Somebody has to set up the joke so the funny guy can deliver the punch line. 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. Bud Abbott (widely considered the greatest Straight Man of all time) had to say, "Who's on first" with just the right degree of earnestness and irritation so that Lou Costello could get big laughs saying, "Whaddya askin' me for?"
The 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. Other straight men in comedy duos have included George Burns, with Gracie Allen; Dean Martin, with Jerry Lewis, and Dan Rowan, with Dick Martin of
Laugh-In.
The term can apply to women, but comedic foil is a more popular unisex term
In TV comedy, a
Straight Man is frequently one half of an
Odd Couple.
See also
Boke And Tsukkomi Routine, a rough Straight Man/Funny Man parallel in Japan.
Examples:
- Tom fills this role whenever it's called for in Gap.
- Mindy on Mork And Mindy as the only human who can deal with Mork's silliness without feeling threatened by it.
- Larry on Perfect Strangers.
- Oscar is usually the Straight Man to Felix on The Odd Couple, except when the joke is based on Oscar's messy habits; then the roles are reversed.
- On The Daily Show, Jon Stewart plays the straight man to the various fake correspondents, who themselves tend to conduct interviews where they make their subjects unwitting straight men. Stewart also uses footage (sometimes out of context) and reports of various politicians, newmakers and media whores as straight men for his own punchlines, but it could be argued that sometimes what they are doing is so outrageous that he can only react as an incredulous straight man even for them.
- From the second series onwards, Rowan Atkinson's portrayal of Blackadder was more or less a straight man for the characters of Baldric, Percy and George. Except when he was saying something snarky.
- Initially, George Burns 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.
- Margaret Dumont, the classic foil for the Marx Brothers, especially Groucho. Zeppo Marx himself was a straight man for his brothers, as he had a non-comedic stage persona, but all the requisite timing and skill.
- Phoenix Wright in the series of the same name, who appears to act as the straight man for everyone.
- Monty Python often subverted this by making the Straight Man even stranger. A recurring character called The Colonel often served this role, shutting down a sketch partway through because he felt that he hadn't delivered a single funny line.
- On the Discworld, Rincewind and Sam Vimes seem to play the straight man for the entire world.
- Burton "Gus" Guster is Straight Man to Shawn Spencer on Psych.
- Yomi, Azumanga Daioh.
- Gamal from the webcomic Men In Hats.
- In an innovative subversion, Airplane! had no comedic actors; in effect the entire cast was straight men reacting to the ridiculous situations they're put in (except Johnny, the fruitloop in the control tower). Yes, even Leslie Nielsen. Before Airplane, he primarily acted in horror B-movies (anyone remember Creepshow?).
- Hugh Laurie would usually (though by no means always) fill this role on A Bit of Fry & Laurie. This is appropriate, because Stephen Fry is not a straight man.
- Can't leave Roy from the Order Of The Stick off this list. As the Only Sane Man in a party with a sociopathic halfling, a Spoony Bard, a greedy rogue, a dwarf who's afraid of trees, and a power-obsessed elf, Roy has played the Straight Man to each at least once and countless times for most, especialy Belkar and Elan. Roy has proven to be so essential to the comedic chemistry of the Order Of The Stick that his death has left the group fractured and not nearly as funny as normal.
- Kagami from Lucky Star plays the "straight man" to Konata.
- Jamie is the Straight Man to Adam's eccentricity in Mythbusters
- Cherry is the Straight Man to Hero in the webcomic RPG World
. She is, in fact, prophesied to be the Straight Man for the entire world, as she is the only one who thinks there's something strange about a world where all battles are turn-based and groups look like their most important member when viewed from afar, also making her The Chosen One.
- One of the all-time great straight men is Bert, the straight man to Ernie on SesameStreet.
- Carey Means, who plays Frylock on Aqua Teen Hunger Force, has the added privilege of playing the Straight Man to lines that usually don't even make sense spoken by anthropomorphic food items and stoned 2-dimensional aliens.
- Rene Auberjonois' character on Boston Legal is a combination Straight Man and Only Sane Man.
