The Barbican in London has announced a season of films which have been specially chosen by comedians, writers and producers including Miranda Hart, John Lloyd and Jon Ronson. This Made Me Laugh will run at the Barbican Cinema from April 10 - April 16.
Some of the films will be introduced by the fans who have chosen them. Guests appearing in person include Blackadder/QI legend John Lloyd, who will be there to introduce The Naked Gun, musical comedian Mitch Benn, who will be talking about his love of Spinal Tap and Amelia Bullmore, who will be introducing Woody Allen’s Bullets Over Broadway.
Win tickets for This Made Me Laugh here.
Full details of the screenings are below.
True Grit (US 2010 Dirs Joel Coen, Ethan Coen 110 min)
Fri 10 Apr 6.30pm
+ Pre-recorded intro by David Sedaris
The Coen Brothers’ films are renowned for their wry and loquacious humour and this Oscar-nominated film is no exception. Mattie Ross (Hailee Steinfeld) is quite unlike other 14-year-olds; she’s steely, clever and determined to hunt down her father’s murderer Tom Chainey (Josh Brolin), with the help of the grizzled lawman Rooster Cogburn played by Oscar-winner Jeff Bridges.
The Naked Gun (US 1988 Dir David Zucker 85 min)
+ Live intro by John Lloyd
Sat 11 Apr 6.30pm
From the creators of Airplane! comes this hilarious 1980s crime spoof, starring incompetent Detective Frank Drebin (Leslie Neilsen). Hearing of a plot to assassinate Queen Elizabeth II, who is visiting the US, Drebin attempts to foil the mains suspect Vincent Ludwig (Ricardo Montalbán) and save her.
Blazing Saddles (US 1974 Dir Mel Brooks 93 min)
Sat 11 Apr 8.30pm
Nominated for three Academy Awards, this classic comedy western was the brainchild of Mel Brooks. In an attempt to scare away the inhabitants of a small town which sits most inconveniently in the path of a proposed railroad track, a corrupt State Attorney General convinces the Governor of the town to appoint an African-American sheriff, in the hopes that the townspeople will be so offended they will vacate the area immediately. Featuring standout performances from Brooks, Gene Wilder and Cleavon Little.
This film was selected by Lenny Henry.
This is Spinal Tap (US 1984 Dir Rob Reiner 82 min)
+ Live intro by Mitch Benn
Sun 12 Apr 6.30pm
Rob Reiner’s film chronicles the hapless comeback tour of semi-forgotten British rockers Spinal Tap as they launch their provocative new album Smell the Glove. One of the all-time greats, Tap’s influence is huge: the first mockumentary, without which there would be no The Office or The Thick of It. Its trademark phrase 'these go to 11' is the reason the BBC i-Player volume switch goes up to 11. It is hard to believe this film is now over 30 years old.
Bullets Over Broadway (US 1994 Dir Woody Allen 98 min)
+ Live intro by Amelia Bullmore
Mon 13 Apr 8.30pm
Woody Allen's crime-comedy follows the hilarious plight of struggling playwright David Shayne (John Cusack) in search of success as he attempts bring his play to life on late 1920’s Broadway. Continuously thwarted by his gangster financier, his brainless actress girlfriend and her bodyguard, Cheech (Chazz Palminteri ), not to mention the play's ballooning leading man Warner Purcell (Jim Broadbent). Dianne Wiest stars as demanding grand dame Helen Sinclair, in a role which won her the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 1995.
Clockwise (UK 1986 Dir Christopher Morahan 96 min)
Tue 14 Apr 8.30pm
John Cleese stars as pompous, uncompromising school headmaster Brain Stimpson in this British madcap triumph written by Michael Frayn. When Stimpson leaves for Norwich to give an important address at the annual headmaster’s conference, a simple journey becomes a hapless expedition across the Midlands countryside during which he impersonates a monk, kidnaps one of his sixth-formers and becomes a fugitive. As his disastrous race against the clock gets ever more frustrating, in true Cleese style, it gets more and more hysterical.
This film was selected by Miranda Hart.
To Be or Not To Be (US 1942 Dir Ernst Lubitsch 99 min)
+ Live intro by Caryn Mandabach
Wednesday 15th April 8.30pm
Ernst Lubistch ’s most celebrated film brings the energy and fizz of the screwball comedy to a sharp political satire. Set in Warsaw at the outset of World War Two, it stars Jack Benny and Carole Lombard (in her final screen appearance) as married actors who, when Hitler’s troops invade, must, with the rest of their company, give the performances of their lives to save pilot Robert Stack and the Polish resistance from Nazi spies.
The Graduate (US 1967 Dir Mike Nichols 106 min)
+ Intro via Skype by Jon Ronson
Thursday 16th April 6.30pm
This landmark satire on America’s bourgeoisie made a star of Dustin Hoffman and won a Best Director Oscar for Mike Nichols. In his first major role, Hoffman is sensational as the confused college boy who is seduced by an older married woman ( Anne Bancroft), then falls for her daughter (Katharine Ross). Considered one of the all-time great American comedies, the film has a screwball-style script by Buck Henry and Calder Willingham, but also draws on the cool, dry brand of humour that Nichols had worked up as one half of comedy duo Nichols and May in Chicago’s improv comedy scene of the late 1950s and early 1960s.
Tickets: barbican.org.uk/film Box Office: 0845 120 7527
