The best comedic performances from the 1980s are still just as funny decades later. The 1980s produced plenty of hilarious comedy movies, with studios investing in original ideas and fresh talents. Actors like Eddie Murphy and Bill Murray were on top of their game in the 1980s, delivering some iconic performances which have stood the test of time. 40 years later or more, they are still career-defining.
1980s comedies had a particular feel to them. Before the cynicism and dark comedies of the 1990s, Hollywood comedies in the 1980s were mostly optimistic and comforting. Characters still went through dire straits, but there was always hope that they would come out on the other side as better and happier people. This style of comedy is always popular, since its hopeful nature is great to rewatch over and over again.
Related 10 1980s Comedies Barely Anyone Remembers
Some of the most influential comedies of the 20th century were released in the 1980s, but many audiences fail to remember the underrated classics.
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10 Eddie Murphy In Beverly Hills Cop
Axel Foley
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Director Martin Brest Release Date November 30, 1984 Cast Eddie Murphy , Judge Reinhold , John Ashton , Lisa Eilbacher , Ronny Cox , Steven Berkoff
Many of Eddie Murphy’s best movies came out in the 1980s, including Coming to America and 48 Hrs. Beverly Hills Cop could be the best of all, and it kick-started a franchise for Murphy’s fast-talking, street-smart cop Axel Foley. Murphy gives one of his most charismatic and entertaining performances as Axel Foley. He often plays multiple characters in the same movie, but he is more focused and reserved in Beverly Hills Cop.
The character wouldn’t work as well if Murphy wasn’t so much fun to watch.
Axel is smart and likable. He knows just what to say to get a room at a lavish hotel, or how to talk his way out of trouble when he is caught in a strip club while on duty. The character wouldn’t work as well if Murphy wasn’t so much fun to watch. He can always get laughs with broad strokes, but Beverly Hills Cop shows that he can be just as funny while playing a more grounded character. Murphy isn’t just a soloist, however, and he bounces off the other performers brilliantly.
9 Bill Murray In Ghostbusters (1984)
Dr. Peter Venkman
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Director Ivan Reitman Release Date June 8, 1984 Cast Bill Murray , Dan Aykroyd , Sigourney Weaver , Harold Ramis , Ernie Hudson , Rick Moranis
Bill Murray is at his deadpan best in Ghostbusters. While Harold Ramis and Dan Aykroyd are constantly over-awed by their paranormal findings, Murray plays it cool. He takes everything in his stride, whether his friend is babbling on about his latest ghost-busting invention, or whether he has glimpsed into a demonic portal. Murray is hilariously underwhelmed at all times. He knows that when everything around him is already funny, he can get a laugh by doing nothing at all.
Peter Venkman is an egotistical showman, but Murray’s nonchalance makes him a lovable character all the same.
The Ghostbusters franchise has struggled to recapture the effervescent comedy of the original movie. The legacy sequels may have introduced some fun new characters and delivered some jaw-dropping sci-fi spectacle, but they lack the humor of Murray, Ramis and Aykroyd. Peter Venkman is an egotistical showman, but Murray’s nonchalance makes him a lovable character all the same.
8 Meg Ryan In When Harry Met Sally (1989)
Sally Albright
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Director Rob Reiner Release Date July 21, 1989 Cast Bruno Kirby , Meg Ryan , Carrie Fisher , Steven Ford , Billy Crystal
Billy Crystal and Meg Ryan develop dazzling chemistry in When Harry Met Sally. So many of the movie’s biggest laughs come from their dynamic that it’s hard to talk about one performance without considering how it complements the other. When Crystal is self-confident and borderline smarmy, Ryan is positive and curious. Harry and Sally are polar opposites in some ways, but this gives their conversations the perfect amount of comedic friction.
Although Meg Ryan is hilarious in her interactions with Billy Crystal, she shows that she can be just as funny without a helping hand.
Although Ryan is hilarious in her interactions with Crystal, she shows that she can be just as funny without a helping hand. In one of When Harry Met Sally‘s most iconic scenes, Crystal is a silent audience member as Ryan erupts into a fake orgasm in the middle of a crowded diner. Sally is more in touch with her emotions than Harry, so Ryan often shoulders the movie’s emotional burden. The fact that she can do this while still being hilarious is very impressive.
