GroupThink: Anchorman Leads Our List of the Best Comedy Films

Last week, we introduced GroupThink, where the Big Lead writers get together and provide wildly different opinions on a topic, and then the results are combined. First, it was ranking the NFL quarterbacks. This week, with the death of George Kennedy at age 91, we decided to disagree on our favorite comedies.

Everyone submitted their top 15 comedy films. The results were quite varied. Sixty-eight different movies were listed. Only three appeared on more than half the ballots. Movies were assigned points (15 for 1st, 14 for 2nd, etc.) and the totals were tabulated.

There was a clear winner, though. Let’s just say that it’s kind of a big deal.

#1 Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (6 ballots, 69 points, 1st on Douglas and Koster)

#2 The Big Lebowski (4 ballots, 49 points, 2nd on Douglas)

#3 Coming to America (5 ballots, 48 points, 3rd on Phillips)

#4 Dumb and Dumber (5 ballots, 39 points, 4th on McIntyre)

#5 Animal House (4 ballots, 33 points, 5th on Phillips)

#6 Monty Python and the Holy Grail (3 ballots, 33 points, 1st on Phillips)

#7 Blazing Saddles (3 ballots, 33 points, 2nd on Lisk and Phillips)

#8 Old School (4 ballots, 28 points, 6th on Shamburger)

#9 Airplane! (4 ballots, 26 points, 1st on Lisk)

#10 Annie Hall (2 ballots, 26 points, 2nd on Glasspiegel)

The NEXT 10

#11 Office Space

#12 Ace Ventura: Pet Detective

#13 American Pie

#14 Blues Brothers

#15 Step Brothers

#16 Borat

#17 Tommy Boy

#18 Caddyshack

#19 Dr. Strangelove

#20 Groundhog Day

Here are the individual votes used to make up the Big Lead GroupThink rankings: