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Those Two Guys
aka: Those Two Girls

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Two minor side characters who act as a mundane Greek Chorus, providing in-universe commentary on the events of the show. They may or may not be snarky and unlike the Greek Chorus, they don't break the fourth wall very often (if at all).

Some pairs become involved in the plot less and less as the series progresses, especially if the plot becomes more serious. Given what usually happens to people involved in the plot, it's probably for the best. However, it's not uncommon for Those Two Guys to also become popular and even iconic characters in the series.

Usually they have a sharp contrast in either personality (e.g. calm/hyper, jock/geek) or appearance (e.g. short/tall, thin/fat). When they don't, they will be exactly the same. They might even wear Coordinated Clothes. Their names are often esoteric (either too complex or too simple to stand out), plus their non-involvement with the plot usually results in them being called "Those Two Guys". Occasionally, we get a Lower-Deck Episode from their point of view. Expect to ask someone who they are after a few episodes.

May overlap with Overly Polite Pals and Catch-Phrase Spouting Duo. Compare and contrast Bumbling Henchmen Duo, a pair of hilariously incompetent baddies, and Bantering Baddie Buddies, a pair of goons engaging in witty conversation.


Examples:

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    Anime & Manga 
  • In FLCL, we have Gaku (a.k.a. Mr. SMOOOOOOOCH~!) and Masaki, two Odd Couple/ Red Oni, Blue Oni classmates of Naota who, when they show up, also serve the unique dual-role purpose of being the Greek Chorus, as they comment on the truly bizarre events of the series.
  • The shadow players in Revolutionary Girl Utena. Two girls (later joined by a third) who are only ever seen together while performing shadow plays that metaphorically describe the theme or lesson of the day's episode. At first they are presented as a out of universe Greek Chorus, but then the Black Rose Arc has Utena making snarky retorts to their story, and later on in the series the main characters attend one of their plays.

    Comic Books 
  • Sam and Twitch, NYPD homicide detectives, from the Spawn series. Sam Burke was a large and headstrong man, with a tendency for foul language. "Twitch" Williams, on the other hand, was thinner, bespectacled, and was usually the brains of the group.
  • White Sand has Jon Acron and Cynder, a linguist and culturologist (though good luck keeping track of who is who) who accompany Khriss and who constantly bicker with each other to the point they're pretty much indistinguishable.
  • The Avengers (Jonathan Hickman) has the mutants Cannonball and Sunspot. The two best friends spent a lot of time on the sidelines making funny banter, were rarely seen without the other, and were shown in side-stories to deal with wackier missions while the rest of the Avengers handled the serious threats. This changed after the events of Time Runs Out, when Sunspot stepped up as a leader of one of the splintered Avengers factions, with Cannonball leaving for space with his wife and child (though also still serving as Sunspot's right-hand man).
  • Wonder Woman Volume 1: The tomboyish Bobby Strong and fashion conscious Glamora Treat are best friends and two of the most commonly recurring Holliday Girls. In all but one appearance their only real function is to act as set dressing and make snarky commentary on the bizarre situations and powers they keep running into.
  • Booster Gold and Ted Kord often serve as this to the titular team in Justice League International, as well as for the DC Universe in general.
  • Giraffes On Horseback Salad has Groucho and Chico Marx, whose duties consist of an equal balance between fulfilling the Surrealist Woman's requests and making nonstop jokes at the people and situations around them.

