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Bones: Hey Lumpy, you know how we were talking about the other day how we're in every single solitary movie ever, the fat guy and the skinny guy who are both thugs?
Lumpy: Yeah?
Lumpy: I pick the latter.
This is where a fat and a skinny character make up a two-character ensemble. This is usually a comedy trope, usually with the skinny character being the Straight Man, although inversions of this are seen as well. Sometimes both characters are silly and this is often seen in the Terrible Trio type of villains, although there are also examples of heroic, or at least not villainous, pairs who fit this description. They often fit into the tropes of Those Two Guys or Those Two Bad Guys.
These two guys usually (but not always) have some specific characteristics that tropify their relationship: The skinny one has all of the ideas, and the fat one is also the strong man. The fat one is usually a dopey optimist, while the skinny one is cynical and refined. This pair, even in villain form, are devoted to to each other. If on the rare occasion the fat guy has a brilliant idea, either the skinny guy will express extreme surprise at the fat guy's ability to rub two brain cells together or the idea will be waved away as unworkable, and then re-appropriated two seconds later as the skinny guy's idea.
If these characteristics are not followed, then it's usually because the fat one is a brute who beats up the whiny skinny dude a lot. This behavior is rarely seen in protagonist pairings of fat and skinny.
Examples:
Anime
Comic Books
- Astérix and Obelix, though Obelix insists his chest has just slipped a bit.
- Douglas Klump and Burt Shlubb, "Fat Man and Little Boy" from Sin City
- Plastic Man and Woozy Winks.
Film
- Laurel and Hardy, the Trope Maker, sometimes known by fans as "the Fiddle and the Bow".
- And their many European imitators.
- In Spanish-speaking countries, they are the Trope Namers (El Gordo y el Flaco).
- In Dutch they're usually called De dikke en de dunne. Three guesses what that translates to.
- Abbott and Costello
- Bud Spencer and Terence Hill.
- Simon Pegg and Nick Frost in Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Spaced...
- C-3PO and R2-D2 from Star Wars.
- Marv and Harry in Home Alone
- Jay and Silent Bob, with the fat Silent Bob as the Straight Man.
- Pirates of the Caribbean has two sets, two Royal Marines based on Abbott & Costello and two pirates based on Laurel & Hardy. The pairs meet a few times.
- David Spade and Chris Farley in Tommy Boy and Black Sheep.
- The Blues Brothers. Perhaps explained by their Trademark Favourite Foods; Jake's "four fried chickens" (yes, whole ones) and Elwood's "dry white toast".
- Dan Aykroyd and John Belushi again, in Neighbors.
- Peter Lorre and Sydney Greenstreet in a number of 1940s films, starting with The Maltese Falcon. They were often, though not always, a villainous pair. This was lampshaded during their cameo in Hollywood Canteen, when a soldier thinks they're threatening him. They were actually offering him a cigarette.
- Jolly U and Rat in Guest from the Future.
- Max and Thor in the film version of George of the Jungle.
- Evan and Seth from Superbad
- Komatsu and Oyama from Skinny and Fatty
 , which apparently cemented itself permanently in the minds of those who grew up in the late '50s.
Literature
- Don Quixote and Sancho Panza
- Fred and Nobby, as well as Granny Weatherwax and Nanny Ogg, from the Discworld books.
- Lenny and George from Of Mice And Men
- Bragg and Larkin certainly count. Although that's more Freakishly Huge and Skinny than Fat and Skinny. (Bragg is at least 8 feet 8 inches and probably bigger.)
- Miles Vorkosigan and his clone-brother Mark. Miles is notably skinny until he acquires a cook in one of the later books; Mark, whose metabolism is intended for a man six foot tall, has been surgically reduced to Miles' dwarfish height and decides to gain a great deal of weight to distinguish himself from his progenitor/brother. One character refers to them as "The Chance Brothers" - Slim and Fat.
- Finney and Mudd from Tad Williams' Otherland sci-fi series. Servants to the main villain, the skinny one, Finney, is brilliant and manipulative, and Mudd, the fat one, is described as "Almost subhuman". Copies of them exist within a massive VR simulation network where these characteristics are played up even more by the intelligence controlling the system, which essentially constructs it's understanding of the universe from stories, almost making these copies a reference to the trope itself..
- Depending on the artist◊ or screen portrayal◊, Sherlock Holmes and John Watson sometimes get this treatment.
- The lazy and horrid Aunt Spiker and Aunt Sponge of James and the Giant Peach who both have Meaningful Names.
Live-Action TV
- Roger Ebert and Gene Siskel (and later, Richard Roeper) from At the Movies.
- Bert and Ernie from Sesame Street.
- Statler and Waldorf from The Muppet Show, and maybe Bunsen Honeydew and Beaker as well.
- Kenan & Kel
- Yick and Arthur from Degrassi Junior High and Degrassi High
- Drake & Josh, until Josh lost his puppy fat.
- El Chompiras and Botija from Chespirito.
- Manolo and Benito from Manos A La Obra. Benito may not be that skinny, but he's obviously not as fat as Manolo.
- The Mexican entertainers Viruta and Capulina.
- Pictured above: Bulk and Skull from Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers; in this case, however, the fat one is The Schemer.
- Barney and Junior from Far Out Space Nuts.
- Jamie and Vicki from Small Wonder.
