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The Golden Globes provide an enviable platform to celebrate humor. tourist) You can’t blame some Oscar voters for wanting comedy to be bigger in the annual voting landscape.
But how can the Academy compete with a voting body that dedicates entire categories to comedic performances and films?
As it turns out, most of the Oscars’ acting nominations and wins are for dramatic narratives, but there’s a strong track record of voters praising actors who deliver wildly entertaining turns across a slew of comedy categories, from satire to romantic comedy to slapstick to navel-gazing indie heroes.
In this year’s Best Actress race, three of this year’s five main contenders brought their own unique brand of humor. of debut Julianne Moore; invitation Olivia Wilde; and adhesion The groundbreaking Inde Navarrette — Moore led her turn as a New Jersey housewife turned free-spirited Method theater actress in Jesse Eisenberg’s second directorial effort.
Here’s a breakdown of over 36 comedic performances that were nominated or won in Oscar history. It’s broken down into the unique brand of comedy highlighted in each role, and includes mentions of standout 2027 contenders ready to follow in their footsteps.
Either harmlessly eccentric or downright eccentric.
Woody Allen and Yorgos Lanthimos, two unique and hotly controversial filmmakers, have helmed some indelibly funny, Oscar-winning work by female actors. Diane Keaton, of course, made history with her iconic Best Actress win at Allen’s. Annie Hall 1978; Dianne Wiest won Best Supporting Actress for Allen’s period play. bullet on broadway 1995; Mira Sorvino won Best Supporting Actress for her gorgeous Ditz. Mighty Aphrodite In 1996.
In recent years, Lanthimos has seen his leading female co-stars also strike gold, starting with Olivia Colman, who plays a deranged, sex-addicted queen in a role that earned her a Best Actress Oscar. favorite thing 2019; And Emma Stone won the Best Actress Award across genres. poor things In 2024.
Also, don’t forget to mention Ruth Gordon’s wickedly funny Best Supporting Actress win. rosemary’s baby In 1969, Amy Madigan won the same category the previous year. weaponBoth provide a good precedent for certain upstart competitors below.
Hopes for 2027: obsessive Navarrete
satire or spoof
Tom Cruise can point to the excellent 1964 satire that earned Peter Sellars a Best Actor nomination. Dr. Strangelove As a hopeful precedent for the work Cruise delivers in this season’s most polarizing film, seller. Other nominees he was happy to spoof include two of Mel Brooks’ favorites: Gene Wilder, who won Best Supporting Actor in 1967; producer; Madeline Kahn, winner of the Best Supporting Actress Award in 1974 Blazing Saddle.
2027 Applicants: cruise inn seller, robert pattinson prime time
Dustin Hoffman was nominated for Best Actor for the 1982 film. clairvoyanceThe romance between a straight woman and a transvestite turns the romantic comedy on its head. After the world recovered from the shock that an American actor had dared to do a British accent, Renee Zellweger won the Best Actress Oscar in 2001 for her charming transformation. Bridget Jones’s Diary. Soon after, Diane Keaton was nominated for Nancy Meyers’ Mature Love Story (2003). Something has to give.
however <영화>The winners of the Best Actor and Best Actress awards were Clark Gable and Claudette Colbert. what happened one night 1935 — He proved that romantic comedies could be crafty, too. They paved the way for future winner Richard Dreyfuss (Best Actor). hello girl 1977; Goldie Hawn won Best Supporting Actress in 1970. cactus flowers; Jack Nicholson and Helen Hunt won both Best Actor and Best Actress in James L. Brooks’ Best Picture winner. as good as possible In 1998.
2027 Applicants: full cast invite: Olivia Wilde, Penelope Cruz, Seth Rogen, Edward Norton
Slapstick, completely over-the-top — or both.
A few years after her win, Hawn made the Oscar race even more welcoming to the fool when she was nominated for Best Actress for her role in the 1980s military comedy. Private Benjamin. As for military performances, his dark side hasn’t aged well, but it did get Robert Downey Jr. enough laughs to earn him a Best Supporting Actor nomination in 2008. Tropic Thunder. Melissa McCarthy surprised everyone, including herself, in 2011 when she was nominated for Best Supporting Actress for her antics. bridesmaid; And Jonah Hill, with his cartoonish chops and full-on drug addiction, won Best Supporting Actor for Martin Scorsese’s 2013 bio-comedy. The Wolf of Wall Street.
The winner here was Jack Lemmon, who took home the Best Supporting Actor trophy for his 1960 drag comedy. Some people like it hot And 30 years later, Kevin Kline turned armpit smell into performance art when he won Best Supporting Actor for the 1989 film. A fish called Wanda. Hollywood vet Jack Palance earned a memorable win in 1992 at the age of 73, winning Best Supporting Actor for his menacing performance. city slickers Curly, the ranch owner. (Who can forget the one-arm push-ups he did on stage?) And a year later, Marisa Tomei’s gangster princess Mona Lisa Vito stole the show from her male counterparts and won the Best Supporting Actress Oscar. my cousin beanie In 1993.
Hopes for 2027: of debut moore
comic relief
Robin Williams, who played real-life (and highly animated) Air Force radio host Adrian Cronauer, was nominated for Best Actor in Barry Levinson’s gripping 1987 war drama. good morning, vietnam. Soon comedic relief for serious or sad stories would see the pair win Best Supporting Actress for their supernatural love story in Whoopi Goldberg in 1991. ghost; And Italian writer, actor and director Roberto Benigni had a memorable crowd surfing experience after winning the best actor award for his harrowing Holocaust drama. life is beautiful In 1999.
2027 Applicants: Wild Horse Nines John Malkovich and Sam Rockwell
indie-funny-sad
20 years before Sean Baker’s low-budget phenomenon. Anora A slew of interesting indie talent swept the Oscars, where they had quietly been nominated for less flashy work. In reality, the two played dull actors. Bill Murray was nominated for Best Actor in Sofia Coppola’s 2003 film. loss of translation; Thomas Haden Church wins Best Supporting Actor in Alexander Payne’s 2004 Indie category. byway.
Elliot Page (then Ellen Page) was nominated for Best Actress in a 2007 teen pregnancy drama. Juno; Speaking of Payne, Paul Giamatti is nominated for Best Supporting Actor in the director’s 2023 film. holdover (But nothing can make up for Giamatti’s damning accusations. byway).
Fans enjoyed two deserving indie winners with Alan Arkin’s long-awaited 2007 Oscar win for Best Supporting Actor. Little Miss Sunshine (His foul-mouthed, heroin-shooting grandfather dies midway through the film.) Kieran Culkin delivers a masterclass in indie-funny-sad with his Best Supporting Actor nod in Jesse Eisenberg’s directorial debut. real pain In 2025.
2027 Applicants: club kidJordan First Man, tender loving careby Kate O’Flynn