It should come as no surprise to anyone that humor, which runs the gamut from the traditional to the avant garde, is highly subjective. If there's one single genre that's prime for debate it's arguably the massive comedic genre. What makes one guy laugh doesn't necessarily make the next guy even giggle. How many times has a friend or colleague recommended a comedy that he thought was hysterical? How many times have you watched that comedy and wondered why on earth anyone thought it was funny?

The Birth of Comedic Film

Comedy has made a long and highly successful march down the red carpet, having first showcased itself silently through the brilliance of comedians like Charlie Chaplin and Buster Keaton. By the 1930s audiences were laughing with the Marx Brothers, W. C. Fields, the Three Stooges, and the beguiling Mae West. They were also entranced by Cary Grant paired up with Katharine Hepburn in Bringing Up Baby, and Rosalind Russell in His Girl Friday. During wartime, comedy films belonged to legends like Bob Hope, Bing Crosby, and such comedic teams as Laurel and Hardy and Abbott and Costello.

By the 1950s and '60s, a new breed of comic genius was enchanting audiences courtesy of Jerry Lewis and Pink Panther extraordinaire Peter Sellers, but it wasn't until the early 1970s that comedy took a decidedly opinionated and oddball twist. A combination of dark and slapstick humor was the mainstay, with filmmakers Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, Neil Simon, and the infamous Monty Python gang banging out one hit after another. Popular comedies of the '70s include Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, High Anxiety, Annie Hall, The Sunshine Boys, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, The Life of Brian, and National Lampoon's Animal House.

Naked Gun Versus Annie Hall

By the 1980s, comedies had again taken a turn with the emergence of movies like David and Jerry Zucker and Jim Abrahams' Airplane! Arguably one of the funniest movies ever made, Airplane!, with its relentlessly goofy fun, is a guilty-pleasure movie that jump-started dozens of similar spoofs like Top Secret!, The Naked Gun, Police Squad, and Hot Shots! On the other side of the comedic spectrum, the popularity of Saturday Night Live gave rise to a host of permanent comedy superstars like Eddie Murphy, Chevy Chase, Dan Aykroyd, Bill Murray, and Steve Martin. And who could forget a young — and terminally stoned — Sean Penn in Fast Times at Ridgemont High?

There has always been a need for good comic actors such as Jack Lemmon, Audrey Hepburn, Tom Hanks, Meg Ryan, Reese Witherspoon, and Jack Black. Since the 1990s there has been a coming of age for unique and highly talented comics including Mike Myers, Jim Carrey, Robin Williams, Ellen DeGeneres, and Adam Sandler who made the jump from standup venues to legitimate acting.

If you're filming a comedy it's important that you feel comfortable with the style of comedy you've selected. Within the genre there are all types of comedic subgenres including romantic, horror, social, and science fiction comedies, slapstick, parodies or spoofs, black comedies, and fish-out-of-water tales.

Some comedies have had the good fortune to become a franchise, as with National Lampoon, Crocodile Dundee, Austin Powers, Scary Movie, Police Academy, and the Naked Gun films, to name a few. Others, like There's Something about Mary, have become cult classics. But no matter the comedic genre you choose, the overwhelming factor, aside from budget, is that your script be funny, whether it be ha-ha funny, gross funny, or wet-your-pants funny. The ultimate goal is to tell a good story or spoof and make as many people laugh as possible.