The pacing of jokes and laughter is different...do you go for a comedy that has most laughs/minute or one with more of a story that's just awesome and very funny...one with one or two hilarious characters with others as foils or a ton of funny characters...
Was just thinking about this subject very recently. It's important to make a distinction when saying favorite comedy, do you mean favorite films that are comedies, or my most enjoyable comedic films? iow, something like Back to The Future is one of my favorite movies ever, and it's definitely a comedy (adventure comedy?) but I wouldn't think to list it in my favorite comedies, because I wouldn't necessarily watch it for the straight up LOLs.
There are definitely some recent films that, with a little time passing, could end up as classics and make its way into my faves, but they're still so new. I'm thinking along the lines of This Is The End, Superbad, Neighbors, 21 Jump Street, etc.
I do think a handful of comedies that have come out in recent years have been criminally underrated, notably:
Black Dynamite
MacGruber
The Other Guys
Land Of The Lost
There are also some awesome comedies that now are going through the "hate" phase by our culture because they were overexposed, It's cool to **** on these movies. I'm thinking Borat and Hangover here. It's important to keep in mind that the overexposure is not the fault of the movies, although in the case of Hangover maybe they are asking for it a bit since they did churn out two pretty subpar sequels.
But if I was absolutely forced to say one comedy as my favorite, I think I've got to go with Lebowski. I've probably seen it 30 times, and it still makes me laugh. It just has so much going on, and tackles a broad range of types of humor.
I also happen to think Cable Guy is freaking brilliant (in a comedic way, not like a deep way).
You would be correct.
I mentioned it in The Lounge but Jim Carrey's performance in that movie is Oscar worthy. His attention to detail like the way he crouches down over Owen Wilson in the bathroom is legendary.