    Eastern European Animation 

    Fan Works 

    Films — Animated 
  • Lumiere and Cogsworth (the candlestick and the clock) from Beauty and the Beast are the contrasting type: Lumiere is the tall romantic, and Cogsworth the short grumpy one. Both are servants in the Beast's household providing commentary on Belle and the Beast's developing relationship.
  • Brave: A pair of castle maids, usually seen with Maudie, don't have any other characterization.
  • The rats Nick and Fetcher from Chicken Run provide commentary on the chickens' wild and far-fetched attempts to escape in addition to their more plot-relevant role in sourcing useful items for said attempts.
  • The Lion King (1994): Timon the meerkat and Pumbaa the warthog are inseparable, contrast each other visually and personality-wise, and act as comic relief in an otherwise fairly serious story. They generally provide funny comments, such as singing about how they are aghast that Simba and Nala have reunited in "Can You Feel the Love Tonight".
  • The Road to El Dorado: Tulio and Miguel. The entire idea behind the film was to take Those Two Guys and make them into main characters instead of putting them in their normal sidekick role. While the bigger plot revolves around Cortez seeking conquer the New World, which runs parallel to Miguel and Tulio's quest to find El Dorado.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Jay and Silent Bob in Clerks and other Kevin Smith films. Two friends, one skinny, one fat, who hang around together making mundane observations and occasionally dispensing wisdom to the protagonists. Despite their minimal plot importance, they were popular enough to eventually received spinoff works.
  • Crimes of the Future (2022): Berst and Dani, who work for the company that made Tenser's Bio Punk technology as technicians (supposedly), are never seen apart and have a friendly rapport.
  • Fear Clinic: Gage and Bauer, who were in prison together, have some banter to this effect whenever they share a scene.
  • Go: Adam and Zack have a lot of comical banter and share their screen time. They're also a gay couple.
  • The Grand Seduction: The two elderly switchboard operators who eavesdrop on Paul's calls share all of their scenes and provide a lot of comedy and very little drama.
  • Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle and its sequels have the two Jewish guys, Rosenberg and Goldstein, direct Expys of the titular characters from Rosencratz and Guildenstern Are Dead. They're minor characters who get only a few scenes but provide humorous reactions and half-baked advice to the main characters.
  • The Killers: Swede's coach and trainer always appear together and provide some Plucky Comic Relief with how chatty they are.
  • Money Monster: The two Icelandic hackers share all of their screen time and provide some comic relief.
  • Two of the sibling pairs in No Kidding - Hassan and Suleiman, and Margaret and Eileen - are always seen together.
  • In the Pirates of the Caribbean series there are two sets of these. The Royal Marines Murtogg and Mullroy who eventually join Barbossa's crew, and the pirates of the Black Pearl crew Pintel and Ragetti.
  • A very early film example are "Charters and Caldicott" from The Lady Vanishes (and a half dozen other movies of the early 40s) who spend their on screen time mostly obsessed with the current cricket scores.
    • They have their very own adventure in Charters and Caldicott by Stella Bingham. The pair are still obsessed by cricket and go from lunch at their club to Caldicott's flat to settle a point in dispute with his 'Wisden' a Cricket reference work. They discover the body of a young woman on Caldicott's bedroom floor. Her purse identifies her as the daughter of an old friend. But then another young woman appears claiming to be the * real* daughter and that her father has been murdered — then it starts getting complicated.
    • They were meant to appear in The Third Man but were replaced by Wilfred Hyde-Whites' character Crabbin instead.* Raising the Wind: Sid and Harry, a pair of music publishers, are always seen together.
  • C-3PO and R2-D2 in the Star Wars canon.
  • The Rocketeer: The FBI agents are always together and have a lot of humorous banter.
  • The Tournament has Eddie and Rob, the two techs charged with keeping track of the players and monitoring their progress. They provide a running commentary and act as Greek Chorus on the action.
  • Up Pompeii films:
    • In Up Pompeii, Odius and Villanus, Prosperus Maximus' two strong-arm men, are never seen apart from each other.
    • In Up the Front, Colonel von Gutz's henchmen, Donner and Blitzen, are never seen apart.
  • Watch Your Stern:
    • Captain Foster and Commander Fanshawe share most of their scenes, as they are the two highest-ranking men onboard the Terrier.
    • Ranjid and the other civilian electrician are always seen together.

