Top 10 Funniest Documentaries
They don't all have to be serious! Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we’re counting down our picks for the documentaries that made us laugh, along with helping us learn something new.
Transcript
00:00 "Jesus told me so, there's something to live for."
00:03 "Okay, cut, take 31."
00:04 "Oh, is that enough now?"
00:06 Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the documentaries that
00:11 made us laugh, along with helping us learn something new.
00:14 "The joke sucks.
00:16 You suck for having the idea of putting this on a documentary."
00:22 Number 10.
00:23 Anvil - The Story of Anvil
00:26 Have you ever had a day where everything went wrong?
00:28 Now imagine if a whole tour went the same way.
00:31 "The band has been around so long, it's not like a band that just got reunited or in shape."
00:37 Anvil is a band from the 1980s that struggled to reach the same success as their contemporaries.
00:43 "Why did they just fall off the radar?
00:45 I really have no idea."
00:46 "You have to be in the right place at the right time."
00:49 Their doc recorded their attempts at re-entering the mainstream via a series of shows in Europe.
00:55 Things always seemed to go wrong at the last second, from missing their transfers to not
00:59 being paid after shows.
01:09 Despite the misfortune, the members maintain a positive attitude about their careers.
01:13 "A major label should put this out because it's not justice to have something that sounds
01:18 as good to go out on anything less than that."
01:21 Their self-deprecating jokes about their lack of recognition added a layer of humorous self-awareness.
01:26 "He's gonna look at it, he goes, 'Let me see, what am I looking at?
01:29 Okay, these guys are in their 50s, and he's got another band that's, these guys are in
01:34 their 20s.
01:35 Hmm."
01:36 It offered a realistic view of making it in the music industry while still managing to
01:40 be funny, which is definitely a hard line to walk.
01:44 9.
01:45 Get Through The Gift Shop
01:58 Street art has been on the rise in recent years, with many people utilizing the form.
02:02 "This hybrid form of graffiti was driven by a new generation using stickers, stencils,
02:08 posters and sculptures to make their mark by any means necessary."
02:14 The most well-known of the early 21st century is arguably Banksy, an anonymous creator with
02:20 a penchant for pranking his audience.
02:22 Exit Through The Gift Shop had the same effect.
02:25 People couldn't tell if it was real or not.
02:27 "Street art has a short lifespan, so it needed documenting.
02:31 You know, we all needed someone who knew how to use a camera."
02:35 While Banksy was supposed to be the original topic, that changed early on when he noticed
02:39 how peculiar filmmaker Thierry Guetta was, and how most of his original footage was unusable.
02:46 This led the artist to flip the script and take over the project, which was now about
02:50 the former director becoming a successful artist himself.
02:53 "So this is gonna be like a jail.
02:56 She's gonna have bar here."
02:57 Guetta's earnest eccentricity combined with the expert's commentary morphed it from
03:02 a standard documentary to a laugh riot.
03:04 "They say that art is dead, but it's all around us.
03:05 Great.
03:06 Bravo.
03:07 It's all around us.
03:09 Great.
03:10 Bravo."
03:11 8.
03:12 Swimming to Cambodia
03:13 If a performer is worth their salt, then they should be able to entertain, no matter the
03:17 circumstances.
03:18 Spalding Gray proved just how talented he was when he filmed Swimming to Cambodia.
03:23 "And it was the first day off in a long time, and the Thai waiters are running and
03:27 smiling and bringing us more.
03:29 Closter, closter, closter beer."
03:32 It's centered around a simple concept - his experiences working in another continent.
03:37 The twist?
03:38 It was all one long monologue.
03:40 "90% of the land was owned by the people.
03:43 It was earth, it was dirt, but it was theirs and it was good.
03:46 And they knew how to have a good time."
03:48 While there was a risk of losing people's attention, he kept them entranced.
03:53 Each story is layered with chaos that ramps up with each sentence, until the viewer is
03:58 at the edge of their seat waiting for the final punchline.
04:01 "Number 8.
04:02 And number 8 stands up and you can tell immediately by the expression on her face it's not gonna
04:07 be as great as you fantasize because among other things you've interrupted her TV show."
