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5[[quoteright:325:[[WesternAnimation/SupermanTheAnimatedSeries https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/straightman01_6517.png]]]]
6[[caption-width-right:325:[[ComicBook/LexLuthor The Straight Man]] in his [[StraightManAndWiseGuy natural symbiotic relationship]] with [[ComicBook/TheJoker the Wise Guy]].]]
7
8->''"Well, the straight guy is never given enough credit... [[Creator/AbbottAndCostello Abbott]] gets no credit for framing a gag, for the architecture, for the support, for the drive. He does everything except the punchline; he's amazing."''
9-->-- '''Creator/MelBrooks''', [[https://music.avclub.com/mel-brooks-and-carl-reiner-1798218473 2009 AVClub interview]]
10
11Somebody has to set up the joke so the funny guy can deliver the {{punchline}}. That's the Straight Man. He rarely gets the funny lines, but has to have impeccable timing and delivery so that the comic (the other half of a comedy duo) can hit it out of the park. [[Creator/AbbottAndCostello Bud Abbott]] (widely considered the greatest Straight Man of all time) had to say, "[[WhosOnFirst Who's on First]]," with just the right degree of earnestness and irritation so that [[Creator/AbbottAndCostello Lou Costello]] could get big laughs saying "Whaddya askin' me for?"
12
13The best Straight Men are so good they can sometimes get laughs just by delivering a straight line so well the audience knows what's coming. (This is essentially the basis of Creator/BobNewhart's "telephone" routines: he was playing the Straight Man to ''[[TheGhost nothing]]''.) Other straight men in comedy duos have included Creator/GeorgeBurns (with Creator/GracieAllen), Creator/DeanMartin (with Creator/JerryLewis), and Dan Rowan (with Dick Martin of ''[[Series/RowanAndMartinsLaughIn Laugh-In]]'').
14
15In [[{{Dramedy}} less-comedic works]], the Straight Man is a {{Foil}} for the BunnyEarsLawyer, MagnificentBastard, LargeHam or LoveableRogue.
16
17If the Straight Man is the lead in an ensemble or a show with a large cast, this can lead to them being overshadowed by the rest of the cast because they spend their time and effort setting up the rest of the cast instead of themselves (see also StandardizedLeader).
18
19Note: [[ArtifactTitle A person does not need to be straight or a man to be this trope.]] The term can apply to women, but "comedic {{foil}}" is a more popular unisex term. In fact, women in comic pairings have frequently played this role over the last few decades, usually with WomenAreWiser coming into play.
20
21In TV comedy, a Straight Man is frequently one half of an OddCouple. In a ComicTrio, they usually play the "helpless observer" role. If multiple characters take turns playing Straight Man, they have a game of SanityBall. By far the most common pairing is StraightManAndWiseGuy.
22----
23!!Not to be confused with:
24* OnlySaneMan: The person in the cast who is sensible while everyone else is acting crazy. This ''may'' overlap with Straight Man, and it's pretty rare to have one of each, but they are ''not'' automatically the same character. (What's required of a Straight Man is not necessarily being "serious," but presenting the setup of the gags so someone else can give the punch line.)
25* TheComicallySerious: This character's serious reaction is what gets the laugh; the Straight Man would be the one who sets up their reaction to be funny. It's possible for this to overlap if the Straight Man delivers their lines so well that they're funny even before the actual punch line; again Creator/BobNewhart is a great example of that.
26* DeadpanSnarker: Delivers laugh lines in a monotone sarcastic voice. Again, it may overlap, but it's just as common for someone else to be the Straight Man while the Deadpan Snarker gives the punch lines.
27
28!!Compare and contrast:
29* BokeAndTsukkomiRoutine, where the "Straight Man" takes the ''tsukkomi'' role but, rather than setting up jokes as such, spends most of his time trying to correct the ''boke'''s [[ComicallyMissingThePoint comical misconceptions]] (until he eventually gives up and {{Dope Slap}}s him).
