1648: Famous Duos

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Famous Duos

Title text: The Romeo and Butt-Head film actually got two thumbs up from Siskel and Oates.

Explanation

This explanation may be incomplete or incorrect: Needs to be expanded; Needs more for the main explanation and more info on what the combos would mean to people compared to the originals. It would be great if the cycles below was updated to fit with the table, so Thelma and Louise was 1 in both (and all the other numbers in the cycles thus also increased by one.) More wiki link in the first table. If you can address this issue, please edit the page! Thanks.

In popular culture (the term is loosely used in this case) there are many famous duos, such as Calvin & Hobbes (six-year-old boy and his toy tiger, from the cartoon strip with the same name) or David & Goliath (future King of Israel and giant, from the Book of Samuel, Old Testament). In this table, Randall describes a fictional parallel universe where the same names are used in different combinations -- instead of Calvin, it is now Thelma (from the movie Thelma & Louise) who is paired up with Hobbes, and Calvin is instead paired of with the King, from Anna and the King. In all cases the one mentioned first on the list is also mentioned first in our universe, so it is always of the form Calvin and the King, never Calvin and Anna. There are 24 duos, and all 48 partners are mentioned (they go through four cycles).

The humor of this comic comes from the ridiculousness of the pairings, and the reader's imagination of the stories that are created with the pairs. See the whole list of real duos as well as the list of alternative duos below.

In the title text, alternative movie Romeo and Butt-Head is mentioned, the fifth entry on the list. This is a combination of the famous Shakespeare play "Romeo and Juliet", which was filmed (among other times) as Romeo + Juliet in 1996 with Leonardo DiCaprio and Claire Danes in the leading roles. Butt-Head is the less stupid one in the duo from the animated TV series Beavis and Butt-Head (and a film). As Romeo and Juliet is one of the best known love stories and Butt-Head is one of the most disgusting teens ever depicted on the big screen, the combination could create disturbing pictures in people's heads (especially of teenage girls).

In the alternative universe this movie has been released, and here it gets the best possible review of two thumbs up from Siskel and Oates. Gene Siskel was paired with Roger Ebert, when they reviewed movies as the famous duo Siskel and Ebert. They were widely known for the "thumbs up/thumbs down" review summaries, with their best combined review being Two Thumbs Up.

In the alternative universe Siskel gives the film a (surprising) thumbs up, but Ebert has been replaced with Oates, who also approves of the film. This is a reference to John Oates of Hall & Oates, an American musical duo from Philadelphia.

There also exists a comedy duo named Garfunkel and Oates, formed by Riki Lindhome and Kate Micucci, who chose the "Garfunkel and Oates" name by combining the second names from Hall & Oates and Simon and Garfunkel (who are both mentioned in the main comic). Although this exact combo would not be possible in the xkcd version, as it takes the second names from two duos rather than the first name from one and the second name from another, there may definitely be a deliberate reference to this group as well which has taken the parallel universe idea into our universe.

List of real duos

• See the list of alternative duos below.

