Funny / It (2017)

Even though the new It is chock full of Nightmare Fuel, that doesn’t mean we can’t have a good laugh!

For Chapter Two, see here.

Examples from the book go here, and examples from the TV miniseries go here.

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The Film

• As to be expected of someone like Pennywise, IT is the source of some rich Black Comedy.
  • Pennywise helps convince Henry Bowers to murder his father by hijacking a Subverted Kids' Show and leading the cast of children in a rousing chant of "Kill them all! Kill them all!" — complete with Follow the Bouncing Ball!
    • Made even funnier by how cheerfully enthusiastic Pennywise is in this.
    • And there's the show's host. Pennywise making her look at the camera and say "That's it, Henry! Kill him! Kill them all!"? Horrifying. Continuing the chant with the kids as she walks off-camera with an expression that clearly says "Why do I even bother with this job when my kids are screaming for murder and a clown is rewriting my lines?" Hilarious.
    • The kid's show in general is darkly hilarious; in an earlier scene at Bev's house, where after a very noticeable audio hiccup, the host starts telling the kids how much fun it is to play with their friends in the sewers, where they can be "silly as a clown". Even stranger, adults like Bev's father and Eddie's mother are shown watching it of their own accord during the day, like it's perfectly normal and the only thing on TV.
  • During the Losers' first trip to the Neibolt house, Beverly shoves a spear through IT's eye. Not funny in and of itself, but IT's reaction of over-playing his wound is darkly funny.
  • When Bill and Richie try to find the source of Eddie's screaming, they find that the way out of the room they're in has been replaced by three doors, labelled "Scary", "Very Scary" and "Not Scary At All."
    • The kicker? These messages are written in dried blood. Pennywise isn't even trying to be subtle.
  • In the Neibolt house, Pennywise's slow deliberate approach towards Eddie when he decides to go for the kill is bound to get a chuckle or two due to his playful mocking.
    • The look on his face when he notices that his illusions fail on Bill screams "Are you fucking kidding me?"
  • After bringing Bev down to IT's lair, Pennywise makes his grand entrance by... dancing a very awkward clomp dance, all the while wearing the most bored "I really just want to get to the murdering" expression.
    • It's worth noting that Pennywise accidentally kicks a piece of scenery on the stage during his dance.
    • If you have a very sharp eye, pause at the right time, or slow the video down, you'll see Pennywise is plugging his ears just before the fireworks go off. Knowing what we know now about IT from the second half, this could be a hint of foreshadowing that IT has to abide by the laws of whatever he transforms as; ergo, as a clown, he has ears, and could be deafened by loud noises.
    • Before the dance scene takes place a giant door opens, revealing the stage for the dance. There's a poor, little clown doll sitting in front of the door that gets crushed completely when it opens.
    • It's also worth noting that Pennywise's eyes are slowly rolling into the back of his head the longer the dance goes on, as if to say "I pick the one kid who isn't afraid of me, and this is the reaction I get."
    • Since Bev has already conquered her fear of IT, the entire scene plays like a stand-up comedian trying out half-finished material (such as just creeping her out by "being weird") after he starts bombing on-stage; no matter how annoyed he's getting, he's still resigned himself to the bit.
    • Right afterwards, Bev states she's not afraid of Pennywise. He pulls her in closer, as if to attempt a retort, but then stops and briefly gives a look that practically screams "well, shit."
    • And it's all set to this beautiful piece of music, which somehow manages to capture every single one of these moods simultaneously.
  • While being beat up by Bower's gang, Mike looks to the side to see Pennywise in the bushes, all bloodied up. Terrifying. Then Pennywise waves a severed hand at Mike cheerfully.
  • During the scene at Neibolt House, Pennywise is about to bite Eddie when he hears Bill in another part of the house comforting a terrified Richie by telling him everything's not real. Pennywise stops right before his teeth touch Eddie and just looks behind Itself with the most straight up offended look you can imagine. All that work he put in, making this house into the creepiest one imaginable, digging into their personal fears, and it ain't enough for this kid? IT doesn't even care about eating Eddie anymore; IT's art has been insulted!
    • Made funnier by the fact that Pennywise sounds more like a spurned lover in the midst of an argument than anything.
      Pennywise: This isn't real enough for you, Billy? I'm not real enough for you? It was real enough for Georgie!
  • Eddie's encounter with the leper is creepy, but it begins with the latter picking up one of Eddie's pills, and delivering the following line right before revealing his horribly deformed face to the camera:
    Leper: Do you think this will help me, Eddie?
    • Eddie later encounters the leper in the house of Neibolt, where he's approached from behind by IT, who tells him its time to take his pill and offers him one positioned on its tongue. This combination shocks poor Eddie so much that he faints and lands on a table, destroying it. Then his arm watch starts beeping to confirm yes, it is time to take his pill.
• Georgie chases his paper boat down the street... and runs smack into a police roadblock. Made even better by how A) he just dodged an identical one and B) the swelling orchestral score stops dead right as he hits it.
• Ben's secret admiration for New Kids on the Block.
  • And Bev's subsequent gentle teasing of him by making puns about their song titles.
  • When inviting everyone over to his house, Ben makes sure to hide all his merchandise before they make it to his room. As the guys are mulling over his press clippings and research, Bev briefly swings the door back, revealing what she knows he has: a giant NKOTB poster. Cue a brief sting from "Hangin' Tough" and extreme close-ups of all five guys. Ben can only smile sheepishly.
  • The door is appropriately squeaky for a horror film, just that Ben is probably feeling a different kind of horror.
  • Another funny thing about this scene, when you put this scene in the context of an outsider. The kid is more embarrassed by New Kids on the Block than the fact that he's been studying the town's bloody history caused by something he believes is a demonic clown which hides in the sewer. He'd rather be labeled a lunatic than a devoted fanboy of NKOTB.