- Earl and Randy from My Name Is Earl.
- Ralph Kramden and Ed Norton on The Honeymooners.
- Hurley and various skinny partners (most commonly Charlie, now Miles, occasionally Sawyer) from Lost.
- Even more so with his old buddy on the mainland, Johnny, aka DJ Quallis.
- Ace Of Cakes has Duff Goldman and Geof Manthorne, two Heterosexual Life Partners who make cakes and take names. Inverted, however, in that Duff is the brazen one of the two, while Geof tends to sit back and spout wisdom/ineffably dry humor for the most part.
- Penn & Teller
- Jake and the Fatman.
- Gilligan... the Skipper too.
- Nico and Grady from Sonny With A Chance.
- Ghost Busters featured two gangsters called Fat Man and The Rabbit in the episode, "The Maltese Monkey." This example goes one further in that The Rabbit is played by dwarf actor Billy Barty.
- The Doctor Who episode "A Good Man Goes to War" brought us the thin and fat (and tall and short) gay married Anglican Marines. The characters themselves claimed that with a title like that, they don't even need names.
- Noah's Arc: Alex and Noah when they're seen one on one; their personalities also fit the silly vs. Straight Man (no pun intended) qualities of the trope.
- Presumably the Spanish-language show El Gordo y la Flaca.
- Penhall and Hanson toward the end of their partnership in 21 Jump Street.
- R.J. and Miles in The Hard Times of RJ Berger.
Newspaper Comics
Professional Wrestling
Theatre
- Finian's Rainbow has Shears and Robust. The former is tall and lean, the latter short and squat.
Video Games
Webcomics
Web Original
Western Animation
- Horace and Jasper (101 Dalmatians).
- Gus and Jaq; King and Grand Duke (Cinderella).
- Pain and Panic (Hercules).
- Timon and Pumbaa (The Lion King), as well as their self-titled spinoff.
- Mauve Shirts 21 and 24 (The Venture Bros.).
- Scratch and Grounder (Adventures Of Sonic The Hedgehog).
- Jeannie and Babu from the Animated Adaptation of I Dream of Jeannie.
- Tennessee Tuxedo and Chumley (Tennessee Tuxedo And His Tales).
- Bob the Tomato and Larry the Cucumber from VeggieTales.
- Billy and Fred from Transformers Armada.
- In the party scene from Walt Disney's Sleepy Hollow cartoon, Brom Bones wants to invoke this trope when he repeatedly attempts to get tall, skinny Ichabod Crane to dance with a short, fat girl instead of with Katrina.
- The title characters of Ren and Stimpy: Ren is a tall, skinny chihuahua while Stimpy is a short, fat tailless cat.
- Mr. Nosy and Mr. Small from the 2008 Mr Men series.
- Bobble and Clank from the Tinker Bell movie.
- Coop and Jamie from Megas XLR.
- Pinky And The Brain.
- Fanboy and Chum Chum.
- Spectra and Bertrand in Danny Phantom. Spectra (the skinny one) is the designated leader who makes the ideas while Bertrand is often blunt and sarcastic. Despite it, the two actually get along and work together very well.
- In Lilo & Stitch, Jumba and Pleakley.
- King Julien and Maurice from the Madagascar films and The Penguins of Madagascar. Maurice is of the "fat Straight Man" variety.
- Katie and Sadie from Total Drama Island.
- Jimbo and Ned from South Park..
- SWAT Kats has four such pairs: T-Bone and Razor, Mac and Molly Mange, Burke and Murray, and Mayor Manx and Callie Briggs.
- Guapo and Fraz, the title characters in The Brothers Flub. A bit unusually for this trope, neither could really be considered a Straight Man.
- Jake and Eddie, Filmations Ghostbusters. Then again, Eddie and Futura may also count, if one is so inclined.
- Recess gives you any combination of Mikey and T.J. with Vince and Gus.
- Tony and Joe the Italian chefs from Lady and the Tramp.
- Kings Stefan (Princess Aurora's father) and Hubert (Prince Phillip's father) from Sleeping Beauty.
- Snips and Snails (My Little Pony Friendship Is Magic)
- Mondo and Woody (Good Vibes)
- Rocky and Mugsy from "Bugs n' Thugs" (Looney Tunes)
Music
- Williams And Ree.
- The faces of Barenaked Ladies, Steven Page and Ed Robertson.
- Insane Clown Posse, Violent J (fat) and Shaggy 2 Dope (skinny).
- Johns Linnell and Flansburgh , pretty consistently throughout their career. Linnell has always been terribly scrawny, whereas Flansburgh has evolved from being ridiculously buff to rather pudgy, and of course several inches taller as well. Inverted, however, in that Flansburgh is the idea man, while Linnell broods in the background and plays music, sometimes on stage when you poke him into it.
- Tupac Shakur and The Notorious B.I.G. when they were friends.
- Trout Fishing In America has 7-foot, moderately built Keith Grimwood and 5-foot-5, thicker-built Ezra Idlet.
Real Life
- G. K. Chesterton saw St. Thomas Aquinas and St. Francis of Assisi this way, since, though they never met, they would have been perfect foils for one another—the one big, slow, methodical and focused on his books, the other skinny, active, fiery and not prone to reading. He compared them to both Falstaff and Slender and Don Quixote and Sancho Panza.
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