In the realm of the Laurel and Hardy mystique, perhaps the most difficult question to answer is: why are they so loved and revered all over the world? The reason it is so difficult is that most comedians or comic teams are enormously popular in some cultures while they are reviled or simply misunderstood in others. But, for Stan and Ollie, the appeal is universal. One need only look to the internet to see web sites from incredibly diverse populations.

At first we can look at the pablum fed to us by publicists about how likeable these guys are, how their child-like personas appeal to our inner child, how we can¹t help but laugh at all their vaudeville antics etc. etc. But that begs the question: why do we, and all those others, laugh? Some of those ideas may not fit all the cultures that year after year return to these two brilliant comedians and laugh themselves silly. I have a thesis that may or may not answer this question: all of us relate to these two IQ challenged individuals.

 At first you might balk at this concept. Me? Relate to those bunglers? Spain, The Netherlands, Germany, Japan, Mexico, relate to a person who uses his thumb to light a pipe; to a person who cannot address a woman without twiddling his tie? Relate to the pratfalls, the illogical logic that they use to promulgate doomed schemes? Come on! But wait, let me explain.

 We can¹t imagine ourselves doing any of those inexplicably dumb things that The Boys do - but we do. We have all tripped, if not over a suitcase getting onto a train, then over words we tried to use but were unable to. We have gone on at length to explain, in intricate detail, the unquestionable logic of some idea we have cooked up, some heretofore unanswerable question about the universe to a child, some reason why we botched some easy task. And we wind up sounding exactly like Stan telling Ollie why they should start their own fish business, only the SECOND time around when syntax, order, and logic departed like the boat they worked on. We have all become as tongue tied and embarrassed as Ollie in approaching the opposite sex, especially when we remember the awkward adolescent years we would all like to forget.

 So we, universally, recognize ourselves in Stan and Ollie and the wondrous thing is, they don¹t make us look foolish, they make us laugh at them, and ourselves in turn. We don¹t feel embarrassed, because they don¹t. They make us feel human. They do not dwell on the disastrous results of their ineptitude, they simply sigh and go on. They reveal our weaknesses but give us hope that we can do better. And ultimately that makes us love them. They reveal all that we are but that revelation is never as bad as we thought it would be.

And they do it like no others. They always forgive each other in the end. They treasure the universal brotherhood of all men and women. The Marx Brothers, wonderful and brilliant though they are, give us the very mixed blessing of cynicism; there isn¹t a cynical bone in Stan and Ollie¹s bodies. Abbott and Costello do not have the kind of universal trust and friendship that The Boys do; Stan and Babe would never, ever, try to cheat one another and there is never any meanness about their banter.

 And so we view them as the people we really are, faults, and all. We are forgiven for our transgressions, we are transported to a simple world where we can all "Go Down to Dixie" (oh for some possum and yams ­ and some fish and chips!), we can leave and come back again and find ourselves in the company of friends who cannot wait to please us, who understand us, who know all about us, and still forgive us and remain our friends.

 That¹s why everyone, all over the world, loves Stan and Ollie.

Copyright ©: Thomas J. Shea, 2002. Used by Special Permission.