Top 20 Iconic Comedy Characters of the 80s to 2000s
Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the most beloved characters in comedies from 1980 to 2009.
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00:00Welcome to WatchMojo and today we're counting down our picks for the most beloved characters
00:10in comedies from 1980 to 2009.
00:13Animated characters are not included, unfortunately.
00:15And heads up, there will be spoilers.
00:24Happy Gilmore, Happy Gilmore.
00:33One of Adam Sandler's most enduring comic roles, Happy is not a happy camper.
00:37An unsuccessful hockey player turned golfer, Happy is short-tempered and prone to hilarious
00:41outbursts.
00:50Happy even throws hands with none other than Bob Barker of The Price is Right, his golfing
00:54partner, and quickly learns the score.
01:00Happy's determination to win the tournament to save his grandmother's house from foreclosure,
01:04however, wins the day.
01:05As it turns out, Happy was based on Sandler's childhood friend, who too had been a hockey
01:09player with a truly fast swing.
01:11Sandler's physical comedy and line delivery are spot on, making Happy one of his most
01:16iconic roles.
01:30With many iconic lines, Mandy Patinkin's Inigo Montoya proves that even villainous
01:35henchmen are human too, and are sticklers for the proper use of vocabulary.
01:39From his politesse-induling The Dread Pirate Roberts and friendship with gentle giant Fezzik,
01:44his swashbuckling Hamlet's greatest motivation is to avenge his father's death.
01:56This six-fingered Claudius turns out to be Count Rugen, whom Inigo finally duels in the
02:00climax of the film, finally uttering what he had been dying to say to him for all these
02:05years.
02:06It's a great parody of the typical revenge plot, with the most endearing comic character.
02:30What do you get when you put a tomboy in a beauty pageant?
02:32Comedy gold, obviously.
02:34Gracie is a rough-and-tough FBI agent, constantly overlooked and disregarded by her colleagues.
02:38When they receive information of a possible terrorist attack at a beauty pageant, Gracie
02:42goes undercover as Miss New Jersey.
02:49Hilarity ensues, as Gracie struggles with and warms up the beauty pageant world, as
02:54well as successfully foiling a terrorist plot regarding a bomb in the crown.
02:58In the end, Gracie reconciles both her masculine and feminine sides.
03:01Sandra Bullock's charm and chops as an actor in portraying Gracie's toughness and
03:05femininity elevate the film to a whole new level.
03:25Leslie Nielsen already gave a spectacular comic performance in Airplane, with this now
03:30iconic line.
03:35Nielsen delivered yet another whopper of a performance in another parody series, this
03:39time on Detective Films.
03:41First appearing in the TV series, Police Squad, Nielsen's Lieutenant Frank Rebbon bumbles
03:45his way to solving mysteries, from getting bribed by his witnesses to shooting Shakespearean
03:50thespians in a park.
03:57Nielsen's straight-faced line delivery is a pitch-perfect recreation of your regular
04:01police detective.
04:02It also brings the comic idiocy of his police work to stark relief.
04:06Nobody is going to call this guy Shirley any time soon.
04:22These great ones are also dum-dums.
04:24Bill and Ted are regular high school students, destined to be founders of a great utopia.
04:28First though, they have to pass history class or else this utopia will vanish into the mist.
04:32They are helped by fellow citizen Rufus, and, well, themselves.
04:42That's right, their future selves also come to tell them excitedly about their own, soon-to-come
04:49time-travelling adventures.
04:51Which is righteous.
04:52Sure enough, Bill and Ted meet, befriend and kidnap several historical figures, including
04:56Napoleon, Socrates, Beethoven and more.
04:59Their history report turns out to be a winner, and they pass the course with flying colours.
05:03Which is like, you know, totally cool.
05:15If you thought Jane Austen's Emma was clueless, wait till you see her modern counterpart.
05:19Cher Horowitz is more than spoiled and privileged.
05:22She also has unique opinions on US immigration policy.
05:25More to the point, she also has a penchant for matchmaking, taking on the awkward Ty
05:28Frazier as her new project.
05:31Although Cher is convinced that searching for love in high school is as useless as searching
05:34for meaning in a Pauly Shore movie, it doesn't take long for her head to be turned as well.
05:41Cher's quirky and intermittently shrewd superficiality is comic, especially as she realises the clueless
05:47one may just be herself after all.
06:03This ghoulishly fun performance by Michael Keaton has to be seen to be believed.
06:07After a married couple, the Maitlands, get into a car accident and come back as ghosts,
06:11they must contend with the presence of the Deets family living in their home and scare
06:15them away.
