The 25 best comedy duos

The 25 best comedy duos

Comedy partnerships have been a a part of film, theatre and television life for more than a century. As the original stage version of The Odd Couple celebrates its 50th anniversary, we pick the 25 best funny comic pairs, including the stars of the Neil Simon 1968 film version, Walter Mattheu and Jack Lemmon. You may not agree with the final list – and you certainly won’t find Ant and Dec, Hale and Pace or Little and Large here. One dog was enough, too, so there was no room for Wallace and Gromit. Let the double fun begin . . .

1.Most of the comedy duos in the gallery are men but a good example of a female pair who are top notch funsters is the stars of TV Broad City ABBI JACOBSON AND ILANA GLAZER. They created Broad City as an internet series in 2009, after studying improv at the Upright Citizens Brigade. Amy Poehler brought them to Comedy Central, where Broad City became an instant sensation in 2014. In January 2015, Comedy Central said Broad City, the tale of two young women in their mid-twenties, living in New York and struggling with bad jobs and humiliating love lives, had been renewed for a third season.

 

2.SIMON PEGG and NICK FROST are best known as a pair for their three films known as the Cornetto trilogy. Shaun of the Dead (2004) was a homage to zombie flicks; Hot Fuzz (2007, pictured above) was a satirical buddy cop film; The World’s End (2013) is sci-fi invasion in the style of Day of the Triffids. Pegg and Frost exude a jolly camaraderie and their banter works well:

“I haven’t had a drink for 16 years”
“You must be thirsty then.”

Pegg and Frost are close friends off screen and also appeared in the comedy film Paul, as well as doing voiceovers for the animated film The Boxtrolls. Pegg said in 2014: “We made three films together in 10 years and hopefully in the next decade, we’ll make another three.”

3.Barack Obama is regularly lampooned on KEY & PEELE, a Comedy Central smash hit that stars Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele. President Obama says he loves the show and has asked to meet the former cast members of MADtv. Key & Peele are a good example of modern socially aware comedy. In a recent New Yorker profile, author Zadie Smith praised their “brutally funny” comedy.

4.The BBC show The Two Ronnies (RONNIE BARKER and RONNIE CORBETT) ran from 1971 to 1987. Barker, who died in 2005 at the age of 76, was the better comedian and a good character actor but the pair worked well together, even allowing for Corbett’s dull monologues. The Ronnies opened and closed each episode with the pair sitting at a news desk. This gave rise to their famous catchphrase at the end:

Corbett: “So it’s ‘Goodnight’ from me.”

Barker: “And it’s ‘Goodnight’ from him.”

One of their regular sketches long-running sketches, The Phantom Raspberry Blower of Old London Town, was written by Spike Milligan. David Nobbs (The Fall and Rise of Reginald Perrin), John Cleese (Monty Python), and David Renwick (One Foot in the Grave) also wrote for The Two Ronnies.

5.In their solo careers, Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders have taken different paths. French won three British Comedy awards for the rather twee Vicar of Dibley while Saunders won an Emmy Award and international acclaim for writing and playing the lead role of Edina Monsoon in Absolutely Fabulous. Together, they made 47 episodes of FRENCH AND SAUNDERS from 1987-2007 and toured the show live. They also appeared together in Comic Strip shows. Among their best characters were Junior and Emma, public school girls who have been abandoned by their parents, the drunken Fat Women Aristocrats, and Jim & Jim – Dirty Old Men. Jim & Jim were two fat lechers who sexually harass women. There were lots of good spoofs in French and Saunders (everything from Ingmar Bergman to Star Wars) and some edgy humour. In one sketch, when the pair are discussing Princess Diana, French’s character says of the public swooning over Diana: “Retarded people lick her face”.

6.KATHY BURKE AND HARRY ENFIELD are two of Britain’s finest character sketch comedians. Perhaps their best joint couple are Kevin the teenager and Perry the pubescent (Burke is very funny as a teenage boy) but I have a soft spot for Wayne and Waynetta Slob. Burke said: “I didn’t really get them at first – I thought they were a bit patronising. Then, when we put the costumes on I got it: they were cartoons with catchphrases.” Among the catchphraes were Waynetta’s “I’m avving a faaag”, as she slobs around and smokes. Enfield based them on a couple with a similar lifestyle who lived in the flat below his in his younger days. Wayne and Waynetta name one child Frogmella (because “it’s exotic”) and another Spudulika, after Waynetta’s favourite restaurant, Spud U Like. A third child, which Waynetta calls Canoe (supposedly named after Keanu Reeves), is born after an affair Wayne supposedly had with model Naomi Campbell.

