Felix is not the straight man because he’s faux gay. And Oscar’s sloppiness is far more pathological, and pathogenetic, than anything wrong w Felix. And because most guys wd sooner hang w Oscar than Felix is irrelevant to their status as a comedy team.

Your final conclusion is not based in fact. I am far more like Oscar than Felix, but my affinity, or yours, has zero to do with what a straight man is.

??? This begs the question: Where did you grow up, Cosmo, in a gay community?

Using that rationale, there are clearly more Felixes than Oscars.

Gray: you admit that Klugman gets the laughs. That’s two strikes.

Also, Oscar/Klugman, clearly gets into more slapsticky situations than Felix. That’s three for three.

The comedy mostly stems from Felix’s exasperations over Oscar’s uncouthness, sloppiness, lack of manners, bad taste, etc. that is classic straight man stuff; despite what that manifestly flawed entry says.

And, as a final comparison, if one were to compare the personalities of Felix and Oscar, Felix clearly lines up with the Abbotts, Crosbys, and Martins, as the suaver, more sophisticated partner, whereas Oscar clearly is the outre partner, like Costello, Hope, Lewis, etc.

It simply is not even arguable as to which role is ioccupied by which character. Of course, in a given scene, Felix could be the cause of the laughter, as could Crosby or Abbott, but by and large, Oscar, and all funny men, are the laugh getters.

This is what makes L&H so uniqye, and prompted my opening q- cuz th elaughs are more evenly split with them than any other team, sabe Gleason-Carney; who incidentally portrayed Felix Unger onstage originally!

If you cannot even distinguish that the omission refers to one of the partners in the duo, and how it relates to the claim stated after, deciphering a straight and funny man is the leaast of your worries.

Oscar draws laughs because of his sloppiness, his interactions w other characters- Murray, Howard Cosell, etc. Look at the ep. w the football star Deacon Jones. Oscar is clearly the driving force for the show, and the laughs Felix gets are in reactions to Oscar- the most famous catch line in the series, in fact, is Felix’s ‘ Oh, Oscar, Oscar, Oscar!’ By every criteria, Klugman/Oscar is the funny man, even yours.

Were not doing research here, Cosmo, and wiki is great for checking what the general consensus on a certain topic is (of course, you have to check the ‘history’ page for recent signs of vandalism).

“Second, you selctively quote even from Wiki, leaving out the word often.”
‘Often one of them’ relates to the topic of the article, comedy duos. Omitting it doesn’t change anything of the meaning of the describtion of ’straight man’ and ‘odd man’.

“Go back to the stage and film versions, and Oscar is clearly the laugh-getter.”

Sure, but firstly, this isn’t about laugh-getters, but about who’s the staight man, and second, Klugman and Randall starred in the TV series, not in the movie (Mathau and Lemon, right?) or in the stage version.

“every TOC fan I’ve met has told me that it is Oscar-Klugman, who makes them laugh the most. ”

Agreed. And why? Because Oscar’s reaction on the weird ideas of Felix are the really funny part.

Nice point.
Yah, Krugman would definitely fit the normal guy more than Randall, who played the obsessively neat, vaguely gay character. Hmmm, sort of like the Seinfeld character like that.

“I really can’t see how someone can see this the other way round.”

So, Gray, does this mean you’re the funny man?

Cosmoetica…I can see why you reference the Stooges – “Moe” being your middle name after all. Nyuk, nyuk, nyuk…

Speaking of the Stooges…
I have often wondered why Stooge humor is so gendered? I have never known a woman to respond to the Three Stooges with other than a blank stare.

What? Dan seems to be under a gross misunderstanding of the term ’straight man’! According to wiki, “the straight man is portrayed as reasonable and serious, and the other one, the funny man or stooge, is portrayed as funny, unintelligent, or simply unorthodox”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comic_foil

So, Krugman obviously is the straight man, exhibiting a normal, maybe somewhat exaggerated male behaviour, while Randall with his extreme cleanliness and imaginary illnesses is the odd part. Regarding Stand and Ollie, Stan is the odd guy who regularly has strange ideas or does outrageous things. Ollie’s role is to react on Stan’s actions like any reasonable, albeit short fused guy would do. I really can’t see how someone can see this the other way round.

Is the comic tension between these two figures always marked by power, with the funny man knocked about invariably by the straight man?

Yet, it is often the funny man that people identify with? In other circumstances, one would expect people to want to identify with the empowered one rather than the powerless, woudn’t one?

I think, for example, of Seinfeld where the tendency seems to be for people to want to identify with the successful stud Jerry than with the schlep George. Or is this an example of how comedy standards have changed over time, and people no longer want to identify with the put-upon funny man?

I suppose the issues raised here have been discussed at length in books on comedy. I had just never considered them before.

A thought provoking review.