30* HamAndDeadpanDuo, where ThoseTwoGuys are a wacky overactor and a guy who speaks in a dull monotone.
31* GleefulAndGrumpyPairing, where one guy is goofy and the other is cynical. Which one is the straight man may vary.
32* NewhartPhoneCall, as discussed, where a talented straight man can get laughs by letting the audience’s imagination fill in the offstage half of a phone conversation.
33----
34!!Example subpages:
35
36[[index]]
37* StraightMan/AnimeAndManga
38* [[StraightMan/LiveActionFilms Films — Live-Action]]
39* StraightMan/LiveActionTV
40* StraightMan/{{Webcomics}}
41* StraightMan/WesternAnimation
42[[/index]]
43
44!!Other examples:
45
46[[foldercontrol]]
47
48[[folder:Comedy]]
49* Initially, Creator/GeorgeBurns had his wife Gracie Allen in the Straight Man role in their comedy act... until he realized most of the laughter was at her set-up lines and not the actual jokes. He switched roles with her and spent the next several decades as one of the classic straight men.
50* Carl Reiner to Creator/MelBrooks' 2000-years-old man is another classic of the trope.
51* Music/DeanMartin to Creator/JerryLewis.
52* Rowan to Martin in ''Series/RowanAndMartinsLaughIn''.
53* Dick Smothers to Tom Smothers.
54* Opera singer Marilyn Mulvay was the straight woman for Creator/VictorBorge.
55* The infamous [[spoiler:staged]] heckler in [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QOlqbo0zZdI Brendon Burns's comedy sketches]] serves this role; she argues with him about racism with a completely serious attitude, while Burns flings her arguments back at her with humor.
56* Creator/AbbottAndCostello: Bud Abbott took a 60% share of the comedy duo's earnings because vaudeville tradition held that the straight man was the more important member of the duo.
57--> '''Lou Costello''': Comics are a dime a dozen. Good straight men are hard to find.
58* Creator/BobNewhart was such a master straight man that he didn't even need a funny partner. His famous bits are talking on the telephone with a fictional funny character who is not audible to the audience. All of the humor comes from Newhart's reactions to the ridiculous things the other person is supposedly saying.
59[[/folder]]
60
61[[folder:Comic Books]]
62* ''Franchise/{{Batman}}'':
63** This point is brought up in the comics on occasion; one of the main reasons that ComicBook/TheJoker has given for not [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim simply killing]] Batman is that the Joker sees Batman as his unwilling straight man.
64** In the sequel comic series to the DCAU titled ''Batman: The Adventures Continue'', the Joker actually hires a henchman named Straightman. Ironically, he's terrible at being one and Joker continually chastises him for ad-libbing.
65* ComicBook/LexLuthor is also the straight man when the [[VillainTeamUp villains team up]].
66* Tom from the Roger Mellie strips in ''ComicBook/{{Viz}}''. Sometimes he's Roger's agent and at other times he's Roger's producer, but he's always Roger's straight man. One strip featured a sign on his desk that had "straight man" as his job title.
67[[/folder]]
68
69[[folder:Comic Strips]]
70* ''ComicStrip/FoxTrot'' zig-zags this. In the early years of the strip, Roger and Andy were both rather straight, with Andy occasionally being the funny one. However, someone slipped an IdiotBall into Roger Fox's shorts and he never removed it, so Andy was pretty much the straight one throughout most of the comic's run, although there have been notable instances where ''Roger'' was the straight one.
71* ''ComicStrip/CalvinAndHobbes'': Hobbes also acts like this to Calvin; although there are times where Calvin can identify a little bit of quirkiness from Hobbes.
72* ''ComicStrip/{{Peanuts}}'': In the stories focusing on Sally, Charlie Brown stands back and gets to comfortably be the DeadpanSnarker to his sister's silliness.
