The 35 Funniest Moments from ‘Goodfellas’

35 The Opening Scene

Goodfellas hits the ground running with a bit of dark comedy. “In the first scene, they’re driving in a car and you hear a knocking sound from the trunk — it’s absurd,” says Zach Jensen, content developer at The Mob Museum in Vegas. “Later, we go back to that scene and find out it’s Billy Bats (Frank Vincent).”

34 ‘I Hope It’s Nothing Serious’

Terence Winter, a writer for The Sopranos, says the funniest parts of Goodfellas are the little moments. “It’s so subtle, but I laugh my ass off every time I see the scene where Karen (Lorraine Bracco) gets stood up by Henry (Ray Liotta) at the restaurant,” he tells me. “First, they go on a double date with Tommy (Joe Pesci) and his date, which is awful, then he stands her up. So it’s Tommy, his date and Karen at the table, and Karen’s crying and they’re talking about the fact that Henry’s late. Joe Pesci, while he’s eating, says, ‘Man, I hope he’s okay.’ Tommy clearly doesn’t give a fuck where Henry Hill is or if he’s okay or not, but he’s acting like a normal person would. All he wants to do is have sex with that girl he’s with.”

33 Spider Gets Shot

“The funniest Goodfellas moment actually didn’t happen in Goodfellas,” explains Ray Abruzzo, who played Little Carmine on The Sopranos. “Before I was on The Sopranos, there’s the scene where Michael Imperioli as Christopher goes into the bakery. He gets in a tiff with the kid behind the counter, and he shoots the kid in the foot. As Christopher’s walking out, the kid says, ‘You shot me in the foot!’ and Christopher says, under his breath, ‘It happens,’ which is a total throwback to when Michael played Spider in Goodfellas, who Tommy shoots in the foot. So now when I see that scene in Goodfellas, I can’t help but laugh.”

32 Smuggling Food Into Prison

“To me, this is funny because my grandfather did 30 years in prison, and when we were kids, we used to smuggle in all the food,” says Louis Lombardi, who played Agent Skip Lipari in The Sopranos and is the founder of Avalou’s Italian Pizza Company. “My grandfather was Louis Inglese, and when he got arrested, 40 of his friends got arrested with him for the French Connection. All these dudes had kids and wives and moms, and we’d all go together, once a month, up to the federal prison in Lewisburg, Pennsylvania. We’d smuggle in veal cutlet sandwiches, liquor and everything else in our socks and in our pants — enough to feed literally 50, 60 people. They must have had the guards on the payroll at the time, like they did in Goodfellas because once we’d get in the visiting rooms, we’d start to unload.”

Lombardi adds that his grandfather was mentioned, though not by name, in Goodfellas. When Paulie pulls Henry aside to tell him to stop selling drugs, he says, “I ain’t going to get fucked like Gribbs. Gribbs got 20 years just for saying, ‘Hello’ to some fuck who was sneaking behind his back selling junk.” “My grandfather and Gribbs were partners in the French Connection,” Lombardi tells me, “so when he says he was sneaking behind his back, he’s full of shit.”

31 ‘Now Go Home and Get Your Fucking Shine Box!’

“Frank Vincent as Billy Bats just resonates from Goodfellas, and shit, he’s only in two little scenes,” notes Abruzzo. 

Winter agrees: “Frank Vincent is one of those characters where, as serious as he is, you still laugh at him. He’s easy to make the butt of a joke because he’s so handsome and he’s so serious. He almost wants to be knocked down a peg.”

30 Stabbing Billy Bats

“It’s the sickest, most tragic thing, but it’s really funny when Tommy borrows a knife from his mother and then uses it to stab Billy Bats a gazillion times,” says Lombardi.

29 Burying Billy Bats

Mob Wives star and author of the novel Playing with Fire, Renee Graziano always finds humor in the scene in which Henry, Tommy and Jimmy are burying Billy Bats’ body. “When they’re digging that hole, it’s just so natural to them,” she says. “While I know it’s not funny, it’s funny to me because there’s this camaraderie to it.”

28 Digging Up Billy Bats

“It’s really funny when they’re digging back up Billy Bats,” says Anthony J. Arillotta, former boss of the Genovese crime family in Connecticut and Massachusetts and author of South End Syndicate: How I Took Over the Genovese Springfield Crew. “When Henry is throwing up, and Jimmy says, ‘Here’s an arm! Here’s a leg!’ And Tommy goes, ‘Here’s a wing!’ That’s all very funny.” 

