still-funny/1014929/44 "2025-02-28T23:17:00Z")
I’ve read the book **Cranford** (from 1853) multiple times and it makes me laugh every time. ---
**Author:** ![Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/elmer_j.fudd/32/1211_2.png) [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elmer_J.Fudd)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-movies-shows-books-that-are-still-funny/1014929/45 "2025-02-28T23:23:30Z")
Nothing holds up humor-wise better than some of the old WB cartoons from the 1940-1950s. ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [February 28, 2025, 11:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-movies-shows-books-that-are-still-funny/1014929/46 "2025-02-28T23:43:03Z")
There are a lot of _very_ funny conversations and interactions in Dickens’s _The Pickwick Papers_. In particular, when Sam Weller and his dad Tony Weller interact, and when Sam attends the footmen’s “swarry”. Oh, and the meeting among the Wellers and Tony’s new wife and her Methodist minister, in the debtor’s prison. I think it’s the funniest of all of Dickens’s writings. ---
**Author:** ![TreacherousCretin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/treacherouscretin/32/476_2.png) [@TreacherousCretin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TreacherousCretin)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 12:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-movies-shows-books-that-are-still-funny/1014929/47 "2025-03-01T00:23:15Z")
I’ll post my two oldest examples that still make me laugh out loud (literally): Print: Roughing It (Mark Twain) 1872 Film: Harvey 1950 ---
**Author:** ![Dung\_Beetle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dung_beetle/32/7945_2.png) [@Dung\_Beetle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dung_Beetle)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 12:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-movies-shows-books-that-are-still-funny/1014929/48 "2025-03-01T00:24:13Z")
Thread winner. ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 3:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-movies-shows-books-that-are-still-funny/1014929/49 "2025-03-01T03:02:57Z")
> [@TreacherousCretin](#): > > Print: Roughing It (Mark Twain) 1872 Huh, didn’t know Roughing It was funny. ---
**Author:** ![Civil\_Guy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d78d45/32.png) [@Civil\_Guy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Civil_Guy)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 4:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-movies-shows-books-that-are-still-funny/1014929/50 "2025-03-01T04:25:07Z")
Add in Twain’s piece about an interview with a (clueless) newspaper reporter. “People thought it was my twin brother who died in the bath, but they’re wrong, it was me.” ---
**Author:** ![Tibby](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tibby/32/17030_2.png) [@Tibby](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tibby)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-movies-shows-books-that-are-still-funny/1014929/51 "2025-03-01T04:48:18Z")
Film: The Gold Rush (1925) - Charlie Chaplin Safety Last! (1923) - Harold Lloyd The General (1926) - Buster Keaton Bringing Up Baby (1938) His Girl Friday (1940) TV: Your Show of Shows Print: Vintage MAD Magazine ---
**Author:** ![Die\_Capacitrix](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/die_capacitrix/32/9_2.png) [@Die\_Capacitrix](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Die_Capacitrix)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 6:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-movies-shows-books-that-are-still-funny/1014929/52 "2025-03-01T06:53:59Z")
> [@CalMeacham](#): > > On The Awful German Language: “When the literary German dives into a sentence, that’s the last you see of him until he emerges on the other side of the Atlantic with his verb in his mouth.” 🤣At some point I have to pick up a copy of this book, just for this line alone. At least Project Gutenberg has it online. It’s amazing how well Twain stands up after all these years. > [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > Some Like It Hot Saw it for the first time during Covid shutdown and enjoyed it, but wouldn’t watch it again. The last line is perfect, as is the expression on Jack Lemmon’s face. It’s definitely worth seeing at least once. > [@Dung\_Beetle](#): > > Movie: It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World There are so many movies and tv shows that pay homage to this movie, I made sure to watch it to the end. It was a bit painful. I liked _Some Like it Hot_ much better. Hubby and I quote “back in bowl” from _All of Me_ quite often. We saw it a few years ago and it’s a bit dated. We watch _L.A. Story_ about every 5 years and still laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 7:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-movies-shows-books-that-are-still-funny/1014929/53 "2025-03-01T07:46:23Z")
Some movies that haven’t been mentioned yet: Mon Oncle What’s Up Doc? This Is Spinal Tap Steamboat Bill, Jr. (One of my favorite Buster Keaton films) ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 2:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-movies-shows-books-that-are-still-funny/1014929/54 "2025-03-01T14:11:21Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > The Odd Couple movie is still funny, I take this back after watching it again. It is a good period piece and a great premise, but not as funny as I recall. Doubt that anyone under 55 would truly find it funny. ---
