Tim Burton: The 10 Funniest Moments In His Movies, Ranked

Comedy and filmmaker Tim Burton don’t always go as well together like severed heads and butterscotch, but in some warped and twisted way, the laughs squirm their way out in each and every one of Burton’s films. The director is mostly known for his off-the-wall and Gothic scenic style in his motion pictures, but even he has a funny bone (at least not literally speaking).

These movies have captivated the hearts and imagination of all ages through his characters from classic fairy tales to original lovable monsters to even a small undead dog named Frankenweenie. No matter what the case is, Burton finds a way to conjure up a mystical smile and belly laugh in the most unlikely of places. Here are the 10 funniest moments in Tim Burton movies, ranked.

10 CHARLIE & THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY (2005): Willy Wonka Remembers His First Candy Experience

Chugging along on the remake bandwagon, Tim Burton tackled the very difficult task of remaking a beloved children’s novel and iconic movie Charlie and the Chocolate Factory with Johnny Depp replacing Gene Wilder in the titular role. Following the book more closely, the mood and tone of this remake were darker and much sillier than its predecessor, but with this particular telling of the classic tale, Wonka’s childhood was explored in a greater deal.

One of the funniest moments is when Willy has a Vietnam style flashback to the first time he tried a piece of candy, which was when he was in grade school and had a Saw-like contraption on his head to keep his teeth straight.

9 DARK SHADOWS (2012): Barnabas Collins Discusses Ball Throwing

Burton ended up stepping into the television remake arena when he decided to grave rob the lovable vampire Barnabas Collins from his coffin and resurrect him in the feature film adaptation of Dark Shadows. A family and their caretakers move into a luxurious mansion where Barnabas has been hibernating for hundreds of years and is awoken in the ’70s, completely unaware of the new technology and fashion.

In this particularly funny scene at the breakfast table, the family and Barnabas discuss people of valor throwing balls at one another, which spirals out of control into private parts and a misconception of Alice Cooper.

8 SLEEPY HOLLOW (1999): Ichabod Crane Inspects The Headless Body

At the end of the last century, Burton set out to adapt the classic story of Ichabod Crane and the Headless Horseman, once an animated film, but now a gothic, comedy-horror film with Johnny Depp – again. With people turning up dead, and a supernatural evil being, terrorizing the good folks of a prominent town, Depp is hired on the case to solve the recent murders.

In one hilarious scene, Depp starts to investigate a new headless corpse and is quite disgusted and frightened of the lifeless body. Even with all of his magnifying optics, special potions, and doctoral utensils, the only thing he can sum up is that the cadaver’s head was cut off with a hot blade.

7 BATMAN (1989): Bruce Introduces Himself To Knox & Vale

1989 was the summer of Batman as Michael Keaton played the caped crusader battling Jack Nicholson playing a gangster version of the Joker. Nothing was normal about this adaptation of the comic book from the Prince soundtrack to the rubber suit, but it worked perfectly.

The funniest moment came when reporters Vicki Vale and Alexander Knox attended a party at Bruce Wayne’s manor, where they enter a room of elaborate art and historical costumes, where they make fun of the whole place. Right behind them is Bruce Wayne himself who not only laughs at the joke but makes another at his own expense and gives Knox a big momentary grant he nonchalantly asks for.

6 EDWARD SCISSORHANDS (1990): Ed Tries To Eat Dinner

The gothic filmmaker ended up making a darkly romantic tale in the 1950s with Edward Scissorhands, paying homage to his favorite films of Vincent Price, who makes an important cameo in the film. The story revolves around a safe suburban town where at the top of the hill, a scary house sits with a human creature inside with a few pairs of scissors for hands named Edward.

A family adopts him and takes him down to the real world for the first time where he is having trouble adjusting to society, but eventually finds his niche as a hairstylist. The funny sequence here is where Edward sits down at the dinner table for the first time with his new family and tries to eat steak, potatoes, and mixed vegetables. After a few minutes of trying to get food into his mouth, he gets one sole pea and enjoys it immensely.

