whatever happened to comedy teams?

Like Wayne and Shuster, Smothers Brothers, Rowan and Martin, Roger and Roger, Stella and Meara, Burns and Schreiber, Abbott and Costello. Not to mention the larger teams like Three Stooges and Marx Brothers. There's so much more that can be done with two or more people bouncing jokes off one another.

Today it's every man for himself. Kinda boring and isolating if you ask me.
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True that, shaggie... I love that classic comedy - you just don't see it any more, it was some funny stuff!

 

You're right the comedy teams have gone the way of the Do Do bird.

At least Carrot Top has somewhat kept up the tradition of the old comedy teams by using props as the straight man.


Hotwater

 

Ventriloquists are extinct too. That takes way too much work.

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these days its will & grace, darma & greg or cow and chicken-but yeah couples are dieng out. perhaps because people are becoming more individualistic so the tv shows are adapting to the audience.i remember watching the old batman series. it was cool to watch batman and robin splitting each others tasks. however what was really cool was when one of them was captured and only one would have to play the hero. I remember this one episode were robin was robin, but batman was just bruce wayn.

 

None of the Batman remakes have had Robin in them, as far as I know.

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That’s right, the Batman animated series only has batman in it and not Robin.

 

maybe the current one
the 90s series had both

but Robin just isn't that great of a character, especially for movies

and how come you didn't mention Martin & Lewis?? you suck


Ben Stiller and Owen Wilson def. had a comedy duo thing goin on
same with Favereau and Vaughn
lotsa comedians still prefer working with certain people, just look at the whoel "frat pack"
Owen Wilson, Luek Wilson, Ben Stiller, Vince Vaughn, Will Ferrell, Steve Carell

or the tough crowd/comedy central comedians
even the blue collar guys

you just don't think of these groups as often, because they haven't hit the same legendary status as those of the past

 

Martin and Lewis were great too.

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I don't know about anyone else, but I find nothing funny about Ben Stiller or Owen Wilson or both of them together. Someone here mentioned them, which made me think of that.


Anyway, shaggie, I completely agree. I haven't been seeing too many decent comedians around, which is a shame. They could at least play the old reruns if they aren't going to have anything decent on that is new. To get any of these older shows, I have to buy them on DVD. It is utter B.S. Those shows should still be airing as reruns. They are classic! Sure, DVDs are great for collectors, but what about those who cannot afford to pay $50 per box set? Half of the shows I don't even see on DVD. I did see a "Three Stooges" marathon the other day, but I forget what channel it was on. My father and I watched it together. It reminded me of when they'd play reruns when I was little, and he and I would sit together and watch them .

 

The two I liked from the 90s were Dana Carvey and Phil Hartman. Those two weren't a duo, but together in a sketch they were a power house. The sketch about Admiral Stockdale and Ross Perot in the car on a joy ride in the country was a classic.

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Nationally known female comedians seem to be fairly rare too compared with males. Female comedy teams are almost unheard of. Roseanne Barr and Phillis Diller were widely known soloists but there doesn't seem to be many of their stature.

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You're right, the days of the clown & straight man seem to be over. Now everyone's a solo act.

But shaggie, there are some good ventriloquists out there. Check them out sometime on Comedy Central.

 

I must have missed the ventriloquists. I watch comedy central but not a lot.

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Yeah. Except maybe for the White House right now.

There was a good sketch that comedian Frank Caliendo did on MadTV a while back. It was a late night comedy talk show sketch hosted by none other than Bush and Cheney (Caliendo as Bush and someone else as Cheney). Good stuff. Probably on Youtube somewhere.

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There's still good impersonators around. Check out these two:

http://s154.photobucket.com/albums/s274/34richard/other/?action=view&current=bushnite.flv

http://s154.photobucket.com/albums/s274/34richard/other/?action=view&current=bushop.flv

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How about one of my favorite teams..."Say goodnight Gracie", "Goodnight Gracie"..

 

Not the mention Rowan and Martin.

"Rowan and Martin?"

I told you not to mention Rowan and Martin!!!

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well theres Bush and Blair now to keep us laughing

 

I can see someone like Bush tagging along behind Cheney, but Blair tagging behind Bush is pitiful.

I get this image in my mind of a comedy sketch where Blair is a big parrot standing on Bush's shoulder and repeating everything he says, included all the broken english.

Politics is where all the good humor is anyway. You don't even have to write this stuff anymore. Just play the news clips. Not too surprising that people like Stewart have surfaced in recent years.

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