The comedy team has for ages been for a revered show-business relationship. The team usually featured two or more diverse personalities; a straight man (or woman) and a jokester who humorlessly scrutinized the subject at hand. The team might be friends, family, or fellow workers. Teams performed as part of stage entertainment, movies, and TV situation comedies; all these genres allowed for each team member to display their diverse and, at times, combative relationships. This presentation will feature lecture and video clips from teams like Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, the Marx Brothers, Martin and Lewis, Stiller and Meara, and the Smothers Brothers. They made us laugh using their diverse personalities which became familiar to the audience. Their subject matter ranged from silly slapstick to highly political.

This course will be presented in a lecture format.