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{{trope}}
[[File:saltandpeppershakers.jpg|
{{quote|''"She was six feet of black dynamite! He was a short Hassidic Jew."''|'''Cleopatra Schwartz''', ''[[The Kentucky Fried Movie]]''}}
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A variation on the [[Odd Couple]], involving a white person and a black person. Usually, the white person is a strait-laced by-the-book type, while the black person is a [[Uncle Tomfoolery|funky, urban type]] who doesn't have much respect for authority. Most commonly, [[They Fight Crime|they're cops]], assigned as [[Buddy Cop Show|partners]] after their old partners die/get disgusted and walk away. Generally, the two make a fairly good team if they can [[Odd Couple|work out the personality clashes]], with [[Foil|the strengths of one covering for the weaknesses of the other]].
For American media, this may be [http://www.thebestpageintheuniverse.net/c.cgi?u=cop_movie more common] in [[Film|the movies]] (''Lethal Weapon'', ''[[Die Hard]] 1 2 AND 3'') than on TV as television shows often seem more segregated.
See also [[Black Best Friend]]. For [[Bonus Points]] an instance of this trope may implement [[Opposites Theme Naming]].
Has nothing to do with [[Salt-N-Pepa|that all-female rap group from the 1990s]], or [[A Little Snow Fairy Sugar|the supporting characters from that anime]].
{{examples}}
== Anime and Manga ==
* The [[Anime]] and [[Manga]] series ''[[Blood
** However, despite his personality, Lewis tends to be [[Crazy Prepared|on top of things]] and surprisingly competent.
** This also features a potential inversion/subversion with the reserved and serious (black) James and the flamboyant and affectionate (white) Nathan. Both are Diva's Chevaliers, but they never actually work together in battle. Still, if all the touching and flirting is anything to go by, Nathan certainly wants them to be an [[Odd Couple]].
*** ''[[Blood: The Last Vampire]]'', the [[Alternate Continuity]] predecessor of ''[[Blood
* ''[[Bleach]]'' gives us Urahara and Yoruichi, which play this trope straight and invert it. When it comes to their everyday personalities, Yoruichi is a vivacious [[The Tease|flirtatious]] pepper while Urahara is a hard-to-read [[Trickster Mentor|trickster]] salt. However, when it comes to mentoring [[The Hero|Ichigo]], Urahara is ''batshit insane'' white pepper of a [[Sink or Swim Mentor]], while Yoruichi is a calm and controlled black salt whose tests, while equally dangerous, are a lot less wacky.
* November 11 and April in ''[[Darker
== Comic Books ==
* [[Immortal Iron Fist|Iron Fist]] (white martial arts master raised in an other-dimensional city) and [[Luke Cage, Hero for Hire|Power Man]] (wrongfully accused black ex-con living in Times Square and freelancing as a superhero) in the Marvel comic ''Heroes for Hire''. Both were created in the '70s during the kung-fu and [[Blaxploitation]] crazes. Best [[Odd Couple]] ever.
** From the same era are the Daughters of the Dragon: the asian Colleen Wing and black Misty Knight, combining inspirations from ''[[Charlie's Angels]]'' and ''[[Cleopatra Jones]].''
** And ''The Defiant Ones'' gets another nod in the supervillains Hammer and Anvil, a pair of escaped convicts whose powers and lives are linked by the chain that binds them.
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* Tom and Sarah Dubois in ''[[The Boondocks]]'' are an inversion. Tom is the straightest-laced character in the show; whereas Sarah, his white wife, is at least naughty enough to fileshare, and is irked by her husband's irrational fear of getting caught breaking the law.
* Marvel's [[Cloak and Dagger (comics)|Cloak and Dagger]].
* Also from [[Marvel Comics]] is [[Captain America (comics)]] and his former partner [[The Falcon]]. They don't team-up as often as they used to but they invoked this trope, although both are very straight-laced.