    Literature 
  • Discworld: Sergeant Frederick "Fred" Colon and Corporal Cecil Wormsborough St. John "Nobby" Nobbs of the Ankh-Morpork City Watch often perform this role in books which are not focused on the Watch but do take place in the city, especially the earlier ones. When the Watch is the focus of the story they become somewhat more relevant to the plot than is usual for Those Two Guys, but still evoke the trope in their interactions on a regular basis.
  • Full Metal Panic! has Shinji and Kyoko, best friends of Sousuke and Kaname respectively and often pair them up as a Greek Chorus. Full Metal Panic? Fumoffu expands the roster using (the pre-existing but very minor characters) Mizuki and Onodera to give Kaname (Kyoko and Mizuki) and Sousuke (Shinji and Onodera) each a pair of their own Those Two Guys.
  • Holmes on the Range: Wentworth and Mead, the junior paleontologists in Hunters of the Dead. Wentworth is always making stupid or condescending comments and being told to shut up by Mead. This takes on a darker turn after The Reveal that Wentworth is the killer and Mead is his Guilt-Ridden Accomplice who hates him for turning them into criminals and being too selfish and stupid to even care.
  • Rebuild World:
    • The top lieutenants in Sheryl’s gang Erio and Alicia start out like this as boyfriend and girlfriend, but Erio gets more directly involved as he Took a Level in Badass from the equipment and training he receives.
    • The tailor sisters Kashua and Celene serve as minor working class commentators on the rising wealth and social statuses of Akira and Sheryl. Kashua is a Consummate Professional and Celene is Brilliant, but Lazy.
  • Trapped in a Dating Sim: The World of Otome Games is Tough for Mobs:
    • Daniel and Raymond, two of Leon’s fellow poor noblemen friends also trampled upon by Lady Land, serve as this commentating on the shifting political situation for poor nobles and changes in Leon’s social status, being Vitriolic Best Buds with him.
    • Angelica’s father and brother Vince and Gilbert Redgrave often serve as this both for Angelica’s romantic feelings as well as Leon and her political positions. Although Vince does play an active role in the Kingdom’s politics.
  • Whateley Universe: In the first year of the "first generation" stories, we have inseparable freshman roommates Peeper (loud, abusive, lazy) and Greasy (quiet, polite, talented photographer and inventor). As shock jocks on student-run radio WARS, their schtick ranges from topical and current events to raunch. Retribution is often swift and well-deserved, as when their commentary on Fall Combat Finals is interrupted by a velociraptor with heavy-duty duct tape. Early in their sophomore year, Greasy realizes he doesn't have to play minion to a Jerkass like Peeper and walks out on-air.

    Live-Action TV 
  • The Afterparty's ensemble of suspects is rounded out by the Jennifers, a pair of obnoxious side characters who have the same name and are even pregnant at the same time. They're not treated as serious suspects and mainly give catty, mean-girl commentary to the night's events.
  • Blake's 7 would often have a couple of Terran Federation flunkies discussing the local situation, not only to provide exposition but also to demonstrate the Punch-Clock Villain nature of the military or bureaucracy.
  • Brooklyn Nine-Nine has Detectives Scully and Hitchcock. Both lazy, obese and slobby, dimwitted inspectors who mostly hang around the office to eat, gross other people out, do paperwork (so never leave their desks) and annoy the other members of the force. They both show flashes of being smarter than they pretend to be but hide it because they don't want to do any work.
  • Ramy: Ramy's best friends Mo and Ahmed, whose roles mainly consist of following him around and offering commentary on his life, sometimes humorously. Lampshaded in early in the second season. After Ramy asks them how they're doing, they react in shock because Ramy never does that.
  • Reservation Dogs: Mose and Mekko, two Native American dwarfs who provide commentary on the feud between the Reservation Dogs and the NDN gang. They are also into rap and are fans of Bear's rapper father.
  • Rome has Lucius Vorenus and Titus Pullo, who get up into all sorts of adventures amidst a background of largely Historical Domain Characters during Julius Caesar's conquest of Rome.
  • Rutherford Falls: Wayne and Sally, two Minishonkan employees at the casino, who always show up as a duo to make fun of Reagan.
  • Gilmore Girls:
    • Madeline and Louise are those two gals, Rory's classmates from Chilton. They always appear together.
    • Finn and Colin, Logan's pals from Yale. Almost always paired and hard to distinguish.
    • Rory's "artsy" friends, Olivia and Lucy from the final season, who are better known as Madeline and Louise Lite. Their personalities are pretty identical, although the latter two are more annoying.
  • The Look and Read series Earthwarp has Mrs Grant and Mrs Ramsden, a pair of elderly guests at the Rowlands' hotel, whose job it is to comically react to the strange goings on around them. At least until the half way point, when a late night encounter with a sleepwalking Ollie makes Mrs Grand decide to cut her holiday short while Mrs Ramsden chooses to stay a while longer.
  • Control Z:
    • Darío and Ernesto, the two less prominent members of the popular clique, seem to always be together.
    • Valeria and Regina, the only girls who aren't part of the clique per se, but are popular themselves.
  • Subverted brutally in the first episode of Squid Game: players 250 and 324 are introduced and set up to be like this, being given a significant amount of screentime and personality for minor characters, showing them bantering and sharing jokes on who's gonna win the first challenge. They're the first to die.
  • The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin has the yes-men, Tony and David. They are rarely seen apart, and are known for their catchphrases: "Great" and "Super".
  • Reggie Perrin also has yes-men, Steve and Anthony who are together practically all the time. When Anthony got promoted, Steve has trouble adjusting to not being "Those Two Guys" and Anthony wants to go back to his old job, which does happen.
  • The Wire has Herc and Carver for the police and Bodie and Poot for the Barksdale organization, with many scenes highlighting their similar dynamics — Bodie and Carver being the more mature and responsible ones and Herc and Poot being more immature. Underlined by couple of Villains Out Shopping moments when the two duos bump into eachother at the Eastside vs Westside basketball game and at the movie theatre.