5 MARS ATTACKS! (1996): Art Land Admires The Casino

The biggest cast ever assembled for a movie came to fruition in 1996 with Burton’s ode to the 1950’s little green aliens attacking Earth called Mars Attacks!. Not only that, but Jack Nicholson ended up in two roles, one of which was a first for the infamous actor.

One was the President of the United States, and the other was a man named Art Land, who was a rhinestone cowboy land developer in Las Vegas, who was the definition of scum and villainy. His smarmy smile and way of talking to people in his country accent were funny enough, but when he tried to convince his wife to accept his dirty deeds in his line of work, it became a fantastic and hilarious moment shared a casino buffet table.

4 BEETLEJUICE (1988): Beetlejuice Explains His Expertise

What starts as a tragic death of a young married couple, turns into a zany monster film in Burton’s Beetlejuice. Don’t say the name three times or Beetlejuice will appear and grant your wish, but it comes at a price in his sideshow antics and hijinks.

When Barbara and Adam Maitland die in a freak car accident, they hear in the afterlife about an entity named Beetlejuice who can help them communicate with the living and pull pranks on people. Their first meeting is outrageous as Beetlejuice (Michael Keaton) launches into his list of accomplishments and skillsets that include going to Harvard, traveling the world and watching The Exorcist 167 times.

3 PEE-WEE’S BIG ADVENTURE (1985): Pee-wee Proves He’s In Texas

Tim Burton’s first feature film was Pee-wee’s Big Adventure starring Paul Reubens as the titular character who goes on a cross-country adventure looking for his bike, meeting a ton of different characters along the way. The film is packed with great, gut-busting moments, but one sequence in particular still manages to get big laughs some 35 years later.

That sequence is when Pee-wee arrives in Texas and calls home to his girlfriend Dottie. She doesn’t believe him that he’s in Texas, so he proves up by stepping outside the phone booth and yelling, “The stars at night are big and bright.” The dozens of people walking around stop in their tracks and clap and finish the limerick.

2 BATMAN RETURNS (1992): Penguin Hijakcks The Batmobile

Burton returned to the Batman franchise a few years later with Batman Returns. Danny Devito ended up playing the role he was born to play with The Penguin this time around. This sequel was quite darker and more sinister than its predecessor and was set at Christmas time.

That didn’t stop the comedy from rolling when Penguin hijacked the Batmobile in his own makeshift toy car where he could control every aspect of the Batmobile. Once things go wrong, Penguin has a conniption fit and acts like a child having a tantrum on top of a toddler’s ride.

1 ED WOOD (1994): Bela Lugosi Fights An Octopus

Tim Burton made perhaps his best film in 1994 with Ed Wood, the biopic of the infamous film director who made a ton of bad movies, including the worst film ever made, Plan 9 From Outer Space. It’s a fantastic film with Johnny Depp as Ed Wood, entering Hollywood to simply make fun films on a low budget in a couple of day’s time.

The funniest moment in a Tim Burton film happens here when an intoxicated Lugosi wanders on set to fight a giant fake octopus, where he and Ed Wood scream obscenities at each other before the take. It’s a piece of true, funny, and brilliant Hollywood history and probably happens on most movie sets still to this day.

About The Author

Bryan Kluger
(34 Articles Published)

Former husky model, real-life Comic Book Guy, genre-bending screenwriter, nude filmmaker, hairy podcaster, pro-wrestling idiot-savant, who has a penchant for solving Rubik’s Cubes and rolling candy cigarettes on unreleased bootlegs of Frank Zappa records.

Bryan has been in front and behind the camera since the early ’90s and is the head film critic on Boomstick Comics, High Def Digest, and also leads multiple podcast shows related to film, TV, music, and pro-wrestling (My Bloody Podcast, The Celebrity Hour, NO BS Podcast.)

He can be found writing screenplays, serving as Deejay at iconic bars and clubs in the Dallas area, and playing video games on Twitch.

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