73* ''ComicStrip/{{Garfield}}'': In the early days, Jon was the straight man to Garfield. Most of the humor in the early strips derived from Jon lamenting his status as cat owner whenever Garfield's catlike curiosity led him to do idiotic things. But as [[CharacterizationMarchesOn characterization marched on]], they reversed roles: Jon turned into a socially awkward and weird ManChild, while Garfield turned into a lazy DeadpanSnarker, whose job it was to comment on Jon's strange behavior.
74[[/folder]]
75
76[[folder:Fan Works]]
77* In the Homestuck fan adventure ''Webcomic/AlabasterTheDoomedSession'', there are two straight women: Via and Crossover, which both spend their time kicking the horrible male lead's ass and enduring the madness and mistakes of the entire cast.
78* ''Fanfic/QueenOfAllOni'': Agent Wisker often serves as one for the heroes, being a normal, no-nonsense government agent who treats his mission more like a criminal investigation than a supernatural hunt. Meanwhile, on the villainous side of things, [[EnigmaticMinion Blankman]] often serves as this, his businesslike criminal demeanor contrasting the more quirky members of the Shadow Hand.
79* ''WebVideo/DragonballZAbridged'': Most of the main villains play straight man to their henchmen (particularly Vegeta to Nappa) as well as to Goku. In addition, Kami is the straight man to Mr. Popo, Nail is the straight man to Super Kami Guru and Krillin, Piccolo is the straight man to Nail, Gohan is a straight man to everyone, and Tien Shinhan seems to be unaware that he's in a parody and plays just about everything straight.
80* Jason often does this in ''Sailor Moon: Legends of Lightstorm''. All too often, he doesn't respond to the Scouts' antics except to give them a look that makes them realize the ridiculousness of their actions. And most of the time he doesn't even change his expression.
81* Hovat in ''Fanfic/WereJerrySpringerNotCasablanca'' is a female example of this, and so is Gamora to a lesser extent.
82* ''Fanfic/TopOfTheLineEditorBug'': Between Zim's egotistical mania, Tak's obsessive need to one-up him, and Skoodge's naivety, Tenn tends to be the OnlySaneMan reacting to all the insanity around her.
83[[/folder]]
84
85[[folder:Literature]]
86* On the ''Literature/{{Discworld}}'', Rincewind and Sam Vimes seem to play the straight man [[OnlySaneMan for the entire world]].
87* The trope is lampshaded and identified by name in ''Literature/TheDresdenFiles'' novel ''Literature/BloodRites'' when Harry observes that one of the incidental characters is a born Straight Man and could provide some enterprising wise guy with perfect straight lines for life.
88* The setup for ''Literature/EndoAndKobayashiLive The Latest on Tsundere Villainess Lieselotte'' is basically, a commented LetsPlay session by the [[JapaneseSchoolClub Broadcasting Club]]. Endo, who spent most of his life on baseball but was forced to retire due to a CareerEndingInjury, has a background that is the furthest one can get from gaming. As a result, he's usually the person providing the layman's opinion on ''[[FictionalVideoGame Magikoi]]''.
89* ''Literature/TheHungerGames'': Katniss Everdeen.
90* The titular character of ''Literature/AlicesAdventuresInWonderland'' plays this role to the wacky denizens of Wonderland. Whether she's also the OnlySaneMan is debatable: [[spoiler:[[AllJustADream the entire story takes place in her subconsciousness]]]].
91[[/folder]]
92
93[[folder:Professional Wrestling]]
94* Wrestling/GorillaMonsoon played this to Wrestling/BobbyHeenan, producing many classic moments. As did Wrestling/TonySchiavone in Wrestling/{{WCW}}, though those moments were less classic.
