straight man
Noun
Meaning
(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.
Synonyms: setup man, stooge, second banana
For many years Bud Abbott served brilliantly as Lou Costello's deadpan straight man.
Used other than figuratively or idiomatically: see straight, man; for example, a heterosexual man.
the committee consisted of two lesbians and a straight man
Synonyms
Antonyms
Show all antonymsHypernyms
Related terms
Examples
All men are homosexual, some turn straight. It must be very odd to be a straight man because your sexuality is hopelessly defensive. It's like an ideal of racial purity.
A lot of comedies are based on the reaction shot. You have one person doing something stupid and one person is generally the straight man, and the laughs generally come on the reaction of the straight man to the funny thing the other person has done.
A gay man can be friends with a straight man. That can happen.
In my planet, fashion, I'm the only straight man.
(In answer to the question ‘Were you at all scared of Chris Ryan?') I wasn't scared of Chris Ryan although I was a little bit put off by his white jeans. As a straight man that's been in the SAS I found that surprising and it did throw me a little bit..
Religion theme aside, most of the time I'm in some sort of comedy and I'm a straight man and it's really just, let's wind this guy up and see him explode.