"Well, the straight guy is never given enough credit...[Bud] 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."
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. (This is essentially the basis of Bob Newhart's "telephone" routines: he was playing the Straight Man to
nothing.) 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).
In
less-comedic works, the
Straight Man is a
Foil for the
Bunny-Ears Lawyer,
Magnificent Bastard or
Loveable Rogue.
If the
Straight Man is the lead in an ensemble like a
Power Trio or
Five-Man Band or even a show with
Loads and Loads of Characters, this can lead to them suffering
Designated Protagonist Syndrome by being overshadowed by the rest of the cast who get more interesting plot roles and character development (see also
Standardised Leader).
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
Women Are Wiser coming into play.
In TV comedy, a Straight Man is frequently one half of an
Odd Couple. In a
Power Trio, they usually play the "helpless observer" role.
If you're looking for the trope for "the only sensible character", you probably want
Only Sane Man. See also
The Comically Serious,
Straight Man and Wise Guy. Also
Deadpan Snarker, which quite a few comedic foils are. If multiple characters take turns playing
Straight Man, they have a game of
Sanity Ball.
Not to be confused with a heterosexual man, as many, many examples on this page show.
Example subpages
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Comic Books
- This point is brought up in Batman comics on occasion; one of the main reasons that The Joker has given for not simply killing Batman is that the Joker sees Batman as his unwilling straight man.
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.
Newspaper comics
- 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 Idiot Ball 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.
- Hobbes also acts like this to Calvin; although there are times where Calvin can identify a little bit of quirkiness from Hobbes.
Professional Wrestling
- Vladimir Kozlov acted as one to Santino Marella.
- When Curt Hawkins and Zack Ryder teamed together, they were semi-regulars on John Morrison and The Miz's online show The Dirt Sheet. Hawkins would play the Straight Man to Ryder who was essentially playing the "tool" gimmick that he would adopt on ECW.
Puppet Shows
- PPDA, the puppet for Patrick Poivre D'Arvor, acts as the straight man for absolutely everybody else in Les Guignolsdelinfo.
- Kermit the Frog from The Muppets 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 Miss Piggy, Fozzie, Animal... The guy doesn't really get a break.
- One of the all-time great straight men is Bert, the Straight Man to Ernie on Sesame Street (though he did deliver the punchline occasionally, usually in his Aside Glance at the end of the sketch).
Radio
- Bob & Ray were an exception to this, as each man could simultaneously be the straight man and the goof, all in the same routine.
- Bud Abbott from Abbott and Costello most famously in the "Who's on First??" routine.
- In Cabin Pressure, Captain Martin Crieff is usually this to his co-pilot Douglas.
- Neddie Seagoon, played by Harry Secombe, was pretty much the Straight Man to the entire cast of The Goon Show — 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.
- Hamish And Andy has Andy
- The title character of The Jack Benny Show 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."
- Dougal (Graeme Garden) in Hamish And Dougal ... usually. He's certainly more likely to be holding the Sanity Ball than anyone else, with the possible exception of Mrs Naughtie.
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.
- Dean Martin to Jerry Lewis.
- Dick Smothers to Tom Smothers.
- Jeff Dunham to his puppets. Given that he is voicing the puppets, it is regularly lampshaded that he is being the straight man to himself.
- Opera singer Marilyn Mulvay was the straight woman for Victor Borge.
Video Games
- Phoenix Wright in the series of the same name, who appears to act as the straight man for everyone.
- And in the fourth game, Apollo takes on this role, even playing the straight man to Phoenix.
- And Edgeworth in case 5 of Trials and Tribulations and Investigations. So basically the protagonist is always the world's straight man.
- Peter Puppy in Earthworm Jim, who also qualifies as a Deadpan Snarker at times is usually more serious and sensitive than Jim.
- Sam from Sam & Max. 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 easy-to-manipulate character who just does what he's told.
- A significant percentage of Merrill's jokes in Dragon Age II come from her interpreting Silly!Hawke's sarcastic remarks literally.
- From Dragon Age: Origins, we have Wade & Herren. As confirmed by the developers, Herren is the straight man while Wade is the funny man.
Web Animation
Web Original
