Science Fair Project Encyclopedia
Straight man
A straight man is a role in a comedy double act where a performer works with a comedian by setting up the situations or feeding the lines that allow their partner to make a joke. This usually occurs in the setting of a comedy team.
A woman who plays such a role might wryly be termed a "straight man", but other terms, such as "comic foil" would be more common.
Famous straight men:
- Bud Abbott - straight man to Lou Costello
- Desi Arnaz - straight man to Lucille Ball
- Joey Bishop - straight man to The Rat Pack
- Bob the Tomato - straight veggie to Larry the Cucumber
- Sonny Bono - straight man to Cher
- George Burns - straight man to Gracie Allen (early in their comedy career, these roles were reversed)
- Tommy Cannon - Straight man to Bobby Ball
- Pam Dawber - comic foil to Robin Williams in Mork & Mindy
- Margaret Dumont - comic foil of The Marx Brothers, especially Groucho
- Zeppo Marx - straight man in The Marx Brothers
- Larry Fine - straight man in The Three Stooges
- Syd Little - straight man to Eddie Large
- Dean Martin - straight man to Jerry Lewis
- Dudley Moore - arguably straight man to Peter Cook
- Frank Shuster - straight man to Johnny Wayne
- Dick Smothers - straight man to his brother, Tom Smothers
- Ernie Wise - generally regarded as a straight man to Eric Morecambe
10-26-2009 08:16:03
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details
The contents of this article is licensed from www.wikipedia.org under the GNU Free Documentation License. Click here to see the transparent copy and copyright details


