Definition
A member (of any gender) of a team of comic performers who plays a supporting role by helping to set up jokes and punch lines through engaging in dialog with another comedian playing a more eccentric or otherwise more interesting character; a foil who plays such a role in theatrical comedy.
In Context
- "For many years Bud Abbott served brilliantly as Lou Costello's deadpan straight man."
- "Recently he had successfully concluded a case featuring a poet who wore only latex, lived on liquorice allsorts and worshipped a horse she believed to be the reincarnation of Radclyffe Hall. And she was the straight man."
- "She was the straight man, he was the comedian, and their audience was “standing room only” when they stepped up to the microphone."
Also Said As
- setup man
- stooge
- second banana