The 10 Funniest Moments from ‘The Wizard of Oz’

10 “Pay No Attention to the Man Behind the Curtain”

The Wizard’s most famous line from The Wizard of Oz endures. The Wizard is a charlatan, playing the people of Oz for fools by pretending he’s as an all-powerful wizard, which Toto reveals by tugging on the curtain. The Wizard hilariously tries to cover up his ruse but realizes the jig is up. 

9 “Are You a Good Witch or a Bad Witch?”

While Ariana Grande is far funnier than Billie Burke as Glinda, the original Good Witch does have one hilarious running gag: she believes that Dorothy is a witch. 

Shortly after the house lands on the Wicked Witch of the East, Glinda appears and asks Dorothy if she's a good witch or a bad witch. Dorothy says she isn’t a witch, and Glinda, a bit air-headedly, inquires if Toto is the witch. Dorothy says “No,” and Glinda again asks Dorothy if she’s a good or bad witch. Dorothy again insists he’s not a witch at all. 

The bit resurfaces when Glinda refers Dorothy to the Wizard in Emerald City, and asks “Did you bring your broomstick with you?” 

8 “Oil Can What?”

The Wizard of Oz has wonderful wordplay, and a great example of it comes when Dorothy and the Scarecrow (Ray Bolger) meet the Tin Man (Jack Haley). When Dorothy first discovers the Tin Man, he’s rusty and cannot move, but manages to squeak out the words “Oil can” from his frozen lips. When Dorothy figures out what he’s saying, she repeats it back saying “Oil can.” The Scarecrow, meanwhile, lends some credence to his claims of brainlessness by inquiring “Oil can what?”

7 Putting the Scarecrow Back Together

The Scarecrow has a few good laughs, the best of which comes when the flying monkeys attack Dorothy and her friends. While Dorothy ends up kidnapped, the Scarecrow gets the worst of it, as he’s torn to shreds by the winged primates. While this is one of the most dramatic parts of the movie, the funny visual of the Scarecrow in pieces, accompanied by the Lion and the Tin Man hastily restuffing him with hay, keeps it from getting too heavy.

6 “Oh, She Bit Her Dog, Eh?”

At the beginning of the film, Ms. Gulch (Margaret Hamilton) comes to the farm to gripe about Dorothy to Aunt Em (Clara Blandick) and Uncle Henry (Charley Grapewin). When Uncle Henry asks Gulch what Dorothy has done, Gulch gripes “I’m all but lame from the bite on my leg!” Henry, fully aware she’s talking about Toto, asks “You mean she bit ya?” Gulch says “No, her dog.” Henry replies “Oh, she bit her dog, eh?” before purposefully releasing the fence door that slaps Gulch on the keyster. 

5 “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead”

While the Wicked Witch of the East has terrorized the Munchkins for ages, there’s still some dark comedy to be found in the way they so joyously celebrate her death. The song “Ding Dong the Witch is Dead” is led in by some seriously callous lines like “We thank you very sweetly, for doing it so neatly” and “You've killed her so completely, that we thank you very sweetly.” Then they break into the cheeriest, happiest song imaginable about death and murder. 

4 Dorothy Meets the Cowardly Lion

The Lion makes a grand entrance where he’s growling at everyone and hurling insults at the Scarecrow, who he calls a “lopsided bag of hay,” and the Tin Man, of whom he asks “How long can you stay fresh in that can?” His bravado comes tumbling down when he goes after Toto and Dorothy slaps him for it. Then comes the punchline: that the Lion is a sniveling, whimpering coward.

3 The Wizard and the Hot Air Balloon

Even after his secret is exposed to Dorothy and her friends, the Wizard’s happy to continue deceiving the simple-minded citizens of Oz. This is clear in his farewell speech aboard the hot air balloon, where he says he’s “about to embark on a hazardous and technically unexplainable journey,” then clarifies the journey is not “technically unexplainable,” he just doesn’t understand how a hot air balloon works. When Dorothy and Toto jump out of the balloon's basket, his main concern becomes clear when he says that they “ruined my exit!”

2 Cowardly Lion’s “Courage” Speech

The Cowardly Lion’s speech about courage is his brightest, funniest moment in the film. He gives himself a pep talk through the dialogue, which starts well and quickly devolves. He begins with “What makes a king out of a slave? Courage. What makes the flag on the mast to wave? Courage.” From there, he makes increasingly less sense. “What makes the elephant charge his tusk in the misty mist or the dusky dusk?” isn’t too bad, but then comes “What makes the muskrat guard his musk?” which really doesn’t make much sense. 

By the end of it, he’s decided he doesn’t have what it takes. When he poses to his friends “Whatta they got that I ain't got?” They say “Courage” and he readily agrees, saying “You can say that again!”

1 Dorothy Meets Professor Marvel

Professor Marvel is a two-bit huckster with so many scams going he can’t even keep track of them. When Dorothy asks if she can meet the “Crowned Heads of Europe,” he asks “Why, do you know any?” before realizing that’s the humbug he wrote on the side of his own wagon. 

Then, to tell Dorothy her fortune, Professor Marvel instructs her to close her eyes so she may be “Better in-tuned with the infinite.” Once she does, he rifles through her belongings to appear like a more convincing telepath. To be clear, Marvel is just trying to get Dorothy to go back home, but the whole scene — which is full of funny, verbose lines and little bits of business Morgan delivers perfectly — is still him pulling a fast one on a gullible child.