06:16It's their daughter, Beetlejuice, who agrees to help scare the family away, but his morbid
06:20ways and crude personality wreak havoc.
06:30Beetlejuice continues on his antagonistic ways when he agrees to help the Maitlands
06:34from getting exorcised, in exchange for marrying the Deets' daughter, Lydia.
06:38A bigger-than-life personality, even when he is small, Keaton's Beetlejuice is a scene
06:43stealer.
06:56Eddie Murphy already showed his comic chops as Reggie Hammond in 48 Hours, but Axel Foley
07:00in this iconic buddy cop film franchise is justly beloved.
07:04Street-smart, quick-witted and charismatic, Axel is initially on probation, reprimanded
07:08for ruining a sting operation with his reckless actions.
07:11Axel redeems himself though, with his sharp eye, impeccable police instincts and killer
07:16groove.
07:18Axel's down-to-earth charm and quick thinking is a good antidote to his hard-boiled superiors,
07:24and is perfect for a more comic take on the crime genre.
07:27Murphy's breakout performance shot him into international stardom.
07:30Axel's popularity as the leading man is enough to inspire multiple sequels.
07:45Guard your loins, because she is coming.
07:47If you don't know the difference between turquoise, lapis or cerulean, Miranda Priestly
07:51is here to call you out on your ignorance.
07:58Meryl Streep gives what would have been a two-dimensional villain true icy menace as
08:02Andy's horrific boss.
08:04Miranda is the editor of a fashion magazine, with the perfectionist-if-charismatic attitude
08:08that threatens to suck down-to-earth Andy into her fashion queen era.
08:12Miranda is the boss from hell alright, but she is also a character who has paid a very
08:16high price for her success.
08:18Also, her cerulean monologue about the relevance of fashion is justly iconic.
08:36This fourth war-breaking miscreant is one we cannot help but love.
08:40A slacker student, Ferris takes a day off faking an illness and even goes to the trouble
08:44of doctoring his attendance records at school.
08:51From there, he and his friends paint the town.
08:53Unfortunately, the school's dean, Edward Rooney, gets suspicious of Ferris' frequent
08:58absences and almost catches him in the act.
09:00I mean, you'd think it would be less trouble to go to school.
09:02On the other hand, we'd never get Matthew Broderick's pitch-perfect performance and
09:06his fourth war-breaking asides.
09:25Perhaps the most well-known-if-controversial mockumentary, Borat would be very different
09:29without its quirky protagonist.
09:31Sacha Baron Cohen's Borat is a fictional journalist from Kazakhstan going to America
09:35to make a documentary about American culture and customs.
09:40Dumb, provincial and laughably sexist and anti-Semitic, Borat also sends up the dumb,
09:51provincial and laughably prejudiced parts of American life.
09:53Much of the comedy stems from Borat's broken English and quirky guileless character, contrasting
09:58with the quirky Americans he encounters.
10:01Offensive or not, Baron Cohen's Borat is one of the most memorable comic personas in
10:04a while.
10:19Will Ferrell has portrayed many iconic characters, including the innocent and naive Buddy the
10:23Elf, but Ron Burgundy is an Anchorman who truly deserves the label of legendary.
10:28Burgundy is a bumbling Anchorman with no filter.
10:31He will also read anything that is put on the teleprompter.
10:34No thoughts, head empty.
10:41Ferrell actually took inspiration for the movie and the character from an interview
10:44with a 70s Anchorman, his mannerisms, accent and even sexism.
10:48Which checks out.
10:50Burgundy's buffoonery is filled with quotable lines and instances, including the now-meme
10:54legend.
11:06The Queen Bee of the school is the de facto queen of this film.
11:09There's nothing quite like an antagonist to steal the show, and Rachel McAdams'
11:13Regina George is proof of that.
11:15Regina is the leader of the Plastics, with a mean, plastic personality herself.
11:21Regina's meanness includes many hilarious lines and moments.
11:27From gaslighting new girl Kady to preventing Gretchen from making Fetch happen, McAdams'
11:32Regina's mean girl evil is at legendary levels.
11:35Fortunately, or unfortunately, she gets her comeuppance once Janice and Kady's plan
11:39to take down Regina is revealed, to the whole school's approval.
11:42Fetch may never happen, but Regina definitely did.
11:56The details of Dr Evil's childhood may be inconsequential, but they are certainly hilarious.
12:01Austin Powers has an iconic main character in Mike Myers' groovy James Bond send-up,
12:05Austin Powers.
12:06Before that, Myers had already proved his comic chops as Wayne in 1992's Wayne's
12:11World.
