Film

Percy

Name: Percy
Genre: Comedy
Released: 1971
Cast: Hywel Bennett, Denholm Elliott, Elke Sommer, Britt Ekland, Cyd Hayman

Comedy
Strange

A 1971 British comedy about a man who receives an unexpected transplant and sets out to investigate its donor—a quest that leads him through the donor's romantic past. It's silly, deliberately outrageous, and treats its absurd premise with a wink. For anyone who loves period comedies with no boundaries and a mischievous streak.

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Carry On Camping1969

The spiritual cousin of Percy: same era, same fearless commitment to double entendre, same cast DNA. British comedy that trusted its audience to laugh at grown-up innuendo without apologising.

But The humour is broad and built entirely on sexual embarrassment. If you find that premise exhausted by the halfway point, there's nothing else holding it up.

The Graduate1967

Also about sexual anxiety and a young man tangled in complications with older women. Plays it straighter but shares Percy's dark undercurrent—what looks like a comedy keeps revealing something harder underneath.

But Completely different in tone and intent. If you're after Percy's anarchic energy, this will feel measured and almost mournful.

Singin' in the Rain1952

Peak craftsmanship in comedy cinema: the timing, the ensemble, the way it makes silliness feel effortless. A reminder that comedy at this level is a high art form.

But It's reverent about its own charm and very much a product of Hollywood polish. Percy is scrappy and British and doesn't care if you think it's sophisticated.

Not sure tonight? Get a pick in a minute, starting from Percy

The wildcard

Something you would not have found on your own.

Don't Look Now1973

Both explore what we inherit from other bodies and the violation of that inheritance. Percy laughs at the premise; Roeg uses it to break the protagonist's mind.

Nicolas Roeg's masterpiece uses sex and death and Venice as philosophy. Where Percy is comedy built on transplantation horror-comedy, this is horror-tragedy using the same bodily violation anxiety. Both about men unmade by inheritance.

But Genuinely disturbing, especially in its climax. This is grief and dread and eroticism as a genuine maze. If you want laughs, this will unsettle you instead.

Kind Hearts and Coronets1949

Denholm Elliott's fellow traveller in the British comedy tradition: dark, witty, built on transgression. Shows what the form could do when given actual wit alongside its outrageousness.

But Much more elegant and controlled than Percy. If you want that film's shameless chaos, this will feel restrained by comparison.

The Ladykillers1955

Ealing comedy with criminals disguising themselves and chaos erupting from ordinary life. Similar machinery: premise so daft it could only work if played completely straight.

But More interested in plot mechanics than character. It's a box of clockwork; Percy is drunken improvisation.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum1966

Musical farce that understands slapstick and smutty wordplay are the same art form. Riotously unashamed about what it finds funny.

But Longer and busier than Percy, and occasionally drowns in its own production design. The jokes don't always land.

A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum poster

Withnail & I1987

British comedy of the highest order: characters who are failures, dialogue that crackles, and absolute commitment to the bit. Proves the tradition never died.

But Acquired taste. Every scene is dense with reference and it refuses to explain itself. You need to surrender to it completely.

Only When I Laugh1981no page yet

Jo Joyner's predecessor in the British comedy sphere: about actresses in a rest home, it balances genuine warmth with cutting humour. Shows that sex comedies can have heart.

But Gentler than Percy and more interested in character arcs. Less anarchic if you're chasing pure mischief.

Consuming Passions1988

Obscure British comedy about a chocolate factory. Made late, when the genre was nearly finished, but carries the same shameless energy and willingness to let the premise run everywhere.

But Genuinely difficult to find. When you do, the logic has degraded in places and it feels more muddled than Percy's controlled chaos.

Myra Breckinridge1970

Both use sexual comedy and transplantation as a framework for asking what identity survives a radical body change.

Released a year before Percy and equally transgressive about gender and sexuality. Where Percy is about a man haunted by another man's body, this is about a woman remaking herself through one. Both films ask: whose body is this, really?

But Chaotic, camp, and genuinely confusing in places. The satire is so dense it often vanishes. Also deeply uncomfortable about its own subject matter in ways that now read as confused rather than daring.

Eat Drink Man Woman1994

Both use the family body—what we're born with, what we inherit—as the engine of comedy. But where Percy is about violating inheritance, Lee's film is about respecting it.

Ang Lee's comedy about an aging widower and his three daughters, food as love language, and the bodies we inherit from our parents. It's warm where Percy is raucous, but both film sex and inheritance as comedy and philosophy at once.

But Slow, domestic, deeply Taiwanese in its concerns. If you want Percy's chaos and smutty energy, this will feel like a chamber piece. The humour is gentle.