50 Fun Facts About Comedy Movies

What is the final line of Some Like It Hot, after Jack Lemmon's character pulls off his wig?

Joe E. Brown's millionaire Osgood shrugs it off, and the line closed a film Billy Wilder co-wrote, produced and directed in 1959.

In Some Like It Hot, what names do Curtis and Lemmon adopt in the all-female band?

Lemmon's character was supposed to be Geraldine but blurts out Daphne instead, and later ends up engaged to a millionaire.

Airplane! (1980) is a scene-for-scene parody of which 1957 Paramount disaster film?

The Zuckers and Jim Abrahams bought the rights so they could lift its plot and dialogue almost intact, then played it straight.

Which NBA legend plays co-pilot Roger Murdock in Airplane!?

The gag pays off when he finally snaps at the kid about dragging Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes.

In Airplane!, what is the name of Leslie Nielsen's deadpan doctor who does not want to be called Shirley?

The role relaunched Nielsen, until then a dramatic actor, as a comic star and led straight to Police Squad! and The Naked Gun.

Which comedian was offered the role of Louis Tully in Ghostbusters (1984) before Rick Moranis took it?

He told Ivan Reitman he did not understand the character; Moranis turned the nebbish accountant into one of the film's best-loved parts.

The Ghostbusters' firehouse, Hook & Ladder Company 8, is in which Manhattan neighborhood?

The building still operates as an FDNY station and remains a stop for fans decades later.

Huey Lewis turned down the Ghostbusters theme because he was committed to which 1985 film?

Ray Parker Jr. wrote the theme instead, and Lewis later sued over its resemblance to his hit 'I Want a New Drug'.

Groundhog Day is set in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, but where was it almost entirely filmed?

Shooting ran from March to June 1992, and the town square still hosts an annual Groundhog Days celebration for fans.

Which song does Bill Murray's Phil Connors wake up to on the radio every morning in Groundhog Day?

The Sonny & Cher hit plays at 6:00 a.m. with identical DJ banter, the first sign each day that Phil is still trapped in February 2.

What happened to Bill Murray while filming his scenes with the groundhog in Groundhog Day?

The bites went through his gloves and broke the skin in the same spot both times, which required rabies shots.

What is the name of Ron Burgundy's beloved dog in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy?

The dog gets punted off the San Diego-Coronado Bridge by a furious biker, sending Ron into a spiral of despair.

What was the straight-to-DVD film assembled from Anchorman's outtakes and abandoned subplots called?

The companion feature arrived on December 28, 2004, the same year Adam McKay made his directorial debut with the original.

In The Hangover, at which Las Vegas hotel do the friends book their suite for the bachelor party?

They wake up to a tiger in the bathroom, a baby in the closet and Stu missing a tooth, with no memory of the night.

The Hangover became the highest-grossing R-rated comedy in US history, taking the record from which film?

The 2009 hit also picked up the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy.

Which Bridesmaids cast member earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress?

Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo were nominated the same year for Best Original Screenplay, a rare double for an R-rated comedy.

In Bridesmaids, what failed business did Kristen Wiig's Annie run?

The film was directed by Paul Feig and produced by Judd Apatow, and grossed $306.5 million worldwide on a $32.5 million budget.

Tina Fey's screenplay for Mean Girls was based on which non-fiction parenting book by Rosalind Wiseman?

Fey turned a self-help guide about teenage cliques into a 2004 comedy that grossed over $130 million on a budget under $18 million.

Which Mean Girls role was Lindsay Lohan first set to play before moving to Cady Heron?

The queen bee part went to Rachel McAdams instead, whose leader of the Plastics became the film's defining performance.

Where was Mean Girls' Cady Heron homeschooled for years before transferring to an American high school?

Her zoologist parents' fieldwork left her unprepared for the Plastics and the Burn Book at North Shore High.

In Monty Python and the Holy Grail, what do the knights use instead of real horses?

The gag was born of budget necessity and became one of the most quoted running jokes in film history.

Which two rock bands are named as backers of Monty Python and the Holy Grail?

The 1975 film was also the feature directing debut of both Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones, and later spawned the Broadway musical Spamalot.

Monty Python and the Holy Grail was shot mostly in Scotland, largely around which castle?

The same 14th-century castle stood in for several different locations in the film and later appeared in Outlander and Game of Thrones.

Which former Beatle arranged funding for Monty Python's Life of Brian through his new company, HandMade Films?

He reportedly did it simply because he wanted to see the movie, which has been called the most expensive cinema ticket ever bought.

Life of Brian reused sets from Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth in which country?

Filming took place around Monastir, and Brian is born in a stable next door to Jesus, briefly confusing the three wise men.

Life of Brian was marketed in Sweden as 'the film so funny it was banned in' which neighboring country?

The ban lasted a year there and eight years in Ireland, all over a film that ends with a sing-along at a crucifixion.

