dying is easy, comedy is hard: great comedic performances

By: jsaez

alphabetically and chronologically by actor:

Jean Arthur (Easy Living)
Anne Bancroft (The Graduate)
John Barrymore (Twentieth Century)
Jack Benny (To Be or Not to Be)
Jim Broadbent (Topsy-Turvy)
Joe E. Brown (Some Like It Hot)
Michael Caine (Alfie)
Charles Chaplin (The Gold Rush)
Charles Chaplin (City Lights)
Charles Chaplin (Modern Times)
Charles Chaplin (The Great Dictator)
Charles Chaplin (Monsieur Verdoux)
Chris Cooper (Adaptation)
Ina Claire (The Greeks Had a Word For Them)
Penélope Cruz (Vicky Cristina Barcelona)
Eva Dahlbeck (Smiles of a Summer Night)
Divine (Pink Flamingos)
Robert Downey, Jr. (Tropic Thunder)
Marie Dressler (Dinner at Eight)
Irene Dunne (The Awful Truth)
Edith Evans (The Importance of Being Earnest)
Tom Ewell (The Seven Year Itch)
W.C. Fields (It’s a Gift)
W.C. Fields (Man on the Flying Trapeze)
W.C. Fields (The Bank Dick)
W.C. Fields (Never Give a Sucker an Even Break)
Henry Fonda (Mister Roberts)
James Franco (Pineapple Express)
Greta Garbo (Ninotchka)
Paul Giamatti (American Splendor)
Paul Giamatti (Sideways)
Ruth Gordon (Harold and Maude)
Cary Grant (The Awful Truth)
Cary Grant (Bringing Up Baby)
Cary Grant (His Girl Friday)
Melanie Griffith (Something Wild)
Alec Guinness (Kind Hearts and Coronets)
Alec Guinness (Last Holiday)
Alec Guinness (The Lavender Hill Mob)
Alec Guinness (The Horse’s Mouth)
Gene Hackman (The Royal Tenenbaums)
Rex Harrison (Unfaithfully Yours)
Sally Hawkins (Happy-Go-Lucky)
Goldie Hawn (Private Benjamin)
Audrey Hepburn (Roman Holiday)
Audrey Hepburn (Breakfast at Tiffany’s)
Audrey Hepburn (Two for the Road)
Katharine Hepburn (Stage Door)
Katharine Hepburn (Bringing Up Baby)
Katharine Hepburn (Holiday)
Katharine Hepburn (The Philadelphia Story)
Wendy Hiller (Pygmalion)
Dustin Hoffman (Tootsie)
Judy Holliday (Born Yesterday)
Judy Holliday (It Should Happen to You)
Miriam Hopkins (Trouble in Paradise)
Leslie Howard (Pygmalion)
Holly Hunter (Raising Arizona)
Katie Johnson (The Ladykillers)
Buster Keaton (Our Hospitality)
Buster Keaton (The Navigator)
Buster Keaton (Sherlock, Jr.)
Buster Keaton (The General)
Buster Keaton (Steamboat Bill, Jr.)
Diane Keaton (Annie Hall)
Charles Laughton (Ruggels of Red Gap)
Jack Lemmon (Mister Roberts)
Jack Lemmon (Some Like It Hot)
Jack Lemmon (The Apartment)
Harold Lloyd (Safety Last)
Carole Lombard (My Man Godfrey)
Carole Lombard (To Be or Not to Be)
Sophia Loren (Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow)
Steve Martin (The Jerk)
Steve Martin (All of Me)
Steve Martin (Roxanne)
Groucho Marx (Duck Soup)
Groucho Marx (A Night at the Opera)
Marcello Mastroianni (Divorce Italian Style)
Frances McDormand (Fargo)
Marilyn Monroe (How to Marry a Millionaire)
Marilyn Monroe (Bus Stop)
Marilyn Monroe (Some Like It Hot)
Eddie Murphy (Coming to America)
Bill Murray (Groundhog Day)
Bill Murray (Rushmore)
Bill Murray (Lost in Translation)
Sean Penn (Sweet and Lowdown)
ZaSu Pitts (Ruggels of Red Gap)
William Powell (The Thin Man)
William Powell (My Man Godfrey)
Tony Randall (Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter?)
Martha Raye (Monsieur Verdoux)
Rosalind Russell (The Women)
Rosalind Russell (His Girl Friday)
Rosalind Russell (Auntie Mame)
Peter Sellers (Dr. Strangelove)
Peter Sellers (A Shot in the Dark)
Peter Sellers (Being There)
Michel Serrault (La Cage Aux Folles)
Alicia Silverstone (Clueless)
Alberto Sordi (Mafioso)
Barbara Stanwyck (Ball of Fire)
Barbara Stanwyck (The Lady Eve)
James Stewart (The Shop Around the Corner)
Alison Steadman (Life is Sweet)
Meryl Streep (The Devil Wears Prada)
Meryl Streep (Julie and Julia)
Margaret Sullavan (The Good Fairy)
Margaret Sullavan (The Shop Around the Corner)
Spencer Tracy (Father of the Bride)
Kathleen Turner (Romancing the Stone)
Kathleen Turner (Serial Mom)
Rudy Vallee (The Palm Beach Story)
Mae West (She Done Him Wrong)
Mae West (I’m No Angel)
Dianne Wiest (Hannah and Her Sisters)
Dianne Wiest (Bullets Over Broadway)
Gene Wilder (Young Frankenstein)
Reese Witherspoon (Election)
Monty Woolley (The Man Who Came to Dinner)