**Author:** ![kitap](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/b9e5f3/32.png) [@kitap](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kitap)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 3:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-movies-shows-books-that-are-still-funny/1014929/55 "2025-03-01T15:14:43Z")
> [@veryfrank](#): > > I’ve never seen _Soap_ so I can’t comment on that, but I’ve heard that Billy Crystal’s portrayal of someone who was the first gay character on U.S. network TV is pretty solid and surprisingly well-handled for the era. Jodie was very much an “Only Sane Man” in the Campbell household, along with his mother Mary, which helped make his character sympathetic and relatable. One of the ABC digital channels plays _Soap_ on Saturdaynights and it mostly holds up, partially because it was so off the wall crazy. Behold the classic mindreading scene: [Chuck and Bob](https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=DwDbd4jQpkA&pp=ygUSc29hcCBjaHVjayBhbmQgYm9i) ---
**Author:** ![Mahaloth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mahaloth/32/1079_2.png) [@Mahaloth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mahaloth)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 3:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-movies-shows-books-that-are-still-funny/1014929/56 "2025-03-01T15:17:38Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > I take this back after watching it again. It is a good period piece and a great premise, but not as funny as I recall. Doubt that anyone under 55 would truly find it funny. I’m 46 and have seen it a couple times. It’s mildly amusing, even pretty funny in parts, but it’s not great stuff. I’m not sure it was ever all _that_ funny, though. The Office (UK) & Office Space- The movie is 26 years old and this show is 25 years old this year. If that does not make you feel old… Anyway, it holds up really well, much like Office Space(1999). Very, very, very different and unrelated takes on the office situation but both really show how little things have changed in that area over 25 years. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 4:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-movies-shows-books-that-are-still-funny/1014929/57 "2025-03-01T16:05:10Z")
> [@Mama\_Zappa](#): > > Blazing Saddles not being as funny when rewatched recently. I concurred - there were elements in those that would simply not fly, these days. Lots of changes in social tastes (e.g. rape is NOT humorous, and it’s played for laughs in both of those). I don’t remember rape _per se_ being played for laughs in _Blazing Saddles_, but I do remember several _mentions_ of rape being used for humorous shock value. Like many other elements of that movie (including but not limited to numerous uses of the n-word), it’s supposed to provoke an “OMG I can’t believe they actually said that” response. But such shock-value comedy very often doesn’t age well, because over time, some things lose their shock value, while other things get more sensitive so that more viewers are made too uncomfortable to laugh. ---
**Author:** ![Thudlow\_Boink](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thudlow_boink/32/320_2.png) [@Thudlow\_Boink](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Thudlow_Boink)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 4:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-movies-shows-books-that-are-still-funny/1014929/58 "2025-03-01T16:09:20Z")
> [@MrAtoz](#): > > The Gene Hackman thread mentioned that, in rewatching YF, there seemed to be a lot of dead space between the funny lines. I had a similar experience when I rewatched High Anxiety. The film seemed to move so _slowly_. It was frustrating waiting for the next gag. You can say the same about Blazing Saddles. > > Airplane and films like it, with their joke and/or sight gag every few seconds pacing, really changed what we expect out of our genre parodies. In classic Mel Brooks, you may go as much as a minute between laugh lines. That seems incredibly poky by today’s standards. This is a good point, and it’s why I’m a little suspicious of some of the works named in this thread. If it’s been a long time since you last watched or read something, are you just remembering that the _funny parts_ are still funny without remembering the long slogs between those funny parts? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-movies-shows-books-that-are-still-funny/1014929/59 "2025-03-01T17:01:41Z")
_The Producers_ is a Mel Brooks movie for people who don’t like Mel Brooks movies. His other movies are all farces - you are not to believe this is real. Fight scene spilling over into a musical set? Build a toll booth? Farce. The Producers is a straight-forward comedy. You can believe this is happening. And the humor in it has stood up well. I’m talking the original, not the musical. Zero Mostel is perfect as Max. He plays the role tired - like the world has shit down his throat. I also agree on Harvey. Many parts are absurd, bur not a farce. One of my favorite lines ever comes from that movie: > [@](#): > > Years ago, my mother would always say to me “In this world, Elwood”, she always called me Ellwood. “In this world, Ellwood, you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant.”. For years i was smart. Irecommendd pleasant. You May quote me. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [March 1, 2025, 5:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-movies-shows-books-that-are-still-funny/1014929/60 "2025-03-01T17:04:13Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#): > > you must be oh so smart or oh so pleasant From 18 years ago … > [@Would you rather be Oh so smart or Oh so pleasant?](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/would-you-rather-be-oh-so-smart-or-oh-so-pleasant/387793): > > What do you of the straight dope think is the better way to go through life? Jim You could always get Formula 977 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-movies-shows-books-that-are-still-funny/1014929.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/older-movies-shows-books-that-are-still-funny/1014929.md?page=4)