# The Beatles of Comedy

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatles-of-comedy/513454>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [October 11, 2009, 11:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatles-of-comedy/513454 "2009-10-11T23:10:28Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![koeeoaddi](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/koeeoaddi/32/408_2.png) [@koeeoaddi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/koeeoaddi)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2009, 3:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatles-of-comedy/513454/21 "2009-10-12T15:49:28Z")

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Just a student like youooooooooooooou.

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**Author:** ![Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e47c2d/32.png) [@Biffy\_the\_Elephant\_Shrew](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Biffy_the_Elephant_Shrew)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2009, 4:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatles-of-comedy/513454/22 "2009-10-12T16:03:40Z")

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> [@Krokodil](#):
>
> “Later”?

Forward, into the past!

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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:** [October 12, 2009, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatles-of-comedy/513454/23 "2009-10-12T18:14:34Z")

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> [@ftg](#):
>
> A. It’s “book” not “books”  
> B. It’s “towel”… “bath”… “border".
> 
> What next “You’re all Clarabelle’s on that train.”?

Considering the fact I haven’t heard that routine for 35 years, cut me some slack. 🙂

I can shout. Don’t hear you.

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**Author:** ![E-Sabbath](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/e19adc/32.png) [@E-Sabbath](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/E-Sabbath)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2009, 6:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatles-of-comedy/513454/24 "2009-10-12T18:34:24Z")

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… I think it may, then, be more appropriate to refer to the Beatles as the Goon Show of Music.

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**Author:** ![TWDuke](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e495f1/32.png) [@TWDuke](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TWDuke)\
**Post date:** [October 12, 2009, 6:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/the-beatles-of-comedy/513454/25 "2009-10-12T18:49:44Z")

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> [@middleman](#):
>
> It would seem the Beatles of Comedy would have to be universally popular as well as talented. MP is a niche. I cannot think of anyone that qualifies.

Not everyone loves the Beatles, but everyone\* knows who they are.

I can’t think of a current comedy troupe that approaches that level of recognition, let alone one that peaked three decades ago. In that sense, I’d say Monty Python is the most qualified to be “The Beatles of Comedy.”

(The idiom “X is the Y of Z” doesn’t usually mean that X and Y are exactly equivalent, but that X is the most like Y within the world of Z. Or something.)

Firesign Theatre would be the American-R&B-group-that-anticipated-much-of-what-we-now-call-rock-and-roll-but-is-known-mostly-to-music-historians of comedy.

ETA: \* True for certain values of “everyone.”

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