Arillotta says this scene rang true to the kind of ball-busting that would go on during similarly serious situations. “We did a hit for the Genovese family, and we were about to shoot this guy on the streets of New York City. We were waiting for this big union guy to come out of his housing complex around 5:30 in the morning, and we had the guns in a little brush area like 10 feet away. The guy I was with had to take a piss, and he went over to where the guns were and just pissed. When he came back, I was busting his balls saying, ‘What are you doing? You just put your DNA all over the place!’ He looked at me like, ‘Really?’ He thought I was serious. And, as we were talking, the union guy was walking out of his house and was already halfway across the street. So, yeah, there’s lightheartedness in a situation like that.”

27 Morrie’s Terrible Wigs

Again, while his favorite funny moments are smaller ones played straight, Winter notes that there are more obvious examples of comedy in Goodfellas that are played directly for laughs, like the terrible wigs worn by Morrie Kessler (Chuck Low).

26 Pesci’s Wig

Some real-life neighborhood guys filled in some of the smaller members of the crew, including Johnny “Roastbeef” Williams, a deli owner in Harlem who director Martin Scorsese enjoyed so much he renamed Williams’ character “Johnny Roastbeef.” 

Williams points to something unintentionally funny in the film: Pesci’s not-entirely-convincing wig for Tommy. “When they were doing the makeup on me for my death scene in the Cadillac, I had to get the bullet holes in my face and some dried blood on me,” recalls Williams. “As they’re putting the makeup on me, I’m sitting in the chair and I see a wig on a dummy. I said to the girl, ‘What’s that?’ She says, ‘That’s Mr. Pesci’s hair.’ Now, I knew Pesci before the movie, and when he comes on the set later, he sees me in makeup and goes, ‘Hey, Roastbeef, you look like shit.’ And I say, ‘Yeah, Joe, but at least when they do my hair, it’s on my head.’ He got so mad, he slammed the door of the trailer.”

25 The Mob Wives’ Hair

On the subject of hair, Abruzzo says, “I love all those scenes in the beauty parlor with the women, with their hair getting bigger and bigger. It just so typifies that period in time.”

24 The Mob Wives’ Tacky Decor

Similarly, Abruzzo adds, “I also love the scenes where the women are describing their houses. The pride that they have in the tackiest shit that you could possibly imagine is so funny.”

23 Angie’s Cold Sore

Speaking of the mob wives, Abruzzo singles out a particular sight gag in the salon scene: the disgusting cold sore on Angie’s face, played by Melissa Prophet. 

22 ‘I’m the Commandant’

“On set, Martin Scorsese and I had a connection through old movies and early TV shows,” notes Mike Starr, who played airport security guard Frenchy in Goodfellas. “In the scene where I’m explaining to (Robert) De Niro about the upcoming Lufthansa heist, De Niro asks, ‘What about the security?’ And I say, ‘Security? You’re looking at it. It’s a joke. I’m the midnight-to-eight man.’ After a few takes, I said, ‘I’m the commandant.’ Then, after Scorsese says, ‘Cut,’ he says, ‘Mike, commandant?’ I said, ‘Well, in the scene there, it’s 1968, and my generation grew up on movies like The Great Escape and Stalag 17 and there was always a commandant. On top of that, Hogan's Heroes was one of the most popular shows at the time and there was a commandant in there.’ He just started laughing, then he goes, ‘I love it. Keep it in.’”

21 ‘Don’t Put Too Many Onions in the Sauce’

Joe Gannascoli, who played Vito on The Sopranos and is also a trained chef who authored A Meal to Die For: A Culinary Novel of Crime, cites the exchange between Paulie (Paul Sorvino) and Vinnie (Charles Scorsese) in the prison kitchen over whether Vinnie is putting too many onions in the sauce. For the record, Gannascoli is on Vinnie’s side, saying three small onions isn’t too much for two cans of sauce. “That’s where the sweetness comes from,” Gannascoli explains.

20 Johnny Dio Cooking with a Cigar

Gannascoli also says he’s very fond of the prison kitchen scene during which Johnny Dio (Frank Pellegrino) cooks the steak while smoking a cigar. “I wish I could do that at my parties,” he laments.

19 ‘Karen Came to the House’

“It’s very funny when Paulie and Jimmy go to Henry and tell him his wife came to the house and they tell Henry to go home,” says Anthony Ruggiano Jr., former member of the Gambino family, son of Gambino captain Anthony “Fat Andy” Ruggiano Sr. and host of The Reformed Gangsters Podcast. “I love the faces that De Niro makes when he tells Henry he has to go home. I could picture that whole scene in real life.”

18 Morrie’s Commercial

Starr says he finds Morrie’s wig commercial, which Scorsese based on a local late-night windows commercial, hilarious.