** There is also the USAgent and Battle Star, a b-list [[Anti-Hero Substitute]] to Cap and his African American partner. Agent is the more violent of the two while Battle Star is more sensible.
* [[Gorsky and Butch]] - at one point they argued which of them should be the relaxed one. Generally, Gorsky (who, despite the Polish surname is the black one) tends to be the smarter and more experienced - except for his unfortunate tendency to walk right into every [[Stereotype Reaction Gag]] that comes his way.
== Fan
* In ''[[Keepers of the Elements]]'', there are two notable subversions. With Travis and Milah, Travis is the straight-laced, by the book one and Milah is is the more outgoing, risk-taking one. The other subversion is that of Nasira and Hasim, Nasira being the straight-laced one and Hasim is the fun loving one, who while he doesn't go against the rules, is certainly more flexible when it comes to them.
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* Displayed in ''[[Rush Hour]]'', except with the white character replaced by a Chinese character (Jackie Chan).
** Maybe it should be called Pepper and Mustard?
* Parodied in a [[Show Within a Show]] during ''[[Major League]] 2'' called ''Black Hammer, White Lightning'', with a pair of
{{quote|'''Black Hammer:''' Mine fell harder!
'''White Lightning:''' But mine were ''deader''! }}
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** There's also Tupac and Tim Roth as drug addicts in ''Gridlock'd''.
* Police officer Ned Ravine and his black partner in ''[[Fatal Instinct]]''.
* No less than three sets in ''[[King of New York]]'': drug lord Frank White (salt) and his right-hand goon Jimmy Jump (pepper), Frank's [[Bodyguard Babes]] Melanie (salt) and Raye (pepper), and [[Rabid Cop
* ''Rising Sun'', with Wesley Snipes and [[Sean Connery]].
* John McClane and Zeus Carver in ''[[Die Hard With a Vengeance]]''. Subverted in that neither one of them have much of a respect for authority.
* ''[[Pulp Fiction]]'' has the duo of Jules Winnfield (a [[Scary Black Man]] played by [[Samuel L. Jackson]]) and Vincent Vega (a soft-spoken, slightly dorky white guy played by [[John Travolta]]). Both are prone to moments of deep philosophical insight, leading to a lot of [[Seinfeldian Conversation]].
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* Detritus and Cuddy (and later Littlebottom) in [[Discworld]] are a troll/dwarf partnership. Trolls being naturally stone-cool, and dwarfs being fairly uptight.
* In the [[Doctor Who Expanded Universe]], Chris Cwej and Roz Forrester. Roz is black, and is deeply cynical and ''usually'' the by-the-book type. Chris is white, and very idealistic.
* [[Stuck]]'s leads, Tre and Nora. He's a black [[Genius Ditz]] with a [[Brilliant but Lazy|slacker complex]], while she's a white [[Stepford Snarker]] who can be uptight at times, [[Mood Swinger|depending on her mood.]] They end up in a happy relationship (which has its ups and downs).
== Live-Action TV ==
* ''[[Miami Vice]]'''s Crockett and Tubbs would belong to this trope if they weren't ''both'' cool.
** The show also had another occasional salt & pepper combination in [[Ethnic Scrappy|Ethnic Scrappies]] Izzy (hispanic) and Noogie (black), both of whom were two of the worst [[Jive Turkey
** Not to mention the heroes' [[Distaff Counterpart
** Parodied in ads for Bacardi rum featuring "Bacardi and Cola", where Bacardi was the white guy and Cola (naturally) the dark fellow.
* ''[[Bakersfield PD]]''
* The seasons of ''[[Law and Order]]'' featuring Briscoe and Green. And then Fontana and Green. And now Lupo and Bernard.
** It goes back further than
* The seasons of ''[[Law and Order Special Victims Unit|Law And Order: Special Victims Unit]]'' featuring Munch and Jefferies or Munch and Tutola.
