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Thu 30 July 2026 18:45, UK
He may not be known as a particularly hilarious man, but when it comes to naming the greatest comedy of all time, Christopher Nolan only has one immediate answer.
One of the many, many, many nauseating debates to emerge from The Odyssey is whether or not the filmmaker is capable of telling a joke in his films, and the answer is that he is, but he’s never going to be one of those people who stops the action for the sake of a gag and pauses so the audience can laugh.
If he tried to make a comedy on purpose, though, that would be an entirely different matter. Nolan has previously shared that he thinks all of his pictures are comedies, which they absolutely are not, but if push came to shove and he made a film predicated solely on splitting viewers at the sides, could he do it?
Well, he loves Talladega Nights and MacGruber, so his personal tastes are fairly lowbrow, but that doesn’t mean he could reinvent himself as the second coming of Mel Brooks or Judd Apatow. It would be fascinating to see him try, even if there’s at least a 50/50 chance it would be an unmitigated disaster.
Not all auteurs are cut out for comedy, but because Nolan has a not-undeserved reputation for being buttoned-up, stiff-upper-lipped, and supremely British, he takes maybe more flak for it than his peers. Could the two-time Academy Award winner make a movie universally lauded as hilarious? It seems doubtful, but when it comes to the genre itself, he appreciates the all-time greats.
When asked to reveal his one and only favourite comedy movie of all time, the two-time Academy Award winner didn’t hesitate: “Withnail and I,” he responded. Bruce Robinson’s 1987 favourite has long since transcended its early status as a cult classic to become something else, and at this stage, it’s roundly regarded as one of the finest British films to emerge from any genre.
It’s also become one of the most influential, with everyone from Johnny Depp and Shane Black to Paul Rudd and Alexander Payne citing it as being either an inspiration or one of their all-timers, too. As well as the laughs, Nolan also gets emotional whenever he sees it, which is the mark of any great movie.
Further reading: Cutting Room Floor
“I can’t watch Withnail and I without getting a little lump in my throat,” he explained. “It’s a crazy comedy, but there’s a beautiful melancholy to it.” The best comedies have the effortless ability to both tickle the funny bone and pluck the heartstrings, often in the space of a single scene, and there are few that have managed to do it better than Robinson’s gem.
If Nolan does ever pluck up the courage to make a comedy of his own, then expect it to be more aligned with Withnail and I than MacGruber, since balancing laughs and pathos seems slightly more up his street than rapid-fire, scattershot jokes being thrown out every ten seconds.