• At the quarry, Bill, Ben, Eddie, Richie, and Stan are stripped down to their tighty-whitey briefs, and trying to work up the courage to jump in... then Beverly, behind them, strips to her underwear and jumps in. This gets them moving.
  • The way they do it is seeing if the person who spits across the quarry with the least distance will be the first to jump in. That one person who happens to have the least? Eddie, who manages to spit on himself.
  • Later, after their swim, Beverly is sun-tanning on a rock still in her underwear, and the boys are all staring at her without saying anything. Until she looks at them. Then, they all quickly turn their head somewhere else. Also, this is set to "Bust a Move" by Young MC.
  • Richie shouting "What the fuck?!" as Beverly goes soaring over the edge. Perfectly timed, absolutely hilarious.
• After the kids encounter Pennywise in the well house the first time, Ben gets slashed across the stomach. Once they're safe, we hear this:
  Richie: Look at this motherfucker! He's leaking Hamburger Helper!
  • Doubly hilarious considering that early in the film Ben already got slashed across the chest courtesy of the Bowers gang and was visibly suffering a lot more pain from a lighter wound, making his apathetic response to a more severe injury comical in contrast.
  • Ben's presence in front of Eddie's mother definitely isn't helping the Losers' case.
• Bill having had enough of his friends using "It's summer" as an excuse to bail on searching for Georgie.
  If you say "It's summer" one more ffffffucking time...
• The rock war is both this and awesome, with Anthrax's "Anti-Social" playing in the whole scene.
  Richie: ROCK WAR!!! [immediately gets beaned with a rock]
  • Belch screaming "Fuck you, bitch!" at Bev in Slow Motion right before she chucks a rock at him.
  • Though what really makes this scene is this line by Richie: "Go blow your dad, you mullet-wearing asshole!" (flips the double bird at Bowers)
• Basically any time Richie opens his mouth it's a funny moment.
  • Since Richie was the only one to not have an encounter with Pennywise until the Neibolt house, he suggests that only virgins can see IT and that's why he hasn't seen anything.
    Ben: Derry started as a beaver trapping town.
    Richie: And it still is, am I right, boys?
  • Then, when Bev tries to pull the Losers together after a fight....
    Richie: I'm sorry, who invited Molly Ringwald into the group?
    Beverly: [gives him an unamused look and the finger]
  • When the others are looking at missing posters for Eddie Corcoran and Betty Ripsom, you can see Richie fighting over a trumpet with a band member in the background.
• Eddie after finding out his medicine is a placebo used by his mother to control him, stands up to her. A moment of awesome, which becomes a moment of funny when he mispronounces placebo as "gazebo".
  "They're gazebos! They're bullshit!"
  • Made even better by the fact that it was an ad lib.
  • During the first trip to the Neibolt House, Eddie breaks his arm. Terrifying. Then the other Losers find him and attempt to pop his arm back into place causing him to scream "Do not fucking touch me!" Hilarious.
• Greta Keene writing "LOSER" on Eddie's arm cast, which he tries to change to "LOVER", implying that Eddie's got Precocious Crush on Greta despite how she treats him like dirt.
  • It's made even funnier if you watched the trailer beforehand, which includes a rather dramatic shot of it coupled with Stan's narration about how great childhood is supposed to be, implying it's going to be the center of some cheesy attempt at a Heartwarming Moment in which another Loser scribbles the V onto it. Instead, it's obvious that Eddie made a completely pathetic attempt at covering it up.
• Awesome as it is, after Mike shoves Henry down the well, the psychopath bounces against the walls before falling all the way down.
• Though it's supposed to be a bonding moment, when the guys help Beverly clean up the blood stained bathroom it's done via The Cure's "Six Different Ways" in pure Hard-Work Montage fashion.
• When Richie is regaling his friends with the school gossip about who Beverly has had sex with:
  Richie: The list is longer than my wang!
  Stan: That's not saying much.
• Richie takes a moment to poke fun at Eddie's veritable pharmacy of medications in his kitchen cabinet.
  Richie: Hey, Eddie, is this your birth control?
  Eddie: Yeah, I'm saving 'em for your sister.
  • Truthfully, most of Eddie's running litanies about the diseases festering in Derry are hilarious. And they are all in Motor Mouth-mode.
• More fun on the house on Neibolt Street. Right after Pennywise comes out of the refrigerator near Eddie he does a slow walk and mocks his asthma and sobbing.
• When It kidnaps Beverly, Bill goes to rally the other losers. When he meets up with Richie in the arcade, who's playing Street Fighter, the latter says he pretends his opponent is Bill because of their earlier fight. This backfires once you notice that Richie's health-bar is less than half-full while his opponent's has significantly more (Richie only hit him once on-screen!), which would imply that Bill would beat the shit out of him.
  • A funny bit of Shown Their Work, since any gamer will tell you the first Street Fighter is way clunkier than the more successful sequels.
• Beverly takes what's clearly her first trip to buy tampons, and is shocked at the giant wall of brands. Then she promptly hides them behind her back upon running into the boys.
• When Stan is telling the group about being stalked by the deformed, flute-playing woman, Richie is the one asking the most important question: “Is she hot?”
  • Prompting Stan to practically shriek: "No, Richie! She is NOT hot!"
• In a deleted scene for the home releases, it shows an alternate version of the opening in which instead of Georgie getting his arm torn off, Georgie casually takes the boat from Pennywise and walks away thanking him. Pennywise's stunned reaction seals it when he says "ah, shit".
  • If you look closely as he says it, Pennywise looks like Hank Azaria's Gargamel when he finishes saying "shit".
• During Richie's rant towards Bill, after Pennywise's offer to let them go, he said the following line: "You brought me to a fucking crackhead house." The camera cuts away to Pennywise looking extremely offended.
  • How does he top it all off? "And now... I'm gonna have to kill this fucking clown."
• Before the kids go into the house, Richie finds a bottle and breaks t against the banister at an attempt at improvising a weapon. Unfortunately, pretty much the entire thing except the neck is completely shattered, so his attempt at a badass gesture is ruined and he turns sheepishly to the others and tosses it aside.
• "Egg boy!"
• Richie picking up a stick, smelling it, and declaring to Eddie, in response to his comment about gray water, "(Spanish accent) Doesn't smell like caca to me, señor!"