04:12 From hallucinating sharks to his feelings on patriotism, everything he said was dripping
04:17 in hilarity.
04:18 It was a new use of the form that solidified Gray's status as a legendary performer.
04:23 "This is it, this is a mission.
04:25 It's not just a film that I was here for, it's all coming together now."
04:29 Number 7.
04:30 Not Quite Hollywood - The Wild Untold Story of Osploitation
04:36 Exploitation films were a niche subgenre that took off throughout the 1960s to the
04:39 80s, with many taking place in Australia.
04:43 "Most of the Australian genre films were actually released in America, alright, through
04:48 exploitation houses and stuff.
04:50 And it was actually coinciding with the whole big Australian boom."
04:53 Many critics and viewers found them to be overly gratuitous when it came to sex and
04:58 violence, and many have been excluded from the continent's cultural history.
05:02 "Australians at the time didn't want to see it as Australian.
05:05 They were saying, 'That's not us, we don't behave like that.'"
05:08 This documentary set out to give those Osploitation projects their flowers.
05:13 The director crafted a love letter to the genre, highlighting movies that he felt were
05:17 given a disservice.
05:18 "The crocodile was supposed to move at a reasonable clip, well I suppose that might
05:23 have depended a little bit on what your definition of a reasonable clip was."
05:26 The result was an informative yet highly entertaining piece showing some of Australia's raunchiest
05:31 films.
05:32 The scenes they showed were hilariously campy, and the interviews from acclaimed directors
05:36 like Quentin Tarantino only added to the entertainment value.
05:40 "Then I showed it to Uma, and she goes, 'I'm not gonna do that.'
05:43 And I go, 'Why?'
05:44 And she goes, 'You wouldn't have your eyes open like that if you were in a coma,
05:49 that's not realistic.'
05:50 I go, 'Actually, I never thought, was it realistic or not, it's just Patrick did
05:54 it, alright?'"
05:55 It was the perfect way to learn more about a nearly forgotten genre.
05:59 "We didn't really know what we were doing, we just kind of leapt into it and just tried
06:05 to shoot the living crap out of it, and some of it was pretty good."
06:08 Number 6.
06:09 Slasher
06:10 "What happens when you get excited?
06:12 Sometimes you let your guard down about your shopping mode, you let your guard down, you
06:15 get sucked in."
06:16 When seeing the title, you may think it's about a serial killer, but this man was more
06:20 fond of slashing prices than people.
06:22 "People say, 'What's a good deal on a car?
06:26 Whatever you think is a good deal.
06:28 What is a good deal?
06:29 I don't know.
06:30 Is it in your budget?
06:31 Do you like the vehicle?
06:32 Are you happy?
06:33 That's a good deal."
06:34 Michael Bennett was a used car salesman with a love for the game.
06:37 He often employed a tactic where he would advertise cars at an extremely low price for
06:42 a limited time.
06:43 His energy on screen is matched only by his excitement for sales.
06:47 "How did you plan on buying a car today?
06:49 Do you got a bag full of money?
06:50 Do you have a cosigner?
06:52 If you get some right answers, maybe we can turn that red tag into a blue tag."
06:56 His increasingly banana sales ideas combined with his never-ending passion results in a
07:01 hilarious watch.
07:03 "When I come up, I want you guys to go, 'What do I gotta do?'
07:06 I'm gonna say, 'What do I gotta do?'
07:07 And you're gonna go, 'What?
07:08 What do I gotta do with this car, folks?'
07:11 Slash it!
07:12 Slash it!"
07:13 Him sprinting around to slash prices on the spot as customers incessantly honk is so chaotic
07:19 that it seems scripted.
07:21 And yet, it's all real.
07:22 "How about a slasher?
07:23 Take off $4,500.
07:24 Take some $1,500."
07:25 "Take some $1,500."
07:26 "Take some $1,500."
07:27 "Take some $1,500."
07:28 "Take some $1,500."
07:29 "Take some $1,500."
07:30 "Take some $1,500."