95* Despite it producing being his silliest gimmick (up to that point), [[MaskedLuchador American Dragon as a literal American Dragon]], he still ended up being the straight one compared to Wrestling/{{C|hristopherDaniels}}urryman during their run as [[Wrestling/NewJapanProWrestling IWGP]] Junior Heavyweight TagTeam Champions. Similarly Wrestling/BryanDanielson tried to go along with whatever [[Wrestling/LondonAndKendrick Paul London]] came up with in Wrestling/ProWrestlingGuerilla, but Paul was just so left field Danielson would often have to slow him down just to make sense of him (usually resulting in something even weirder).
96* When Curt Hawkins and Wrestling/ZackRyder teamed together, they were semi-regulars on Wrestling/JohnMorrison and [[Wrestling/TheMiz The Miz's]] online show ''The Dirt Sheet''. Hawkins would play the Straight Man to Ryder who was essentially using the "tool" gimmick that he would adopt on Wrestling/{{WWE}}[[Wrestling/{{ECW}} CW]].
97* Wrestling/VladimirKozlov acted as one to Wrestling/SantinoMarella as he softened from guy who likes seeing him in pain to guy who genuinely likes him.
98[[/folder]]
99
100[[folder:Puppet Shows]]
101* PPDA, the puppet for Patrick Poivre D'Arvor, acts as the straight man for absolutely everybody else in ''Series/LesGuignolsDeLInfo''.
102* Kermit the Frog from ''Franchise/TheMuppets'' is the famous Straight Man to everyone else in the cast. You have to feel sorry for what he has to put up with sometimes, especially from [[{{Tsundere}} Miss Piggy]], [[SoUnfunnyItsFunny Fozzie]], [[AllDrummersAreAnimals Animal]]... The guy doesn't really get a break. Also, Fozzie plays the straight man to Statler and Waldorf whenever he does an act, though this isn't intentional on his part.
103** Kermit also had a role on ''Series/SesameStreet'' where he was a reporter, often reporting on fairy tales and nursery rhymes and the like. A lot of the humour came from Kermit trying to maintain composure through all the ridiculousness around him.
104* One of the all-time great straight men is Bert, the Straight Man to Ernie on ''Series/SesameStreet'' (though he did deliver the punchline occasionally, usually in his AsideGlance at the end of the sketch).
105* Creator/JeffDunham to his puppets. Given that he is voicing the puppets, it is regularly {{lampshaded}} that he is being the straight man ''[[ActingForTwo to himself]]''.
106[[/folder]]
107
108[[folder:Radio]]
109* Radio/BobAndRay were an exception to this, as each man could ''simultaneously'' be the straight man and the goof, all in the same routine.
110* Bud Abbott from ''Creator/AbbottAndCostello'', most famously in the "WhosOnFirst" routine.
111** Compare [[http://www.newsfromme.com/2015/01/18/bud-n-lou/ this rare recording]] in which Abbott was out sick so Costello performed the routine with Sidney Fields. It's quickly obvious, as Creator/MarkEvanier observes, that Abbott contributed a lot more to the comedy than simply setting up his partner to be funny.
112* In ''Radio/CabinPressure'', ''[[InsistentTerminology Captain]]'' [[Creator/BenedictCumberbatch Martin Crieff]] is usually this to his co-pilot [[Creator/RogerAllam Douglas]].
113* Neddie Seagoon, played by Harry Secombe, was pretty much the Straight Man to the entire cast of ''Radio/TheGoonShow'' -- when he wasn't joining in the general surreal mess and leaving the announcer of the day (especially if it was Wallace Greenslade) as the Straight Man instead.
114* ''Radio/HamishAndAndy'' has Andy
115* The title character of ''Radio/TheJackBennyProgram'' typically played the straight man to everyone else in the cast. As Benny said, "I don't care who gets the laughs on my show, as long as the show is funny."
116* Dougal (Graeme Garden) in ''Radio/HamishAndDougal'' ... usually. He's certainly more likely to be holding the SanityBall than anyone else, with the possible exception of [[WomenAreWiser Mrs Naughtie]].
