TED LASSO Star Brett Goldstein Explains What Makes AIRPLANE! Such a Great Comedy

Ted Lasso star Brett Goldstein recently sat down with /Film to talk about his new series Shrinking and during that conversation, he shared his thoughts on what makes great comedy.

As you’ve seen from his comedy series projects, not only do they deliver some great humor, but there’s also an emotional weight to the stories, and that’s something that’s important to the actor and producer. He also uses the classic 1980 comedy Airplane! as an example:

"I don't think there's any point in telling a story if you don't have an emotional connection to it. If you don't feel invested and moved by it, it sort of just doesn't last. It becomes meaningless. It's frivolous. We were even talking yesterday about one of the reasons 'Airplane!,' which you think of as such a silly film with 100 jokes a minute and is hilarious, why it's lasted."

Goldstein went on to drive his point home by explaining what makes Airplane! one of the greatest comedies ever made, saying:

"You care the airplane lands, you care about this romance in it, you want them to succeed. You're invested in these characters, as ridiculous as that film is. It's quite an extreme example, but it still has heart, that film. It still has emotion in it. I think without that, I don't want to watch it. I don't want to make it."

He makes some great points here! Yeah, the movie has a joke in every single scene, but you do care about the characters and you are rooting for them over the course of the movie. I love that movie, and it seems like every time I watch it, I notice something that I never saw before. The movie is so funny that you might not notice how good the story and character development is, so thanks to Goldstein for pointing it out!