The Funniest Raunchy Sports Comedies. Periodically, we receive requests from the KBZ community to prepare articles about specific subgenres or unique themes of films. In this instance, we received a request to list and rank the funniest and raunchiest sports comedies of all time – and that challenge has been accepted.
Starting in the early 1970s, as Sports Comedies grew in popularity, so too did the desire for adult-themed comedies focused on sports. These weren’t your typical friendly family fare as they were often filled with vulgar language, violent sports action and, in some cases, sexual situations.
These raunchy sports comedies covered just about every sport from football in The Longest Yard (1974) to The Underdoggs (2024), golf in Caddyshack (1980), hockey in Slap Shot (1977) and Goon (2012) and even men’s cheerleading in Fired Up! (2009). What these films lacked in class and sophistication they more than made up for with very raunchy humor that was equally crude as it was funny.
So, join as we look at some of the best adult sports comedies of all time that crossed the line of decency to show you a side of sports not often seen but undeniably hilarious.
Before we go into our list of films and rankings below, we have an ongoing list of the best films about sports including football, baseball, surfing and others. And if you’re looking for more general raunchy comedies, we’ve provided a few links below for a series of articles where we outlined the raunchiest films by decade or theme:
- Best Raunchy Body Swap Films
- Best Raunchy Christmas Films
- New Raunchy Comedies You Haven’t Seen
- Top Female Raunchy Comedies from the 2010’s
- Top Raunchy Comedies for Men from the 2010’s You Haven’t Seen
- Top Raunchy Comedies from the 2000’s You Haven’t Seen
- Top Raunchy Comedies from the 1990’s You Haven’t Seen
- The Best 1980’s Sex Comedies
For our rankings we’re going to use some criteria to help define and refine our list. First, we’re going to focus on R-rated films. If the film is R-rated, there’s a good chance it has adult themes and crude humor that warrant a 17+ age requirement.
Second, even if the sports comedy is R-rated, that doesn’t necessarily mean it’s raunchy. A good example here would be Bull Durham (1988) that is R-rated but is much more of a Romantic Comedy with some adult language. As a result, Bull Durham won’t be listed here even though it’s one of the best and funniest films about baseball.
Third, we’re going to have to make some judgment calls on PG-13 films that are in the grey area of raunchiness. We don’t define Adam Sandler’s sports comedies like Happy Gilmore (1996) and The Waterboy (1998) as raunchy comedies as though they have some juvenile humor and crude situations, they are still family friendly. However, a film such as Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004) does lean into the type of raunchy humor we’re looking for (even though it’s tame) so will make our list.
Fourth, there was a string of softcore sex comedies and some hardcore adult films that tried to ride the wave of sports comedies that appeared in the 70s. These include softcore films like The Cheerleaders (1973) and The Pom Pom Girls (1976) to the more sexually explicit films like Debbie Does Dallas (1978). Since almost all these films are sex comedies and have little to no raunchy humor or are even about sports, they won’t be included on this list.
And fifth, we had to follow our rule for all of KBZ’s film listings where we only list films that have a 4.0/10 or higher rating and were released after 1970.
If you don’t see a film on our list, you can likely find it in our collections of over 265+ Sports Comedies and 670+ Raunchy Comedies. And as a reminder, subscribe to our newsletter to get updated as we release future articles covering various themes of both comedies and sports.
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Funniest Raunchy Sports Comedies
Films that didn’t make our list (and only for completists): The Unholy Rollers (1972), Let’s Do It Again (1975), Surf II: The End of the Trilogy (1984), Off the Mark (1987), Ski School (1990), The Great White Hype (1996), Slap Shot 2: Breaking the Ice (2002), Pucked (2006), Studs (2006), Long Flat Balls (2006), Mr. Woodcock (2007), Division III: Football’s Finest (2011), Save Your Legs! (2013), The Hot Flashes (2013), Cuban Fury (2014), Balls Out (2014) and White Men Can’t Jump (2023).
Honorable Mentions: The Bad News Bears (1976), …All The Marbles (1981), Out Cold (2001), Mean Machine (2001), The Longest Yard (2005), Bad News Bears (2005), The Benchwarmers (2006), Break Point (2014), The Bronze (2016), Goon: Last of the Enforcers (2017), The Buddy Games (2021), Reverse the Curse (2024) and The Gutter (2024).
