# Unintentional sidekicks

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentional-sidekicks/398210>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [March 31, 2007, 1:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentional-sidekicks/398210 "2007-03-31T13:43:02Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 5\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Gentle\_Robot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/e495f1/32.png) [@Gentle\_Robot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gentle_Robot)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2007, 12:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentional-sidekicks/398210/21 "2007-04-02T00:16:38Z")

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[QUOTE=Raguleader]  
Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson are members of the “[Frat Pack](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Frat_Pack)”, a collection of male actors who tend to get cast in movies together in varying combinations.

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Dear god I abhor that nonsensical term and the loose affiliations it attempts to create. Nonsense. Will Rowan Atkinson, Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry henceforth be the Black pack? And Owen Wilson’s far from a sidekick.

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**Author:** ![Raguleader](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/258eb7/32.png) [@Raguleader](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Raguleader)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2007, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentional-sidekicks/398210/22 "2007-04-02T00:26:01Z")

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[QUOTE=Gentle Robot]  
Dear god I abhor that nonsensical term and the loose affiliations it attempts to create. Nonsense. Will Rowan Atkinson, Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry henceforth be the Black pack? And Owen Wilson’s far from a sidekick.  
[/QUOTE]

Which loose affiliations? The actors with eachother? They do show up in eachoters movies _a lot_. Sometimes you’ll see the same actors in movies together multiple times in the same year (Vince Vaughn and Ben Stiller in Starsky and Hutch and Dodgeball.)

As far as trying to make any affiliation with the Rat Pack, nah, not seeing it. Having a similar name is more of a cute thing than any serious effort to compare Jack Black to Frank Sinatra.

EDIT: As far as the “Black Pack” goes, that wouldn’t work because “Black” doesn’t end in “-at” (ie: Rat Pack, Brat Pack, Frat Pack)

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**Author:** ![Sir\_Rhosis](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/d9b06d/32.png) [@Sir\_Rhosis](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sir_Rhosis)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2007, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentional-sidekicks/398210/23 "2007-04-02T23:14:21Z")

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I imagine that Eastwood is responsible for hiring the dependable Geoffrey Lewis in their movie pairings. He uses another guy every now and then (tall skinny guy, was in “High Plains Drifter” and later, having gone bald, in “Unforgiven,” and maybe more).

Sir Rhosis

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**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\
**Post date:** [April 2, 2007, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentional-sidekicks/398210/24 "2007-04-02T23:23:39Z")

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[QUOTE=Raguleader]  
EDIT: As far as the “Black Pack” goes, that wouldn’t work because “Black” doesn’t end in “-at” (ie: Rat Pack, Brat Pack, Frat Pack)  
[/QUOTE]

I get the idea that “Black Pack” is because they are from _Blackadder_, but it sounds more like that they themselves are black. The Brit Pack is the obvious nomer.

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**Author:** ![Ferd\_Burfel](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ecccb3/32.png) [@Ferd\_Burfel](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ferd_Burfel)\
**Post date:** [April 3, 2007, 11:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/unintentional-sidekicks/398210/25 "2007-04-03T23:30:36Z")

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Ron Howard and Clint Howard

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