    Puppet Shows 
  • The Muppet Show has Statler and Waldorf, two identically-dressed grumpy old men known for their back and forth exchanges where they heckle the performers and criticize the sketches they just watched. They are best known for providing The Stinger at the end of episodes. They perform a similar service here on TV Tropes as well.

    Radio 
  • The Jack Benny Program’s telephone operators 'Gertrude' and 'Mabel' always appear together and never advance the plot, being there solely to mock 'Mister Thinks-he’s-so-important' )or variations of such) as they delay his attempt to reach someone by telephone. (Note: telephone operators used to be vital for any telephone connexion further than close-by.) (Note: the 'telephone' was a wired appliance used for vocal communication.)

    Theater 
  • In Cesare - Il Creatore che ha distrutto, each of the student associations have backup members that are more or less this, but the Florentine association's Marco, Pietro, and Ricardo are this exactly, performing backup for Mr. Exposition Roberto, and backup/flattery for association leader Giovanni de'Medici (the 16-year-old future Pope Leo X).
  • Mamma Mia! — Sophie's two friends Ali and Lisa serve this function. Her mother, Donna, also has former bandmates Tanya and Rosie. While they have their own subplots, their main purpose is to be Donna's funny longtime friends to whom she confides her troubles. They back her up (often dramatically and for comic relief) throughout the show.
  • Salerio and Solanio in The Merchant of Venice are pretty much this; narrating what happens between events and standing alongside characters as they try to explain their situation. They aren't always together on stage; Salerio seeks out Bassanio to warn him of Antonio's plight while Solanio comforts Antonio in the days before his trial.

    Video Games 
  • The Fire Emblem series traditionally has sets of two characters who are (almost) always recruited together, the most common ones being the Cain and Abel (Cavaliers) and the Bord and Cord (axe fighters). These tend to be friends and/or rivals with each other due to their contrasting personalities, with one being calm and serious and the other more laidback and sometimes reckless.
  • The King of Fighters: Mature and Vice, two-thirds of Team Yagami (and also the signature teammates of series staple Iori Yagami), are rarely seen away from each other. At least until SNK vs. Capcom for Vice, and KOF XII for Mature.
  • Mass Effect 2: Done with the Mauve Shirts that make up your crew. They are each seen in pairs in different parts of the ship: Patel and Rolston in crew quarters, Goldstein and Hawthorne in the mess, Hadley and Matthews on the bridge, and Daniels and Donnelly in Engineering. You can only talk with Daniels and Donnelly, but the others chat with each other about events in the game or things happening off screen. If you take too long to rescue your crew, at least one member of each pair will die. It serves as an effective way making your ship look more empty and reminding of the cost of the mission, as the survivor will typically mention the fallen one.
  • Mass Effect 3 has Westmoreland and Campbell, always seen together guarding The War Room. Unlike the pairs from 2, they serve as the Greek Chorus.
  • Resident Evil: Revelations has Quint and Grinder, whose sections are separate from the main plot and serve to dump exposition on plot twists.

