# What's the longest movie comedy? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [January 18, 2013, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-movie-comedy/647662 "2013-01-18T23:47:32Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 11:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-movie-comedy/647662/1 "2013-01-18T23:47:32Z")
I was reading an article in the paper the other day about how so many movies lately have longer-than-usual running times. They mentioned that even comedies are trending this way, with “This Is 40” having a running time of 134 minutes (causing some people to joke that the title should be “This Is 40 Minutes Too Long”). It got me to wondering what is the longest film that is considered a comedy? I remember back in the VHS days renting a copy of “The Blues Brothers” that was too long for a single cassette, so I figured it was well over two hours. I looked it up on IMDB and they say the running time is 133 minutes, so it is a minute shorter than “This Is 40”. Are there any comedies in the 2:30 to 3:00 hour range? ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-movie-comedy/647662/2 "2013-01-18T23:50:04Z")
Many. [The Great Race](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0059243/) is a wonderful comedy that runs 160 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [January 18, 2013, 11:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-movie-comedy/647662/3 "2013-01-18T23:50:20Z")
All of the versions of \*It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World \*are longer than 134 minutes. From IMDB > [@](#): > > Runtime: USA: 154 min (edited version) | USA: 174 min (restored video version) |182 min (Laserdisc version) (extended re-edit) |192 min (original version) ---
**Author:** ![Alessan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/alessan/32/465_2.png) [@Alessan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Alessan)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-movie-comedy/647662/4 "2013-01-19T00:03:22Z")
The 1956 version of _Around the World in 80 Days_, with David Niven, was pretty long, too. From IMDB: > [@](#): > > Runtime: 167 min (35 mm version) | 183 min (with overture and exit music) | UK: 135 min (25 fps) (video version) | USA: 175 min | 182 min (TCM print) ---
**Author:** ![TV\_time](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/f17d59/32.png) [@TV\_time](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TV_time)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-movie-comedy/647662/5 "2013-01-19T00:16:41Z")
Didn’t **In the Army Now** with Pauly Shore run about 7 or 8 hours? It sure seemed like it. ---
**Author:** ![Zebra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/c0e974/32.png) [@Zebra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zebra)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 2:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-movie-comedy/647662/6 "2013-01-19T02:07:51Z")
I can barely believe that Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a scant 144 minutes long. That may be the longest kid film. ---
**Author:** ![Andy\_L](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c67d28/32.png) [@Andy\_L](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Andy_L)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 2:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-movie-comedy/647662/7 "2013-01-19T02:25:00Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > I can barely believe that Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is a scant 144 minutes long. That may be the longest kid film. The original “Dr. Dolittle” movie was 152 minuteshttp://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/editpost.php?do=editpost&p=15914968 ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-movie-comedy/647662/8 "2013-01-19T02:35:09Z")
[This Hungarian comedy/drama clocks in at 450 minutes.](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0111341/combined) ETA: for movies in English, there’s [Dead End Days](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0820059/combined), a comedy/horror flick that runs 278 minutes. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 3:59am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-movie-comedy/647662/9 "2013-01-19T03:59:35Z")
_The Cure for Insomnia_ is one of the longest movies ever made. And I’ve seen at least one description of it as a “comedy”. But I don’t think it really qualifies - it consists of L.D. Groban reading his poem “A Cure for Insomnia”. The poem is 4080 pages long and the movie runs for 5220 minutes (87 hours). So it would have to be a really funny poem. ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Nemo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/little_nemo/32/3120_2.png) [@Little\_Nemo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Nemo)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 4:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-movie-comedy/647662/10 "2013-01-19T04:06:24Z")
Probably the longest movie which would generally be considered a comedy is the 1988 British production of _[Little Dorrit](http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0095530/)_. It ran for 357 minutes and was usually shown in two parts. ---
**Author:** ![Shoeless](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/shoeless/32/7099_2.png) [@Shoeless](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shoeless)\ **Post date:** [January 19, 2013, 1:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-longest-movie-comedy/647662/11 "2013-01-19T13:24:45Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > All of the versions of \*It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World \*are longer than 134 minutes. :smack: That one should have been obvious, considering there was a thread about it here just recently.