Welcome back. How nice to see you! Have you lost weight? No, didn't think so; Still chunky as ever. Anywho, let's get right on with some more funny business with:

Ben Stiller

Have we really come this far through our list without mentioning Ben Stiller? For shame. We'll begin with a bit of a controversial statement: Tropic Thunder was pants. Robert Downey Junior and a hairy Tom Cruise cameo aside, were there any real laughs to be had from this overblown war spoof? Still, the transfer on the director's cut rocks and the list of extras is intimidating: Two audio commentaries, a 'blowing shit up' featurette, 30 minute making of, deleted/extended scenes, alternate ending and bonus out-takes via BD-Live.

There's Something About Mary, The Heartbreak Kid, Dodgeball, Madagascar 1 and 2 and Night at the Museum 1 and 2 are all out now on Blu-ray while Meet The Parents/Fockers, The Royal Tenenbaums, Along Came Polly, Reality Bites and, most notably, Zoolander are not. The transfer on Mary isn't very good on either the US or UK releases but you do get a choice of watching the theatrical/extended cut (approx 10mins longer) and the flood of extras almost make up for it. There are cast interviews and retrospective featurettes galore, a Dandy Warhols music video, outtakes, marketing campaigns, karaoke, plus separate directors and writers commentaries. Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story is a bit too easy a target for Stiller's trademark spoofery and the extras are pretty meagre, but Night at the Museum and its sequel Battle of the Smithsonian are packed to the gills with supplements galore.

Laugh or Cry? Laugh

Jim Carrey

The rubber-faced comedian's first real hit Ace Venture: Pet Detective is a no-show but it's only a matter of time before we see it on Blu-ray. Elsewhere The Mask comes in a nice 10th Anniversary package (shouldn't that be 14th Anniversary?). While the transfer shows its age slightly (it was shot in 1994) it's definitely a step up from the DVD and there are some nice behind the scenes features like a commentary from key crew members, a 27 minute retrospective titled Return to Edge City and a Cameron Diaz 'introduction' (twas her first film). Carrey's third hit of 1994 was Dumb and Dumber and, like The Mask, the HD transfer is a bit underwhelming. On the plus side it's the unrated cut, has a lossless TrueHD 5.1 track and retrospective documentary - on the negative side Carrey and the Farrelly brothers are nowhere to be seen on any of the extras and you don't get the option to view the theatrical cut, which is better. You might as well buy the DVD.

Me, Myself and Irene - Carrey's second collaboration with Bobby and Peter Farrelly - is only out in America and the disc is locked, but since the MPEG-2 transfer is limp, you're not missing much - especially as there were more extras on the SE DVD. The Truman Show, Bruce Almighty and CGI toon Horton Hears a Who? have much stronger transfers but similarly weak extras to Irene. However, the best of Mr. Carrey's recent output has to be Yes Man. Not only is it really funny and has Zooey Deschanel as the love interest (biased? Us?) but the extras are all in HD and include 5 of the aforementioned Ms Deschanel's music videos, a gag reel, stunt featurette, on set with Jim Carrey featurette and set tour with author Danny Wallace. Should you buy it? YES! If only the rest of Carrey's films on Blu-ray were as respectfully handled.

Laugh or Cry? Cry

John Candy

Despite his death in March 1994 from a heart attack this jolly actor remains one of our most cherished comedy performers, mostly because most of us grew up watching Uncle Buck, Home Alone and Planes, Trains and Automobiles (all John Hughes creations). Out of those three, Planes and Uncle Buck aren't available, while the Home Alone Family Fun Edition can be imported from America with a surprisingly strong DTS-HD 5.1/1080p AVC transfer (it's worth getting just to hear the lively Culkin/Columbus audio commentary). Sadly the only other John Candy movie of note currently on Blu-ray is Spaceballs; Mel Brooks' Star Wars spoof which has actually got a solid new release care of MGM (DTS-HD 5.1/1080p AVC codec). Extras include a commentary from Brooks himself, Spaceballs: The Documentary, script featurette, stills galleries, storyboard comparisons and a 10 minute tribute to the life and films of John Candy.

This leaves most of John Candy's back catalogue still to be released: 1941, The Blues Brothers, Stripes, Little Shop of Horrors, Only The Lonely, The Great Outdoors and Cool Runnings. His old pal John Hughes, who sadly also died of a heart attack this year, is similarly under-appreciated on Blu-ray with only Home Alone and Ferris Bueller's Day Off to choose from. Elsewhere there's a Mel Brooks Collection containing 9 of his best comedies out on region A but this appears to be locked, as is Young Frankenstein, leaving only Blazing Saddles accessible to UK fans.

Laugh or Cry? Cry