The 10 Best Comedies of All Time to Watch on 4/20
Get ready for 4/20 with this list of hilarious comedies you should binge-watch on the glorious holiday.
Image via Complex Original
Though you won’t see it illustrated with some piece of indecipherable clip art on any commercial calendar, April 20 (a.k.a. 4/20) is indeed considered a holiday amongst certain, shall we say, laid-back factions of society. Like any other lazy holiday, logging some serious couch time is one of its great traditions. This means that if you want to do it right, you’ve got to do some planning to figure out which movies and television series will best pay tribute to the glorious day.
We’ve done you one better and planned out your 4/20 marathon, with 10 great comedies—both movies and television series—that are sure to keep you giggling mindlessly into the wee hours of 4/21. So slip into your comfiest pajama bottoms, grab a plate of tacos, and settle in for some laughs.
Deadbeat (2015)
It’s hardly a coincidence that the second season of Hulu’s original series, Deadbeat, will make its triumphant return on 4/20. After all, the show is about ne’er-do-well medium Kevin Pacalioglu (a.k.a. “Pac”), who uses his very real ability to see the dead to finance his very real love for marijuana. His only friend is a dude named Roofie, who, in addition to selling pot, gets Pac set up with a proper operation for aiding and abetting ghosts.
The show plays up the more uncomfortable aspects of being a medium, like having to seduce an old woman in order to release the ghost of her teenaged boyfriend into the afterlife (and kind of liking it). Tyler Labine nails the part of the reluctant ghost whisperer, Pac, and James Franco, Danny DeVito, Fred Armisen, Michael Ian Black, and Gilbert Gottfried round out the heavyweight list of guests appearances in the show’s second season.
The Big Lebowski (1998)
There’s no denying the fact that Joel and Ethan Coen are two of the most innovative and entertaining filmmakers working in Hollywood today. And while the bulk of their oeuvre might be seen as quirky to some degree, when it comes to flat-out nonsensicalness, The Big Lebowski reigns supreme. The story is seemingly straightforward enough: A middle-aged, cardigan-wearing slacker known as “The Dude” would rather smoke pot, drink White Russians, and go bowling than, say, work for a living. And he lives that dream until he’s mistaken for a multi-millionaire whose much younger wife (a pre-downfall Tara Reid) has been kidnapped. Lebowski ends up becoming part of the solution to getting her back, which doesn’t make the movie sound so out there, that is, until you get to "The Gutterballs" scene. Long story short, The Big Lebowski is best enjoyed in multiple viewings, on the couch, with a White Russian in hand.
Beavis and Butt-Head (1993-1997, 2011)
Based on the character names alone, Mike Judge made it clear from the get-go that this subversive animated series, which ran on MTV from 1993 to 1997, then again for a single-season revival in 2011, would dabble in the absurd. And that it did. It followed the adventures (and mostly misadventures) of a pair of hard rock-loving, glue-sniffing, near-monosyllabic misanthropes who spend most of their time plopped in front of the television watching videos (in the revival version, they watch reality shows), trying to figure out how to get chicks. Though it may take being an indoctrinated viewer to fully appreciate the brilliant nuances of The Great Cornholio and “needing TP for my bunghole,” there’s no better way to make that happen than with a day-long binge-watch.
Dazed and Confused (1993)
About 20 years after its initial release, Richard Linklater’s Dazed and Confused still has the ability to transfix audiences. Maybe that’s because it’s so immensely quotable. Or maybe it’s that the film is a period piece about a group of Texas teenagers on the last day of high school in 1976. Whether or not you were even born in the ‘70s, the film’s themes—cliques, hazing, and hormones—make it universally relatable for teenagers, whether they know who Foghat is or not. The film is also a Hollywood time capsule, as it features some of the earliest performances from a handful of actors who went on to become major stars, including Ben Affleck, Milla Jovovich, Parker Posey, and Matthew McConaughey, who, in character as David Wooderson, uttered his first “Alright, alright, alright.”
Bored to Death (2009-2011)
Though it does a fine job masquerading as a clever neo-noir dramedy, at its heart, this beloved series might better be described as a smart-stoner comedy. It’s about a struggling writer named Jonathan Ames (played by Jason Schwartzman) whose drinking and drugging leads his longtime girlfriend to leave him. Taking a page out of a Raymond Chandler book, Jonathan decides to fill his newfound free hours by moonlighting as a private eye—a job for which he has no training or aptitude. It all plays into the fun, bumbling-detective trope. The show also gets bonus points for co-starring Zach Galifianakis.
Friday (1995)
Before he got all family-friendly by starring in movies like Are We There Yet?, rapper-turned-actor Ice Cube knew how to sniff out a great script. Four years after making an impressive onscreen debut in John Singleton’s Oscar-nominated drama Boyz n the Hood, Cube showcased his comedic chops alongside then-newcomer Chris Tucker in this 1995 comedy from F. Gary Gray. It basically follows a day in the life of a small-time pot dealer named Smokey (Tucker) and his recently unemployed buddy Craig (Cube). They spend the day smoking and observing the goings-on in their neighborhood, until Smokey realizes that he’s broken the first cardinal rule of drug dealing: Don’t get high on your own supply. It prompts the two of them to spring into action and find a way to raise the $200 in product that they burned before boss man Big Worm kills them both.
Fast Times at Ridgemont High (1982)
Before there was Dazed and Confused, there was Fast Times at Ridgemont High—the Cameron Crowe-penned, Amy Heckerling-directed 1982 coming-of-age comedy that actually emerged from the time Crowe spent going undercover at a California high school. It proves—regardless of the decade—that high school students are pretty much all the same: horny and hungry for mind-altering experiences. Though Phoebe Cates’ red bikini may have emerged as the film’s favorite star, in terms of actual human characters, Sean Penn’s goofy surfer dude, Jeff Spicoli, is easily its most memorable.
South Park (1997— )
In the pantheon of smart television, it’s almost ironic that so many of the bravest series come in animated form. Then again, maybe it’s not so surprising that it would take only a voice—and not a real, live actor—to utter the kinds of seditious lines that have come out of the mouths of Cartman, Kyle, Stan, and Kenny—South Park’s four main rabble-rousers. Though it’s all based in bits of silliness, that the series is still going strong since its debut in 1997 is a testament to how expertly it balances being politically aware and scatological.
Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (2004)
Sometimes the best comedies are the ones that put forth the simplest premise. In the case of Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle, the plot is pretty much laid out in the title: After dealing with typical post-college, quarter-life crises during the day, buddies Harold and Kumar want to spend their Friday night getting high and eating burgers. Both tasks seem to elude them at every turn, and the evening quickly devolves into an escalating series of surreal exploits. At one point, this involves picking up a hitchhiker who turns out to be Neil Patrick Harris, who, high on ecstasy, steals the guys’ car. Haven’t we all been there?
Freaks and Geeks (1999-2000)
Most of the standout comedic moments in Paul Feig’s cancelled-too-soon high school series come from seriously embarrassing scenarios for its characters. That’s probably why this ‘80s-set high school series resonates so poignantly with viewers. In addition to delivering emotion and humor in equal levels, the attention that Freaks and Geeks pays to both of its titular stereotypes gives added depth and dimension. Over the course of the series it becomes clear that both groups are struggling with the same issues and insecurities, including (but not limited to): dating, sex, the politics of teenagedom, whether or not disco does indeed suck, and—ultimately—the future.