The 100 Funniest Musicals Ever

Yesterday on Twitter, there was a lot of talk about a recent list that EW.com posted of the 13 Funniest Broadway Musicals Ever. (Although upon closer inspection the list was actually published in June. Whatever.)

Click through the link above for a slide show of the musicals that made EW's list, but here's a less labor-intensive breakdown of the winners:

1. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
2. The Book of Mormon
3. Avenue Q
4. The Producers
5. Spamalot
6. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
7. Little Shop of Horrors
8. The Drowsy Chaperone
9. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
10. Kiss Me Kate
11. How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
12. Hairspray
13. Urinetown

Well, lists are always suspect, specious, artificial and subject to vociferous debate. But they're also a helluva lot of fun to compile and to contemplate. So, let's start with EW's choices. Whadya think, reader? A little too heavily focused on recent shows, perhaps? Not enough historical perspective? Inevitably, one of your favorites will be missing from the list, or perhaps listed lower than you might like. My first thought was about some glaring omissions. I mean, Guys and Dolls? How could any supposedly compehensive list of the funniest shows be complete without Guys and Dolls? 

But even beyond that clearly unpardonable lapse, the more I thought about it, the more some other genuinely funny shows, both recent (Xanadu, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson) and not-so-recent (Little Me, They're Playing Our Song, City of Angels), kept coming to mind. 

So, I ask you dear, reader, what was I to do except set about compiling a list of my own? I have a little experience with lists, having previously compiled my own rankings of The 100 Best Musicals of All Time, The 100 Next-Best Musicals, The Most Overrated Musicals, The Most Underrated Musicals, and The Musicals That Suck, among others. (See left sidebar for a full list of lists.) I've gotten a lot of hate mail about all of the above, and I expect to get more about the list below. Feel free to carp, snipe, bemoan, and otherwise make your opinions known. And feel free to compile a list of your own and send it along.

Keep in mind, though, that I've ranked these particular shows not in terms of their overall quality but rather in terms of their humor content. Often, the two go hand in hand, but some of the shows here listed aren't primarily known as comedies, although they may contain a considerable amount of humor. That explains why certain magnificent shows (e.g. My Fair Lady, The Fantasticks) might not be ranked as high as some other shows that are not quite as good but are considerably more funny.

Anyway, let the kvetching begin.

1. A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum
2. The Book of Mormon
3. Avenue Q
4. Guys and Dolls
5. The Drowsy Chaperone
6. How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying
7. Little Shop of Horrors
8. Urinetown
9. Little Me
10. Xanadu
11. The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee
12. Bat Boy
13. City of Angels
14. The Producers
15. Hairspray
16. [title of show]
17. Spamalot
18. They're Playing Our Song
19. Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson
20. The Full Monty
21. A Day in Hollywood/A Night in the Ukraine
22. Hello, Dolly!
23. Anything Goes
24. Chicago
25. The Music Man
26. Kiss Me Kate
27. The Great American Trailer Park Musical
28. A Chorus Line
29. Damn Yankees
30. Fiddler on the Roof 
31. Into the Woods
32. Falsettos
33. La Cage aux Folles
34. The Pajama Game
35. Sweet Charity
36. Wonderful Town
37. Finian's Rainbow
38. My Fair Lady
39. Altar Boyz
40. The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
41. As Thousands Cheer
42. Dirty Rotten Scoundrels
43. Grease
44. On the Town
45. 1776
46. Of Thee I Sing
47. Li'L Abner
48. Me and My Girl
49. My Favorite Year
50. No, No, Nanette
51. On the 20th Century
52. Once Upon a Mattress
53. When Pigs Fly
54. Annie Get Your Gun
55. Promises Promises
56. Strike Up the Band
57. The Boys From Syracuse
58. The Pirates of Penzance
59. The Rocky Horror Show
60. 42nd Street
61. Annie
62. Gutenberg - the Musical
63. High Button Shoes
64. A Connecticut Yankee
65. The Boyfriend
66. Pippin
67. Where's Charley?
68. Pins and Needles
69. Mame
70. Gentlemen Prefer Blondes
71. She Loves Me
72. Victor/Victoria
73. A Little Night Music
74. The Mikado
75. The Wedding Singer
76. Legally Blonde
77. The Wiz
78. Candide
79. The Sound of Music
80. Bye Bye Birdie
81. Rock of Ages
82. Reefer Madness
83. Little Mary Sunshine
84. The Marvelous Wonderettes
85. Dames at Sea
86. The Toxic Avenger Musical
    
87. The Fantasticks
88. Ernest in Love
89. Nunsense
90. Olympus on My Mind
91. What's That Smell: The Music of Jacob Sterling
    
92. The Musical of Musicals - The Musical
93. Forever Plaid
94. Lucky Stiff
95. The Kid
96. Hedwig and the Angry Inch
97. Xanna, Don't 
98. You're a Good Man, Charlie Brown
99. Whoop De Doo
100. Evil Dead - The Musical

Honorable Mention: Forbidden Broadway - Why haven't I listed it above? Because it has so many different versions. Which one was the funniest? That's another post entirely.