The Funniest Movies of All Time

June 16, 2017

Fake it till you make it. 

We’ve all heard that phrase. And if you’re like me, you probably have spent a good portion of your life ignoring it.

But then Amy Cuddy and her ultra popular TED talk came along and it wasn’t something to be dismissed any longer. Fake it till you make it is a real thing.

No matter how our day has gone or what evil has befallen us, our mood can be changed. If we carry ourselves differently–positively–it will actually change our brain waves. If we’re depressed or nervous and then strike a superhero pose, as strange as that sounds, our mood will change.

It turns out our body posture controls our mind, not the other way around. If we stand up strong, we become strong. If we walk with confidence, we become confident. And if we smile and laugh, we become upbeat and funny.

It’s that third one I’m interested in this week. I think it’s possible to have a positive attitude every day. I don’t think it’s inevitable that we eventually become down or depressed. In fact, negativity can be shoved right out of our lives. All we have to do is laugh.

If we’re laughing, we’re happy. If we’re laughing, nothing else can break into our brains. To that end, we could make our lives an oscillation between two different mental states: happy and engineered happy.

If we’re having a great day, then that’s a great day. If we’re having a bad day, find something to make you laugh. And keep laughing until the day gets better.

To aid in that quest, I’ve made a short list of the funniest movies of all time. There aren’t any bad days with these cinematic masterpieces. Feel free to email me with movies funnier than these, just understand that any other suggestions are wrong.

In no particular order:

(if you don’t like swear words, then don’t click on the hyperlinks)

1. Step Brothers. The first time I saw it I ended up falling off the couch and not knowing how I got there. It’s totally ridiculous and sophomoric and a majestic piece of art.
2. Dumb and Dumber. I could call up any of my students who were around me around the time this movie came out, say a line, and they would know the next line immediately. We got no money, we got no jobs... And it’s the last time Jim Carrey was fun to be around.
3. Anchorman. Just a week ago, I said, “Milk was a bad choice.” And the truth is: everyone in my life knows exactly what that means. I’m not sure why it didn’t win any awards, but I do know that Shakespeare himself could never have created its equal.

My book is called The Inevitability of Becoming Rich, and you can find that here.