Comedy Character Recipe

I love comedies, but most of them don’t make me laugh.  I wish I was an easier audience, but I’m not.   However, there is a certain character recipe that zaps my laughter buds every single time.

a pinch of my mood
a dash of my age
a teaspoon of location
4 cups of who I’m watching with
9 gallons of originality
3 tablespoons of satire
some secret ingredient of brilliance that I don’t understand yet

Here are a few of the characters recipes that have succeeded. (in no particular order)

montage

Borat in Borat

Clark Griswold in all National Lampoon Vacation movies

Barry in High Fidelity

Lloyd Christmas in Dumb and Dumber

Buck Laughlin in Best in Show

Donkey in Shrek

Ron Burgundy in Anchorman

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16 Responses to “Comedy Character Recipe”

  1. Floyd Sette says:

    Hello, love the Shrek movies, great movie!

  2. Vennie Fetz says:

    gr8 resrch bro ;P

  3. Al Douthett says:

    Sorry, I don’t like to ask, but do you have any recommendation to getting spam off your site? I recently made this site and I’ve just been getting spammed madly.

  4. Rob Russo says:

    Dumb and Dumber for the win!

  5. Kelli says:

    sadly, it doesn't take much to make me laugh..so my input wouldn't necessarily mean much… but i just saw Bedtime Stores and was dying with Adam Sandler's sidekick Mickey (Russell Brand). He made the movie for me.

  6. nicole says:

    you cannot forget H. I. McDunnough from Raising Arizona…i totally agree with Navin and Marty too…anything with John Cusack….i also realllllllly loved Bill Murray in What about Bob.

  7. Melissa says:

    Ummmm……what about the guy that sits on the cooler in Back to the Beach?

  8. Thomas says:

    These are strong. The test is how timeless they are. If they hold up YEARS later, you know you've got a good one. I personally feel you are missing the following:
    + The Dude in The Big Lebowski (Walter Sobchak getting "Honorable Mention")
    + Navin Johnson in The Jerk
    + Bluto from Animal House
    + H. I. McDunnough from Raising Arizona (Gail Snoats coming in 2nd – John Goodman can't catch a break)
    + Harry Dunne in Dumb & Dumber (the bathroom scene was cinema magic!)
    + Farva in SuperTroopers
    + Pat Healy in There's Something About Mary
    + Marty Blank in Grosse Pointe Blank (personal fave – may catch flames for that)
    + Carl Spackler in Caddyshack

  9. Nathan says:

    what about cheep humor? Cheep humor gets everyone! A crotch kicking or farting joke?

  10. ben says:

    Some men go for blondes, others for redheads; looks to me like your funnybone has got a thing for brunettes.

  11. kimmlee says:

    Good list. Ricky Bobby would be added to mine.

  12. Donkey is hilarious. Do cartoons count? I enjoy Peter Griffin from Family Guy.

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