Welcome to StudioBinder’s screenplay library, your go-to resource for the finest free comedy scripts. From cutting satires to raunchy farces, these iconic comedy scripts hold a myriad of valuable lessons for aspiring screenwriters. By studying the very best the genre has to offer on the page, comedy writers can learn how to tackle the challenge of keeping an audience laughing for two hours. Explore the best in comedy scripts and enjoy.
Watch: Anatomy of a Screenplay — Ultimate Guide
Subscribe for more filmmaking videos like this.
comedy, Action
21 Jump Street
Written By: Michael Bacall
Synopsis: A pair of underachieving cops are sent back to a local high school to blend in and bring down a synthetic drug ring.
comedy, romance
The 40 Year-Old Virgin
Written By: Judd Apatow, Steve Carell
Synopsis: Goaded by his buddies, a nerdy guy who's never "done the deed" only finds the pressure mounting when he meets a single mother.
romance, comedy
(500) Days of Summer
500 Days of Summer Expectations vs Reality • Subscribe on YouTube
Written By: Scott Neustadter & Michael H. Weber
Synopsis: An offbeat romantic comedy about a woman who doesn't believe true love exists, and the young man who falls for her.
drama, comedy
Adaptation
How Charlie Kaufman Twist Real Life • Subscribe on YouTube
Written By: Charlie Kaufman (screenplay), based on the book by Susan Orlean
Synopsis: A lovelorn screenwriter becomes desperate as he tries and fails to adapt 'The Orchid Thief' by Susan Orlean for the screen.
comedy, fantasy
The Addams Family
Written By: Charles Addams & Caroline Thompson and Larry Wilson
Synopsis: Con artists plan to fleece an eccentric family using an accomplice who claims to be their long-lost uncle.
comedy, drama
Almost Famous
Written By: Cameron Crowe
Synopsis: A high-school boy is given the chance to write a story for Rolling Stone Magazine about an up-and-coming rock band as he accompanies them on their concert tour.
comedy
American Pie
Written By: Adam Herz
Synopsis: Four teenage boys enter a pact to lose their virginity by prom night.
comedy
Anchorman
Written By: Will Ferrell & Adam McKay
Synopsis: Ron Burgundy is San Diego's top-rated newsman in the male-dominated broadcasting of the 1970s, but that's all about to change for Ron and his cronies when an ambitious woman is hired as a new anchor.
romance, comedy
Annie Hall
Written By: Woody Allen & Marshall Brickman
Synopsis: Alvy Singer, a divorced Jewish comedian, reflects on his relationship with ex-lover Annie Hall, an aspiring nightclub singer, which ended abruptly just like his previous marriages.
romance, comedy
The Apartment
Written By: Billy Wilder & I.A.L. Diamond
Synopsis: A man tries to rise in his company by letting its executives use his apartment for trysts, but complications and a romance of his own ensue.
comedy, crime, drama, tv
Barry (Pilot)
Written By: Alec Berg & Bill Hader
Synopsis: A hit man from the Midwest moves to Los Angeles and gets caught up in the city's theatre arts scene.
comedy, drama
Being John Malkovich
Written By: Charlie Kaufman
Synopsis: A puppeteer discovers a portal that leads literally into the head of movie star John Malkovich.
comedy, tv
The Big Bang Theory (S2 EP4)
Written By: Stephen Engel & Tim Doyle (teleplay), based on the story by Bill Prady & Chuck Lorre
Synopsis: The guys struggle to cope with Raj's arrogance after he is featured in a People magazine article.
comedy, crime
The Big Lebowski
You See What Happens Larry Scene in Script • Read Full Scene
Written By: Joel Coen & Ethan Coen
Synopsis: Jeff "The Dude" Lebowski, mistaken for a millionaire of the same name, seeks restitution for his ruined rug and enlists his bowling buddies to help get it.