07:31 "Take some $1,500."
07:32 "Take some $1,500."
07:33 "Take some $1,500."
07:34 "Take some $1,500."
07:35 "Take some $1,500."
07:36 "Take some $1,500."
07:37 "Take some $1,500."
07:38 "Take some $1,500."
07:39 "Take some $1,500."
07:40 "Take some $1,500."
07:41 "Take some $1,500."
07:42 "Take some $1,500."
07:43 "Take some $1,500."
07:44 "Take some $1,500."
07:45 "Take some $1,500."
07:46 "Take some $1,500."
07:47 "Take some $1,500."
07:48 "Take some $1,500."
07:49 "Take some $1,500."
07:50 "Take some $1,500."
07:51 "Take some $1,500."
07:52 "Take some $1,500."
07:53 "Take some $1,500."
07:54 "Take some $1,500."
07:55 "Take some $1,500."
07:56 "Take some $1,500."
07:57 "Take some $1,500."
07:58 "Take some $1,500."
07:59 "Take some $1,500."
08:00 "Take some $1,500."
08:01 "Take some $1,500."
08:02 "Take some $1,500."
08:03 "Take some $1,500."
08:04 "Take some $1,500."
08:05 "Take some $1,500."
08:06 "Take some $1,500."
08:07 "Take some $1,500."
08:08 "Take some $1,500."
08:09 He recorded these moments and released them as audio clips before eventually adapting
08:13 them to film format.
08:14 "First of all, I thought it was this one lunatic, like, talking to himself in the room,
08:19 right?
08:20 Then I understood, 'Oh, there's two dudes in there, and they're fighting.'"
08:22 The footage included compilations of the incidents, which were sometimes exacerbated by the ones
08:28 recording.
08:29 They're biting insults and explosive arguments made for fantastic entertainment.
08:33 They seemed to come up with the most creative ways of demeaning each other, with plenty
08:38 of swearing peppered in.
08:39 However, despite their tumultuous fights, they reportedly had a deep friendship.
08:43 "Giggle all you want to!
08:46 Giggle!
08:47 Giggle, dirty little man!
08:50 You always giggle falsely!"
08:52 It showcased how layered people are, and how they can maintain relationships despite being
08:57 seemingly antagonistic.
09:00 Number 4.
09:01 Tabloid
09:02 There's always two sides to every story.
09:04 "It was like he had a personality alteration.
09:08 Kirk number one, and Kirk number two.
09:11 Kirk number one was the man I fell in love with.
09:15 Kirk number two was cult Kirk."
09:18 In this intense historical documentary, director Errol Morris set out to explain one of the
09:23 most outrageous cases in UK history, centered around a troubled young woman and her obsession
09:29 with her Mormon lover.
09:30 "She was in her late 20s, had an outstanding figure, had a southern accent, long blonde
09:37 hair."
09:38 There are plenty of bizarre twists, from kidnapping to supposed cult activity.
09:43 Her and her ex have always had conflicting accounts on what truly happened, which fueled
09:48 the tabloid-heavy culture at the time, and is obviously not a joking matter.
09:52 "It had religion, it had a beauty queen kidnapped at gunpoint."
09:57 The movie sets out to paint the events in an unbiased light, while highlighting how
10:01 the media response caused people to not see her alleged crimes as serious.
10:06 "It wasn't clear really what Keith Mays voted for us, except that he adored Joyce."
10:13 However, the events and people involved can seem so out there at times, that it may be
10:18 difficult not to laugh as you try to piece together what truly occurred.
10:22 Number 3.
10:23 Winnebago Man
10:24 This doc asks one important question.
10:28 What happens to those who become internet famous?
10:30 In Winnebago Man, that question is answered tenfold.
10:34 "I've seen this like hundreds of times, man.
10:37 This guy's like a legend, basically."
10:40 The viral source in question is Jack Rebney, a former journalist and spokesman for RVs,
10:45 who became known after a series of expletive-ridden commercial outtakes were released on VHS
10:51 and YouTube.
10:52 "The Winnebago Concepts and Engineering Department developed a multifunctional bathroom.
