HOW I SEE IT: Funniest movies of all time? Here they are.

I loved Hope Smith’s recent discussion of the Howard Stern interview with Francis Ford Coppola, and her subsequent review of the Godfather as well as other classic movies (“Stern’s interview with Coppola got me thinking about the silver screen,” June 12).

Like Hope, I am a huge fan of Howard — most who dislike him have never actually listened to him — and it got me thinking about movies with humor.

As a self-prescribed movie critic, I watch movies with varying expectations; for instance, a movie that had a large budget or takes itself seriously gets less room for error than those made knowing they are not the next “Casablanca.”

The last three “Star Wars” movies cost a trillion dollars to make and were awful. No margin for error there; George Lucas has no idea how to work with a real actor.

On the other hand, Judd Apatow’s hilarious “40-Year-Old Virgin” did not cost a lot to make, and was laugh-out-loud funny.

How funny? Well, it gets close to the list of the funniest movies of all time. And in no particular order, here they are:

- “Monty Python & The Holy Grail” — the best of the Python movies; how many times have you quoted lines from the “Black Knight?”

- “A Fish Called Wanda” — from two of the Pythons, a rare Oscar-winning comedic role by the brilliant Kevin Kline

- “Animal House” —Belushi’s physical comedy was genius as he enters the Dean’s office)

- “Tape Heads” — young Tim Robbins and John Cusack play two slackers trying to make music videos, especially great for children of the ‘80s

- “Raising Arizona” — the best of the Coen Brothers, and that is saying something!

- Kingpin — a 40-year-old Amish bowler; thank you Farrely Brothers. And, finally ...

- “Private Parts” — the aforementioned Howard Stern biopic, actually starring Howard Stern; an intimate and touching look at the real man behind the on-air persona … and, yes, since the movie he has gotten divorced, I know, so don’t go there.

A special mention goes out to the absurd “The Toxic Avenger” for three reasons:

1) I am a child of the ‘80s.

2) I appreciate when movies are obviously made to be absurd, as this one is (don’t get me started on the incredibly pretentious Eraserhead).

3) Toxie was a gym maintenance guy before transforming into the only mop-wielding superhero in history; and as a gym guy, I appreciate a clean gym!

Dail owns Gold’s Gyms in Virginia and Wisconsin.