In 1977, American comedy was kicked squarely in the nuts when three upcoming writers and a barely-known director created the infamous spoof Kentucky Fried Movie to riotous acclaim.

Movie comedy was never the same again.

Writers Jerry and David Zucker, with Jim Abrahams, teamed up with future legend John Landis to pile ridicule on serious cinema and make gags about pee on popcorn, but they did it in such an affectionate, surreal way that their comedy has become some of the most memorable of the 80’s.

Their unique blend of slapstick, visual puns and verbal gags rocketed the boys into the big league, snaring even bigger acting names into lampooning themselves. ‘Airplane!’ (1980) featured a stellar cast from the very disaster movies they were spoofing: Robert Stack, Lloyd Bridges and Peter Graves were all stalwarts of the ‘Terror at X Thousand Feet’ school of film, and add an hilarious gravitas to the lunacy.

Having said lines like “We need to find someone who can fly a plane, and who didn’t have the fish for dinner...” in apparently serious movies, it appears the most natural thing in the world to see these old guard making the dour sound comical.

Star and Shadow Cinema is proud to present the best of 80’s comedy, starting with...