romance, comedy
The Big Sick
Written By: Emily V. Gordon & Kumail Nanjiani
Synopsis: Pakistan-born comedian Kumail Nanjiani and grad student Emily Gardner fall in love but struggle as their cultures clash. When Emily contracts a mysterious illness, Kumail finds himself forced to face her feisty parents, his family's expectations, and his true feelings.
crime, comedy, drama
The Big Short
Written By: Charles Randolph & Adam McKay (screenplay), based on the book by Michael Lewis
Synopsis: In 2006-2007 a group of investors bet against the US mortgage market. In their research they discover how flawed and corrupt the market is.
comedy
The Breakfast Club
Written By: John Hughes
Synopsis: Five high school students meet in Saturday detention and discover how they have a lot more in common than they thought.
COMEDY, romance
Bridesmaids
Written By: Kristen Wiig & Annie Mumolo
Synopsis: Competition between the maid of honor and a bridesmaid, over who is the bride's best friend, threatens to upend the life of an out-of-work pastry chef.
comedy
A Chrismas Story
Written By: Jean Shepherd & Leigh Brown and Bob Clark
Synopsis: In the 1940s, a young boy named Ralphie attempts to convince his parents, his teacher and Santa that a Red Ryder BB gun really is the perfect Christmas gift.
comedy
Crazy Rich Azians
Written By: Peter Chiarelli & Adele Lim (screenplay), based on the novel by Kevin Kwan
Synopsis: This contemporary romantic comedy, based on a global bestseller, follows native New Yorker Rachel Chu to Singapore to meet her boyfriend's family.
action, comedy
Deadpool
What is Breaking the Fourth Wall • Subscribe on YouTube
Written By: Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick
Synopsis: A wisecracking mercenary gets experimented on and becomes immortal but ugly, and sets out to track down the man who ruined his looks.
comedy, tv
The Detectorists (S1. E2.)
Written By: Mackenzie Crook
Synopsis: The lives of two eccentric metal detectorists, who spend their days plodding along ploughed tracks and open fields, hoping to disturb the tedium by unearthing the fortune of a lifetime.
comedy, war
Dr. Strangelove
Written By: Stanley Kubrick & Terry Southern and Peter George
Synopsis: An insane general triggers a path to nuclear holocaust that a War Room full of politicians and generals frantically tries to stop.
action, sci-fi, comedy
Everything Everywhere All at Once
Everything Everywhere All at Once • Subscribe on YouTube
Written By: Dan Kwan & Daniel Scheinert
Synopsis: An aging Chinese immigrant is swept up in an insane adventure, in which she alone can save the world by exploring other universes connecting with the lives she could have led.
drama, comedy
The Favorite
Written By: Deborah Davis & Tony McNamara
Synopsis: In early 18th century England, a frail Queen Anne occupies the throne and her close friend, Lady Sarah, governs the country in her stead. When a new servant, Abigail, arrives, her charm endears her to Sarah.
drama, comedy
The Farewell
Written By: Lulu Wang
Synopsis: A Chinese family discovers their grandmother has only a short while left to live and decide to keep her in the dark, scheduling a wedding to gather before she dies.
COMEDY
Ferris Bueller's Day Off
Written By: John Hughes
Synopsis: A high school wise guy is determined to have a day off from school, despite what the Principal thinks of that.
comedy, tv
Friends S1E8
Written By: Marta Kauffman & David Crane
Synopsis: Monica and Ross mourn the loss of their grandmother. Chandler is shocked to find that people think he is gay.
comedy
Girls Trip
Written By: Kenya Barris & Tracy Oliver
Synopsis: When four lifelong friends travel to New Orleans for the annual Essence Festival, sisterhoods are rekindled, wild sides are rediscovered, and there's enough dancing, drinking, brawling, and romancing to make the Big Easy blush.
comedy, sci-fi
Ghostbusters
Written By: Dan Aykroyd & Harold Ramis
Synopsis: Three former parapsychology professors set up shop as a unique ghost removal service.
