History Theatre / WaitingForGodot

** The bowler hats that Vladimir and Estragon wear are a ShoutOut to LaurelAndHardy (Beckett loved black and white comedy).

* ChromosomeCasting: Vladimir, Estragon, Pozzo, Lucky and the small boy are all male. Even Godot, who never appears onscreen, is said to be a man. Some productions avert this, given that "Pozzo" and "Lucky" are decidedly gender-neutral names.

* ChromosomeCasting: Vladimir, Estragon, Pozzo, Lucky and the small boy are all male. Some productions avert this, given that "Pozzo" and "Lucky" are decidedly gender-neutral names.

** The correct UK- and Hiberno-English pronunciation of Godot is "GOD-oh". In spite of the fact that it is meant to be a French name, Beckett intended for the stress to be on the first syllable. Also, this makes the absent god allegory that much more explicit.

** The bowler hats that Vladimir and Estragon wear are a ShoutOut to Laurel&Hardy (Beckett loved black and white comedy).

->'''Vladimir:''' Yes, let's go.

* AerithAndBob: Estragon and Vladimir (the latter name is a bit exotic but real; the former sounds like high fantasy).
** Estragon is the French name for Tarragon, a spice.

* {{Improv}}: Most performances include at least ''some'', even if it's only physical comedy.
** The 2009/2010 Berliner Ensemble performance had Didi and Gogo getting into discussions with the prompt. It was quite subdued and casual, and the actors were so in tune with each other it didn't seem at all disrespectful towards Beckett.

* ShoutOut: To TheBible, among others.

* TitleDrop:

* WordOfGod: Beckett as said on several occasions that Godot does not represent God, so much so that he even regrets naming the character in such a way to cause people to make the assumption. In actual fact "Godot" can be taken to mean pretty much anything that you would wait for to the point that you fail do anything else but wait.

* SesameStreetCred: Amazingly, the play was parodied on ''SesameStreet'' in the "Monsterpiece Theatre" sketch ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksL_7WrhWOc Waiting for Elmo]]'', complete with generous satire of TrueArtIsIncomprehensible. That takes both ParentalBonus and ViewersAreGeniuses UpToEleven.

* HoYay: [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Waiting_for_Godot#Homoerotic Tons of it.]]

* SpiritualSuccessor: ''{{Bottom}}'', amazingly (particularly from their West End production of it.) It features Rik Mayall and Ade Edmondson, who played (respectively) Rick and Vyvian in TheYoungOnes. Go figure!

** Actually, the two embrace a couple of times.
** Lord knows it's ''impossible'' for two men to hug without being gay. The Ho Yay examples below, on the other hand, actually imply they may be a couple.

** Lord knows it's ''impossible'' for two men to hug without being gay. The Ho Yay examples below, on the other hand, actually imply a bigger relationship.

A famously surreal "tragicomedy" by Samuel Beckett. Probably the best known example of the [[{{Absurdism}} Theatre of the Absurd]]. The story concerns [[ThoseTwoGuys these two guys]], Vladimir and Estragon (Didi and Gogo for short), who spend most of their time sitting by a lonely road, waiting for someone named Godot, who never comes. They have several brief encounters with an UpperClassTwit named Pozzo and his servant, Lucky. In the course of the play, they wonder where Godot is, eat carrots, contemplate suicide, wonder where Godot is, discuss the Gospels, share dirty jokes, [[RuleOfThree wonder where Godot is]], exchange hats, and gradually succumb to existential angst and ennui.

* OmegaCast: There are only four characters (and the messenger boy).

[[Stinger Godot Was Here.]]

Godot Was Here.

* RiddleForTheAges: Who or what is Godot?

* OnlyKnownByTheirNickname: The character's full names are never spoken.