* ''[[Angel]]'''s Wes and Gunn, who notably reversed roles during the show's run. Wes started out as a strait-laced, tightly-wound British stereotype and evolved into a brooding, morally ambiguous badass, while Gunn started out running a vampire-hunting street gang but later, thanks to some [[Applied Phlebotinum]], became a sharp-suited lawyer.
* ''[[I Spy]]'', although as with ''[[Miami Vice]]'', they're both equally cool.
* A ''[[Mad TV]]'' sketch spoofed this trope in a bit called "Night and Day", about a male black cop forced to partner with an albino woman. They learn to work together while taking cover in the villain's lair, conveniently fronted by a blackboard and whiteboard factory.
* Reversed memorably on ''Hill Street Blues'', with the rational, mild-mannered black cop Bobby Hill (played by Michael Warren) teamed with loud, white, redneck Andy Renko (Charles Haid.) These uniformed patrol officers were shot and presumed dead in the 1980 pilot episode, but the charismatic pairing appealed to both the producers and audience. Hill and Renko returned to duty from a prolonged hospitalization in time for the first season of ''[[Hill Street Blues]]'' and were a mainstay of the series throughout its run.
* A 2006 series of Twinings tea commercials in the UK featured the incredibly English [[Stephen Fry]] (the "face" of Twinings since 2005) running a tea shop with a [[Jive Turkey]] named Tyrone, who suggested the Earl Grey slogan could be "Feel the zing in your ding-a-ling!"
* ''[[Psych]]'''s main characters are the laid-back, street-smart white Shawn and his uptight, eminently nerdy black partner Gus. This was even played upon in a commercial for the show, where they performed "Ebony and Ivory" together. Also, the "Black and Tan" episode.
** Gus was Tan, Shawn was Black. And how dare you assume otherwise. The one time Gus was allowed to come up with the aliases, all he could think of was "Gus Brown and Shawn White," as it happens.
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** Not a true example, however, since their personalities are close to identical. (And neither is spicy or salty.)
*** Lem is slightly cooler, but only in the way that Screech might be slightly cooler than Urkel.
* Turk and J.D. from ''[[Scrubs]]''
** There's also Turner and Hooch (a black and white surgeon duo brought together by Turk and J.D. for the pun on their names) and a Cafe con Leche pairing in Elliot and Carla. Season 9 introduced the Salt and Pepper pairing of Captain Melvis Duncook and Lieutenant Frank Underhill, campus security for Winston University.
* Detective Leo Banks and Detective Eric Delahoy in ''[[The Unusuals]]'' - basically ''Lethal Weapon''-lite
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* Occasionally Jack Carter and Henry Deacon on ''[[Eureka]]'' sometimes Allison fills in the pepper. His defacto pairing with Jo Lupo also gives us a Cafe con Leche.
* White Chris Stevens and his black half-brother Bernard on ''[[Northern Exposure]]''. The hook being that they are pretty much ''exactly'' the same guy, right down to being born on the same day. One episode even revolves around Bernard beginning a relationship with one of Chris's ex-lovers - and she can't detect any difference between them in bed.
* ''[[Homicide: Life
* ''[[Third Watch]]''. Officers Davis and Sully. Also an example of a Vet/Rookie pair.
* Inverted by the supporting pair of Guerrero & Winston in ''[[Human Target]]''. Winston's the black retired cop, Guerrero's the white semi-retired criminal. Also opposites in size, since Chi McBride is about a foot taller and a good bit wider than Jackie Earle Haley.
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* The mercifully short-lived sitcom ''[[Listen Up]]!'' played this trope painfully straight with Jason Alexander as an uptight white television presenter (complete with wife and daughter who didn't respect him) and Malcolm-Jamal Warner as his too-hip-for-words black sports star co-host.
