Who's the funniest Marx brother?

[Arkham House]

You will note only three alternatives. One would have to be 100 to have seen Gummo, and while Zeppo always claimed he was as funny as any of the others, the evidence for this no longer exists, if it ever did...my vote goes to Groucho...

[Chan790]

1. Karl

:hide:

[Starbucks Anarchist]

2. Richard.

His music's hilarious. :D

[Crabby Appleton]

3. Karl nt

[theanarch]

4. Groucho was the most successful...

...Harpo was the most famous (or, at least, the most recognizable)...but Chico was the funniest (Groucho was actually Chico's straight-man).

[Orrex]

5. Good call

But IMO Zeppo is the master straight-man of the quartet. Particularly in Horsefeathers, his timing and delivery are superb.

Chico had the most painfully perfect puns, Harpo (obviously) was the prince of the sight-gag, and no one in the history of cinema can deliver non sequiturs like Groucho.

[theanarch]

6. highly recommended, if you can find it:

"Groucho, Harpo, Chico and sometimes Zeppo: a celebration of the Marx Brothers" by Joe Adamson, published by Simon and Schuster, 1973 (hardback) and their imprint (paperback) Pocket Books, 1976. And let's not forget the always forgotten Gummo...

[Arkham House]

7. Indeed...in one of the books on the team--

--I forget which one--the author quoted people who had seen them live in the 20s...and he said that Chico invariably was the most popular then...but I can't vote against the man who said, "I shot an elephant in my pajamas yesterday. How an elephant got into my pajamas I'll never know"...

[martymar64]

8. I like them all, but . . .

Whenever it was any of them against someone else (Margaret Dumont or others) any Marx brother would slay, but when it was Groucho v. Chico, Chico would always get the upper hand.

[Zomby Woof]

10. My favorite Groucho vs. Chico bit

The 'Sanity Clause' skit in "A Night At The Opera". :D

[martymar64]

11. My favorite bit overall

I got it! You're Abe Kibivel the fishmonger from Czechoslovakia!

[anarch]

9. Gummo

Well, probaby not really...but nobody ever thinks of Gummo. :(

[RedCloud]

12. Marxist Salvador Allende...

His Chilé sin carne humana really left its Marx!

[LanternWaste]

13. Well... Groucho.

Well... Groucho.

Here's to our wives and girlfriends...may they never meet!"

"Send two dozen roses to Room 424 and put 'Emily, I love you' on the back of the bill"

"Anyone who says he can see through women is missing a lot."

"A man is as young as the woman he feels."

"I've had a perfectly wonderful evening. But this wasn't it."

"Military justice is to justice what military music is to music."

"Remember men you are fighting for the ladies honor, which is probably more than she ever did."

"I never forget a face, but in your case I'll be glad to make an exception."

"I was married by a judge. I should have asked for a jury."

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it, misdiagnosing it and then misapplying the wrong remedies."