Famous duos in this universe

Name	pairing	Partner	Explanation	Name index	Partner index
Thelma	and	Louise	Thelma & Louise is a famous road trip film.	1	3
When Harry	Met	Sally	When Harry Met Sally... is a romantic comedy film	2	16
Batman	and	Robin	Batman and Robin are comic book characters. There have been several films including one called Batman & Robin.	3	4
Antony	and	Cleopatra	Antony and Cleopatra are historical figures who had an afair and three children together after the death of Julius Caesar up to Anthony's death 30 BC.	4	12
Romeo	and	Juliet	Romeo and Juliet are characters from Shakespeare's famous romantic tragedy.	5	24
Bonnie	and	Clyde	Bonnie and Clyde are historical criminals, well known from the film.	6	7
Pinky	and	the Brain	Pinky and the Brain is a TV show.	7	20
Simon	and	Garfunkel	Simon & Garfunkel is a very famous musical duo. (See also explanation for the title text).	8	22
Beauty	and	the Beast	Beauty and the Beast are fairy tale characters today best known from the Disney film.	9	10
Beavis	and	Butt-head	Beavis and Butt-Head is an animateted TV series from MTV.	10	5
Rocky	and	Bullwinkle	Known from the The Rocky and Bullwinkle Show on TV.	11	2
Abbott	and	Costello	Abbott and Costello is a famous comedy duo.	12	17
Dr. Jekyll	and	Mr. Hyde	Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde is a well known book, that has been adapted into several films.	13	15
Samson	and	Delilah	Samson and Delilah are Biblical characters.	14	11
Butch Cassidy	and	the Sundance Kid	They are historical criminals made famous by the film Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid.	15	23
Bill	and	Ted’s Excellent Adventure and Bogus Journey	Bill & Ted are characters from the two films Bill & Ted's Excellent Adventure and Bill & Ted's Bogus Journey. The two titlesare spread out on the two new pairings.	16	6
David	and	Goliath	Biblical characters best known from small David's defat of Goliath in the story David and Goliath.	17	8
Sherlock Holmes	and	Dr. Watson	Characters from Arthur Conan Doyle famous books which have been made into numerous films and TV series.	18	19
Jay	and	Silent Bob	Jay and Silent Bob is a strange duo from View Askew's univiverse first seen in Clerks but they now have their own movie Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. The director of these movies, Kevin Smith plays Silent Bob.	19	18
Anna	and	the King	Recently made famous by the film Anna and the King, based on the book Anna and the King of Siam.	20	21
Calvin	and	Hobbes	Calvin and Hobbes is a famius comic series.	21	1
Timon	and	Pumbaa	Timon and Pumbaa are characters from The Lion King film and they now also have their own film and TV series.	22	14
Mary Kate	and	Ashley Olsen	Known as Olsen twins these twin actresses has beenon TV since they were infants and began starring together in TV, film, and video projects, which enabled them to join the ranks of the wealthiest women in the entertainment industry at a young age. They have previously been the pun of the joke in 362: Blade Runner.	23	13
Mario	and	Luigi	Mario Bros. is a very famous video game where Mario and his brother Luigi are the main characters. They have been referenced in several xkcd comics for instance 151: Mario or the entire category that references the Mario Kart game series.	24	9

List of alternative duos

• See the list of real duos above.

Famous Duos in a nearby parallel universe

Duo name	Explanation
Thelma and Hobbes
When Harry met Bullwinkle
Batman and Louise	This dous name comes rather close to the real duo Clark Kent and Lois Lane especially since the film Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice was set for relase three weeks after the relese of this comic in February 2016.
Antony and Robin
Romeo and Butthead	It would be quite a different story if either Butt-head shoild replace Juliete or if Romeo should replace Beavis...
Bonnie and Ted's excellent adventure
Pinky and Clyde	Pinky and Clyde are the names of the pink and orange Pacman ghosts in real life.
Simon and Goliath	Goliath begins with G as Garfunkel. Simon was the shorter of the duo thus fitting as David vs. Goliath.
Beauty and Luigi
Beavis and the Beast	Beavis starts with the same three letters as Beauty, just like Beast does.
Rocky and Delilah
Abbot and Cleopatra	Abbot starts with an A as does Anthony
Dr. Jekyll and Ashley Olsen	Dr. Jekyll is the same as Mr. Hyde just like twins are (almost) the same persons. There are only three switches in this cycle. Butch Cassidy takes Mr. Hyde and the other Olson twin takes The Sundance Kid. This means that both twins are paired with a man instead of as in real life with a woman.
Samson and Pumbaa	Samson has several letters in common with Timon but Samson is a hughe man where Timon is a ver small animal compared to the other main characters in The Lion King film.
Butch Cassidy and Mr. Hyde	See above explanation for Dr. Jekyll and Ashley Olsen.
Bill and Sally's Bogus Journey
David and Costello
Sherlock Holmes and Silent Bob	This is the only case of a direct switch between two duos. Dr. Watson usually listen to the musings of Sherkock Holmes and Silent Bob is, as his name indicates, mainly silent. Jay talks all the time
Jay and Dr. Watson	See explanation above for their respective real univere partners (the only case of a direct switch between two duos).
Anna and the Brain	The Brain desires to take over the world; the King is ruler of his domain.
Calvin and the King	Although it is Calvin's fantasy that decides what happens, it is Hobbes that behaves like the King in their relationship at least when it comes to displaying physical strength to determine who decides.
Timon and Garfunkel	Timon is put together with Garfunkel, which makes it a close match to Simon and Garfunkel.
Mary-Kate and the Sundance Kid	See above explanation for Dr. Jekyll and Ashley Olsen.
Mario and Juliet	Mario would have no issue with balconies. His name has some similarities with Romeo.