comedy
The Goonies
Written By: Chris Columbus (screenplay), based on the story by Steven Spielberg
Synopsis: A group of young misfits called The Goonies discover an ancient map and set out on an adventure to find a legendary pirate's long-lost treasure.
romance, comedy, drama
The Graduate
The Graduate Ending Explained • Subscribe on YouTube
Written By: Calder Willingham & Buck Henry
Synopsis: A disillusioned college graduate finds himself torn between his older lover and her daughter.
romance, comedy, fantasy
Groundhog Day
Written By: Danny Rubin & Harold Ramis
Synopsis: A weatherman finds himself inexplicably living the same day over and over again.
comedy
Grown Ups 3
Written By: Tom Scharpling
Synopsis: Five years after the events of Grown Ups 2, Lenny, Kurt, Eric and Marcus reunite with their old friend Rob at a nightclub.
sci-fi, action, comedy
Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2
Written By: James Gunn
Synopsis: The Guardians struggle to keep together as a team while dealing with their personal family issues, notably Star-Lord's encounter with his father the ambitious celestial being Ego.
comedy
The Hangover
Written By: Jon Lucas & Scott Moore
Synopsis: Three buddies wake up from a bachelor party in Las Vegas, with no memory of the previous night and the bachelor missing. They make their way around the city in order to find their friend before his wedding.
COMEDY
Home Alone
Home Alone is a Remake of Die Hard • Subscribe on YouTube
Written By: John Hughes
Synopsis: An eight-year-old troublemaker must protect his house from a pair of burglars when he is accidentally left home alone by his family during Christmas vacation.
comedy, action
Hot Fuzz
Written By: Edgar Wright & Simon Pegg
Synopsis: A skilled London police officer is transferred to a small town with a dark secret.
comedy, drama
Human Nature
Written By: Charlie Kaufman
Synopsis: A woman is in love with a man in love with another woman, and all three have designs on a young man raised as an ape.
crime, comedy
In Bruges
Written By: Martin McDonagh
Synopsis: Guilt-stricken after a job gone wrong, hitman Ray and his partner await orders from their ruthless boss in Bruges, Belgium, the last place in the world Ray wants to be.
animation, comedy
Inside Out
Written By: Pete Docter & Meg LeFauve and Josh Cooley
Synopsis: After young Riley is uprooted from her Midwest life and moved to San Francisco, her emotions - Joy, Fear, Anger, Disgust and Sadness - conflict on how best to navigate a new city, house, and school.
romance, comedy
Juno
Written By: Diablo Cody
Synopsis: Faced with an unplanned pregnancy, an offbeat young woman makes an unusual decision regarding her unborn child.
comedy
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang
Written By: Shane Black (screenplay), based on the novel by Brett Halliday
Synopsis: A murder mystery brings together a private eye, a struggling actress, and a thief masquerading as an actor.
action, comedy
Last Action Hero
Written By: Shane Black & David Arnott (screenplay), based on the story by Zak Penn & Adam Leff
Synopsis: With the help of a magic ticket, a young movie fan is transported into the fictional world of his favorite action movie character.
action, comedy
The Last Boy Scout
Written By: Shane Black (screenplay), based on the story by Shane Black & Greg Hicks
Synopsis: A private detective's protected female witness is murdered, prompting him and the victim's boyfriend to investigate the crime that leads to a corrupt politician and a crooked football team owner.
comedy, romance
Legally Blonde
Written By: Karen McCullah & Kirsten Smith (screenplay), based on the novel by Amanda Brown
Synopsis: Elle Woods (Reese Witherspoon), a fashionable sorority queen is dumped by her boyfriend. She decides to follow him to law school, while she is there, she figures out that there is more to her than just looks.
action, comedy
Lethal Weapon
Written By: Shane Black
Synopsis: Two newly paired cops who are complete opposites must put aside their differences in order to catch a gang of drug smugglers.
action, comedy
Lethal Weapon II
Written By: Jeffrey Boam (screenplay), based on the story by Shane Black & Warren Murphy
Synopsis: Riggs and Murtaugh are on the trail of South African diplomats who are using their immunity to engage in criminal activities.