7.VIC REEVES AND BOB MORTIMER started working together in 1990 on madcap variety performance Vic Reeves’ Big Night Out, before creating sketch shows The Smell of Reeves and Mortimer and Bang Bang. They have also created a sitcom called House of Fools. In March 2015, they delighted fans by announcing that their ridiculous character sketches, including lovelorn crooner duo Mulligan and O’Hare and men-children Davey and Donald Stott, will be celebrating their 25 years work with a nationwide tour entitled The Poignant Moments.

8.MEL BROOKS AND CARL REINER met on Sid Caesar’s Your Show Of Shows and are best known as a partnership for their comedy The 2000 Year Old Man, created in 1961. Brooks played the oldest man in the world, being interviewed by Reiner. When asked about Joan of Arc, Brooks says: “Know her? I went with her, dummy, I went with her!” They released five albums, one of which won a Grammy award. It had started as a novelty act: Reiner would entertain friends at parties by pretending to interview a character he’d suddenly suggest to Brooks, who would immediately adopt the persona – a guy at a coffee shop, a film director, the world’s old Jewish man. In additional to their work together, Brooks had a long and successful career as a filmmaker and Reiner created the landmark CBS sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show, as well as writing and directing such comedy film favourites as Steve Martin’s The Jerk. Brooks, who directed Young Frankenstein and The Producers, said: “I think the real engine behind The 2000 Year Old Man is Carl, not me. I’m just collecting the fares. But he’s the guy that creates the subjects, the questions, and creates a kind of buoyant, effervescent, terribly naïve character.”

9.ABBOTT AND COSTELLO (William ‘Bud’ Abbott and Lou Costello) were New Jersey boys who worked in vaudeville and on stage, radio, film and television. They made 36 films between 1941 and 1956; many of which were box office hits. Their classic sketch Who’s on First? which involves Abbott identifying baseball players by their ridiculous names; and Costello thinking that Abbott is refusing to answer, has gone down in comedy history. Sadly, when Abbott, a lifelong epileptic, died in 1974 at the age of 78 he was a broken and defeated man, having sold most of his assets to settle income tax claims by the IRS.

10.BOB HOPE AND BING CROSBY worked together for the first time in 1932 at the Capitol Theatre in New York. Crosby was already a big recording star and Hope was asked to emcee a show. They larked about onstage and enjoyed it. Eight years later, having met again, they embarked on a screen partnership that resulted in seven iconic movies: Road to Singapore (1940), Road to Zanzibar (1941), Road to Morocco (1942), Road to Utopia (1946), Road to Rio (1947), Road to Bali (1952) and The Road to Hong Kong (1962). They were not close off screen. Crosby is best known as the singer behind White Christmas.

11.Joseph Levitch and Dino Paul Crocetti and are better known as JERRY LEWIS AND DEAN MARTIN and they had a remarkably successful partnership together for a decade (1946-1956). Martin would sing and tell jokes and Lewis would clown around behind his back. They played all the big American clubs, made 16 films together and were the first comedy comedy duo to break in national TV, co-hosting a variety show called The Colgate Comedy Hour for five years. Martin, who died in 1965, went on to great fame as part of the Rat Pack and released a distinguished catalogue of great music. Alas, the Martin-Lewis partnership went sour. The final straw came when Look gave Martin and Lewis a cover photograph and cropped Martin out of the picture. Martin angrily told his partner that he was “nothing to me but a f—–g dollar sign.”

12.Little Britain had its fans and detractors but MATT LUCAS AND DAVID WALLIAMS created some memorable characters: Vicky Pollard, the feckless teen mother played by Lucas, who swapped her baby for a Westlife CD; Daffyd, “the only gay in the village”; Marjorie Dawes, the leader of Fat Fighters, and their silliest pair, wheelchair-bound faker Andy Pipkin and his kind but exploited helper Lou Todd (above). Both had catchphrases (“want that one” and “Don’t like it” for Andy; “what a kerfuffle!” for Lou). The pair also made the less successful airport-based sketch show Come Fly With Me but since 2013 have gone their separate ways workwise. Walliams spends a lot of time writing children’s fiction and Lucas has his own TV panel gameshow. In March 2015, Walliams was filming a special sketch for Comic Relief with theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking starring alongside Walliams, who will reprise his role as the bumbling Lou.

13.Edging out Wallace and Gromit for the comedy dog partnership is FRASIER AND EDDIE. Frasier, one of the greatest TV comedies of all time, starred Kelsey Grammer. Although his ego battles with brother Niles are terrific, one of the features of the show was his long-running feud with Eddie, a feisty Jack Russell terrier. During the height of Frasier’s popularity, Eddie received more fan mail than any of his human counterparts. Frasier and Eddie have staring contests (the dog always wins) and Frasier says once: “Dad? I thought we had an agreement. Eddie doesn’t roll around on my sofa and I don’t throw him in front of a bus.”

