David Niven in The Pink Panther (1964)

Clumsy yet always on the case no matter how much you beg him not to be, Inspector Jacques Clouseau takes a comic funhouse mirror to the heroes of hard-boiled mysteries. Originating in the 1964 satire The Pink Panther from Blake Edwards, Clouseau was something of a discovery being played by Peter Sellers. The film actually centers around David Niven’s Sir Charles Lytton, a gentleman thief trying to thwart the inept Clouseau. During production, the filmmakers realized how much of a scene-stealer Sellers’ Clouseau was, and thus began tailoring the movie around him instead of its actual “main” character. While Clouseau helped turn The Pink Panther into a franchise, his first appearance in the first movie is outsized hilarity at its best.

Cited as one of the best TV shows of all time by TV Guide, Entertainment Weekly, TIME, Rolling Stone, and others, “The Carol Burnett Show” is among the originators of the sketch comedy format. All 11 seasons of one of the most acclaimed and influential TV series of all-time, and the winner of 25 Emmy® Awards.