This comedy movie trivia quiz has 50 free questions with answers and runs the whole history of screen comedy: silent-era Buster Keaton and Chaplin, the Marx Brothers and screwball classics, Mel Brooks and Monty Python, the SNL and National Lampoon era, and modern hits like Anchorman, Superbad, The Hangover and Bridesmaids. Expect questions on plots, casts, famous quotes, box office records and the odd production stories behind the laughs. It works for a solo brain-stretch, a movie-night showdown or a ready-made round for pub trivia hosts and teachers. Easy questions any casual fan will get sit beside expert ones that reward people who watch the extras and read the credits. Every answer has been checked against a primary reference, and each question shows its source, so you can settle arguments on the spot. Play through, then share your score.
30 of 50 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01What is the final line of Some Like It Hot, after Jack Lemmon's character pulls off his wig?
Well, nobody's perfect!
Joe E. Brown's millionaire Osgood shrugs it off, and the line closed a film Billy Wilder co-wrote, produced and directed in 1959.
Q 02In Some Like It Hot, what names do Curtis and Lemmon adopt in the all-female band?
Josephine and Daphne
Lemmon's character was supposed to be Geraldine but blurts out Daphne instead, and later ends up engaged to a millionaire.
Q 03Airplane! (1980) is a scene-for-scene parody of which 1957 Paramount disaster film?
Zero Hour!
The Zuckers and Jim Abrahams bought the rights so they could lift its plot and dialogue almost intact, then played it straight.
Q 04Which NBA legend plays co-pilot Roger Murdock in Airplane!?
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
The gag pays off when he finally snaps at the kid about dragging Walton and Lanier up and down the court for 48 minutes.
Q 05In Airplane!, what is the name of Leslie Nielsen's deadpan doctor who does not want to be called Shirley?
Dr. Rumack
The role relaunched Nielsen, until then a dramatic actor, as a comic star and led straight to Police Squad! and The Naked Gun.
Q 06Which comedian was offered the role of Louis Tully in Ghostbusters (1984) before Rick Moranis took it?
John Candy
He told Ivan Reitman he did not understand the character; Moranis turned the nebbish accountant into one of the film's best-loved parts.
Q 07The Ghostbusters' firehouse, Hook & Ladder Company 8, is in which Manhattan neighborhood?
Tribeca
The building still operates as an FDNY station and remains a stop for fans decades later.
Q 08Huey Lewis turned down the Ghostbusters theme because he was committed to which 1985 film?
Back to the Future
Ray Parker Jr. wrote the theme instead, and Lewis later sued over its resemblance to his hit 'I Want a New Drug'.
Q 09Groundhog Day is set in Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, but where was it almost entirely filmed?
Woodstock, Illinois
Shooting ran from March to June 1992, and the town square still hosts an annual Groundhog Days celebration for fans.
Q 10Which song does Bill Murray's Phil Connors wake up to on the radio every morning in Groundhog Day?
I Got You Babe
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.
Q 11What happened to Bill Murray while filming his scenes with the groundhog in Groundhog Day?
It bit him twice
The bites went through his gloves and broke the skin in the same spot both times, which required rabies shots.
Q 12What is the name of Ron Burgundy's beloved dog in Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy?
Baxter
The dog gets punted off the San Diego-Coronado Bridge by a furious biker, sending Ron into a spiral of despair.
Q 13What was the straight-to-DVD film assembled from Anchorman's outtakes and abandoned subplots called?
Wake Up, Ron Burgundy
Q 21In Monty Python and the Holy Grail, what do the knights use instead of real horses?
Servants banging coconut shells
The gag was born of budget necessity and became one of the most quoted running jokes in film history.
Q 22Which two rock bands are named as backers of Monty Python and the Holy Grail?
Pink Floyd and Led Zeppelin
The 1975 film was also the feature directing debut of both Terry Gilliam and Terry Jones, and later spawned the Broadway musical Spamalot.
Q 23Monty Python and the Holy Grail was shot mostly in Scotland, largely around which castle?
Doune
The companion feature arrived on December 28, 2004, the same year Adam McKay made his directorial debut with the original.
Q 14In The Hangover, at which Las Vegas hotel do the friends book their suite for the bachelor party?
Caesars Palace
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.
Q 15The Hangover became the highest-grossing R-rated comedy in US history, taking the record from which film?
Beverly Hills Cop
The 2009 hit also picked up the Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy.
Q 16Which Bridesmaids cast member earned an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actress?
Melissa McCarthy
Kristen Wiig and Annie Mumolo were nominated the same year for Best Original Screenplay, a rare double for an R-rated comedy.
Q 17In Bridesmaids, what failed business did Kristen Wiig's Annie run?
A bakery
The film was directed by Paul Feig and produced by Judd Apatow, and grossed $306.5 million worldwide on a $32.5 million budget.
Q 18Tina Fey's screenplay for Mean Girls was based on which non-fiction parenting book by Rosalind Wiseman?
Queen Bees and Wannabes
Fey turned a self-help guide about teenage cliques into a 2004 comedy that grossed over $130 million on a budget under $18 million.
Q 19Which Mean Girls role was Lindsay Lohan first set to play before moving to Cady Heron?
Regina George
The queen bee part went to Rachel McAdams instead, whose leader of the Plastics became the film's defining performance.
Q 20Where was Mean Girls' Cady Heron homeschooled for years before transferring to an American high school?
Africa
Her zoologist parents' fieldwork left her unprepared for the Plastics and the Burn Book at North Shore High.
The same 14th-century castle stood in for several different locations in the film and later appeared in Outlander and Game of Thrones.
Q 24Which former Beatle arranged funding for Monty Python's Life of Brian through his new company, HandMade Films?
George Harrison
He reportedly did it simply because he wanted to see the movie, which has been called the most expensive cinema ticket ever bought.
Q 25Life of Brian reused sets from Zeffirelli's Jesus of Nazareth in which country?
Tunisia
Filming took place around Monastir, and Brian is born in a stable next door to Jesus, briefly confusing the three wise men.
Q 26Life of Brian was marketed in Sweden as 'the film so funny it was banned in' which neighboring country?
Norway
The ban lasted a year there and eight years in Ireland, all over a film that ends with a sing-along at a crucifixion.
Q 27Which comedian was Mel Brooks's original choice for Sheriff Bart in Blazing Saddles, but stayed on only as co-writer?
Richard Pryor
Cleavon Little got the badge instead, and Brooks fought Warner Bros. executives over gags like the campfire beans scene.
Q 28Which actor was first cast as Blazing Saddles' Waco Kid but collapsed on set, opening the door for Gene Wilder?
Gig Young
The collapse was later attributed to alcohol withdrawal, and Wilder stepped in to play the shakiest gunslinger in the West.
Q 29Which effects man built the original 1931 Universal lab props reused in Young Frankenstein?
Kenneth Strickfaden
Brooks tracked down the original electrical gizmos to give his 1974 parody the authentic look of a Universal horror picture.
Q 30What unusual visual choice did Mel Brooks make for Young Frankenstein in 1974?
Entirely in black and white
The look, plus Gene Wilder's insistence on 'Fronkensteen' and Marty Feldman's 'Eye-gore', earned Wilder and Brooks a screenplay Oscar nomination.