7 Rick Moranis In Spaceballs (1987)
Dark Helmet
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Director Mel Brooks Release Date June 24, 1987 Cast John Candy , Daphne Zuniga , Mel Brooks , Rick Moranis , Bill Pullman
Dark Helmet is one of Mel Brooks’ funniest characters, thanks in part to Rick Moranis’ performance. In Brooks’ Star Wars spoof, Dark Helmet is his miniature stand-in for Darth Vader. He and Moranis turn one of the most terrifying villains in film history into a laughable sideshow with a Napoleon complex. Moranis’ short stature and expressive facial features make the character funny before he even opens his mouth. He’s probably the last actor anyone would pick to play an imposing villain.
Moranis’ short stature and expressive facial features make the character funny before he even opens his mouth.
Moranis barks his lines in Spaceballs, as if Dark Helmet is trying desperately to appear more intimidating and important than he really is. Between his frequent tantrums and his dolls, Dark Helmet is an overgrown child. This is only half the joke, but to make it complete, Moranis has to insist upon his own delusions of grandeur. He puffs out his chest, but Moranis’ flair for slapstick means that Dark Helmet never seems threatening.
6 Nicolas Cage In Raising Arizona (1987)
H. I. McDunnough
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Director Joel Coen , Ethan Coen Release Date April 10, 1987 Cast Nicolas Cage , Holly Hunter , Trey Wilson , John Goodman , William Forsythe , Sam McMurray , Frances McDormand , Randall ‘Tex’ Cobb
Nicolas Cage can play dramatic and comedic roles with equal success. No matter what kind of movie he’s involved in, he always commits to the character with every fiber of his being, and he isn’t afraid to take big swings. This is what makes Hi feel so unhinged and melodramatic in Raising Arizona, especially when he is leading the police on a breathless chase after his kidnapping.
Hi is a true original, and he only works as a character thanks to Cage’s goofy charms and his intensity.
Hi is a true original, and he only works as a character thanks to Cage’s goofy charms and his intensity. Hi may have a good heart, and he wants to provide for the love of his life, but he lacks any kind of common sense. Cage is hard to dislike as Hi, even when he is kidnapping a baby or robbing a convenience store. His exaggerated Southern accent and his vacant look make him a sympathetic and hilarious hero.
5 Dustin Hoffman In Tootsie (1982)
Michael Dorsey
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Director Sydney Pollack Release Date December 17, 1982 Cast Dustin Hoffman , Jessica Lange , Teri Garr
Tootsie stars Dustin Hoffman as a struggling actor who impersonates a woman to get a female role on a popular TV show. The script draws a lot of dramatic irony out of the fact that nobody knows Michael’s true identity as a man playing a woman in real life who’s playing a woman on TV. Hoffman shows just enough of his male side to keep the joke entertaining, but never so much that it becomes obvious that the other characters should see through the ruse.
As the stakes get higher and Michael gets in too deep, Hoffman becomes a bundle of nervous energy.
Hoffman performs a careful balancing act in Tootsie. He differentiates Michael from his female alter ego in subtle ways that suggest he is getting swept away in his own lie, but he also has moments of clarity when Michael’s performance is dangerously close to being uncovered. As the stakes get higher and Michael gets in too deep, Hoffman becomes a bundle of nervous energy.
4 Leslie Nielsen In The Naked Gun: From The Files Of Police Squad (1988)
Frank Drebin
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Director David Zucker Release Date December 2, 1988 Cast Leslie Nielsen , Priscilla Presley , Ricardo Montalban , George Kennedy , O.J. Simpson , Susan Beaubian
Leslie Nielsen famously began his career as a dramatic actor, and this equipped him with all the skills he needed to be one of the funniest deadpan performers in Hollywood. The Naked Gun makes full use of his comedic persona, as he plays an incompetent, bumbling detective in a noir-style mystery. The Naked Gun is a spoof of hard-boiled detective movies, and Nielsen plays his part as if he’s auditioning for the role of Sam Spade.
