double act

plural double acts · alternative double-act

1. A comic pairing in which humor is derived from the uneven relationship between two partners, usually of the same gender, age, ethnic origin and profession, but often with drastically different personalities or behavior, maybe with a stooge or straight man.

   Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are a double act engaged to spy on Hamlet, with the result that he has "at each ear a hearer."

   2008, “Introduction”, in Jonathan Bate, Eric Rasmussen, editors, Hamlet, Modern Library Edition, page vii

   2 more examples

   It appears clear from Stan's Joe Rock films, where he is very much in control of his material, that he had no intention of becoming part of a double act.

   2002, Simon Louvish, Stan and Ollie, the Roots of Comedy: The Double Life of Laurel and Hardy, page 173

   Messrs Barker and Corbett were now seen as a pair. They were never a double act, never totally reliant on one another in the traditional sense of a double act, the kind that television loved so much.

   2005, Bob McCabe, The Authorised Biography of Ronnie Barker, page 110

2. Two objects, senses, people, etc working as one.

   City manager Pep Guardiola raised eyebrows before kick-off by keeping his main double act Kevin de Bruyne and Erling Haaland on the bench, but it was an accurate reflection of this Foden masterclass that they were not missed for a moment in a superb 4-1 win.

   2024 April 3, Phil McNulty, “Man City 4-1 Aston Villa: Phil Foden produces 'masterclass' to show worth again”, in BBC