117* The interviewer played by Carrie Quinlan in the interview sketches on ''Radio/JohnFinnemoresSouvenirProgramme'' is the straight woman to various strange characters played by Finnemore. Later episodes name her as [[MeaningfulName Patsy Straightwoman]] and have her bemoaning her lack of punchlines in her introduction.
118[[/folder]]
119
120[[folder:Video Games]]
121* Peter Puppy in ''VideoGame/EarthwormJim'', who also qualifies as a DeadpanSnarker at times and is usually more serious and sensitive than Jim.
122* Sam from ''VideoGame/SamAndMaxFreelancePolice''. This becomes a plot point in one episode where a villain specifically wants a straight man to help out with his plan, and Sam is the perfect kind of [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall easy-to-manipulate character who just does what he's told]].
123* A significant percentage of Merrill's jokes in ''VideoGame/DragonAgeII'' come from her interpreting Silly!Hawke's sarcastic remarks literally.
124* From ''VideoGame/DragonAgeOrigins'', we have Wade & Herren. As confirmed by the developers, Herren is the straight man while Wade is the funny man.
125* [[DiscussedTrope Discussed]] and called by name in ''VideoGame/TalesOfVesperia'' during a skit, when Rita comments that the titular guild has Karol as the [[PluckyComicRelief comic relief]], Judith as the love interest, and Yuri as the Straight Man. She also calls Estelle the [[TheDitz Space Cadet]], prompting Estelle to ask if that makes Rita the straight woman. Rita flatly says she's "not a member of [their] crazy comedy act".
126* ''VideoGame/RatchetAndClankUpYourArsenal'': Dr. Nefarious for his butler Lawrence, who also serve as a HamAndDeadpanDuo. Contrary to what gut-instinct would suggest, it's the LargeHam, CardCarryingVillain Nefarious who is the Straight man, as his antics and wild statements frequently lead to a punchline of the [[DeadpanSnarker Deadpan-and-]]ServileSnarker Lawrence back-talking, humiliating, or otherwise lampooning his [[SeriousBusiness overly-dramatic]] employer.
127--> '''Nefarious:''' [[TheyCalledMeMad They called me insane,]] Lawrence! We'll see ''who's insane'' when my pets ''devour'' all life ''on this miserable planet!''
128--> '''Lawrence:''' That should clear things right up, sir.
129* Your partner Kim Kitsuragi in ''VideoGame/DiscoElysium'' is the [[ConsummateProfessional unflappable]] ByTheBookCop to your unstable DefectiveDetective. The Detective can range from funny drug abuser to self-pitying wreck to deranged apocalypse prophet, and Kim will tolerate basically anything with nothing more than [[DeadpanSnarker restrained snark]] as long as it [[BunnyEarsLawyer gets results]]. The only things that get under his skin are seriously disrupting the investigation, and outright racism.
130* [[PluckyComicRelief Neptune]] is usually the Wise Guy in the ''VideoGame/{{Neptunia}}'' series, but in ''VideoGame/HyperdimensionNeptuniaVictory'', she's forced to be the straight man to [[CloudCuckoolander Plutia]] for a while, and she hates it. Eventually they get their eternally exasperated straight woman, [[{{Tsundere}} Noire]] back, and she is no less frustrated with having to deal with two wise guys. After they link up with [[TheQuietOne Blanc]], she tries to pass the straight man duties off to Blanc after the latter notes that they speak like a comedy routine, even using the term straight man, but Blanc turns her down, saying she prefers to be an audience member.
131* PreBattleBanter for ''VideoGame/MortalKombatX'' and ''VideoGame/MortalKombat11'' reveal that Sub-Zero has NoSenseOfHumor, thus making him the perfect straight man for the wackier members of the cast by virtue of being TheComicallySerious. Made all the funnier by his visible yet underacted frustration with the weirder and sillier antics.