Meta

• The mash-up trailer which replaces Pennywise with the Mike Myers version of The Cat in the Hat. Bloody-Disgusting has joked that it made the trailer even scarier.
  • This one replaces Pennywise with Shrek. Which becomes even funnier if we remember the infamous Shrek is love, Shrek is life.
  • This Garrys Mod version replaces Pennywise with Elmo, and the human cast with Metal Gear characters.
  • Even better when you realize Cat in the Hat producer Brian Grazer's nephew Jack plays Eddie.
• Emma Watson took a selfie with the child cast and put it on Instagram... where she misidentified them as the cast of Stranger Things before correcting the caption a few hours later.
  • That being said, Finn Wolfhard, Richie's actor, is a part of that series. The irony kicks in when you realize that Mike and Richie could not be two more different characters.
• You know how, at the Alamo Drafthouse theater in Texas, there was an all-female screening for Wonder Woman? Well they later had an all-CLOWN screening for this movie. Which itself is funny considering that some on the internet jokingly suggested that they hold a clown-only screening for the film for the sake of being inclusive in reaction to the announcement of women-only Wonder Woman screenings.
  • Speaking of the Alamo Drafthouse, they got Jackson Robert Scott (Georgie's actor) to reprise his role in this PSA on not talking during the movie or else "you'll float too". Unlike the Nightmare Fuel Scott delivered in the movie as IT!Georgie, he really exaggerates his "YOU'LL FLOAT TOO!" line.
• This comic, funny because of the sheer amount of euphemisms Richie employs and the fact that this is totally something he would do. And there's the comic dub which makes Pennywise reaction funnier and a joke about Finn Wolfhard previous' role.
• Bill Skarsgård made the Pennywise smile during his visit at CONAN. It's both creepy and funny.
• Pennywise dances to anything
  • The concept was also turned into a hilarious cartoon.
• So Ari Cohen went from not realizing his teenage son is fighting not very dangerous vampires to not realizing his teenage son is fighting a shapeshifting demon clown killing kids.
  • Of course, Stanley was technically abducted and raised by aliens the year before. Also explains why his mom's not seen.
• This behind-the-scenes video (doubling as a heartwarming moment), in which Bill Skarsgård happily high-fives his young co-stars and asks them if they're ready to beat the shit out of him.

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