10:57 Privacy, I don't even know what the f*ck I'm reading."
10:59 The documentary was focused around the director desperately trying to find Rebney and get
11:04 his side of the story.
11:05 "I had no idea that anybody had taken those outtakes and put them together."
11:11 "Ultimately, one of my dear friends called and he said, 'Have you pulled yourself up
11:15 on the internet?'"
11:16 The clips of his freakout combined with the real-life cantankerous personality of Jack
11:21 added a funny yet endearing quality to the film.
11:24 "Whomever might possibly watch this documentary that you're making, I'd like to have them
11:30 say to themselves, 'Well, gee, I never thought about that.'"
11:35 Beyond the comedy, Winnebago Man also made important points about how highlighting someone's
11:39 worst day can often have long-term consequences, something that we're still learning to this
11:45 day.
11:46 "Not even funny anymore."
11:48 "You're paying the price for our collective, you know, cultural guilt at having humiliated
11:54 this person."
11:55 Number two, the aristocrats.
11:57 "Everybody starts people."
11:58 "And then one of them vomited on me and that made everybody else sick."
12:01 Throughout history, jokes have been repeated and passed down to new generations.
12:06 One has survived due to its explicit nature.
12:09 "Chevy Chase supposedly used to have parties and the criteria was you had the mom, the
12:14 dad, the son, the daughter, and a dog and you had to talk with some combination of that
12:19 without repeating yourself."
12:21 The basic setup is that a family is trying to get picked for a show, and when asked for
12:25 their talent, they either perform or describe a series of vulgar and usually illegal activities
12:31 as part of their act.
12:33 "My wife and I come out on stage.
12:35 I've taken a lot of medicine prior to the appearance and I've eaten a lot of cabbages."
12:41 Then, when asked for their act's name, they simply say they're "the aristocrats."
12:47 "What do you call the act?"
12:49 "The aristocrats."
12:51 This long-running bit was the theme of a doc featuring comedians, from Phyllis Diller to
12:55 Bob Saget.
12:56 "Mother had a big boil on her back.
12:58 That popped."
13:00 Each comic told their variation of the bit, explaining its contribution to the art form
13:04 as a whole, while also showcasing their own unique comedic styles.
13:09 The result is a side-splitting yet genuinely enlightening piece about one of the most long-standing
13:15 quips in history.
13:16 "You could see the guys up on the dais were looking at each other and they had this look
13:19 of familiarity in their eyes.
13:21 They were all sort of saying, 'Where is he going to take this thing?'"
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13:40 Number 1.
13:41 American Movie
13:42 Moviemaking isn't an easy process, but the hard work is usually hidden behind the shiny
13:47 final product.
13:48 "Why the hell are we here?
13:50 We're working on Northwestern, the third draft.
13:53 I've got to get it so it's not embarrassing to give out."
13:56 Making films independently can be even harder, as revealed in 1999's American Movie.
14:03 "Oh, you did follow me.
14:10 Yeah."
14:11 The footage follows director Mark Borschart as he attempts to make a movie while navigating
14:16 constant issues, such as a lovable yet inept crew and a lack of funds.
14:21 "And then another time we dragged Mark, like, headfirst through a swamp like 25 times."
14:28 The true heart and humor comes from this crew as they try to help him, from his senile yet
14:34 loaded uncle to his loyal best friend.
14:37 "It's alright.
14:38 There's something to live for.
14:42 Jesus told me so."
14:45 "Okay, great film, but we gotta, we have to have fluidity in there."
14:50 "It's alright.
14:51 It's okay."
14:52 Despite the setbacks, they were able to finish the short film, even if it was just minutes
15:01 before the premiere.
15:02 It showed a raw yet hilarious representation of how much work, skill, and dedication it
15:07 takes to fully commit to the creative process.
15:11 Which documentary made you laugh the hardest?
15:13 Let us know in the comments.
15:14 "I ain't gonna do this anymore.
15:16 That's all for me.
15:18 Goodbye."
15:19 Did you enjoy this video?
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15:27 [music]
15:37 you