10 funny mockumentaries to remind us about the absurdity of life

Did COVID-19 stop Borat (Sacha Baron Cohen), world-famous reporter, from returning to America to make a sequel to his smash hit Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan? Not only did Borat come back for Borat 2 on Amazon Prime—full title, Borat: Subsequent Moviefilm—he was accompanied by his daughter (Maria Bakalova) for his latest mockumentary in an attempt to marry into a family with connections to the Oval Office. Borat was hailed as a comedic Sgt. Pepper's by some of the biggest names in comedy upon its 2006 release, and since then, has grown in cult status to be considered one of the funniest mockumentaries ever made. See the very nice company both films join, ahead.

Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping (2016)

Conner4Real's (Andy Samberg) sophomore album Connquest might have earned a single poop emoji from Rolling Stone, but Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping deserves five fire emojis. The 2016 comedy from the Lonely Island crew is told in the form of a musical documentary about the breakup of the Style Boyz and the solo career of frontman Conner4Real. Loaded with cameos from artists like Mariah Carey, Justin Timberlake, Justin Bieber, and Michael Bolton, the true highlights come via the musical stylings of Conner and his crew, with catchy bangers like "Finest Girl (Bin Laden Song)" and the anti-humble anthem "I'm So Humble." Initially a box office disappointment, the legend of Popstar has only grown in recent years. "I think seeing it on a lot of 'best of the decade' lists, and people doing sing-alongs at the Drafthouse screenings, and them wanting to do that special-edition DVD, we were just thinking, 'Hey, this is really nice, people are talking about Popstar again,'" Samberg told EW in 2020. "It would be even nicer if one time we put out a movie that did well in the theater when it came out. [Laughs] But we'll definitely take it." —Derek Lawrence

Drop Dead Gorgeous (1999)

An initial flop both with critics and at the box office, Drop Dead Gorgeous has since rightfully claimed its crown as a campy cult classic. This 1999 pitch-black satire centers on a tiny town in Minnesota as it prepares for the Sarah Rose Cosmetics Mount Rose American Teen Princess Pageant, with a star-studded cast that includes Kirsten Dunst, Denise Richards, Ellen Barkin, Allison Janney, Kirstie Alley, Brittany Murphy, and Amy Adams. Directed by Michael Patrick Jann, this mockumentary is an outlandish mashup of sugary Midwestern femininity and homicidal rage, where nothing—nothing—is more important than winning. After all, Jesus loves winners. —Devan Coggan

Borat (2006)

The original Borat, which bears the full title: Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan, stars Sacha Baron Cohen as the titular fictitious Kazakh journalist. Much of the film is comprised of unscripted vignettes, with Cohen's Borat interacting with Americans who truly believe he is a foreigner completely unaware of American customs. The film spawned a host of copycats, but that's not surprising given its incredible success, including an Oscar nomination for Best Adapted Screenplay. It's not for the faint of heart, with Borat's iconic green thong and naked wrestling just two of its provocative centerpieces. But we'll always remember it as the movie that gave creeper bros the catchphrase "Very niiiiiice." —Maureen Lee Lenker

Brüno (2009)

Sacha Baron Cohen followed up the success of Borat with Brüno, a 2009 mockumentary about a gay Austrian fashion journalist who travels to America in hopes of launching a celebrity interview show. In his pursuit of stardom, many outrageous hijinks occur—including memorably being told to "F--- off" by Harrison Ford—and like with Borat, all the boundaries are not just pushed, but completely obliterated. But all the hilarity has a point, too. "The entire film is in seriously questionable taste, and there will, of course, be debates about what's staged and what's not," EW said in its review of the film. "Those looking for purity in satire should stay away. Yet there's a vision at work in Brüno—the movie is a toxic dart aimed at the spangly new heart of American hypocrisy: our fake-tolerant, fake-charitable, fake-liberated-yet-still-madly-closeted fame culture." Come for the laughs, stay for the pointed satire. —Lauren Huff

This Is Spinal Tap (1984)