    Webcomics 
  • Sleepless Domain: The early chapters of the comic feature two separate pairs of unnamed girls, each of which are always together and can frequently be seen following Heartful Punch around or commenting on what she's up to. When the two groups are seen together, the Alt Text lampshades their role — "Those Two Girls x 2 = Those Four Girls?" However, where most pairs of this sort tend to be put Out of Focus over time, all four girls are later given proper introductions and names, and gradually grow into major side characters.
  • In El Goonish Shive, Rich and Larry have this role being a fat and thin pair who comment on the main characters.
  • Let's Get Divorced!: Bang and Ji-won, two minor coworkers of Baek-hui, who talk about her love life. Ms. Bang is also a romance author who takes inspiration from Baek-hui's love life, lampshading the various tropes along the way.
  • NEXT!!! Sound of the Future: Mimi and Momo were the classmates of main protagonist Shine. They are together in every scene they're in, have very little difference in personality, and have very similar sounding names. Their only role in the story is to be Shine's former friends who went from commentating on her humorous behavior to judging her for her worsening singing ability.
  • Vampire Girl:
    • Season 1 gives us Vampire Hunter and Goofy Idiot Sidekick, who are the Fat and Skinny variety, with Vampire Hunter being relatively thin, while Goofy Idiot Sidekick is morbidly obese.
    • Season 2 gives us Saul and Paul, a pair of trenchcoat and fedora-wearing hoodlums, who appear to be a Big Guy, Little Guy variation, with Paul about the same height as many of the comic's other characters, while Saul dwarves all of them.

    Web Original 
  • Pumice and Piss Wizard serve as this for SBI Rust, despite Piss Wizard not speaking. Pumice has enough commentary on the server's happenings for the two of them.
  • Sneeg and Poke in SMPLive are frequently seen together and banter in this manner, although sometimes bordering on falling into Heterosexual Life-Partners.

    Western Animation 
  • Rocky and Bullwinkle has Chauncey and Edgar, two men who for some reason are always reading newspapers right next to whatever antics the main characters are getting up to. They provide understated commentary on the fantastic events they're witnessing and then disappear, never to be seen until the next thing happens.
    Edgar: "Now there's something you don't see everyday, Chauncey."
    Chauncey: "What's that, Edgar?"
    Edgar: "[something ridiculous involving Moose and Squirrel]"
    Chauncey: "Oh, I don't know, Edgar. [Pun]"
  • On Phineas and Ferb, Buford and Baljeet began as the stereotypical Bully and Nerd combo, but beginning in season three, they developed into this, providing humorous commentary and asides during Phineas and Ferb's endeavors.
  • Lenny and Carl from The Simpsons fall under this trope, as well as being heterosexual life partners. They are frequently mistaken for each other or are mistaken for a gay couple.
    "Lenny = White, Carl = Black"
  • The Venture Brothers absolutely loves this trope. Pete White and Billy Quizboy, Henchmen 21 and 24, Watch and Ward, Mr Doe and Mr Cardholder, Even Hank and Dean in the early seasons of the show; there always seems to be a pair of people who either exclusively hang out together or almost exclusively, and show up to comment on the situation at hand.


Statler: I can't believe we haven't watched this show before!
Waldorf: I don't want to believe we have!
Both: Do-ho-ho-ho-hoh!

 
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Video Example(s):

Alternative Title(s): Those Two Girls

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Pedro and Nico

Pedro and Nico fit this trope pretty well. They don't really have a specific role, except for some comic-relief and musical moments. They like to comment on various things such as how they met Blu earlier in the film as shown in this video.

How well does it match the trope?

5 (4 votes)

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Main / ThoseTwoGuys

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