I want to like Laurel and Hardy. I really do. My Dad does. I’m not sure if that matters or what Freud would think of that, but Laurel and Hardy’s simple homespun interactions and slapstick isn’t my cup of tea. While I’m more of a Marx Brothers fan, I still wanted to like Stan & Ollie, but mostly I wanted insights into their comic genius.
How did two Vaudeville comedians thrown together gel so well? Why did they manage to transition so successfully from silent films to talkies when few others did? What was it about their comedy that particularly resonated with audiences of the time? Admittedly I could check out Wikipedia and YouTube to find out (and admittedly I did), so to say that Stan & Ollie left me wanting more is not a bad thing. I imagine their audiences felt much the same way but for completely different reasons.