** This was actually based on a real pairing. Alexander's character was based on New York-based sportswriter Tony Kornheiser (who the show's concept happened to be based on) while Warner's character was based on Chicago-based sportswriter Michael Wilbon. The two actual persons have had a show together on ESPN (''Pardon the Interruption'') for nearly a decade.
* ''[[
* Degrassi had JT and Liberty. JT, the white one in the pairing, was humorous, relaxed, and not very smart. Liberty was a teen genius, didn't have a sense of humour, and was always worrying. They end up falling in love.
** Also there is the friendship of Jimmy, the cool guy who can rap, dance, and play basketball, with the Spinner who's tough but can't dance because he's white. It's averted with Hazle who tries to be just like Paige.
* In ''[[Community]]'' episode [[Community/Recap/S1
* [[Angel Coulby]] and [[Katie McGrath]] from ''[[Merlin (TV series)|Merlin]]'' make a striking pair as [[Foil|Morgana and Guinevere]]. The latter worked as the former's maid-servant, and where Morgana is passionate, high-strung and easily corrupted, Gwen is down-to-earth, practical and calm.
* Leverage often features this with [[The Smart Guy|Hardison]] and [[The Big Guy|Eliot]]
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== Professional Wrestling ==
* In [[World Wrestling Entertainment|WWE]], The World's Greatest Tag Team. A subversion in that Shelton Benjamin (the black one) is the relatively straight one (though he's still an insufferable self-centered ass), and Charlie Haas (the white one) is a veritable [[Jive Turkey]] (to quote Rory, one of the Highlanders, "I didn't know Charlie Haas was black!").
** When they were working for [[Kurt Angle]], however, their personalities were pretty much interchangeable.
* The A.P.A., Bradshaw and Farooq are probably wrestlings most most famous example. Bradshaw is the fun loving [[Boisterous Bruiser]] from Texas and Farooq is the non nonsense [[Scary Black Man]] from Georgia. When they are not beating people up, they are most likely seen in the back [[The Alcoholic|drinking beer]] and playing poker.
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* [[Stop Helping Me!|Zip]] and [[The Scrappy|Alister]] in ''[[Tomb Raider|Tomb Raider: Legend]]''.
* Jonathan Ingram (white) and Ed Brown (Black) in ''[[Policenauts]]'', as direct reference to ''Lethal Weapon''. Ed is older, but other than that they're pretty much exactly as wacky as each other.
* The ''[[Tales (series)]]'' loves to play around with this one, which is fitting as several of its games ''really'' get into the guts of race, and discrimination, tropes and often end up subverting or deconstructing the crap out of them.
** ''[[Tales of Eternia]]'' features the mages Keele, a [[Deadpan Snarker]] who always has to have the last word and more or less exemplifies [[The Smart Guy]] and Meredy, [[The Ditz|the ditzy]] [[Adult Child|seven year-old living in a teenage body]]. Eventually deconstructed when it's revealed that a) Meredy knows a ''lot'' more than anyone realises: she just doesn't "get" [[Values Dissonance|Inferian culture]] (due to coming from a world that's very far down the "Emotions" side of [[Emotions vs. Stoicism]]), and b) [[Dark and Troubled Past|the reasons as to]] ''[[Dark and Troubled Past|why]]'' [[Break the Cutie|she became such a]] [[Cloudcuckoolander]] [[Break the Cutie|are horrifying]]. {{spoiler|Her family was betrayed and she was forced to watch her mother cross the [[Despair Event Horizon]]: becoming an [[Eldritch Abomination]] possessed by a [[God of Evil]].}}
** ''[[Tales of Destiny]]'' has multiple examples:
*** [[The Hero|Stahn]] being a naive, silly but [[Wide-Eyed Idealist|well-meaning]] white pepper to [[The Wise Prince|Woodrow]]/[[Woolseyism|Garr]]'s calm, collected black salt.
*** Stahn is the Salt when he's paired up with [[Boisterous Bruiser|Kongman]]/[[Dub Name Change|Khang]]... but only because [[Large Ham|Kongman]] [[Up to Eleven|out-hams absolutely everybody]].
