Pornochanchada (Portuguese pronunciation: [poʁnoʃɐ̃ˈʃadɐ]) is a genre of sex comedy films (chanchada [pt] means a kind of light comedy, a burlesque) produced in Brazil that was popular from the late 1960s, following the popularity of commedia sexy all'italiana. By the 1980s, with the wide availability of hardcore pornography through clandestine video cassettes, the genre suffered a considerable decline. The name, combined pornô (porn) and chanchada (light comedy), which itself combined comedy and erotica.

Due to a confluence of economic and cultural factors, particularly with the liberation of customs, it produced a new trend in the film field, questioning customs and exploring erotica. As a typical cultural product of Brazil, pornochanchada achieved great commercial success in the country throughout the 1970s, despite the low cost of its productions, mainly made in Boca do Lixo.

The genre was heavily influenced by popular Italian comedies, especially those of an erotic nature, as well as the reinterpretation of the Rio de Janeiro tradition of popular urban comedy and the insinuating eroticism of São Paulo films from the late 1960s. Although the label was used indiscriminately, whether for poorly finished or well-crafted works, pornochanchada was characterized by the development of scripts emphasizing erotic situations, innuendos, jokes, and a priority focus on female anatomy, a film formula that quickly captured large segments of the Brazilian market. Combining titles with double meanings, the plots often revolved around themes such as virginity, romantic conquest, and adultery, among others.

For many of its critics, pornochanchada films were considered vulgar and crude, taking advantage of the strict control over cultural production and information during the Brazilian military dictatorship. More conservative and moralistic sectors of society even organized campaigns against the screening of these films, and hundreds of them were heavily censored by federal censors. Others argued that the genre led a significant market phase for Brazilian cinema in the mid-1970s. One notable film of the genre is Lady on the Bus, which is the fourth highest-grossing film in the history of Brazilian cinema, with 6.5 million viewers. This genre (alongside erotic drama) is responsible for the phrase "Brazilian cinema is just about sex."

The decline of pornochanchada came in the early next decade, due to both its thematic exhaustion and the rise of hardcore pornography, which put an end to the genre's roughly 15-year existence as a popular genre.

According to the Enciclopédia do Cinema Brasileiro (Encyclopedia of Brazilian Cinema), pornochanchada began with the films Os paqueras (directed by Reginaldo Faria), Memórias de um gigolô (directed by Alberto Pieralisi), and Adultério à brasileira (directed by Pedro Carlos Rovai), which were produced in Rio de Janeiro. Between 1969 and 1972, in what can be considered the genre's first production phase, pornochanchada featured experienced producers and directors who made erotic comedies focusing on the cast, efficient direction, and script conception (including authors such as Lauro César Muniz and Oduvaldo Viana Filho).

However, it was in a second phase that the genre gained fertile ground and consolidated itself, starting in the region of Luz and more specifically in an area that became known as Boca do Lixo. With the emergence of new directors and an increasingly diverse and considerable film production, including some works that displayed recognized qualities, pornochanchada represented a golden age in terms of the Brazilian film market between 1972 and 1978. Among the top 25 box office hits from 1970 to 1975, nine were pornochanchada films, led by the record-breaking A Viúva Virgem (directed by Pedro Carlos Rovai).

During this phase, several subgenres emerged within the pornochanchada, with titles exploring drama, crime, horror, western, and even experimental, in addition to those that intensified their comedic or erotic sides. Directors such as Carlos Reichenbach, Ody Fraga, Roberto Mauro, Fauzi Mansur, Jean Garret, Cláudio Cunha, José Miziara, and Silvio de Abreu, among others, emerged, as well as filmmakers like cinematographers Cláudio Portioli and Antônio Meliande, editor Eder Mazzini, and screenwriter Rajá de Aragão, in addition to the production companies Servicine (owned by Alfredo Palácios and A. P. Galante) and Cinedistri (owned by Osvaldo Massaini).