According To A Scientific Study, This Is The Funniest Movie Of All Time

What’s the funniest movie of all time?

That’s a question that a lot of people debate on a regular basis. The world receives constant gifts from the gods of comedy, offering up snorts, chortles, and cackles all the time. So, what’s the answer here? Dumb and Dumber? Maybe Coming to America? What about Wayne’s World? Please say it’s The Birdcage?!

Well, I hate to break it to you, but none of these films feature in the top 10 funniest movies of all time, according to a scientific study. That being said, no one can argue the number one pick here, because it’s more than a laugh-a-minute ride – or should I say plane ride?

How the funniest movie of all time was determined

As covered by The Telegraph, the now-defunct Lovefilm subscription service conducted its own study in 2012. According to Lovefilm, employees often debated which was the funniest movie of all time, especially since a lot of people raved about all the laughs that The Hangover produced. So, Lovefilm decided to put a theory to the test. 

The subscription service asked its members to vote for the funniest movie of all time. Monty Python’s Life of Brian received the most thumbs-up from the fans, but Lovefilm took it one step further: From all the votes collected, it assembled a top 10 list for its staff to watch. Then, it decided to measure how many laughs take place per minute in each movie. The film that had the highest laugh-a-minute score would be determined the overall winner.

The biggest surprises in Lovefilm’s study

Despite voters picking Monty Python’s Life of Brian as the funniest movie of all time, it landed at the number 10 position in this study. According to Lovefilm, it only produced 1.2 laughs per minute. Of course, this doesn’t mean that Life of Brian is unfunny – in fact, the jokes hit the mark hard when they do land – but it’s far from a film that has everyone in stitches for its entire runtime.

Superbad chuckled its way up to number four on the study, with 1.9 laughs per minute. It’s a little surprising to see the 2007 comedy feature so high here. Take nothing away from Superbad, because it’s extremely funny and loaded with gags, but did anyone think it would produce as many laughs as this? Maybe McLovin has the Midas touch…

The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad! shoots up to number three on the list. Honestly, when I looked at all the movies in the study without seeing their final rankings, I expected the Leslie Nielsen-led comedy to be in first place. Here’s the thing: This is a film that doesn’t stop the humor for a single second. As soon as a joke ends, the next one begins. Yet, at 2.3 laughs per minute, it didn’t secure the top spot.

Creeping ahead of The Naked Gun into second place is The Hangover with 2.4 laughs per minute. While I’m not the biggest fan of the Todd Phillips-directed film, I acknowledge that it’s popular among a lot of people. That said, I didn’t expect it to have as many laughs per minute as it did. In fact, I’m surprised that it wasn’t a movie like Hot Shots! here, since it’s more in the same vein as The Naked Gun and the number one film on this list.

And the funniest movie of all time is…

Airplane! At three laughs per minute, this 1980 comedy classic from Jim Abrahams and David and Jerry Zucker doesn’t let up for a moment. Anyone who has watched Airplane! knows exactly how funny it is based on the wacky premise alone. Ex-pilot Ted Striker (Robert Hays) develops a fear of flying, but it’s up to him to land a commercial plane after the crew and passengers all get sick from food poisoning. Oh, the shenanigans! The film’s cast is stacked with everyone from Lloyd Bridges and Leslie Nielsen to Julie Hagerty and Kareem Abdul-Jabbar.

A sequel was released in 1982 titled Airplane II: The Sequel, but it wasn’t as well received as the original film (and didn’t make the moolah that the studio execs wanted). Ultimately, this resulted in a planned third film being scrapped entirely. Yet, take nothing away from the first Airplane! film, because science tells us that it’s the funniest movie of all time – and who can argue that?!

Watch Airplane! on MGM+.