14.Whether it’s making funny and risqué jokes as hosts of major ceremonies, or starring in comedy sketches and film, AMY POEHLER AND TINA FEY are one of the funniest comedy duos around and were regulars on Saturday Night Live. Poehler, the co-writer and star of the brilliant Parks and Recreation TV series, will play Fey’s sibling in the upcoming film Sisters, a comedy directed by Jason Moore. They have previously starred together in Mean Girls and Baby Mama.

15.Rather like the novels of PG Wodehouse, there was lots of clever comedy about the class system in Dad’s Army, and nothing better than the logue between Captain George Mainwaring and Sergeant Arthur Wilson, played superbly by ARTHUR LOWE AND JOHN LE MESURIER. Although Mainwaring had the more elevated job – he was the manager of Swallow’s Bank in Walmington-on-Sea’ and the Sergeant was his assistant – in terms of class, Wilson has the upper hand. In one episode, Wilson becomes The Honourable Arthur Wilson after his uncle dies. Mainwaring, who went to grammar school, expresses contempt about Wilson’s fancy ways but is insecure and envious about their social differences, especially Wilson’s education at Meadowbridge Public School. In one piece of classic dialogue, it comes to the fore:

Mainwaring: “You both went to public schools, didn’t you?”
Wilson: “You know, I can’t help feeling, Sir, you’ve got a little bit of a chip on your shoulder about that.”
Mainwaring: “There’s no chip on my shoulder, Wilson. I’ll tell you what there is on my shoulder, though: three pips, and don’t you forget it.”

Later in 2015, a new Dad’s Army film will be released with Toby Jones as Mainwaring and Bill Nighy as Wilson.

16.RICHARD PRYOR AND GENE WILDER starred in the films Silver Streak, Stir Crazy (above) and See No Evil, Hear No Evil. A fourth film, Another You, was abandoned because of Pryor’s drug problems. The pair had a great on-screen chemistry; asked how he kept a straight face during slapstick comedy scenes in which Pryor would ad-lib funny dialogue, Wilder said, “I wouldn’t want to have ruined the scenes.” Wilder, of course, was part of another great comedy double act in the Mel Brooks film The Producers. The interplay between Wilder and Zero Mostel (as Max Bialystock) was superb.

17.Fawlty Towers remains one of the UK’s finest comedies, largely thanks to the interplay between BASIL AND MANUEL. Basil is the splenetic hotelier played by John Cleese, and Manuel is a Chaplin-esque waiter from Barcelona played by Andrew Sachs. Manuel is subject to frequent physical attacks by the demented Basil (he was actually knocked out by him once when hit with a frying pan) but their comedy timing is flawless. Cleese, who co-wrote the series with then wife Connie Booth, said: “The key to Manuel, like the stuttering scene in A Fish Called Wanda, is that the guy is trying to get the information across. He is always eager, desperate to help, never difficult and stroppy, and then he screws up. I have always found people failing to communicate terribly funny. The joke is not that Manuel speaks bad English but that anyone would inflict him on the general public without training him properly. So what happened there was Andrew Sachs came along and did a wonderful thing with it. If you meet Andrew you would call him almost retiring, very quiet, almost academic, studiously polite. Then suddenly he clips on his moustache and something else in his personality just slips in.”

18.The Blues Brothers – JOHN BELUSHI AND DAN AYKROYD – made their debut as characters on Saturday Night Live in 1978 and were turned into a brilliant film two years later directed by John Landis. Belushi died on March 5, 1982, of a drug overdose at the age of 33. Although they had one of the shortest partnerships of the duos in this gallery, it was also one of the most memorable. Thirty years on, Akyroyd said of the man he met while at working at Chicago’s Second City comedy club: “What John leaves behind is his legacy of laughter and fun.”

19.”What day is it?”
“It’s today,” squeaked Piglet.
“My favourite day,” said Pooh.

“Rabbit’s clever,” said Pooh thoughtfully.
“Yes,” said Piglet, “Rabbit’s clever.”
“And he has Brain.”
“Yes,” said Piglet, “Rabbit has Brain.”
There was a long silence.
“I suppose,” said Pooh, “that that’s why he never understands anything.”

Timeless deadpan comedy from WINNIE-THE-POOH AND PIGLET, the wonderful creations of author AA Milne.

20.ADE EDMONDSON AND RIK MAYALL met at Manchester University and became friends and comedy partners. Edmondson, who is married to Jennifer Saunders, said that their writing process consisted of going to the pub to “get p—-d, writing b——s”, and then trying again the following morning. Of course, he’s underselling the partnership that produced some of the most popular comedy programmes of the Eighties, including The Comic Strip Presents… and The Young Ones. In 1991, they teamed up again to write Bottom, which was a cult hit, spawning a stage show and a spin-off movie, Guest House Paradiso. Edmonson said of Mayall, who died in June 2014, that “I have never laughed as hard as I have writing with Rik.”

