Wow, that's a weird list.

It includes WAY more picks of the 40 Year Old Virgin than I would have thought. Also Fargo, I would argue, is not a comedy. And I think David Cross is messing with those compiling the list by choosing Rent (not a comedy) and Jackass Number Two (I haven't seen it, but does anybody really prefer 2 over 1? It's just a remarkably odd choice.) Unrelated point, if you had to credit David Cross, would you do so with "David Cross (Actor, Men in Black)"?

Ok, I've got to keep reading, this is intriguing.

Also, how did Ze Frank get on there? And look at his pretentious list! You can't pick movies from before 1930, it should be a general rule.

Ok, Maybe he's in there because the magazine was also doing a story about him and figured they might as well get his answers too.

Ok, I'm now overwhelming your blog with posts, but I would pick something like:

This is Spinal Tap
Heathers
My Cousin Vinney
Big Lebowski
Ghost World

If we were doing this when I was 13, I would have made the following choices:

Three Amigos
Spies Like Us
Airplane
Naked Gun
Spaceballs

Most of these I haven't watched in a while or have watched and didn't enjoy recently, but I loved them when I was younger.

why shouldn't people be able to pick things from before 1930? that seems pretty idiotic.

Adding on to Ingen's comment, I found it very weird that someone listed Terms of Endearment as one of their favorite comedies. Does that qualify as a comedy? With the cancer and the dying and stuff? Next you'll tell me Steel Magnolias is a comedy.

My top 5 would be:

The Big Lebowski
Groundhog Day (I've seen it about a dozen times and still cry from laughing)
Tootsie (with my apologies to flea)
A Mighty Wind
Parenthood

Like cm, my list would probably change if I was given another day to think about it, but I really love all of the movies I picked.

Yeah, I'm already wishing I had put in Dr. Strangelove or The Princess Bride. Here's my list at age 10 or so:

Three Amigos
Naked Gun
Beverly Hills Cop II
Hot Shots
Major League

manhattan
joe vs. the volcano
rushmore
the apartment
wayne's world

that's just an impromptu list. i'm sure we could all re-write these a dozen and a half times. like i'm already wishing i'd put raising arizona.

ooh, lost in america is a good one.

and i prefer meaning of life to life of brian.

also ricky gervais picked swingers? seriously, he just dropped down a peg in my book.

no one put concert films: like richard pryor live on the sunset strip. or gilda live.

Beverly Hills Cop II?!?! I cannot believe you. You just dropped down a peg in my book. I don't care if you were 10. Unacceptable.

I too love The Life of Brian. I often mutter "blessed are the cheesemakers" to myself for no apparent reason.

Fine, replace Beverly Hills Cop II with Beetlejuice.

Fargo is a comedy. I laughed my ass off in that film. Mike Yamaguta was so lonely.
I imagine after being on the island for a while I would get tired of this list, but I would choose:

Being John Malcovich
Delicatessen
Raising Arizona
Pee Wee's Big Adventure
Beyond the Valley of the Dolls, which is not only hilarious, but has great music and is sexy as well. And you are so going to need that on a deserted island if you catch my drift. Wink Wink, nudge nudge.

Off the top of my head and trying to avoid looking at what others here wrote:
There's Something About Mary
Dumb and Dumber
Christmas Vacation
Officespace
Borat
Fear

I'll have to watch Pee Wee's again as as a kid I hated that fucking movie.

Another Post: No wonder why David Cross didn't click to me. I was wondering who the hell is this David Cross of Men in Black, and for some reason thought it was a black comedian.

shit yeah, malkovich. also, revenge of the nerds.

you hated pee wee's big adventure??

YOU HATED PEE WEE'S BIG ADVENTURE?!!?

david cross is a black comedian.

If this hypothetical island had Netflix, I'd also add Bananas and Annie Hall. I know that a certain someone close to cm harbors an as-yet unexplained distaste for Woody Allen, but both movies are hysterical.

JBG, I had to smile at your David Cross is a black comedian thing. Nice catch.

Ooh... Wayne's World swap that out for Ghost World in my list.

malkovich and delicatessan are both good calls.

fargo: yes, i laughed quite a bit throughout that movie as well. however, it's far too sad and tragic for me to be a pure comedy. i feel bad for w.h. macy's kid every time i see that movie. still, i guess tragicomedies count. at least no one picked la vita e bella.

As for your update, I've actually seen the President's Analyst. A friend of mine in high school loved it. It's weird as hell. I was thinking about renting/buying it recently just so I could see it again.

Also, I like that Emerson followed my rule and didn't pick any pre-1930 movies... his earliest? 1932.

Alina, sorry, but Woody Allen is grossly over-rated. I don't know who my mystery conspirator is.

I refuse to name names, but she knows who she is (hint: she recently graduated from a law school on the east coast and enjoys making jewelry). Anyway, don't mistake my appreciation for Bananas and Annie Hall for blind allegiance to Woody Allen. A LOT of his films are just unwatchable -- Smalltime Crooks, Curse of the Jade Scorpion, Celebrity, Bullets over Broadway etc -- but Bananas and Annie Hall are two very wonderful and funny films.

guilty as charged, Slater. in fairness, however, I started off on a bad foot with Mr. Allen. Marco and his droogies went on and on about how amazing 'everything you wanted to know about sex' was, and when we watched it, i can say it's the only time i've ever been bored stiff in the carbone homestead, which is usually a pretty hip and feisty place to be. and the next Allen movie i saw was 'bullets over broadway,' which apart from the badly delivered yet still funny line "the world is opening to you like a big vagina," sucked multiple balls. i'm still open-minded, indeed i kind of liked match point (mostly due to the efforts of Mr. Rhys-Meyers, who is disturbingly attractive), but those were some very poor beginnings.

and you seemed to enjoy crimes and misdemeanors to some degree.

That sounds like a terrible intro to Woody Allen. I now understand your distaste.

wait, c'mon, don't lump "celebrity" in with the bad ones. it's at the tail end of a good stretch. i love kenneth branaugh in it.

flea, i'd recommend one of my favorite woody allen movies: "radio days." i really think you'd like it - some of his best comedy moments, with no woody-baggage. it's about his childhood growing up in the rockaways, not about self-absorbed relationships. for a change.

and wallace shawn is in it! you gotta like wallace shawn!

also "everyone says i love you" is cute and fuzzy.

Everyone not listing their top comedies comedies should be, well, listing their top five comedies.

I'm a movie philistine (in LA, no less), so I'm not even going to try listing my top comedies. Instead I am going to comment that I don't think Woody Allen is anything special, but this might have to do with being too young to "get it" when I saw Annie Hall.

Crap, I realized that I put six instead of five. Now in addition to liking some pretty lowbrow movies, I also can't count.

napolean dynamite.

Alright Ingen... although I realize I'm probably a day late.

The Jerk
Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (I'm a big Steve Martin fan)
Peewee's Big Adventure (still awesome)
Dumb and Dumber
Wayne's World

and if it floated on shore...

Vacation