5. Blazing Saddles (1974)

The movie: Blazing Saddles is one of Mel Brooks' fin🌺est spoofs. To some, it's his best work. To him? "It’s the funniest movie, I think, by far," he said after it landed at number four on the AFI's best comedy countdown. "No matter what the AFI list says. Five should be the next number. One to four should be Blazing Saddles.” 

It satirises all the cliches of the Hollywood western, the work of writers Gene Wilder and Richard Pryor, resulting in a ridiculously silly film. Told from the perspective of a black sheriff in an all-white town, Cleavon Little's lawman tries to stop the place getting torn down to make way for railway tracks. Brooks wrings🌺 this set-up for as many gags as he can without a jot of concern for🙈 historical accuracy.  

It's offensive, chocked with political๊ incorrectness, and makes mockery of the blatant racism inherent in early Westerns. Hard to imaginಞe anything this subversive hitting screens today.   

Funniest moment: The town prepares for the arrival of its new sheriff, and everything gets real꧟ly un-PC, really fast when they realise he's African American. 

4. This is Spinal Tap (1984)

The movie: A rock mockumentary that frequently tops 'best of' comedy countdowns, This Is Spinal Tap is both sharp and supremely daft. It's a bemusing look into the lives of an English rock band told by a film crew following them on tour. The three leads, Harry Shearer, Christoph�🌜�er Guest and Michael McKean, even bonded like a proper band and ad-libbed most of their scenes, giving the film that added wacky edge. Not like it needs it. 

The film's gone on to become such a cultural treasure it was selected for preservation by the National Film Registry, and entered into Library of 🐠Congress. Forever. See? Even the government's not running the risk of this movie ever getting deleted.   

Funniest moment: Spinal Tap's one of those movies that's full of so many stand-out moments, it's impossible to pick a favourite. Alright, so the tiny Stonehenge being lowered onto the stage does come close.  

Funniest moment: A hysterical passenger gꦓets "taken care of" by... well,