No list of the funniest mockumentaries would be complete without This Is Spinal Tap, a film that turned the genre all the way up "to 11." Directed by Rob Reiner, the mock rock doc follows an aging British heavy metal band called Spinal Tap (played by Christopher Guest, Michael McKean, and Harry Shearer) while they are on a disappointing U.S. concert tour. Taking aim at the ridiculousness of rock & roll excess and the music industry in general, the film has no shortage of hilarious scenes and quotable lines—from the mini Stonehenge fiasco to getting lost backstage before a show (Hello, Cleveland!). Though it wasn't a huge hit when it was first released in 1984 (Reiner told Newsweek he believes that may have been due to the fact everyone thought the film was a documentary about a real band that no one had ever heard of), This Is Spinal Tap has since achieved cult classic status and is considered by many to be the movie that put mockumentaries on the map. It was announced that the three Spinal Tap members will be returning for a sequel four decades from the original release. —Rebecca Detken

Waiting for Guffman (1996)

Director and co-writer Christopher Guest's 1996 mockumentary Waiting for Guffman takes him to the fictional Blaine, Mo., (stool capital of the United States!), where he becomes Corky St. Clair, a creative visionary (depending who you ask) leading a ragtag group of humble Blaineians to theatrical glory with the debut production of his groundbreaking musical Red, White, and Blaine. And as if the hallowed occasion of the town's sesquicentennial weren't enough pressure on the amateur thespians, the stakes shoot through the roof when Corky promises that a Broadway producer—the eagerly awaited Guffman—will be in the audience, wielding the power to potentially launch the dedicated ensemble to stardom. Nothing ever happens on Mars, but you certainly can't say the same of Blaine. —Mary Sollosi

Fear of a Black Hat (1994)

Before finding fame with projects like Tales From the Hood and Chappelle's Show, writer and director Rusty Cundieff impressed Sundance audiences in 1993 with a hilarious and unflinching look at hip-hop culture in his low-budget mockumentary Fear of the Black Hat. Inspired by This Is Spinal Tap, Cundieff makes quick work of lambasting the casual misogyny and homophobia ingrained in hardcore rap, but also of the media scolds unable to parse the message of the music. The jokes come fast and funny—think Mel Brooks or the Zucker Brothers with half the humor happening in the background (look for the gathering of the Ices); and unlike so many older comedies that fail to impress modern audiences, aside from the beepers, Fear of the Black Hat's depiction of the police during a traffic stop feels just as current as it did when it was an early-'90s comment on Rodney King. —Sarah Sprague

Best in Show (2000)

Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara are comedy gold on the Emmy-winning series Schitt's Creek, but 2000's Best in Show was many viewers' first introduction to the dynamic duo, who also played a married couple in the mockumentary. Levy and O'Hara are pitch perfect as Gerry and Cookie Fleck, a middle-class couple who enter their dog Winky into the Mayflower Kennel Club Dog Show. Their awkward interviews, laughably bad songs about terriers, and flare-ups over Cookie's "hundreds" of ex-flames are almost too comical to believe, yet Levy (who co-wrote the movie with director Christopher Guest) and O'Hara's winning performances ground the movie in reality. And with Guest, Parker Posey, Jennifer Coolidge, Jane Lynch, Michael McKean, and Fred Willard rounding out the cast, Best in Show created a world—filled with adorable dogs and the endearing oddballs who obsess over them—that we want to visit again and again. —Rachel Yang

What We Do in the Shadows (2014)

It might be better known as a TV series now, but What We Do in the Shadows would not be running for multiple seasons on FX if the original 2014 film wasn't such a perfect mockumentary. Codirected by Jemaine Clement and Taika Waititi, What We Do in the Shadows combines their deadpan New Zealand humor with some genuinely exciting horror filmmaking. Clement and Waititi appear in front of the camera as well as two of the vampires sharing a Wellington flat and doing their best to lure unsuspecting victims to drink their blood without drawing too much attention from the modern world. Vampires are a well-worn horror subgenre, but depicting them as a bunch of squabbling roommates proved the perfect method to freshen up the storytelling. —Christian Holub

A Mighty Wind (2003)

This Is Spinal Tap star Christopher Guest made the mockumentary sing once again with A Mighty Wind, which follows three folk music groups (including Guest and his Spinal Tap costars Harry Shearer and Michael McKean as The Folksmen) as they reunite for a televised concert. Though more genial and low key than Spinal Tap (no exploding drummers herein), A Mighty Wind one-ups it musically with genuinely good folk tunes, particularly the jubilant title track and the Oscar-nominated "A Kiss at the End of the Rainbow," performed by Eugene Levy and Catherine O'Hara. But the true highlight might be the late great Fred Willard, whose performance as a catchphrase-spouting manager will leave you wondering why this movie doesn't get more love. Or, in his parlance: "Hey, wha' happened?" —Tyler Aquilina