So let’s get one thing straight. Funerals are generally sad occasions. You’ve lost someone you love and/or care about, and your life is a little dimmer for that moment until you learn to move on. Okay, now that the serious stuff is out of the way, funerals can actually have a fair amount of hilarity to them, especially in movies. Think about it this way as well, if the person you’re laying to rest had a good sense of humor, would they want you crying, or laughing about the good times over a cold one while you’re among family? Seems kind of self-explanatory really.
Here are a just a few funeral moments in which a touch of funny makes everything a little more bearable.
5. Without A Paddle
First of all apologies for the quality of the clip, it’s what I could find. Second, for such a somber moment Jerry and Dan don’t seem too worried when they hear their friend Tom arrive. Tom is the guy that’s undisciplined, kind of a screw up, and has almost no filter when he speaks. “Is that the corpse of Billy?” I do believe some people might actually want to chuck him from the cemetery at that point, unless they knew him. Then it might be acceptable to just let him in and hope he shuts up.
4. Grown Ups
Keep in mind that some people when they go would rather you remember them fondly and enjoy the memories rather than lament their demise. If a person has a long and happy life they’ll usually say have a drink on me and crack open a memory while you’re at it. Think about it, the act of enjoying a person through remembrance is so much more fun than singing Ave Maria in front of a laughing crowd at a funeral.
3. Old School
You’re my boy blue! Old people pass away, yes they do. But before you go muttering this at a funeral try thinking about who you’re sitting next to. Also, if I can make one request at my own funeral, I would gladly state that I want no one, and I mean NO ONE, singing Dust in the Wind over my coffin. Sentimental or not, I’d rather someone place an old-fashioned boombox on my final resting place and start blasting some Peter Gabriel or even Bill Withers.
2. Wedding Crashers
Ugh. This is despicable but funny. Funerals should be respectful at least even if you inject some much-needed humor into them. To use them to get laid is, well, deplorable to say the least, but obscenely funny all the same. At the very least it opened John’s eyes to what was really important so that he could see the shame for what it was.
1. This Is Where I Leave You
Yes I did. I picked a drama scene for the most comical funeral scenes. Why did I do it? Because Jason Bateman, Adam Driver, and Tina Fey, and of course Jane Fonda, are all simply hilarious on screen together. They created a chemistry that is not normally seen in a dramatic film of this caliber and managed to create a film that, while downplayed and underrated, is simply awesome in its simple but funny way.
If you’re going to be funny at a funeral, know the limit. And definitely gauge the crowd before you get rolling.
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