straight man
noun/ˈstɹeɪtˌmæn/ · /ˌstɹeɪt ˈmæn/
1
Idiomatic 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.
- 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.2010, Caroline Graham, A Ghost in the Machine, Hachette UK, →ISBN:
1 more example
- She was the straight man, he was the comedian, and their audience was “standing room only” when they stepped up to the microphone.1982 April, Pam Hait, “Sandra Day O’Connor: Warm, Witty and Wise”, in The Ladies' Home Journal, volume 99, page 46:
2
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see straight, man; for example, a heterosexual man.
- The committee consisted of two lesbians and a straight man.
- Related terms
- straight face, deadpan, feed, funnyman, second banana, top banana