*** Another inversion happens with Woodrow and [[Genki Girl|Chelsea]]. He's still the [[Badass]] yet [[The Smart Guy|wise]] black salt to her hyperactive, fangirlish white pepper.
*** [[Classy Cat Burglar|Rutee]] and [[The Big Girl|Mary]] are a played-straight example. Mary is also shown to have this dynamic with {{spoiler|her husband}}.
** ''[[Tales of Destiny|Tales of Destiny 2]]'' gives us another inversion. [[The Hero|Kyle]] is a [[Hot-Blooded]] white [[Kid Hero]] who will ''not'' stop harping on about [[To Be a Master|how he's going to be a true hero]] some day. [[The Lancer|Loni]] is a much calmer [[Chivalrous Pervert]] [[Big Brother Mentor]] [[Black Best Friend]] who generally tries to keep Kyle out of trouble with mixed results. Loni has a similar dynamic with his love interest, the [[Fiery Redhead]] [[Hot Amazon]] [[The Archer|Nanaly]].
*** Played straight with the villains; [[Big Bad|Elra]][[The Evil Genius|ine]] and [[The Dragon|Barba]][[The Brute|tos]]. However, this one proves ''very'' much that [[Tropes Are Not Bad]] because it was the latter who went on to become a [[Memetic Badass]] (in hindsight, [[Norio Wakamoto]]'s voice may have helped) while Elraine is largely forgotten by the ''Tales'' community.
** ''[[Tales of Rebirth]]'' is ''another'' inversion. [[The Big Guy|Eugene]], the closest thing the 'verse has to a [[Scary Black Man]], looks like the pepper but turns out to be an [[Only Sane Man|extremely sane]] [[Team Dad]]. The whites, on the other hand, are varying degrees of [[Idiot Hero]], [[Hot-Blooded]] and [[Leeroy Jenkins]]. This evades the potential [[Mary Sue]] problem, however, through the fact that the naive idealism of the latter ends up saving the day just as many times as the former's logic. Furthermore, after the [[Disk One Final Boss]], {{spoiler|Eugene becomes infected with its negative emotions and it's revealed that his wise, stoic personality is being deliberately invoked by him to try and desperately suppress the rage that's building up due to all of the [[Fantastic Racism]].}}
*** A played-straight example from the same game is Saleh (salt) and Tomah (pepper). However, it's worth noting that in this case they're ''both'' [[Complete Monster
*** Played with with the Halfs (yes, they're the same race, but it [[Makes Sense in Context]]) [[Sixth Ranger|Hilda]] and the darker-toned [[Broken Bird|Militsa]]. Hilda is a white pepper effectively trying to pass as salt, while Militsa is a black salt who clearly wishes she could be more peppery but just finds it easier to bottle everything up and be a by-the-book [[Punch Clock Villain]]. The dynamic continues even after Hilda's [[Heel Face Turn]].
** It's different ''planets'' as opposed to ethnic backgrounds in ''[[Tales of Symphonia]]'', but Lloyd Irving, who is steadfastly committed to his principles of goodness and righteousness, and Zelos Wilder, a [[Chaotic Neutral]] [[Chivalrous Pervert]], clearly have the makings of this trope going on. In the same vein, so do [[Love Freak]] Colette and [[Action Girl]] Sheena.
*** In terms of race, the elf Genis is the salt to Lloyd's pepper. {{spoiler|This dynamic continues even after Genis is revealed to be a Half-Elf.}}
** Yet ''another'' villainous example occurs in ''[[Tales of Legendia]]''. Interestingly enough, both are [[Big Bad
** For exactly the same reasons as {{spoiler|Lloyd and Zelos}}, [[Tales of Xillia|Jude and Alvin]] are an inversion. Played straight with Milla and her [[Loony Fan]] Ivar, although ultimately deconstructed as her being so salty results in her refusing to take him seriously due to his extremely peppery nature, {{spoiler|resulting in what is basically the mother of all fuck-ups as the [[Dragon with an Agenda]]'s [[Batman Gambit]] goes off without a hitch.}} [[Character Development|They both learn from it]].
