I’m taking a poll,
This is sort of like one of those AFI polls, except it can be international.
Who, in your oppinion are the greatest comedy teams of film.
Please, also give an example of what you consider the funniest moment of that team. 
Teams I have not seen and am going on their reputations:
• Harrigan and Hart (originators of the “Mulligan Guard” shows in the late 19th century)
• Weber and Fields (probably the greatest vaudeville and burlesque team ever)
Teams I have seen and love:
• Burns and Allen. Unbeatable.
• Smith and Dale (“The Sunshine Boys” were based on them)
• The Marx Brothers (before MGM ruined 'em)
• Clayton, Jackson and Durante, “The Three Broadway Bums”
• Monty Python
. . . I’m sure I’ll think of more later. I’m not a huge Stooge, Ritz or Abbott/Costello fan, myself, but it’s all a matter of indiviudual taste . . .
This from a Burns and Allen routine:
Allen (as a nurse in a materinity ward): You know, we had a lady in here last week that had triplets one day and twins the next.
Burns (as a visiting father): Triplets one day and twins the next, why I’ve never heard of such a thing.
Allen: Yes, one of the babies died.
Given the times (late 30s, early 40s) I can’t believe that made it to film.
Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are certainly worth a mention, IMHO.
:eek:
The Goon Show (Seacombe, Sellers and Milligan - wunnerful!)
More typical, non-dead-baby, Burns & Allen routines:
Gracie walks in with big bouquet of flowers.
George: “What beautiful flowers, Gracie. Where did you get them?”
Gracie: “Remember I was visiting Gladys in the hospital and you said I should take her flowers? Well, when she wasn’t looking, I did!”
George: “How’s your brother, Gracie?”
Gracie: “Oh, he and his wife have a new baby!”
George: “A new baby?”
Gracie: "And a new carriage . . . My brother went walking the baby and when he came back, he had a different baby and a different carriage. But they kept it, because it was a better carriage.
George: “A better carriage . . .”
Gracie: "Yes, and the little baby was a French baby. So my brother and his wife are learning French, so they can understand the baby when it starts to talk.
George: “Is that your brother in Sing Sing?”
Gracie: “No, it’s my other brother who goes to San Quentin.”
George: “He ‘goes to’ San Quentin?”
Gracie: “Yes, and they’re playing baseball. Brother against brother. Think how proud my father will be in his straightjacket up in the stands watching my brothers play!”
George: “Gracie, did the nurse ever drop you on your head when you were a baby?”
Gracie: “Oh, we couldn’t afford a nurse—my mother had to do it!”
[exit to the tune of Love Nest]
Thank ghod you guys got here before the “If only Adam Sandler would team up with David Spade it would be sooo awesome, man” showed up!
I can’t believe Abbot and Costello didn’t get mentioned immediately.
I mean, I don’t know that I’d necessarily consider them better than the Marx Brothers or Laurel & Hardy, but certainly their “Who’s on First?” routine is the most well-known single comedy sketch since the turn of the century, if not longer.
Goon Show
Marx Brothers
Morecambe and Wise
Laurel and Hardy
and loads of others that I can’t think of at the moment.
There are too many examples of their humour to mention here, and with Morecambe and Wise (a British duo) much of the humour was in Eric Morecambe’s facial expressions. The Goons, being on radio, were not visual at all (except what you imagine), but they did make great use of sound effects.
Abbot and Costello were okay for their time, but, to me, seem very dated now. True comedy should not date, although you do have to make certain allowances (although maybe not for that triplets/twins joke!)
Myrna Loy and William Powell in the Thin Man series
- The Marx Brothers. By far the best.
- Burns and Allen
- Laurel and Hardy
- The Three Stooges
- Abbott and Costello
Outside of films, I’d include:
- The Firesign Theater
- Burns and Schreiber
- Rowan and Martin
- Allen and Rossi
Good answer.
Ummm…ok, how 'bout Dudley Moore and Peter Cook.
I agree with many of the above, but another big gap that I’m surprised no one mentioned: Jack Benny and his gang.
Jack Benny, Mary Livingstone, Eddie “Rochester” Anderson, Mel Blanc, Dennis Day, Don Wilson, and Phil Harris. They topped radio charts for more than 2 decades.
WEELLLLL!
**Edgar Bergen and Charlie McCarthy
W.C. Fields and Charlie McCarthy**
----(most memorable movie appearance: You Can’t Cheat An Honest Man)----
The Marx Brothers, of course.
Abbot and Costello
and, Walter Mathau and Jack Lemmon.
those are my immediate contributions.
Forgive my not dredging up a team from well before I was born, but I’ve always like Fry & Laurie. Hey, at least they’re obscure.
And not one mention of Hope & Crosby? Gotta love 'em.
I’m listening to their song “The Road to Morocco,” with the line “and like Webster’s dictionary, we’re Morocco-bound.” You just don’t see that kind of cleverness nowadays.
Sorry that this is out of film, but I think that Roy and HG should get a mention.
I can’t believe the thread got this far without MARTIN & LEWIS?
Maybe they don’t apply to THIS thread as their movies never compared to their LIVE shows. Saw them many, many times in the early 50s. I can still see and hear “It’s The Talk of The Town”. Dean sang and Jerry did “schtick” and the audience screamed with laughter.
I wish AMC or TCM would get ahold of and show THE RITZ BROS. movies. Wish I could remember who said this—“of the Marx Bros. only Groucho was truly funny, but all three of the Ritz Bros. were”.
Sorry, but IMHO, there’s Laurel and Hardy…and then there’s everybody else.
The Marx Brothers make me laugh occasionally, but I have to totally suspend my disbelief too often.
The Three Stooges make me laugh a lot…but they’ll never be accused of being subtle.
Laurel and Hardy still make me laugh more than any other comedy team. Why? Because, beyond the great slapstick and goofy situations, their comedy is rooted in their characters. Their foibles and their little bits of business are priceless. I CARE about Stan and Ollie and what happens to them. I can’t for the life of me ever imagine giving a rat’s ass about Jim Carrey, Chris Farley, et al.
Furthermore, despite occasional flights of fancy, for the most part Stan and Ollie inhabit a very real world, populated with characters and situations we all can relate to. It’s the way the play off against this real world that accounts for so many of the laughs.
It’s a crime against nature that it’s almost impossible to view a Laurel and Hardy film on American TV nowadays. The availability of their films on video and DVD is also severely curtailed. The villain of this piece is, of all people, the Hallmark Card Company, which owns the rights to their films but seems to have no interest in making them available to be seen.
Those whose knowledge of Laurel and Hardy is limited to a dim childhood memory about carrying a piano up a long flight of stairs may find the devotion I and other buffs express puzzling.
But if you were intimately familiar with the entire body of their work as we are, I think you’d understand.
Let us not forget such classic comedy teams as:
Nixon & Agnew
Reagan & Bush
Bush & Quayle
Gingrich & Lott
Nothing’s funnier than people who don’t realize how funny they are!