17 How De Niro Pours Ketchup

Gannascoli finds humor in another small moment from the scene with Tommy’s mother. “What made me laugh was when De Niro gets the ketchup bottle, he rolls it between his hands to get the ketchup out instead of shaking it. I’ve never seen anybody do that.”

“Scorsese’s use of music, at times, was so opposite of what was happening in the scene that it’s funny,” says Abruzzo, pointing to examples like Sid Vicious’ cover of “My Way” used at the end of the film, when Henry is complaining about having to live a normal life like everyone else.

15 ‘I Didn’t Want to Get Blood on Your Floor’

Another Winter favorite. After Tommy kills Billy Bats in Henry’s club, Tommy apologizes to Henry, saying, “I didn’t want to get blood on your floor” while the actual murder goes unmentioned.

14 ‘Make That Coffee to Go’

Starr also highlights the line right before Tommy kills Stacks (Samuel L. Jackson). Tommy tells Stacks that Frankie Carbone (Frank Sivero) will make coffee while Stacks gets dressed. Tommy then shoots Stacks and goes to leave, telling Carbone, “Make that coffee to go.” Confused, Carbone takes the coffee pot with him until Tommy explains that he was only joking.

13 Tommy Gets Whacked

“When Pesci gets walked into the room thinking he’s going to get made, and they clip him there. For us wise guys, that scene is funny because that’s that life,” Arillotta says. “If you’re a part of that life and the treachery that’s involved, that’s a perfect way to clip someone. There’s guys in real life that got killed like that, when they told them they were going to get made. It’s not really funny, but for us it is.”

12 Frenchy Passes the Key

Starr says he can’t help but laugh at the scene where he, as Frenchy, passes the key to Liotta and Pesci. “When we were doing the passing of the key, I’m just leaning on my right elbow, pretending I don’t know them, then I slid them the key,” he recalls. “After a few takes, Pesci said to me, ‘Hey Mike, maybe you should try some left-elbow acting? Maybe you can do that? Let’s see if you can act with your other elbow.’ We were all laughing so hard over that.”

11 Entering Through the Kitchen

Graziano says the scene in which Henry and Karen enter the Copacabana through the kitchen is very true-to-life. “My parents used to enter through that same back door and sit at that same table at the Copacabana,” she says, referring to former Bonanno crime family member Anthony Graziano and his wife Veronica.

10 Stirring the Sauce

“Another funny scene that comes to mind is the helicopter sequence,” says Jensen. “Henry Hill is strung out on drugs. He’s very paranoid, but for good reason. He sees this helicopter following him wherever he’s going, and it’s not like he isn’t doing anything wrong — he’s arranging a shipment of drugs. Then, as he’s zigzagging across town, he stops in at the house where everyone’s preparing a meal and he’s stirring the sauce. He’s taking care of it, making sure it’s done. He tells his brother, ‘Don’t let this sauce stick.’ Then there’s a moment where he calls the house when he’s out and about, making arrangements, and he’s making sure his brother isn’t letting the sauce stick. So he’s committing crimes, and he’s still very concerned about how the sauce is turning out. It’s absurd. He’s worried about the helicopter, he’s worried about how this drug arrangement is going and he’s worried about the sauce. These three things aren’t equal.”

9 Lois’ Lucky Hat

Separate from Henry’s chaos, Jensen notes another part of the helicopter sequence. “Another absurd moment in this scene is when Lois (Welker White) is about to go on the airplane full of drugs and she says she needs her lucky hat.” 

8 The Furs

“Super funny — when everything falls off the truck,” says Graziano, referring to the truck heist of fur coats with the complicit driver at the start of the movie. “My first fur coat was from off the truck.”

7 ‘A Married Man Does Not Stay Out Like This!’

When Graziano asked her mom about the scenes she found funniest in Goodfellas, her mom pointed to when Karen’s mother (Suzanne Shepherd) shouts at Henry for being out all night and Henry just laughs it off and leaves.

6 Catherine Scorsese’s Entire Performance

Nearly everyone cited one performance in the film as being the funniest: Catherine Scorsese, as Tommy’s sweet, naive mother. In her only scene in the movie, Tommy, Henry and Jimmy stop by her house to get a shovel, but after they accidentally wake her up, she insists on feeding them while the not-entirely-dead body of Billy Bats is in the trunk of Henry’s car. “It’s an absurd scene where they’re having a casual conversation and just through the window you can see the car and there’s a body in the car,” says Jensen. 

