25 top comedies of all-time

22 Wayne's World (1992)
Dir Penelope Spheeris (Mike Myers, Dana Carvey, Tia Carrere)

Quintessential quote: 'Did you ever find Bugs Bunny attractive when he put on a dress and played girl bunny?’

Heavy metal was under fire from all angles in 1992: Nirvana were on the up, Tipper Gore was on the rampage and, weirdly, poodle hair and spandex just didn’t seem that cool any more. But the final nail in the coffin – unintentionally, it seems – was poor old innocent Wayne Campbell. In peeking behind the double denim and studs to uncover the cuddly mid-30s stay-at-home air-guitar nerd who dwells inside every hardcore rocker, Penelope Spheeris and Mike Myers simultaneously celebrated the scene’s finest elements – the solos, the camaraderie, the true icons like Alice Cooper – and lampooned its more ludicrous excesses. The result, ironically but entirely intentionally, is one of the sweetest, cosiest comedies of recent years: ‘Wayne’s World’ is like a warm blanket, albeit a leather one studded with grinning skulls. TH