Nielsen has an extraordinary flair for saying ludicrous, nonsensical things with a completely straight face.
Nielsen’s deep, languid voice makes The Naked Gun‘s best quotes even funnier. He has an extraordinary flair for saying ludicrous, nonsensical things with a completely straight face. He pairs this aspect of his performance with some oafish slapstick. Frank Drebin may be able to talk like a real cop, but his actions frequently betray him. Liam Neeson has a tough act to follow in the Naked Gun reboot.
3 Kevin Kline In A Fish Called Wanda (1988)
Otto
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Director Charles Crichton , John Cleese Release Date July 15, 1988 Cast John Cleese , Jamie Lee Curtis , Kevin Kline , Michael Palin , Maria Aitken , Tom Georgeson
Kevin Kline won an Oscar for his performance in A Fish Called Wanda, which is a rare feat for a comedy movie. Kline plays Otto, an unhinged member of the gang who tries to stab his partners in the back. Otto is constantly trying to prove his intelligence to others to hide his insecurity, but reading Nietzsche clearly doesn’t grant him any common sense. Kline plays him with an intense anger bubbling under the surface.
Kevin Kline won an Oscar for his performance in
A Fish Called Wanda
, which is a rare feat for a comedy movie.
Kline gives Otto a frantic energy that betrays his deep anxieties. Otto tries to assert his dominance while his boss is facing trial, but he is easily brushed aside by Wanda. To cope, he piles even more misery on Ken, who he sees as the only person firmly below him in the pecking order. It’s a joy to watch Kline’s performance as Otto gradually loses his cool. This is captured perfectly by his death scene, in which he runs through all five stages of grief in a matter of seconds before being crushed to death.
2 Jamie Lee Curtis In Trading Places (1983)
Ophelia
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Director John Landis Release Date June 8, 1983 Cast Eddie Murphy , Jamie Lee Curtis , Ralph Bellamy , Don Ameche , Dan Aykroyd , Denholm Elliott
Between the fast-paced hilarity of Eddie Murphy and Dan Aykroyd’s exhausted, world-weary act, Jamie Lee Curtis could easily have flown under the radar in Trading Places. Instead, her performance is arguably the most compelling of the lot. Her character is designed to counter Aykroyd’s doom-and-gloom with some tough love and realism. Curtis also injects a lot of empathy, but Ophelia has her limits, and she is not content with being a shoulder to cry on.
If
Trading Places
is a screwball comedy arriving late to the party, Curtis’ performance is what makes its battle-of-the-sexes angle work.
Ophelia welcomes Louis to the real world. She starts out with cynical intentions, expecting a sizable payout in return for her help, but she soon thaws and shows the goodness of her heart. If Trading Places is a screwball comedy arriving late to the party, Curtis’ performance is what makes its battle-of-the-sexes angle work. The confidence she exudes makes Aykroyd’s self-pitying character even more laughable.
1 Matthew Broderick In Ferris Bueller’s Day Off (1986)
Ferris Bueller
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Director John Hughes Release Date June 11, 1986 Cast Jennifer Grey , Matthew Broderick , Mia Sara , Alan Ruck , Jeffrey Jones
Matthew Broderick delivers a charismatic performance in Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, which is important since so much of the movie’s appeal hinges on how much fun the audience has spending time with him. Ferris is a teenager with a confident worldview and an ability to drag his friends along into his own fantasy world. This could make him seem egotistical or flighty, if not for Broderick’s inherent charm.
Matthew Broderick delivers a charismatic performance in
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,
which is important since so much of the movie’s appeal hinges on how much fun the audience has spending time with him.
Ferris is a character who the audience wants to see succeeding, even if his version of success involves slacking off. Broderick’s breaking of the fourth wall and his cheeky demeanor work wonders, and he also helps himself to some of the movie’s most memorable quotes. Broderick has to be both funny and philosophical as Ferris. Ultimately, he makes Ferris’ appeal to slow down and enjoy life hard to resist.