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alt title(s): The Straight Man 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 Unfunny and Boke And Tsukkomi Routine, a rough Straight Man/Funny Man parallel in Japan.
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Examples
Anime and Manga
- Yomi, Azumanga Daioh.
- Kagami from Lucky Star plays the "straight man" to Konata.
- Kyon is the straight man for Haruhi's crazyness. Though it has to be noted that Kyon is damn hilarious on his own, too.
- Tenten, from Naruto, seems to be a Straight Man for her genin team, since Neji is the arrogant kung fu guy (and occasional unfunny), and Gai and Lee are... Gai and Lee.
- Although after his Heel Face Turn Neji sometimes joins her and they form a collective straight pair (no pun intended) to Gai and Lee.
- In Mahou Sensei Negima, anyone with darkness as a personality trait (Negi, Evangeline) or who has Black as their tonus, or Pactio colour (Setsuna, Yue, Chisame) will fill this role.
- Eishun fills this role during the flashbacks, and Akira occasionally fills this role within the group of Muggle girls.
- In Slayers, Gourry plays the straight man to Lina, and Zelgadis is the straight man for Amelia.
- For some reason, Teana of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha usually gets this role in Fan Web Comics. This was pretty much acknowledged by the people behind the franchise when they gave us an official Nanoha parody Yonkoma where Teana played the straight man for everyone. Even Fate. See
 ◊.
- Chika to everyone but especially Miu in Ichigo Mashimaro.
- Watanabe is the straight man for the somewhat hyperactive ladies-man wannabe Iwata in Excel Saga, and, arguably, Sumiyoshi acts like this for both of them.
Films
- 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.
- 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?).
- Creepshow came two years after Airplane!, which makes his turn as a murderous cuckold all the more unsettling.
- He was in Forbidden Planet, however. That was anything but a comedy.
Literature
- On the Discworld, Rincewind and Sam Vimes seem to play the straight man for the entire world.
- The trope is lampshaded and identified by name in the Dresden Files novel Blood Rites 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.
Live Action TV
- 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.
- Graham Chapman, generally, played the role straight, although, he had a more active role in the humor than most straight men.
- 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 Baldrick, Percy and George. Except when he was saying something snarky.
- Burton "Gus" Guster is Straight Man to Shawn Spencer on Psych.
- 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.
- Jamie is the Straight Man to Adam's eccentricity in Mythbusters
- According to the other wiki, Adam was cast for co-host of the show because Jamie felt he would be too dry of a host on his own.
- Everyone at the 4077th can fill this role for Hawkeye when needed, but the classics were Major Burns and Col. Flagg.
- A casual glance at Morecambe And Wise often leads people to conclude Ernie is the Straight Man, but in fact the two of them often exchanged and transcended the role, as in this exchange:
Eric: How are we going to play the Three Musketeers when there's only two of us?
Ernie: Easy, I'll play one, and you can play the other two.
Eric: Can I really? That's very good of you, Ern!
- Rene Auberjonois' character on Boston Legal is a combination Straight Man and Only Sane Man.
Puppet Shows
- One of the all-time great straight men is Bert, the straight man to Ernie on Sesame Street.
Radio
- Bob And Ray were an exception to this, as each man could simultaneously be the straight man and the goof, all in the same routine.
Stand-up Comedy
- 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.
- Carl Reiner to Mel Brooks' 2000-years-old man is another classic of the trope.
Video Games
Web Animation
- In the original Red Vs Blue series, this role generally fell to Church, Grif, Simmons and Tex (although Tucker and Sarge had their moments too). In the spinoff, Reconstruction, while the old characters are unchanged, Agent Washington, the new guy, fits the bill much more so.
Web Comics
- Gamal from the webcomic Men In Hats.
- Can't leave Roy from the 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 (is there any other kind?), 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 The Order of the Stick that his death has left the group fractured and not nearly as funny as normal.
- Not as funny as normal in what context? If you mean the comic's comedic value has truely declined because of that... I'd say Your Mileage May Vary. If you mean the group doesn't act as funny, happy or go-lucky as cohesively on account of that, that is true.
- 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.
- Shortpacked has theorised that Batman can make anything funny, because he is the ultimate Straight Man. When you consider that his arch-nemesis is The Joker, we may have the oddest Odd Couple in history...
- Zoe often takes up the Straight Man role in Sluggy Freelance, thanks to being the Only Sane Woman.
- Ozy in Ozy And Millie is usually this to Millie. And his dad. And Avery. Millie is sometimes this to Felicia.
- Elliot or Sarah in El Goonish Shive. Susan counts more as a Deadpan Snarker.
Web Original
- In KateModern season 1, Tariq is often this to Gavin.
Western Animation
- Huey Freeman of The Boondocks had become the straight man of Riley Freeman, Robert "Granddad" Freeman... and even Uncle Ruckus. This troper personally thinks that the second season eroded Huey's roles in the series for cheap laughs. However, your mileage may vary, and the episode where Robert's car was stolen was actually funny.
- 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 two-dimensional aliens.
- Ditto for Charles Foster Ofdenson, who plays Straight Man to Dethklok and Only Sane Man to the Metalocalypse universe.
- Raffles the border collie from Rover Dangerfield is easygoing and slightly naive compared to the titular joker.
- The concept is parodied in the first episode of Tiny Toon Adventures when Hampton is being interviewed by Buster and Babs in which he rattles off a list of characteristics of the straight man, presenting them as his own personal qualities.
- Ulrich of Code Lyoko often plays the straight man to Odd's antics.
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