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6 Unlikely Or Perhaps Mismatched Comedy Duos

The comedic “double act” is a concept that has been around for at least a century, first gaining popularity in the vaudeville halls at the turn of the last century, and continuing to be implemented through the comedy generations right up to the present. It’s a ploy often used on the presumption that two opposing forces, when forced to collide, can in the best cases result in explosive, uproarious comedy. We’ve seen the likes of comedy duos Laurel and Hardy, Abbott and Costello, Brooks and Reiner, and Wilder and Pryor team up to produce memorable acts and classic movies. The gimmick has spilled over the borders of pure comedy to inform a genre specific to the medium of film in the years since—that of the buddy cop genre.

5) Blades of Glory

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Blades of Glory

Will Ferrell’s other big maybe-not-all-that-great-but-still-pretty-damn-funny-at-times pairing came in 2007’s Blades of Glory, where he shared the screen and the ice with Napoleon Dynamite star Jon Heder. I think this is a movie that gets better with age, and with a greater appreciation for co-stars like Amy Poehler and Will Arnett, a formidable comedy duo in their own right. Heder was received as essentially reprising the same notes he hit as Napoleon, except perhaps with a bit more sexual ambiguity rather than the defiant asexuality of Mr. Dynamite. Mostly he just antagonizes Ferrell’s character, which he does relatively well. He’s not quite John C. Reilly, but who is.

For better or for worse, this was another Will Ferrell show, depending on the audience’s reception of his antics, and whether his shtick was landing or not. There aren’t many who can go toe to toe with Ferrell, so anyone who teams up with him is wise to be comfortable as more of a supporting player, allowing him to play and take up as much of the screen as he wants. Finding him a capable partner has been relatively rare, and so Heder does a decent job.

It will be interesting to see if Ferrell decides to team up with anyone, like Reilly again, or perhaps with Kristen Wiig, with whom he delivered perhaps the single greatest Golden Globe Awards presentation ever. It shouldn’t be that hard to top Blades of Glory. Although if no one else did, Kanye West seemed to really like it.