Straight man (stock character)
Photo of Cliff Hall (left) and Jack Pearl from the radio program The Baron and the Bee. Pearl played the Baron and Hall, his straight man, was the Bee.
The straight man is a stock character in a comedy performance, especially a double act, sketch comedy, or farce. When a comedy partner behaves eccentrically, a straight man's response may range from aplomb to outrage, or from patience to frustration, but never laughter, making the partner look all the more ridiculous by being completely serious. The ability to maintain a serious demeanor in the face of even the most preposterous comedy is crucial to a successful straight man. Whatever direct contribution to the comedy a straight man provides usually comes in the form of deadpan.
In Vaudeville, effective straight men were much less common than comedians. The straight man's name usually appeared first and he usually received 60% of the take. This helped take the sting out of not being the laugh-getter and helped ensure the straight man's loyalty to the team.[1] The role is still found today in sitcoms. In the manzai comedy of Japan, the straight man is called tsukkomi.
Examples
- Alex Karpovsky as Raymond "Ray" Ploshansky in Girls
- Andre Braugher as Captain Ray Holt in Brooklyn Nine-Nine
- Andy Griffith (as Sheriff Andy Taylor) of The Andy Griffith Show
- Andy Lee of Hamish and Andy
- Audrey Meadows (as Alice Kramden) in The Honeymooners
- Belldandy and Keiichi Morisato in Oh My Goddess!
- Bernardine Flynn (as Sade) on Vic and Sade
- Bert and Prairie Dawn of Sesame Street
- Bob Balaban in Waiting for Guffman
- Bob Newhart (as Dr. Robert Hartley) in The Bob Newhart Show
- Brian Griffin of Family Guy
- Brown in Line Offline Salaryman and Line Town
- Bud Abbott of Abbott and Costello
- Charles McCord on Imus in the Morning
- Charlie Sheen as Charlie Harper in Two and a Half Men
- Cheryl Hines as Cheryl David in Curb Your Enthusiasm
- Chester Lauck (as Lum Edwards) in Lum and Abner
- Christopher Ryan as Mike "The-Cool-Person" in The Young Ones
- Clive Swift (as Richard Bucket) in Keeping Up Appearances
- Cornfed of Duckman
- Dan Rowan of Rowan & Martin's Laugh-In
- David Mitchell as (Mark Corrigan) in Peep Show
- Dean Martin of Martin and Lewis
- Dermot Morgan as Father Ted Crilly in Father Ted
- Diane Nguyen of BoJack Horseman
- Dick Smothers of The Smothers Brothers
- Doraemon in Doraemon
- Ernie Wise of Morecambe and Wise
- Frylock of Aqua Teen Hunger Force
- Gary Sandy (as Andy Travis) in WKRP in Cincinnati
- George Burns of Burns and Allen
- Gromit of Wallace and Gromit
- Hannibal Buress of The Eric Andre Show
- Harvey Korman often played straight man to Tim Conway, on The Carol Burnett Show, although Korman was notorious for barely being able to restrain his laughter at Conway's performances.
- James May in Top Gear
- Jason Bateman (as Michael Bluth) in Arrested Development [2]
- Jerry Seinfeld in Seinfeld
- John Krasinski (as Jim Halpert) in The Office (U.S. TV series)
- Johnny Galecki (as Leonard Hofstadter) and Kaley Cuoco (as Penny) in The Big Bang Theory
- Josh Radnor (as Ted Mosby) in How I Met Your Mother
- Julian of Trailer Park Boys
- Kermit the Frog and Rowlf the Dog in The Muppet Show
- Kurogane of Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle
- Joel McHale (as Jeff Winger) in Community
- Lamont in Sanford and Son
- Lana Kane of Archer
- Lars Mjøen on KLM KLM (humortrio) KLM (comedy trio)
- Marco Diaz of Star vs. the Forces of Evil
- Marian Driscoll Jordan (as Molly McGee) on Fibber McGee and Molly
- Mark Duplass (as Pete Eckhart) in The League[3]
- Martin Crane of Frasier
- Martin Freeman (as Tim Canterbury) in The Office (UK TV series)
- Mary Tyler Moore (as Mary Richards) in The Mary Tyler Moore Show [4]
- Midori Yamabuki of Dr. Slump
- Mike Grady as Ken Mills in Citizen Smith
- Mike Judge as Hank Hill in King of the Hill
- Mickey Mouse in eponymous film and television series
- Mr. Gus of Uncle Grandpa
- Oliver Hardy of Laurel and Hardy
- Patricia Heaton (as Debra Barone) in Everybody Loves Raymond
- Porky Pig in Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies
- Rashida Jones (as Ann Perkins) and Adam Scott (as Ben Wyatt) in Parks and Recreation
- Richard Deacon (as Mel Cooley) in The Dick Van Dyke Show
- Richard Karn (as Al Borland) of Home Improvement
- Rito Yuuki of To Love-Ru
- Rodney Trotter and Herman Aubrey "Boycie" Boyce in Only Fools and Horses
- Roger Barkley of Lohman and Barkley
- Ron Landry of Hudson & Landry
- Sadie Marks (as Mary Livingstone) on The Jack Benny Program
- Scott Adsit (as Pete Hornberger) in 30 Rock
- Shinpachi Shimura in Gintama
- Simon Bird (as Will McKenzie) in The Inbetweeners
- Squidward Tentacles of Spongebob Squarepants
- Stan Marsh of South Park
- Stephen Mangan (as Arthur Conan Doyle) in Houdini & Doyle
- Steve Blackman of the World Wrestling Federation
- Stewart Lee of Lee and Herring
- Tetsu Kikuchi of The Pete Show
- Zeppo Marx of the Marx Brothers
See also
References
- ↑ Nachman, Gerald (1998). Raised on Radio, p. 36. Pantheon Books, New York. ISBN 037540287X.
- ↑ "Arrested Development Review". Entertainment Weekly.
- ↑ Hanno, Alex. "Four seasons in, 'The League' still scores big". TD Review.
- ↑ "TV: 10 All-Time Greatest". Entertainment Weekly.
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