A Top "Top 10 List" of All Time

So if you read the piece on Friday then you know we were talking about the 10 greatest comedies of all time. The great part about top 10 lists is that you can debate them forever and no two lists are identical. It's incredibly hard to come up with 10 comedies that you think are the funniest of all time without leaving a few worthy candidates off the list. After all the talk of "The Hangover" it prompted one of our contributors, "Steamin" Willie Beamen, to make his list. He made a strong case and we even debated via text some of the movies that he left of. Here is his list, in case you missed it on Friday....

1. Ace Ventura
2. National Lampoons Christmas Vacation
3. The Big Lebowski
4. Anchorman
5. Groundhog Day
6. Blues Brothers
7. Dumb and Dumber
8. Blazing Saddles
9. Caddyshack
10. Old School

Therefore I decided to come up with my own list. It took some thorough research and a few lengthy alcohol induced arguments amongst my peers to assemble my list. So what's the criteria that I used to assemble this top 10 list. I used several factors that I feel make a comedy legendary.

Quotability- You have to be able to recite famous lines and everyone around you immediately knows what movie your talking about. If I said "TOGA, TOGA, TOGA" you should know what movie I'm talking about.
Defining Scenes-There should be at least one memorable scene that defines the film. Certain scenes and images are forever linked to movie history, just ask Ben Stiller.
Rewatchability- I made up the word, but it's a pillar of comedy rules. These movies have to be just as funny on the 11th viewing as it was the first time you saw it. Even if you know the next line and could re-enact it by heart, you still laugh. For instance, the first time I saw Meet the Parents I was dying laughing. But after several viewings the subtle awkwardness lost some of its appeal. It's still an amazingly funny movie, but its on the outside of my top 10 looking in.
Extreme Laughter- You can't just chuckle at these movies. You have to be borderline pee your pants, cheeks hurting, laugh out loud kind of funny. It's this reason that I have left off movies like Back to the Future and The Blues Brothers. They're both terrific but to me they are just really cool movies. Not really funny movies.

Before you read on you should know that I changed the placement of the #1-5 movies at least 4 times and for some time they each were number 1. It was a tough decision but one that I stand by. So without further adieu...

10. Anchorman- Originally I left this off my top 10, but I had to reconsider. I had tears from laughing so hard at 4 different parts of the movie. I quote this movie like its my job. You've got great performances from Will Ferrell, Steve Carell and Paul Rudd as well as some serious cameos from people like Vince Vaughn and Luke Wilson. This movie gets an interesting reaction, you either love it or hate it. And I love it. "It's called Sex Panther. It's made with bits of real panther, so you know its good. 60% of the time...it works all the time".

9. Ace Ventura: Pet Detective- "Aaaalllrightythen". I thought this was funny when I was a kid and half the jokes went over my head. 15 years later I still laugh at it. This might be the most debatable on my list because of the goofy nature of it, but comedy is goofy.

8. Tommy Boy- "Shut up Richard". In my opinion this is the most underrated movie on this list. The Farley/Spade dynamic worked to perfection as well good bit parts from Dan Akroyd and Rob Lowe. Although part of me is saddened every time I watch this movie knowing what we could have had with Farley.

7. Ghostbusters- I almost left this movie off my list just because it doesn't fit the "extreme laughter" category and some of the special effects are outdated. But it's got three of the greatest comedic minds of all time in Bill Murray, Dan Akroyd and Harold Ramis(Ramis did most of his work as a director. See numbers 1 and 2 on my list) It's an iconic, legendary movie that needs to be on any comedy list.

6. There's Something About Mary- I find this movie often gets over looked. I don't know why, because it shouldn't. It's absolutely hysterical. There are so many memorable scenes like Cameron Diaz's hair gel as well as Ben Stiller's zipper incident. I want to put it higher on my list, but I couldn't drop any of the top 5.

5. Dumb and Dumber- The amazing part about this movie is that it actually has a great plot and even better writing. Most people assume its just a dumb movie, but it's one of the smartest comedies I've ever seen. If a person doesn't think this is a top 5 comedy, then they don't know squat about movies.

4. Wedding Crashers- Easily one of the most quotable movies on my list. "Stage 5 Clinger", "lock it up", "rule number 76, no excuses play like a champion". I mean take your pick. During my junior year of college I watched this movie almost every Friday and Saturday night after returning from a night out for nearly a month straight and still didn't get sick of it. The only reason this is not higher is because it gets a little sappy near the end, but it's one of the best comedies of all time, without a doubt.

3. Old School- How iconic of a character is Frank the Tank? This was a ground-breaking comedy in many ways. It started the whole "Frat Pack" wave of movies and its still the best of the bunch. Vince Vaughn and Will Ferrell are at the top of their games in this one and they set the bar insanely high for everything since. "Actually it's gonna be quite a nice little Saturday. We're going to Home Depot, buy some wallpaper, maybe get some flooring. Stuff like that. Maybe Bed Bath and Beyond. I don't know. I don't know if we'll have enough time".

2. Animal House- This is the comedy that started it all. The whole movie was a party and that's because in real life the actors were partying the entire time they were filming it. It's the foundation for movies like Old School and American Pie and every other frat house humor movie every made. It's got great nicknames, memorable scenes, wild antics and more than 30 years after it was made its still hysterical.

1. Caddyshack- Chevy Chase and Bill Murray solidify their places among the comedy greats. The best part is that the majority of their lines were unscripted and they improved almost every memorable quote from the movie. The Dali Lama bit by Murray is incredible, and its even better knowing that he made up 90% of it on the spot. I ultimately decided this was #1 because its incredibly unique. There are alot of movies that are about college hijinks or road trips or bachelor parties, but can you name another funny movie about golf? And don't you dare say Who's Your Caddy.

Honorable Mentions: Grumpy Old Men, Anchorman, Christmas Vacation, Blazing Saddles, The Jerk, Superbad, My Cousin Vinny, Fletch, Vacation, Home Alone, Kingpin, Swingers, Austin Powers, Billy Madison, The Great Outdoors, Meet the Parents, Stripes, Liar Liar

There you have it ladies and gentleman. I feel its a very solid list even though there are some very deserving movies that are in the honorable mention section. And there are definitely others movies that I forgot to put in the honorable mentions. It's a great cause for debate and I would love to hear your thoughts. Feel free to send them along to me and I will then post other people's lists of comments about the lists. We will return to our standard format on Wednesday and until that time.....Stay Sweet.