Cycles

There are four cycles. The longest starts with "Thelma" and ends with "Louise" as follows:

• First cycle: length 15

   Thelma & Louise
   Calvin & Hobbes
   Anna   & the King
   Pinky  & the Brain
   Bonnie & Clyde
   Bill   & Ted
   Harry  & Sally
   Rocky  & Bullwinkle
   Samson & Delilah
   Timon  & Pumbaa
   Simon  & Garfunkel
   David  & Goliath
   Abbot  & Costello
   Antony & Cleopatra
   Batman & Robin

This means, it starts with "Thelma", paired with "Hobbes" diagonally down, from "Hobbes" to "Calvin", who is paired with "the King" and so on, until "Batman" is paired with "Louise", completing the cycle.

• Second cycle: length 4

   Romeo  & Juliet
   Beavis & Butthead
   Beauty & the Beast
   Mario  & Luigi

• Third cycle: length 3

   Dr. Jekyll    & Mr. Hyde
   Mary-Kate     & Ashley Olsen
   Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid

• Fourth cycle: length 2

   Sherlock Holmes & Dr. Watson
   Jay             & Silent Bob

Assigning an index starting with 0 (= Thelma & Louise) to 23 (= Mario & Luigi), they can be written as:

   (0, 20, 19, 6, 5, 15, 1, 10, 13, 21, 7, 16, 11, 3, 2)
   (4, 9, 8, 23)
   (12, 22, 14) 
   (17, 18)

Transcript

[Caption above the panel:]

Famous Duos in a nearby parallel universe

[A list with 24 duos with a gray “and" between the two names (in one case it is a “met") and three times there is a gray word before (once) or after (twice) the names. The list is centered with the “and" in the middle disregarding the length of the names on each side:]

Thelma	and	Hobbes
When Harry	met	Bullwinkle
Batman	and	Louise
Antony	and	Robin
Romeo	and	Butthead
Bonnie	and	Ted's excellent adventure
Pinky	and	Clyde
Simon	and	Goliath
Beauty	and	Luigi
Beavis	and	the Beast
Rocky	and	Delilah
Abbot	and	Cleopatra
Dr. Jekyll	and	Ashley Olsen
Samson	and	Pumbaa
Butch Cassidy	and	Mr. Hyde
Bill	and	Sally's Bogus Journey
David	and	Costello
Sherlock Holmes	and	Silent Bob
Jay	and	Dr. Watson
Anna	and	the Brain
Calvin	and	the King
Timon	and	Garfunkel
Mary-Kate	and	the Sundance Kid
Mario	and	Juliet

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Discussion

No rhyme nor reason to these pairings?

It appears the pairings are completely random. I was looking for some deeper meaning to them but it seems this is one of those comics to be taken entirely at face value. 108.162.216.12 14:18, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

Aren't "Pinky and Clyde" also the names of the pink and orange Pacman ghosts? 108.162.216.36 11:48, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

Yes, this is true. Are there any other sensible pairings? 173.245.54.35 17:10, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

I noticed an interesting pun with "Timon and Garfunkel" in that "Timon" is the same as "Simon" just with a different first letter. And "Mario" rhymes with "Romeo" 141.101.70.61 20:25, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

I added this to the explanation. Mikemk (talk) 05:45, 27 February 2016 (UTC)

There seems to be many sensible pairings... --Kynde (talk) 16:19, 28 February 2016 (UTC)

You've already posted the correct pairs, but of course I wanted to draw them with lines, nursery school style:

http://i.imgur.com/tWTJAYC.gif

108.162.228.143 15:33, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

Possible inspiration

Possible inspiration: the comedy music duo calling themselves Garfunkel and Oates 108.162.216.48 15:45, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