21.MORECAMBE AND WISE ruled the TV airwaves in the Seventies. John Eric Bartholomew was the funny one and Ernie Wise the perfect example of a straight man. Morecambe first met comedian Ernie Wise (then Ernest Wiseman) in 1940. His standing joke was “More tea, Ern?” Morecambe’s catchphrase was: “What do you think of it so far?” – which was always followed by the audience response: “Rubbish!”

22.JACK LEMMON AND WALTER MATTHAU appeared in 10 films together, ranging from the excellent – The Front Page – to duds such as Grumpier Old Men. They showed how well they worked together in the 1971 film Kotch, the only movie that Lemmon ever directed; Matthau was nominated for the Best Actor Oscar for his performance. Additionally, Lemmon and Matthau had small parts in Oliver Stone’s 1991 film, JFK (the only film in which both appeared without sharing screen time). The highlight of their film career together, though, was the 1968 Neil Simon comedy The Odd Couple. Among the splendid dialogue is the following exchange:

Ocar Madison (Matthau): “Wait a minute, you’re not going anywhere until you take it back!”
Felix Ungar: “Take what back?”
Oscar Madison: “‘Let it be on your head.'” What the hell is that, the Curse of the Cat People?”

Lemmon, of course, would also have merited inclusion in the list for his work with Tony Curtis in the film Some Like it Hot.

23.PETER COOK AND DUDLEY MOORE were a good example of opposite personalities working as a duo: middle class against working class; deadpan against buffoonery; tall against short. They got together in Beyond The Fringe, when they were introduced by jazz musician John Bassett, and between 1973 and 1978, Derek (Moore) and Clive recorded three albums of unscripted comedy dialogue that were not only breathtakingly obscene but also strangely insightful and incredibly funny. They were a major force in establishing a completely new comedy era and their film Derek and Clive Get the Horn influenced the alternative comedians of the Eighties. The pair were also popular in America – they hosted Saturday Night Live and won Tony and Grammy Awards – but split when Moore stayed in the US to pursue his acting ambitions. If you like offbeat and anarchic comedy, you’ll like Derek and Clive . . . “So I said, ‘Alright, you non-stop dancer. Start dancing.'”

24.Jerry Seinfeld’s neurotic friend George Costanza was partly based on the show’s co-creator Larry David. JERRY SEINFELD AND JASON ALEXANDER were brilliant together in the series that ran for 180 episodes between 1989 and 1998 and won three Golden Globes, 10 Emmys and six Screen Actors Guild Awards. George has numerous psychological problems, including: narcissism, habitual lying, low self-esteem, sudden fits of anger, hypochondriasis, being a cheapskate, selfishness, obsessiveness and living in a fantasy world (he regularly pretends to be an architect to date women and impress employers). Seinfeld watches on with amusement. Here’s one of their many classic exchanges:

George Costanza: “Jerry, what gives you pleasure?”
Jerry: “Listening to you. I come in here, I listen to you, I feel better. Your misery is my pleasure.”

Larry David, incidentally, went on to make the excellent Curb Your Enthusiasm and had some great comedy double-act banter with his agent, Jeff, played by Jeff Garlin.

25.Writer Kurt Vonnegut once said that his favourite comedians were LAUREL AND HARDY. “I used to laugh my head off at Laurel and Hardy,” said the author of Slaughterhouse-Five. “There is terrible tragedy there somehow. These men are too sweet to survive in this world and are in terrible danger all the time. They could so easily be killed.” What survives of the comedians – American Hardy died in 1957 and English-born Laurel died in 1965 – is 107 films released between 1921 and 1951. Their catchphrase was: “Well, here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into!” and their mixture of slapstick, wordplay and utterly charming comedy makes them the greatest comedy duo of all time. The Music Box, which depicts the pair’s hapless attempts to move a piano up a large flight of steps, won the first Academy Award for Live Action Short Film (Comedy) in 1932. “Those two fellows we played,” Oliver Hardy told an interviewer, “they were nice, very nice people. They never got anywhere because they were so very dumb, only they didn’t know they were dumb.” Their influence lives on in The Simpsons. Homer’s repeated use of the word “D’oh” was inspired by Jimmy Finlayson, the mustachioed Scottish actor who appeared in 33 Laurel and Hardy films. Above all, Laurel and Hardy (above, in Saps at Sea) are wonderfully, upliftingly, silly:

Ollie: “Call me a cab.”
Stan: “You’re a cab.”

(Another Fine Mess, 1930)

• Incidentally, the famous catch phrase of Laurel and Hardy is often misquoted as “Well, here’s another fine mess you’ve gotten us into” , the actual quote is “Well, here’s another nice mess you’ve gotten me into” (Laurel and Hardy website). The film was called Another Fine Mess