At its core, humor comes from two parallel and seemingly contrasting ideas inching closer to each other until they eventually intersect. Take the world's most famous anti-joke, "why did the chicken cross the road," for example. When your brain hears the setup, you anticipate a punchline as you interpret the question as a joke. When the punchline is revealed to be a mundane answer, you discover the "joke" was actually an anecdote the whole time. The similarities and contrasts between a joke and an anecdote are the two parallel ideas that intersect at the punchline.
This concept of opposing ideas and perspectives being the catalyst for comedy is why the double act is a fundamental form of comedic performance. Both comedians in the act personify an array of parallel ideas that routinely overlap to create riotous laughter. Although there are a ton of great double acts in comedy history, Martin and Lewis are hands down one of the most successful practitioners of the form.
On July 25, 1946, Martin and Lewis took the stage at Atlantic City's Club 500 to create one of the most celebrated unions in comedy history.