Yes, that was my first thought as well. Never heard of Hall. 108.162.219.5 16:08, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

If you're from the U.S. and over 35, you probably should have. Hall & Oates are the best-selling musical duo of all time. Fryhole (talk) 20:47, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

"Never heard of Hall", this statement saddens me greatly, LOL! It's up there with Kanye fans thinking he discovered Paul McCartney. :) Wow. I myself had barely heard of Garfunkel & Oates until I looked up and watched their show, they're the obscure ones here. I, however, agree that they probably inspired this comic, or at least contributed. - NiceGuy1 198.41.235.191 00:54, 27 February 2016 (UTC)

I was thinking of (Captains) Scott and Oates , I must admit, but then I'm British. (Needs more emphasis... "...but then I'm British!!" That's better. We do love our glorious failures, at least our historic ones.) 162.158.152.95 10:22, 29 February 2016 (UTC)

As currently described, the cycles thing does not make any sense to me. The order seems wrong. For example, the way the first cycle makes sense is to start with Thelma and Louise, Batman and Robin; and end with Anna and the King,Calvin and Hobbes. That way you've arrived back at the top and would only repeat if you continued. Can anyone justify the current order? Trlkly (talk) 19:01, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

Yeah, you can do it that way and will arrive at the same cycle lengths, each cycle just backwards. The way I did it was to go from "Thelma" to "Hobbes", then go to "Calvin" because that's who "Hobbes" belongs to, then go from "Calvin" to "The King" and so on. If the first name is the order of couples, then the second name basically just tells you the index where to jump next, that's usually how permutations are written. Your way considers the second names to be in the right order and uses the first as an index to jump to next. I also doubt it's an important part of the meaning, but I was curious how long the cycles would be. or (talk) 19:38, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

The rating system for "At the Movies", at least during Siskel and Ebert's term, was that each reviewer would give a thumbs up or thumbs down. "Two thumbs up" referred to the aggregate rating when both reviewers liked the film. The explanation said that Siskel gave Romeo and Butthead two thumbs up, which wouldn't make sense if we assume that the show's rules were the same. Fryhole (talk) 20:47, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

Haven't there been some similar comics? I cannot remember which... The style reminds of 1625: Substitutions 2 and 1288: Substitutions. But they are not like this in theme. --Kynde (talk) 23:08, 26 February 2016 (UTC)

I thought it was interesting how there's only one "Bill" and one "Ted", but both their movies are represented, I thought it indicated that there was some mismatch, like an incomplete pair somewhere... But sorting it out, I realize now that's it's only that "Bill" got one complete title, "Ted" the other. Oh well. Usually view these on my iPad, I needed a computer to truly analyze. Turns out I nerd-sniped myself, LOL! - NiceGuy1 198.41.235.191 00:47, 27 February 2016 (UTC)

Seems to me that Harry/Sally are outliers here. Every other pair is exclusively, or by far most commonly, known by the same regular pairing format of "A&B," but Harry/Sally are not most often named as a duo, as 'Harry & Sally,' but through the movie's title, "When Harry Met Sally." When I saw 'Sally' in my first read-through, I instantly wondered "Who's the X in 'X & Sally?" (Having already managed to forget 'When Harry Met' above.) The only 'A&B format' pairing which I could casually dredge up with a 'Sally' was "Sally Rand And Her Magic Fan," a risqué 1930's-40's burlesque performance in which a seemingly near-nude Ms. Rand held & used large ostrich feather fans as strategic cover, thereby teasing the audience. However, in that instance not only was Sally's A&B 'partner' an inanimate object (& thus not quite a "duo"), Sally was the pair's 'A,' while the comic's pattern requires her to be the second, 'B' name. Miamiclay (talk) 18:09, 27 February 2016 (UTC)

"Mario and Joliet" is the title of an episode of The Super Mario Bros. Super Show that retells Shakespeare's play Romeo and Juliet. --Tepples (talk) 02:30, 1 March 2016 (UTC)