From New York magazine’s Vulture blog comes this list of the top 15 buddy pairs in pop culture history. Their rules were a little strict: buddies must be of equal stature, so no hero-sidekick pairs (sorry, Batman and Robin); they must be platonic; and they must stand on their own, not as part of a larger ensemble (though that would seem to invalidate pair No. 2, Frodo and Sam. As I recall, they had a little help along the way to Mount Doom.) No. 1 pair, natch, is Newman and Redford’s Butch and Sundance, who pretty much invented the modern buddy dynamic as we know it. But what of pre-modern buddies? Where are Laurel and Hardy (pictured), who’d be my top choice? Or Abbott and Costello, or Hope and Crosby? More recently: how about Beavis and Butt-head, Ren and Stimpy, Wallace and Gromit, Hall and Oates, Patsy and Edina, Bill and Ted, the Coreys, or Mary-Kate and Ashley? C’mon, PopWatchers, Vulture needs your help, whether they know it or not.
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Comments (1-30) of 59 Add your comment
Yayyy! I’m so glad to see Thelma and Louise on that list!
Pullo and Vorenus from Rome. Granted there is a larger ensemble, but the heart of the series was always the dynamic between these two men and their fierce loyalty to one another. I could always forgive the fact that they were murdering people left and right because in the end, they were often doing it to protect the other.
How could you do a list like this and leave out C-3PO and R2-D2?
Yes, I was trying to think of “grown up” buddies and Vorenus and Pullo are perfect examples! On the kiddie side, Timon and Pumbaa of the “Lion King” work very well. I was also happy to see Laverne and Shirley make the list.
Amen to C-3PO and R2-D2.
Jim West and Artemus Gordon.
Alan Shore (James Spader) and Denny Crane (the Shat), Boston Legal
I setup a caption for the laurel and hardy photo about What’s really going on in the photo:
clevercaption.com/1129.html
Well, since KJ already stated my first choice, I’ll have to go with Seth Bullock and Sol Star from DEADWOOD. They perfectly balanced each other out.
Doctors House and Wilson. There is a great balancing act going on it that relationship. Monk and Natalie. The Doctor(Who that is) and Rose, sorry Martha it just isn’t the same. And from my favorite guilty pleasure, Stacey and Clinton of What Not to Wear. They match each other snark for snark.
How about Marty McFly and Doc Brown?
House and Wilson! Yes!
Lucy and Ethel? Hello??? How did they not make the list?
I’d also go for Pedro and Napolean from Napolean Dynamite. Also, how about Cona O’Brien and Andy Richter? And it doens’t get much better than Pinky and the Brain.
Jack and Meg White, Duh?
Also Scharpling and Wurster the most inventive comedy team of the last half century or so.
How about JD and Turk from Scrubs? Their guy love is a beautiful thing to behold!
Jack Black and Kyle Gass in Tenacious D
Not happy with that list at all. I second Abbot and Costello, Crosby and Hope, Laurel and Hardy, R2D2 and 3PO, Lucy and Ethel…I can’t believe none of them are on there. Also, Blackadder and Baldrick.
WHAT ABOUT MERIDITH AND CHRISTINA ON GREY’S?
I second the nominations for JD and Turk and add Seth and Ryan from that fabulous county down in southern California!
Paul Rudd and Seth Rogen… in 40 YO Virgin and Knocked Up… and the real life dynamic that comes across in interviews
Arthur Dent and Ford Prefect From The Hitchikers Guide to The Galaxy-BBC and Book versions.
Dawn French and Jennifer Saunders aka: Patsy and Adina- Absolutely Fabulous
Hugh Laurie and Stephen Fry
Peter Cook and Dudley Moore
Ren and Stimpy
Bevis and Butthead
Jane Lane and Daria Morgendorffer
Bart Simpson and Milhouse Van Houht
Big Bird and Mr. Snuffelupagus
Cheri O’Teri and Will Ferell aka: The Spartan Cheerleaders
Paris and Nicole, anyone?????
My vote’s for Nero Wolfe & Archie Goodwin – I can’t think of a pair of detectives written previously who were as dependent on each other as these two. Since they were created, though, there’s been plenty (Starsky & Hutch, Simon & Simon, Crockett & Tubbs, Mulder & Scully…different pair dynamics but all equally dependent on each other).
Cageny and Lacey, Bruce Willis and Cybil Shepheard on Moonlighting, and Cybil Shepheard and Christine Buranski on Cybil
Stephen Fry and Hugh Laurie of “A Bit of Fry and Laurie”, “Jeeves and Wooster” and “Blackadder”? British comedy geniuses.
Ricky Gervais and Stephen Merchant? Couldn’t really have either of The Office-s without them.
Fred and George Weasley? Come on. Twins. Best Friends. Prank geniuses and overall AMAZING characters.
Matt Damon and Ben Affleck? Granted Matt’s ok on his own, but when they’re paired together whether writing or acting, they’re amazing.
Siskel/Ropert and Ebert?
Bonnie and Clyde? (Greaaaaat movie.)
Jim and Pam (conspiring against Dwight, etc etc etc).
That really was a terrible list.
Mulder and Scully?
Bones and Booth from “Bones”? Hello. Sexual tension, crime fighting, skeleton identifying? I think yes.
Definitely missing are John Steed and Mrs. Peel. He rarely resorted to violence and an umbrella was his only weapon. She was a karate-chopping mama in sleek catsuits that are still envied by the Daniel Radcliffes of the world.
Steed had partners before her and after her, but she was the unforgettable one!
Michael Jackson and Bubbles
Will and Grace
I agree with Jakeem about Steed and Emma Peel. She was as equal to her partner as a woman could have been on television in 1965.
FRODO AND SAM? PLATONIC?!??