Vitriolic Best Buds/Radio

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


Examples of Vitriolic Best Buds in Radio include:

  • McGee and Doc Gamble have this type of relationship on Fibber McGee and Molly.
    • McGee and Throckmorton P. Gildersleeve are like this earlier in the series.
    • As are Gildy and Judge Hooker on The Great Gildersleeve.
  • The Jack Benny Program was based on this. Particularly with Phil Harris and to a lesser degree, Mary Livingstone. Jack's whole show was other people taking pot shots at him.
    • Jack Benny became this with Fred Allen, in an attempt to boost Fred's popularity. It worked very well.
  • Frosty Stilwell and Frank Kramer of the Frosty, Heidi, and Frank show have been friends for over 20 years. Not that you'd know it from the way they talk to each other. They've been friends with their co-host Heidi Hamilton for half that time, and are just as snarky with her. But she's far from being the show's Butt Monkey, and gives as good as she gets.
  • Connie Kendall and Eugene Meltsner from Adventures in Odyssey are arguably this (accent on argue):

Hank Murray: Boy, you two were made for each other!
Eugene Meltsner: We're just friends, actually.
Connie Kendall: Barely.

  • Ed Reardon and Jaz Milvane of Ed Reardon's Week. Milvane's fame as a film director really took off when he made a film out of Ed Reardon's first (and only) successful novel, without giving him any of the credit, and Ed still resents him deeply for this. They never pass up a chance to snipe at each other professionally and personally, but they've known each other for ages and play weekly music gigs together, and the only being Ed is on closer terms with is perhaps his cat.