romance, comedy, drama
The Lobster
The DARK Humor of Yorgos Lanthimos • Subscribe on YouTube
Written By: Yorgos Lanthimos & Efthymis Filippou
Synopsis: In a dystopian near future, single people, according to the laws of The City, are taken to The Hotel, where they are obliged to find a romantic partner in forty-five days or are transformed into beasts and sent off into The Woods.
drama, comedy
Little Miss Sunshine
Written By: Michael Arndt
Synopsis: A family determined to get their young daughter into the finals of a beauty pageant take a cross-country trip in their VW bus.
comedy, romance
Love Actually
Written By: Richard Curtis
Synopsis: Follows the lives of eight very different couples in dealing with their love lives in various loosely interrelated tales all set during a frantic month before Christmas in London, England.
comedy
Mean Girls
Written By: Tina Fey (screenplay), based on the book by Rosalind Wiseman
Synopsis: Cady Heron is a hit with The Plastics, the A-list girl clique at her new school, until she makes the mistake of falling for Aaron Samuels, the ex-boyfriend of alpha Plastic Regina George.
comedy
Modern Family
Written By: Steven Levitan & Christopher Lloyd
Synopsis: Three different but related families face trials and tribulations in their own uniquely comedic ways.
Written By: John Hughes
Synopsis: The Griswold family's plans for a big family Christmas predictably turn into a big disaster.
drama, comedy
Network
Written By: Paddy Chayefsky
Synopsis: A television network cynically exploits a deranged former anchor's ravings and revelations about the news media for its own profit.
action, comedy
The Nice Guys
Written By: Shane Black & Anthony Bagarozzi
Synopsis: In 1970s Los Angeles, a mismatched pair of private eyes investigate a missing girl and the mysterious death of a porn star.
drama, comedy
Nebraska
Written By: Bob Nelson
Synopsis: An aging, booze-addled father makes the trip from Montana to Nebraska with his estranged son in order to claim a million-dollar Mega Sweepstakes Marketing prize.
crime, comedy
Ocean's Eleven
Written By: Ted Griffin
Synopsis: Danny Ocean and his ten accomplices plan to rob three Las Vegas casinos simultaneously.
comedy, tv
The Office (Pilot)
Written By: Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant
Synopsis: A mockumentary on a group of typical office workers, where the workday consists of ego clashes, inappropriate behavior, and tedium.
comedy
The Producers
Written By: Mel Brooks
Synopsis: A stage-play producer devises a plan to make money by producing a sure-fire flop.
animation, comedy
Ratatouille
Written By: Brad Bird and Jan Pinkava & Jim Capobianco
Synopsis: A rat who can cook makes an unusual alliance with a young kitchen worker at a famous restaurant.
comedy, tv
Rick and Morty (S1. E5.)
Written By: Justin Roiland & Dan Harmon
Synopsis: An animated series that follows the exploits of a super scientist and his not-so-bright grandson.
comedy, romance, drama
The Room
Written By: Tommy Wiseau
Synopsis: Johnny is a successful bank executive who lives quietly in a San Francisco townhouse with his future wife, Lisa. One day, putting aside any scruple, she seduces Johnny's best friend, Mark. From there, nothing will be the same again.
comedy, drama
The Royal Tenenbaums
Written By: Wes Anderson & Owen Wilson
Synopsis: The eccentric members of a dysfunctional family reluctantly gather under the same roof for various reasons.
comedy
School of Rock
Written By: Mike White
Synopsis: After being kicked out of his rock band, Dewey Finn becomes a substitute teacher of an uptight elementary private school, only to try and turn his class into a rock band.
comedy, action, romance
Scott Pilgrim vs the World
Written By: Michael Bacall & Edgar Wright (screenplay), based on the graphic novels by Bryan Lee O'Malley
Synopsis: In a magically realistic version of Toronto, a young man must defeat his new girlfriend's seven evil exes one by one in order to win her heart.