132-->'''Sub-Zero:''' Must ''everything'' be a joke?\
133'''Johnny Cage:''' Yeah. It does.
134[[/folder]]
135
136[[folder:Visual Novels]]
137* ''Franchise/AceAttorney'':
138** Phoenix Wright, who appears to act as the straight man for ''everyone''. He {{Lampshade}}s this pretty frequently.
139** In the fourth game, Apollo takes on this role, even playing the straight man to Phoenix.
140** Edgeworth in [[spoiler:case 5]] of ''Trials and Tribulations'' and ''Investigations''. So basically, the protagonist in each game is always the world's straight man.
141[[/folder]]
142
143[[folder:Web Animation]]
144* In the original ''WebAnimation/RedVsBlue'' series, this role generally fell to Church, Grif, Simmons and Tex (although Tucker and Sarge had their moments too). After the Blood Gulch Chronicles, while the old characters are unchanged, Agent Washington, the new guy, fits the bill much more so until [[spoiler: he starts working for the Chairman and with Maine again, and then once again after his HeelFaceTurn.]]
145-->'''Wash:''' You are really an odd group of people.
146* Paul from ''WebAnimation/LlamasWithHats'', to Carl's {{Comedic Sociopath|y}}.
147[[/folder]]
148
149[[folder:Web Original]]
150* Jake of the comic duo ''WebVideo/JakeAndAmir''.
151* In ''WebVideo/KateModern'' season 1, Tariq is often this to Gavin.
152* In the ''Literature/WhateleyUniverse'', Fey and Tennyo play this role to their roommates, [[GenkiGirl Chaka]] and [[{{Cloudcuckoolander}} Generator]] respectively. Also, Greasy is the Straight Man and ButtMonkey for Peeper.
153** During an interview, [[ThePowerOfActing Vaudeville stage magician turned supervillain]] Mephisto reminisces over the original Champion (a ComicBook/{{Superman}} {{Expy}} whom he had great fun outwitting, calling him "WesternAnimation/ElmerFudd to my WesternAnimation/BugsBunny"), saying "straight men like him just don’t come along every day.”
154* Daniel from ''WebVideo/AgentsOfCracked'' to Swaim. He himself is occasionally the straight man to other cast members.
155* [[Creator/WingerDingerProductions Hellsing920]] plays this role in his ''WebVideo/ReactionAndReview'' series: he creates the set-up for each film, then reacts to whatever oddities he's exposed to.
156* LetsPlay/LewisBrindley often ends up playing this role when doing a playthrough with LetsPlay/SimonLane, setting him up for jokes either intentionally or by accident.
157* ''WebVideo/SomeOrdinaryGamers'' stars Mutahar Anas, who more or less is an exemplified version of this trope playing weird video games, reading {{Creepypasta}} and exploring the deep web.
158* ''WebAnimation/DarkMatter2525'': Jeffrey's role in most videos.
159* A one-off video for ''WebVideo/DoorMonster'' had Ethan become "[[https://youtu.be/yY4YmkEx2xo Straight Man]]!" after he "walked in front of a nuclear-powered projector that was playing the movie ''{{Film/Airplane}}''" [[LampshadeHanging ("That's... not how things work.")]]
160* This is a plot point in ''WebVideo/ImAMarvelAndImADC'' for its second season. The Joker decides that, should he somehow manage to kill Batman, he'll need a new straight man to play with. So he sets up a plan to turn all superheroes into dark, brooding anti-heroes to give him an endless supply to pick from.
161* Oozora Subaru of ''WebAnimation/{{Hololive}}'' is considered to be the group's premiere ''[[BokeAndTsukkomiRoutine tsukkomi]]'', something she lampshades when [[CordonBleughChef Haachama]] invited her for a cooking stream. This is helped along by the fact that she, compared to most of her fellow idols and fans, is ''not'' an otaku.
162[[/folder]]

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