Comedy 101

Comedy 101 is a quarterly series that showcases the seminal films and roles that have influenced subsequent generations of movies, filmmakers, and comedians. Each installment focuses on a performance or story that is required viewing for film and comedy enthusiasts alike: from Buster Keaton’s deadpan vaudevillian slapstick to the manic energy of Gene Wilder’s explosive zero-to-sixty hysteria; inimitable scene-stealers like Madeline Kahn, Jonathan Winters, and Dick Shawn; and game-changers like Monty Python and Mel Brooks, who used humor to bridge divides between class and race, but also understood the importance of a well-timed fart joke. Whether it’s your first or five-hundredth viewing, Comedy 101 will make your sides split again and again.

Comedy 101 is curated and hosted by Sarah Mulligan Williams, a creative director by trade, a comedy and film enthusiast by life.