Ranks 20-1:
#20 The Ringer (2005) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#19 Hot Dog… The Movie (1984) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#18 BASEketball (1998) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#17 Balls Out: Gary the Tennis Coach (2009) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#16 Beer League (2006) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#15 Blue Mountain State: The Rise of Thadland (2016) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#14 Up the Creek (1984) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#13 Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story (2004) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#12 The Hammer (2007) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#11 Wildcats (1986) Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#10
The Underdoggs
Plot: Jaycen Jennings, a former NFL superstar, agrees to coach a youth football team to avoid serving time in prison.
KBZ’s Take: If you transported The Bad News Bears (1976) to the present, made the sport football instead of baseball and told the young actors in the film to happily deliver vulgar language, you would have The Underdoggs. And though The Bad News Bears is still family friendly despite the language in the film, The Underdoggs is most certainly not. The language and profanity in this film is much more vulgar and has quite a few scenes you wouldn’t want younger children to see or hear.
With that said, as an adult-focused comedy, it’s one of the raunchiest of the subgenre. And while it is predictable and follows the same sports template as The Bad News Bears (and most sports films), it’s still undeniably raunchy and funny.
Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#9
Fired Up!
Plot: 2 Guys. 300 Girls. You Do the Math. The two most popular guys in high school decide to ditch football camp for cheerleader camp. For the girls and for the glory.
KBZ’s Take: This film will likely not appeal to older generations as it’s vulgar, raunchy and features some very crude sex humor – just how we like it! It definitely falls more on the Sex Comedy spectrum of subgenre films and features some very funny scenes despite its mundane plot.
While the film’s plot is also fairly predictable, the film’s two leads (Nick D’Agosto and Eric Christian Olsen) carry the film to the finish line. Their ongoing ‘bromance’ involving sexual situations and sports are some of the funniest of the subgenre.
Additional Lists: Top Raunchy Comedies from the 2000’s You Haven’t Seen #2
Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#8
Major League
Plot: When Rachel Phelps inherits the Cleveland Indians from her deceased husband, she’s determined to move the team to a warmer climate – but only a losing season will make that possible, which should be easy given the misfits she’s hired. Rachel is sure her dream will come true, but she underestimates their will to succeed.
KBZ’s Take: It’s not often that a sports film can create iconic fictional characters that are almost as well-known as real-life, legendary players. But that is the case with Major League and it’s cast of hilarious misfits and losers in Jake Taylor (Tom Berenger), Ricky “Wild Thing” Vaughn (Charlie Sheen), Willie Mays Hayes (Wesley Snipes) and the Jobu-worshipping Pedro Cerrano (Dennis Haysbert).
Though the film is predictable, it’s one of the funniest sports comedies (of any sport) and an annual “adult” baseball classic to watch before Opening Day.
Additional Lists: The 30 Best Films About Baseball #5
Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#7
Goon
Plot: Doug Glatt, a slacker who discovers he has a talent for brawling is approached by a minor league hockey coach and invited to join the team as the muscle. Despite the fact that Glatt can’t skate his best friend, Pat, convinces him to give it a shot, and Glatt becomes a hero to the team and their fans, until the league’s reigning goon becomes threatened by Glatt’s success and decides to even the score.
KBZ’s Take: Seann William Scott has been in quite a few raunchy comedies from the American Pie film franchise to another film at #17 on this list, Balls Out: Gary the Tennis Coach (2009). Though Goon isn’t quite as raunchy as his other films, it’s mix of crude humor, vulgar language and very violent scenes of hockey make it a natural successor to Slap Shot (1977) and a must-see film for fans of adult sports comedies.
Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
Plot: Billy Hoyle (Woody Harrelson) is a white basketball hustler who banks on black players underestimating his skills on the court. When he pulls one over on Sidney Deane (Wesley Snipes), his victim sees a lucrative opportunity, and they become partners in the con game, plying their trade across the courts of Los Angeles. Meanwhile, Billy has to keep one step ahead of mobsters, to whom he owes money, while staying on the good side of his “Jeopardy!”-obsessed, motormouth wife (Rosie Perez).
KBZ’s Take: Some sports films are classics and don’t warrant a remake. White Men Can’t Jump is a perfect example of this notion as the 2023 remake couldn’t come close to capturing the magic of the original.
The original WMCJ had one of the best sports pairings of the subgenre with Billy (Woody Harrelson) and Syd (Wesley Snipes) and featured a notable performance by Rosie Perez as the Jeopardy-loving Gloria. Though the film is not as raunchy as others on our list, it’s still one of the best Ron Shelton-directed sports films of the era that expertly matches adult situations with sports.
Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
Plot: In this rough-and-tumble yarn, actually filmed on-location at the Georgia State Prison, the cons are the heroes, and the guards are the heavies. Eddie Albert is the sadistic warden who’ll gladly make any sacrifice to push his guards semi-pro football team to a national championship.
KBZ’s Take: Some younger fans of football are likely familiar with Adam Sandler’s The Longest Yard (2005) remake of this film. But as much as we also like that film, it doesn’t compare to the original.
The film has Burt Reynolds in his prime as quarterback Paul Crewe and perfectly balances the drama of prison life with some classic and hilarious moments during the prisoner vs. guards’ matches. It’s a classic football film with some of the best old school (and violent) football play of the subgenre.
Additional Lists: The 30 Best Films About Football #2
Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
Plot: Jeffrey The Dude Lebowski, a Los Angeles slacker who only wants to bowl and drink White Russians, is mistaken for another Jeffrey Lebowski, a wheelchair-bound millionaire, and finds himself dragged into a strange series of events involving nihilists, adult film producers, ferrets, errant toes, and large sums of money.
KBZ’s Take: The Big Lebowski is a compilation of many subgenres including Buddy Films, Quirky Humor Films, Stoner Films and Noir & Neor Noir Thriller Films. But at its core, it’s a film about the bowling exploits and friendships of The Dude (Jeff Bridges), Walter (John Goodman) and Donny (Steve Buscemi). There’s even one of the best character cameos of the entire subgenre by John Turturro (as Jesus) which spawned it’s own film in The Jesus Rolls (2020).
Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#3
Slap Shot
Plot: To build up attendance at their games, the management of a struggling minor-league hockey team signs up the Hanson Brothers, three hard-charging players whose job is to demolish the opposition.
KBZ’s Take: Slap Shot might not seem like a raunchy comedy 48 years later, but it set the standard at the time for raunchiness in both Hollywood and the sports subgenre. This was a film that had it all with vulgar language, nudity, sexual situations and some very violent hockey play. It’s also the funniest film about Hockey and one of the classic comedies of the 1970s.
Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#2
Kingpin
Plot: Roy Munson (Woody Harrelson) is a young bowler with a promising career ahead of him until a disreputable colleague, Ernie McCracken (Bill Murray), tricks him into participating in a con game that ends with Roy’s bowling hand crippled for life. Years later, Roy ekes out a hardscrabble existence until he discovers Amish bowling phenom Ishmael (Randy Quaid). With the help of a gangster’s girlfriend (Vanessa Angel), he plots to take Ishmael to the top of the bowling world.
KBZ’s Take: It’s no surprise Kingpin is listed this high being a product of The Farrelly Brothers. The Farrelly’s set a new bar for raunchiness in the 1990s with Dumb and Dumber (1994) and There’s Something About Mary (1998).
Kingpin is the only film of the three that is sports-focused though it’s also arguably the raunchiest. From Roy’s (Woody Harrelson) exploits on an Amish farm to Ishmael’s (Randy Quaid) discovery of a ‘new’ world, this is ultimately a film about bowling surrounded by raunchy characters and situations. Plus, any film that has Bill Murray as bowling champ and toupee wearing Ernie McCracken is an automatic lock for our lists.
Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
#1
Caddyshack
Plot: Danny Noonan (Michael O’Keefe), a teen down on his luck, works as a caddy at the snob-infested Bushwood Country Club to raise money for his college education. In an attempt to gain votes for a college scholarship reserved for caddies, Noonan volunteers to caddy for a prominent and influential club member (Ted Knight). Meanwhile, Danny struggles to prepare for the high pressure Caddy Day golf tournament while absorbing New Age advice from wealthy golf guru Ty Webb (Chevy Chase).
KBZ’s Take: There can be only one. And that film is Caddyshack. Arguably the funniest sports movie ever, Caddyshack mixes National Lampoon-like raunchy humor with a very funny spoof about golf.
Any film that has a starring cast of Chevy Chase, Bill Murray and Rodney Dangerfield is sure to delve into raunchy and crude humor and on that front, the film delivers. From Dangerfield’s hilarious one-liners to Murray’s mission to eliminate a gopher to Chase’s womanizing and zen-like Ty Webb, it’s a classic comedy of the 80s and our favorite raunchy sports comedy.
Where to Stream / Buy: Amazon
