Translation is closely related to the human essence, whose more relaxed facet appears in comic texts. In this respect, the possible translation of humour has been the focus of debate in multiple international academic environments in the last years. The film industry provides a pre-eminent source of leisure in present society; that is the reason why we will make use of it to show the humorous translation approaches adopted in the past and the new approaches at present. More precisely, we will make use of the film career of the Marx Brothers to illustrate the quality of comic translation. Their humour, which covers all linguistic levels, is as brilliant as difficult to translate. The aims of this paper are: a) comparing the dubbed and subtitled versions of one of their masterpieces, Duck Soup (1933), and evaluating of the weak and strong points in the four Spanish versions; b) determining the causes which may have an effect on the doubtful comic quality of the linguistic and cultural aspects of translation; and c) taking into account the possible improvements, pointing out new paths to reach higher effectiveness standards in professional settings. With this methodology in mind, the author expects to hint some tips which may serve as guidelines to improve the quality of the training and career development of the new Spanish professionals in similar humorous situations.