# Straight men in comic duos.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-men-in-comic-duos/229268>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [February 15, 2004, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-men-in-comic-duos/229268 "2004-02-15T00:44:12Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-men-in-comic-duos/229268/1 "2004-02-15T00:44:12Z")

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I just watched several Laurel and Hardy shorts today. They didn’t use the comic guy and straight man schtick. Later duos did…Abbott and Costello, Lewis and Dean, even Rowan and Martin used it. Who was the first duo to use the straight man routine?

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**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 1:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-men-in-comic-duos/229268/2 "2004-02-15T01:09:37Z")

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The straight man/funny man (or women) setup goes back to vaudeville. George Burns and Gracie Allen were using it long before they broke into films and I doubt they were the first.

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**Author:** ![Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/6bbea6/32.png) [@Laughing\_Lagomorph](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laughing_Lagomorph)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-men-in-comic-duos/229268/3 "2004-02-15T01:12:01Z")

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I saw in a documentary about Abbot and Costello that they always split their profits 60/40, with the straight man (Abbot) getting the larger share. Apparently this was the usual split in vaudeville…funny guys were a dime a dozen there, but a good straight man was worth his weight in gold.

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**Author:** ![moriah](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b2d939/32.png) [@moriah](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/moriah)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 1:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-men-in-comic-duos/229268/4 "2004-02-15T01:20:52Z")

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I dissent. Hardy was a straight man. It was Stan Laurel who was always getting them into a fine mess.

Yes, I mean comedically in the sense of the OP.

Peace.

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**Author:** ![Reeder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/c6cbf5/32.png) [@Reeder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Reeder)\
**Post date:** [February 15, 2004, 2:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/straight-men-in-comic-duos/229268/5 "2004-02-15T02:35:54Z")

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> [@moriah](#):
>
> I dissent. Hardy was a straight man. It was Stan Laurel who was always getting them into a fine mess.
> 
> Yes, I mean comedically in the sense of the OP.
> 
> Peace.

In response to your dissent…Ollie blamed Stan for the mess even if it was Ollie doing the getting in to.