comedy, tv
Seinfeld (S.6 E.11)
Written By: Bruce Kirschbaum & Sam Kass
Synopsis: The continuing misadventures of neurotic New York City stand-up comedian Jerry Seinfeld and his equally neurotic New York City friends.
animation, comedy
Shrek
Written By: Ted Elliott and Terry Rossio & Joe Stillman & Roger S.H. Schulman (screenplay), based on the book by Willaim Steig
Synopsis: A mean lord exiles fairytale creatures to the swamp of a grumpy ogre, who must go on a quest and rescue a princess for the lord in order to get his land back.
animation, comedy
Shrek 2
Written By: Andrew Adamson and Joe Stillman & J. David Stem & and David N. Weiss (screenplay), based on the book by William Steig
Synopsis: Shrek and Fiona travel to the Kingdom of Far Far Away, where Fiona's parents are King and Queen, to celebrate their marriage. When they arrive, they find they are not as welcome as they thought they would be.
comedy, tv
The Simpsons S8E2
Written By: John Swartzwelder (screenplay), based on the characters by James L. Brooks & Matt Groening & Sam Simon
Synopsis: After moving to another town for a new job, Homer must decide whether or not to stay when the family have a hard time with the transfer.
horror, comedy
Shaun of the Dead
Written By: Simon Pegg & Edgar Wright
Synopsis: A man's uneventful life is disrupted by the zombie apocalypse.
COMEDY
Step Brothers
Written By: Will Ferrell & Adam McKay
Synopsis: Two aimless middle-aged losers still living at home are forced against their will to become roommates when their parents marry.
comedy
Superbad
Written By: Seth Rogen & Evan Goldberg
Synopsis: Two co-dependent high school seniors are forced to deal with separation anxiety after their plan to stage a booze-soaked party goes awry.
action, sci-fi, comedy
Thor: Ragnarok
Written By: Eric Pearson and Craig Kyle & Christopher L. Yost
Synopsis: Imprisoned on the planet Sakaar, Thor must race against time to return to Asgard and stop Ragnarök, the destruction of his world, at the hands of the powerful and ruthless villain Hela.
drama, comedy
The Two Popes
Written By: Anthony McCarten
Synopsis: Behind Vatican walls, the conservative Pope Benedict XVI and the liberal future Pope Francis must find common ground to forge a new path for the Catholic Church.
comedy, drama
Up in the Air
Written By: Jason Reitman & Sheldon Turner (screenplay), based on the novel by Walter Kirn
Synopsis: Ryan Bingham enjoys living out of a suitcase for his job, travelling around the country firing people, but finds that lifestyle threatened by the presence of a potential love interest, and a new hire.
comedy
Wedding Crashers
Written By: Steve Faber & Bob Fisher
Synopsis: John Beckwith and Jeremy Grey, a pair of committed womanizers who sneak into weddings to take advantage of the romantic tinge in the air, find themselves at odds with one another when John meets and falls for Claire Cleary.
ROMANCE, comedy
When Harry Met Sally
Written By: Nora Ephron
Synopsis: Harry and Sally have known each other for years, and are very good friends, but they fear sex would ruin the friendship.
comedy, sci-fi
The World's End
Written By: Simon Pegg & Edgar Wright
Synopsis: Five friends who reunite in an attempt to top their epic pub crawl from twenty years earlier unwittingly become humanity's only hope for survival.
comedy
Zombieland
Written By: Rhett Reese & Paul Wernick
Synopsis: A shy student trying to reach his family in Ohio, a gun-toting tough guy trying to find the last Twinkie, and a pair of sisters trying to get to an amusement park join forces to travel across a zombie-filled America.
UP NEXT
Free Screenwriting Software
You've read tons of scripts, you're bursting with inspiration, and now it's time to start writing your own dynamite screenplay. StudioBinder's free screenwriting software is waiting for you and your next great idea.