Comedy Movie Posters

As I mentioned in the 1895 episode, an interesting bit of trivia about the first comedy film, L'Arroseur Arrosé (The Sprinkler Sprinkled), relates to its movie poster. It marked the first time a movie poster showed a scene from the film on the poster, as it depicted the audience laughing with delight as the young brat scampers away from the soaked gardener. Although, really, the artist should have asked those ladies in the front row to take off their hats. Can you imagine having a ticket to the first cinema exhibition and sitting behind those hats? I’d want my franc back.

Image: Cinematographe Lumière poster from 1895 exhibition. Marcellin Auzolle (1862-1942), via Wikimedia Commons

It got me to thinking about some of my favorite movie posters from comedy films over the years and I thought I’d share a few of my favorites here.

The Rink (dir. Charlie Chaplin), 1916

This may be my favorite Chaplin poster. I just love the depth of field of Charlie stretched out from a crash in his roller skates.

Airplane! (dir. Jim Abrahams, David Zucker, Jerry Zucker), 1980.

Everything about this poster is iconic to me and I think it does an excellent job of telling just what sort of nonsense lies in store for you. Note that the typeface used for this poster bears a striking resemblance to the logo for this podcast. (Not an accident.)

Sixteen Candles (dir: John Hughes), 1984.

This comes from an era when posters were surprisingly wordy, but ignore that and look at that portrait of The Geek smitten with Samantha who is smitten with Jake who is oblivious to it all.

Back to the Future (dir: Robert Zemeckis), 1985.

I remember seeing this amazing poster in theaters and assuming this just might be the coolest movie of the summer. And, I don’t think I was wrong.

Planes, Trains, and Automobiles (dir: John Hughes), 1987.

What’s not to love about this. Steve Martin’s expression sells everything in this poster, but the attention to detail in the illustration (the coffee in John Candy’s cup about to spill on Steve’s shoulder, for instance) is fantastic.

Elf (dir: John Favreau), 2003

This is a brilliant bit of design that cleverly tells the story that Will Ferrell’s elf is a bit taller than your normal elf.

Bridesmaids (dir. Paul Feig), 2011.

This poster is a beautiful send up of posters using gangs or police line-ups showing a range of bad boys out for mayhem. The various poses and expressions tell you so much about the characters you’ll meet in the movie.

What are some of your favorite comedy movie posters? Do you remember any that helped convince you to definitely see the movie?