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Everyone loves a good clown. Okay, most people love a good clown. Either way, as common as funny people may be, it's just as common to see the clown who cries on the inside. When it comes to movies, there are certainly a few comedians and comediennes who like to make us cry every once in a while. Unfortunately, only a few of these gifted jokesters are actually good at the heavier emotions. For all the comics who like to have depth, only a few apparently can convey such acting prowess on the big screen.

Of course, in recent years, one writer-producer-director has tried to bridge the gap between comics in funny roles and comics in serious roles: Judd Apatow. When it comes to movies that he produces, the results are a bit mixed: for every Superbad, a movie that earns its bittersweet moments between best friends Seth and Evan, there is a Drillbit Taylor, a movie that earns its spot in the bargain bin. Still, Apatow's two times behind the camera, The 40-Year Old Virgin and Knocked Up, are not only ridiculously raunchy, but also sweet, sometimes sad, and, most importantly, real (I am, for this article, ignoring the Bollywood finale of The 40-Year Old Virgin). This week heralds Apatow's third time as director with Funny People, starring Adam Sandler, Seth Rogen, Leslie Mann, Jonah Hill, and a slew of comic actors and celebrities; it looks to be his most dramatic work yet.

Whether the movie will do well at the box office or in our minds is yet to be determined. At the very least, I have high hopes based on the pedigree, and the idea that Adam Sandler will once again attempt to act seriously instead of do funny voices and have broad stereotypes surrounding him. I won't get into too much about this erstwhile goofball, as he's about to make it onto this week's A-List, which will look at the best performers who bring the funny and sad in movies.

The list has work mostly from people who are still alive, well, and working; unfortunately, the list is dominated by men, as the amount of comic actresses who break out of the mold to do serious work isn't so easy to rifle through. Sure, there are actresses who can incite laughter and tears, but none have ever stepped out so far from their comfort zones as the men on this list. Let's take a look at the top folks at making us cry and laugh.

Charlie Chaplin

In some ways, Charlie Chaplin paved the way for movies that attempted to have high drama and low humor. Though one of his most well-known roles that has stark differences between hilarity and sadness is 1940's The Great Dictator, where he plays a barely disguised slam at Adolf Hitler and a man who looks exactly like the titular tyrant, Chaplin often was able to make people giggle one minute, and look for some tissues the next minute. The great example is City Lights, the movie where we marvel at the goofiness of the Tramp trying to win a boxing match without even throwing a punch and find ourselves sniffling at the film's closing moments, which are far more moving than entire tearjerkers that come out these days.

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