Which comedian was Mel Brooks's original choice for Sheriff Bart in Blazing Saddles, but stayed on only as co-writer?

Cleavon Little got the badge instead, and Brooks fought Warner Bros. executives over gags like the campfire beans scene.

Which actor was first cast as Blazing Saddles' Waco Kid but collapsed on set, opening the door for Gene Wilder?

The collapse was later attributed to alcohol withdrawal, and Wilder stepped in to play the shakiest gunslinger in the West.

Which effects man built the original 1931 Universal lab props reused in Young Frankenstein?

Brooks tracked down the original electrical gizmos to give his 1974 parody the authentic look of a Universal horror picture.

What unusual visual choice did Mel Brooks make for Young Frankenstein in 1974?

The look, plus Gene Wilder's insistence on 'Fronkensteen' and Marty Feldman's 'Eye-gore', earned Wilder and Brooks a screenplay Oscar nomination.

Which comedian plays loud developer Al Czervik in Caddyshack?

The 1980 film was Harold Ramis's directorial debut, and Kenny Loggins's 'I'm Alright' was released nearly three weeks before it opened.

In Dumb and Dumber, Lloyd and Harry drive cross-country to return a briefcase to which resort town?

The briefcase turns out to be full of ransom money, and the 1994 film grossed $247.3 million on a $17 million budget.

Jim Carrey got $7 million for Dumb and Dumber. Roughly how much was co-star Jeff Daniels paid?

The studio reportedly wanted a bigger name than Daniels, whose lowball offer was meant to make him walk away; he took it anyway.

Which future Oscar winner made her feature film debut as Jules in Superbad (2007)?

The film grossed $170.8 million on a budget under $20 million and made Christopher Mintz-Plasse's McLovin an instant fake-ID legend.

Which comedy legend plays Papa Elf, Buddy's adoptive father at the North Pole, in Elf (2003)?

Jon Favreau directed, Ed Asner played Santa, and the film grossed $228.9 million worldwide against a $33 million budget.

In Step Brothers, Brennan insists on running which client event for Derek's company?

The idea for the film came to Adam McKay and editor Brent White during post-production on Talladega Nights, starting from a single image of bunk beds.

How much does Dr. Evil finally demand to hold the world ransom in Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery?

His first instinct, one million dollars, is laughed off by Number Two, whose Virtucon front company already makes more than that.

Which fictional country does Charlie Chaplin's dictator Adenoid Hynkel rule in The Great Dictator (1940)?

Chaplin played both Hynkel and a persecuted Jewish barber in what was his first true sound film and his biggest commercial hit.

Buster Keaton's 1926 masterpiece The General is named after what?

The plot was inspired by the real Great Locomotive Chase of the Civil War, though the film flopped with critics and audiences on release.

In Home Alone, where is the McCallister family flying for Christmas when they leave Kevin behind?

Chris Columbus directed John Hughes's script, and Guinness lists it as the highest-grossing live-action comedy ever.

In Duck Soup (1933), Groucho's Rufus T. Firefly becomes president of which fictional country?

The film was a financial disappointment on release, yet it is now widely regarded as the brothers' finest and joined the National Film Registry in 1990.

Duck Soup marked the last film appearance of which Marx brother alongside his siblings?

The straight man left performing to become a talent agent, leaving Groucho, Chico and Harpo to carry on as a trio.

On which fictional daytime soap does Dustin Hoffman's actor land a role as Dorothy Michaels in Tootsie?

The 1982 film earned ten Oscar nominations and was the year's second-highest grosser behind only E.T.

National Lampoon's Animal House was filmed on which real college campus in late 1977?

Made for only $3 million, the John Landis film grossed more than $141 million and is credited with launching the gross-out genre.

How many films have swept the 'Big Five' Oscars, starting with It Happened One Night?

One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest and The Silence of the Lambs are the others; Claudette Colbert skipped the ceremony, thinking she had made 'the worst picture in the world'.

Which pub do Shaun and his friends choose as their zombie-apocalypse refuge in Shaun of the Dead?

The film grew out of an episode of Simon Pegg and Edgar Wright's sitcom Spaced, and Nick Frost made his film debut in it.

Annie Hall's working title was a clinical term for inability to feel pleasure. What was it?

The 1977 film won four Oscars including Best Picture, an upset over Star Wars, and Diane Keaton's real surname is Hall.

Leslie Nielsen's Lt. Frank Drebin in The Naked Gun originated on which short-lived TV series?

The film's climax has Drebin foiling a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II at a baseball game at Anaheim Stadium.

Which make of car does Cameron's father own, and Ferris borrow, in Ferris Bueller's Day Off?

The 1961 250 GT California Spyder meets a bad end, in a film John Hughes wrote in less than a week.

Office Space fans wanted the red stapler so badly that Swingline finally began selling one. In what year?

Mike Judge based the 1999 film on his Milton cartoon shorts; it flopped in cinemas, then became a cult hit on home video.