10 Side-Splitting Comedies Similar to A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum

Description: A sophisticated romantic comedy featuring witty banter, class commentary, and a strong female lead navigating multiple suitors and social expectations.

Fact: The film was adapted from a Broadway play written specifically for Katharine Hepburn to revive her career. It was remade as the musical 'High Society' in

Description: A classic musical comedy with mistaken identities, slapstick humor, and witty wordplay, set in a historical backdrop.

Fact: Danny Kaye's famous tongue-twisting song 'The Maladjusted Jester' was performed in one take. The film was initially intended to be a straight adventure movie before being rewritten as a comedy.

Description: A farcical comedy featuring cross-dressing, rapid-fire dialogue, and chaotic situations, blending romance with screwball antics.

Fact: The film was shot in black and white partly because the heavy makeup used for the cross-dressing scenes looked unnatural in color. It was Marilyn Monroe's last major comedic role.

Description: A stylish crime comedy with bumbling characters, elaborate schemes, and a playful tone that balances sophistication with absurdity.

Fact: The iconic animated Pink Panther character was created for the opening credits and became more famous than the film itself. The movie was originally intended to be a serious heist film before being reworked as a comedy.

Description: An epic-scale comedy featuring over-the-top characters, elaborate set pieces, and a rivalry-driven plot filled with physical humor and visual gags.

Fact: The famous pie fight scene used over 4,000 pies and took five days to film. It was the most expensive comedy made at the time, with a budget of $12 million.

Description: A screwball comedy revival with mistaken identities, rapid-fire dialogue, and escalating chaos, paying homage to 1930s-40s comedies.

Fact: The film's famous chase scene through San Francisco was inspired by similar sequences in silent films. It was the first movie to use the now-common practice of listing stunt performers in the credits.

Description: A boundary-pushing Western spoof that combines slapstick, anachronistic humor, and social satire with musical elements.

Fact: The famous campfire beans scene was inspired by real cowboy stories about the effects of eating beans. The film was one of the first to use the word 'fart' in its script.

Description: An absurdist historical comedy blending clever wordplay with surreal visual humor and satirical takes on medieval tropes.

Fact: The coconuts used for horse sounds were added because the budget couldn't afford real horses. The film was shot in just five weeks on a very small budget.

Description: A parody film packed with visual gags, puns, and absurd situations that lampoons disaster movie tropes while maintaining a deadpan delivery.

Fact: The film contains over 300 jokes, averaging about three per minute. The directors insisted on casting dramatic actors rather than comedians to enhance the absurdity.

Description: A murder mystery farce with multiple endings, exaggerated characters, and a rapid-fire comedic pace that turns a simple premise into chaos.

Fact: The film was released with different endings sent to different theaters, a marketing gimmick that confused audiences. It was based on the board game but took significant liberties with the source material.