12:13From his iconic bored look, to his dead Pantones, to his fatherhood issues, Dr Evil is a lovable
12:16villain, and a pitch-perfect parody of the typically unsubtle Bond villain.
12:27You could say he had the sort of general malaise that only the genius possess and the insane
12:33Number 6 – Elle Woods, Legally Blonde Franchise
12:39Oh my god, you guys.
12:44Looks like Elle is going to win the prize, of being one of the most beloved characters
12:47in comedy history.
12:48Like Clueless' Cher, Elle is rich and spoiled, but with an intelligence sharp enough to get
12:52her into Harvard Law School.
13:00Although initially in it for the boyfriend, and vastly underestimated by all around her,
13:05Elle bucks down to study and becomes a formidable lawyer.
13:08In the climax of the film, her particular knowledge of fashion and perms aids her in
13:11winning a murder case.
13:13Elle's success makes the feminist point that one can be a great lawyer and also like
13:17pink.
13:18Slay, queen.
13:19I mean, what is with comic films and bumbling detectives, eh?
13:37Jim Carrey has made his career creating unforgettable comic characters, such as Lloyd Christmas
13:41and Dumb and Dumber.
13:42Carrey's The Mask character is also the best example of a live-action cartoon we've
13:46ever seen.
13:47Our pick is Ace Ventura, another hilariously incompetent detective, trying to solve the
13:52case of a missing dolphin.
13:54Carrey's physical mannerisms and extravagant personality have us in raptures any time.
14:15Marty McFly's adventures and time travel have become one of the most beloved in cinema,
14:19and Marty himself is an iconic character.
14:21However, this series would have never been the same without Christopher Lloyd Dock, the
14:24inventor of time machines.
14:26Dock is an eccentric, frazzled scientist, combining typical absent-minded professor
14:30shenanigans with a modern attitude.
14:40More than that, Dock proves a benign and open-minded mentor to young Marty.
14:44Eventually, he grows convinced that time travel is dangerous for mankind, and destroys
14:48it.
14:49Inspired by the appearance and quirks of Albert Einstein and Leopold Stokowski, Dock proves
14:53that not all fictional scientists are evil masterminds.
14:58Who you gonna call?
15:06Dr Peter Venkman, of course, played by Bill Murray.
15:09A professor of parapsychology, Venkman, along with his fellow professors, create Ghostbusters
15:14after their first encounter with an actual ghost.
15:16Venkman's cynical charm and irreverent, deadpan humour make him the perfect leader
15:20of the Ghostbusters.
15:24As the Ghostbusters bumble their way into capturing ghosts and even establish themselves
15:27as a household name, Venkman is the face of the group, taking on the marketing, dealing
15:31with the police and checking out Dana, her apartment, I mean.
15:35Venkman's down-to-earth professionalism is a great comic contrast with the supernatural
15:38entities he captures.
15:49A man disguised as a woman has been a treasure trope in all comedy, to Shakespeare, to Some
15:54Like It Hot, to Tootsie.
15:56Hollywood legend Robin Williams' Mrs Doubtfire is one of the most memorable.
15:59After his wife takes custody of their kids, Daniel Hillard decides to disguise himself
16:03as a British nanny.
16:10Williams' excellent voice acting skills and physical comedy serve him well as Hillard
16:14struggles with passing as a believable and competent nanny to his kids.
16:18Even when the mask finally slips off, Hillard's love for his children manages to win over
16:22his bitter ex.
16:24Williams' comic charm carries the day.
16:29Before we unveil our top pick, here are a few honourable mentions.
16:33Dale Griffith, planes, trains and automobiles, because his stories are not even amusing accidentally.
16:43Clark W. Griswold, National Lampoon's vacation franchise, because nothing says Superdad like
16:48ruining everything.
16:53Alan Garner, The Hangover franchise, because he is literally too stupid to insult.
17:03Sally Albright, When Harry Met Sally, because we would all like what she's having.
17:29Lebowski, The Big Lebowski Sure, there is the Vietnam-obsessed Walter
17:38and his hilarious eulogy to poor, departed Donnie, but in the end, the crown has to go
17:42to the dude himself, also known as his dudeness, Duder or El Duderino if you're not into
17:47the whole brevity thing.
17:56The dude is a slacker bowler, mistaken for a different Lebowski altogether.
18:01The dude and his two friends go to the other Lebowski, who hires them to deliver a ransom
18:04for his kidnapped girlfriend, Bunny.
18:06The dude's laid-back, wise-ass attitude in the face of serious threats makes this
18:10character a joy to watch.
18:12He may be a loser, but at least he's housebroken.
18:17So which other iconic comic character do you always gird your loins for?
18:22Let us know in the comments down below.
18:23Bye!