The scene is also a favorite of Joe Mantegna’s, who played Joey Zasa in The Godfather Part III and Fat Tony on The Simpsons. “That role is so memorable because it’s so genuine,” he tells me. “It’s like my family, they’d have cast my mother to do something like that.” He also says, with pride, “Scorsese’s mother appears in Godfather III, too, just to talk bad about my character, when she says to get rid of Joey Zasa. I wasn’t even there for that scene, but I remember when the movie came out I felt like I was in rarefied air because my character was bad-mouthed by Martin Scorsese’s mother.”

5 Tommy’s Mom’s Painting

The scene with Tommy’s mother also features a painting she did of a man in a boat with two dogs. Tommy describes it by saying, “I like this one. One dog goes one way, and the other dog goes the other way.” 

As Jensen explains, “Tommy and his mother have a little exchange, which is an inane conversation about which direction the dogs are facing. Then they all take a look at the guy in the painting, and Jimmy says, ‘Looks like somebody we know,’ referring to Billy Bats, who is in the trunk, and they all start cracking up. Scorsese and screenwriter Nicholas Pileggi do this interesting thing where this is a very serious situation — this is a murder — but there’s a levity there that accomplishes two things: It makes the audience relax a little bit, but there’s also this uncomfortable feeling throughout it.”

Of the painting itself, Winter adds, “About a year ago, I was on a Zoom with Nick Pileggi, and I said, ‘God, whatever happened to that painting?’ He said, ‘I’ll show you,’ and he turned his computer around and it’s on his wall in his office. Nick’s own mother painted that. He said his mother was an amateur painter. She used to get National Geographic, and she’d see a photograph in National Geographic, then recreate it. He told Marty about it and showed him that painting. Marty said, ‘Can we use this in the movie?’ That’s how it ended up in the movie. I said to Nick, ‘That, for me, is like the sled from Citizen Kane. That’s maybe the best piece of movie memorabilia I’ve ever seen.’”

4 The Paw/The Hoof

In the scene with Tommy’s mother, Tommy asks to borrow a huge butcher knife so that he can supposedly remove the remnants of a deer they hit with his car. Recalling the moment, Abruzzo laughs, pointing to the back-and-forth between Tommy and Jimmy about whether a deer has paws or hooves. 

3 Karen Threatens Henry with a Gun

“As a woman, I relate to this part because, when you’ve had enough, you’ve had enough,” says Karen Gravano, star of Mob Wives and author of Mob Daughter: The Mafia, Sammy "The Bull" Gravano, and Me! 

Her Mob Wives co-star Graziano offers a similar sentiment: “I love when Karen points the gun at Henry. That’s not too far off base with me.”

“The part when his wife puts the gun to his head in the bed, that was realistic — our wives are nutty like that,” adds Arillotta. “We’re all constantly out all the time, making money, we’re living that life. So, there’s a lot of wives that did stuff like that. My wife’s almost close to that.”

2 ‘Didn’t I Say Not to Go Buy Anything?’

After Jimmy and his crew pull off the Lufthansa heist, Jimmy warns everyone not to spend their share of the money on anything. Yet, everyone does, including Johnny Roastbeef, who buys his wife a pink Cadillac. What follows is a very funny scene in which Jimmy yells at Johnny and others for spending the money and putting everyone in danger. 

In real life, this was Johnny “Roastbeef” Williams’ first time meeting De Niro. “When De Niro comes on set, he introduces himself and I introduce myself,” recalls Williams. “He said to me, ‘Are you a cop?’ I had a deli at the time in Harlem, and I said, ‘No, I’m a bologna cutter, you got a problem with that?’ He says, ‘No.’ Then I decided to cut the tension a little bit, so I said to him, ‘Bobby, can I call you Bobby?’ He says, ‘Yeah, absolutely.’ I said, ‘Bobby, I got to tell you something,’ as I’m starting to speak to him more and more softly until he’s within five inches of my face. Then I said, ‘Only in the movie could you ever yell at me like this, because, remember something, I’m a lot tougher than you.’ He looked at my face, and he busted out into a big laugh.”

1 ‘Funny How?’

Finally, there’s maybe the most famous single scene from Goodfellas: When Pesci does his “Funny how?” speech to Henry, scaring the hell out of him until he finally reveals he’s only joking. “When you rewatch it, you’re in on the joke,” Jensen says. “But think about the first time that you saw Goodfellas. When Henry says that Tommy is funny, the scene just grinds to a halt and there’s a six-second silence before Henry calls Tommy’s bluff. In those six seconds, it’s not funny at all. You’re just as uncomfortable as everybody else in that scene. It’s scary-funny, and that’s how a lot of the humor is in Goodfellas. You’re laughing because what else are you going to do?”