* ''[[Dragon Age II]]'' plays it straight with the naive but well-meaning and culturally-loyal ([[From a Certain Point of View|well, from her perspective]]) Merrill and the [[Ambiguously Brown|Ambiguously Bronze]] pirate Isabela, who is both [[Incredibly Lame Pun|savvy]] and totally unconcerned with anyone's rules but her own.
* Even though 90% of its characters are [[Petting Zoo People]], ''[[Breath of Fire 2]]'' still has a straight example with Nina and Katt. The former is a lawful, almost Caucasian-like [[Black Magician Girl]] while the latter is a darker-furred [[Hot-Blooded]] [[Action Girl]]. She averts being her universe's equivalent of a [[Sassy Black Woman]], however. She's too busy being a heroic [[Blood Knight]].
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== Western Animation ==
* On ''[[The Simpsons]]'', there are two
** Subverted with Lenny and Carl, in that Lenny is a loser and Carl seems to have it more in control.
*** Lenny's not a loser. Have you seen his flat?
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* Parodied in ''[[Futurama]]'', with a [[Jive Turkey]] robot cop, partnered to a white human.
* Parodied when one episode of ''[[Clone High]]'' involved the Gandhi clone and the George Washington Carver clone making a buddy cop movie, in which they played strait-laced, Harvard-educated Leon Black (Carver) and Tandoori Jones (Gandhi), "...a typical Indian cop who plays by his own rules: none! Together they are ''Black and Tan!''"
* Numbers 2 and 5 of ''[[Codename: Kids Next Door]]''; though 5 is general the street-wise
** Taken further in the [[Distant Finale]]. {{spoiler|[[Official Couple|They're]] [[Happily Married|married]]}}.
* ''[[Justice League (animation)|Justice League]]'' features the inversion with uptight [[Military Superhero|ex-marine]] John Stewart/Green Lantern paired up with [[Fun Personified|goofball]] Flash.
* On ''[[Total Drama Island]],'' the lanky white nerd Harold with [[Sassy Black Woman]] Leshawna. He also has a huge and obvious crush on her which she seems to eventually reciprocate.
** Though they were never a team until Total Drama Action.
* Parodied as well as being a [[Shout-Out]] to [[Men in Black (film)|Men in Black]] on ''[[Johnny Test]]'' with (white) Mr. Black and (black) Mr. White.
* ''[[Static Shock]]'' with Static being the funky, quick-tongue, while Gear was the more calculative and nerdy one.
** They were both pretty nerdy actually, and Richie only became smarter with his power, whearas before Virgil was much smarter.
* There are more than a few shades of this on ''[[Adventures of the Galaxy Rangers|Galaxy Rangers]]'' when Goose and Doc are paired up. It also helps that Doc is a high-class gentleman and [[The Smart Guy]] while Goose is an [[Artificial Human]] designed for combat.
== Real Life ==
* Since 2009, President [[Barack Obama]] and Vice President Joe Biden.
* Troy Aikman and Michael Irvin, the (white) starting quarterback and (black) top wide receiver for the 1992 Dallas Cowboys football team. Aikman liked country music and beer, while Irvin was into hip-hop and marijuana (plus a few other things probably best left unmentioned here!). But they had a real rapport both on and off the field, inspiring Aikman to quote the lyrics to Paula Abdul's then-popular song "Opposites Attract" to explain their relationship.
* [[The Brigadier|Brigadier General]]
{{reflist}}
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[[Category:Characterization Tropes]]
[[Category:Duo Tropes]]
[[Category:Black Index, White Index]]
[[Category:Race Tropes]]
[[Category:
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