Straight Man: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

{{quote|''"Well, the straight guy is never given enough credit...[[Abbott and Costello|[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."''|'''[[Mel Brooks]]'''}}

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 ''[[The Ghost|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 ''[[Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In|Laugh-In]]'').

 

 

 

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.

 

 

 

[[I Thought It Meant|Not to be confused with]] a heterosexual man, as many, many examples on this page show.

* Chika to everyone but especially Miu in ''[[Ichigo Mashimaro]]''.

* ''[[Excel Saga (manga)|Excel Saga]]'': Watanabe are Matsuya are the straight men for the somewhat hyperactive [[Casanova Wannabe]] Iwata, and, arguably, Sumiyoshi acts like this for all three of them when Watanabe and Matsuya are of the [[Only Sane Man]]. Excel and Hyatt play Straight Woman to each other, as both have their bizzare quirks that rarely overlap, and to Il Palazzo, who is the [[Comically Serious]].

* Often, Zoro of ''[[One Piece]]'' is this to Luffy and even Sanji at times.

* Sumi from ''[[Wife and Wife]]'' plays this role for her [[Cloudcuckoolander]] wife, Kina, making her a [[Lipstick Lesbian|Gay Woman]] [[Incredibly Lame Pun|Straight Man]].

* In a less obviously comedic example, Paul McGann as Marwood/"I" plays a pitch-perfect straight man to Richard E. Grant (Withnail) in ''[[Withnail and I]]'', grounding his manic performance in a solid emotional reality; the film wouldn't work nearly as well as it does without him.

* Kelly in ''[[Mystery Team]]'' to the wild and zany eponymous trio

 

 

* Larry on ''[[Perfect Strangers]]''.

** Averted after the first season or so, as Larry's wacky schemes ended up driving the plots more and more often. By the time the show ended, both characters were getting an equal number of gags. Still, Larry's original job as straight man got lampshaded near the end of the series in an [[Imagine Spot]] where Balki and he play [[Laurel and Hardy]], respectively.

* 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.

'''Joey''': ...oh! ''(runs back to his room)'' }}

* Jim, Pam, Toby, Stanley, and Oscar on the US version of ''[[The Office]]'' all serve as as Straight Man/Woman to the wackiness that emanates from various corners of the office.

* Carly in ''[[iCarly]]''. Carly is something of a "Jerry Seinfeld" example, as the show is named after her. Carly provides the setup for most of Spencer and Sam's jokes. Her main comedic role is to deliver rejections to [[Dogged Nice Guy]] Freddie, who has a crush on her. Even so, half the time [[Jerkass|Sam]] delivers them instead. They also get phased out during Season 3 and 4, leaving her to suffer [[Designated Protagonist Syndrome]].

* Rodney Trotter on ''[[Only Fools and Horses]]''.

* Frasier and Niles, while getting their own funny lines often enough, tend to act as this for Martin in ''[[Frasier]]''.

== Professional Wrestling ==

* Vladimir Kozlov acted as one to Santino Marella.

 

 

* Bud Abbott from ''[[Abbott and Costello]]'' most famously in the "[[Who's on First?]]" routine.

* In [[Cabin Pressure]], ''[[Insistent Terminology|Captain]]'' [[Benedict Cumberbatch|Martin Crieff]] is usually this to his co-pilot Douglas.

* ''[[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."

* Cherry is the Straight Man to Hero in the webcomic ''[http://rpgworldcomic.com/ 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 Man|Only Sane Woman]].

* Ozy in ''[[Ozy and Millie]]'' is usually this to Millie. And his dad. And Avery. Millie is sometimes this to Felicia.

== Web Original ==

* In ''[[Kate Modern]]'' season 1, Tariq is often this to Gavin.

* Daniel from ''[[Agents of Cracked]]'' to Swaim. He himself is occasionally the straight man to other cast members.

* Paul from [[Llamas with Hats]], to Carl's [[Comedic Sociopath]].

** While Stan is probably the "straightest" character, others exist too. Kyle is Straight Man almost as much as Stan, especially compared to Cartman. Sharon will often play Straight Woman to her [[Closer to Earth|less sane]] husband Randy. And in general, kids are often the Straight Boys and Girls [[Adults Are Useless|to the town's idiot adults]], though at times the Mayor will do this too (despite at other times being an [[Authority in Name Only]] or be just as stupid as them).

*** The premise of the entire show basically boils down to the idea that all kids are straight men to adults: they stand on the sidelines and comment with bewilderment on the insanity that is the adult world.

* On ''[[Invader Zim]]'', [[Villain Protagonist|Zim]]'s insanity is usually contrasted to [[Hero Antagonist|Dib]], though his base's supercomputer or even ''[[Cloudcuckoolander|GIR]]'' can play this role in a pinch. In general, though, everyone will play this to everyone else at some time or another, because they're ''all'' at least slightly insane.

** When Dib needs to be the [[You Have to Believe Me|insane one]] when trying to warn everyone about Zim, his sister Gaz provides the foil.

* [[Jimmy Two-Shoes]] is usually this to the other characters, acting fairly normal ([[The Pollyanna|for him]]) so that [[The Hedonist|Beezy]], [[Enfant Terrible|Heloise]], or [[The Caligula|Lucius]] can play off of him.

* [[Classic Disney Shorts]] have a trio composed of two comedic characters, the [[The Chew Toy|unlucky]] and [[Hair-Trigger Temper|irritable]] [[Donald Duck]], and the clumsy and sometimes stupid [[Goofy]]... and the everyman [[Mickey Mouse]].

** Much like his ''[[Looney Tunes]]'' predecessor, Hamton Pig in ''[[Tiny Toon Adventures]]'' often plays this role, often, again, to Daffy's counterpart Plucky, though one notable plot played ''Plucky'' as suffering straight man to ''Hamton'''s ridiculously nuclear family.

* The cast of [[Phineas and Ferb]] is ridiculously wacky, to the point that even more sensible characters tend to become weirder as the seasons progress. The most sensible and dead-pan of all of them is probably Perry. That's right; the green secret agent platypus is this show's straight man.