The man-child is inseparable from his bicycle, which stands as an emblem of boyhood freedom.
Jacques Tati expressed the emblematic value of the bicycle in his 1949 comedy feature
Jour de Fete (
Big Day). Tati's prized bicycle was a 1911 Peugeot model.
Tati stuck to bicycle transportation when he changed to his "Monsieur Hulot" persona.
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| Tati in Jour de Fete |
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| Tatit in Mon Oncle (1958) |
Later, elements of Tati's
Big Day could be found in
Pee Wee's Big Adventure (1985). . .
and
Mr. Bean's Holiday (2007).
British music hall Harry Champion liked to clown around on a bicycle.
Another music hall comedian, Edmund Payne, was known to be a bicycle enthusiast.
Comedians will sometimes obtain laughs with a small bicycle.
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| Phil Baker |
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| Jack Lipson and Eddie Nelson in Stop and Go (1928) |
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| Joan Davis |
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| Louis Nye |
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| Lupe Vélez |
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| Simon Pegg |
But a comedian can also obtain laughs with a big bicycle.
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| Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy |
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| Pegg, again |
Buster Keaton saw great value in handlebars.
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| Keaton and Sybil Seely |
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| Keaton and Cliff Edwards |
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| Keaton and Ann Blyth |
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| Keaton and Ford West in Sherlock Jr. (1924) |
Keaton found his way around on a bicycle on other occasions.
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| Keaton in Our Hospitality (1923) |
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| Keaton in In the Good Old Summertime (1949) |
Jerry Lewis' "Kid" persona favored a bicycle as his means of transportation.
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| Jerry Lewis in Cinderfella (1960) |
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| Jerry Lewis in The Errand Boy (1961) |
The bicycle played an important role in Harry Langdon's misadventures in
Tramp, Tramp, Tramp (1926) and
Long Pants (1927).
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| Harry Langdon in Long Pants (1927) |
Let us now look at other comedians on bicycles.
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| Jim Carrey in Dumb & Dumber (1994) |
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| Carrey and Jeff Daniels in Dumb & Dumber (1994) |
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| Arthur Lowe in The Rise and Rise of Michael Rimmer (1970) |
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| Avery Schreiber |
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| Bert Wheeler and Robert Woolsey |
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| Bill Murray |
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| Murray, again |
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| Bob Hope |
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| Hope and children |
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| Charley Chase |
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| Danny Kaye |
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| Dick Van Dyke |
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| El Brendel |
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| Eric Idle as a beleaguered bicyclist in European Vacation (1985) |
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| Fannie Brice, Gracie Allen and George Burns |
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| Fred MacMurray in The Absent-Minded Professor (1961) |
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| Gene Wilder in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) |
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| George Burns and Gracie Allen |
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| Harold Lloyd |
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| Harvey Lembeck and Tom Ewell in Back At The Front (1952) |
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| Jack Benny |
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| Benny, again |
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| Joe E. Brown |
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| Brown, again |
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| John C. Reilly and Will Ferrell in Step Brothers (2008) |
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| Kenneth Williams and Hattie Jacques |
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| Lou Costello and wife Anne |
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| Martha Raye |
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| Michael Palin |
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| Olsen and Johnson |
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| Sid Caesar |
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| Steve Carell |
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| Carell in The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005) |
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| The Three Stooges |
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| The Three Stooges, again |
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| Tom Hanks in Big (1988) |
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| W. C. Fields |
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| Fields and bathing beauties |
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| Fields and Baby LeRoy |
Read more about the comic man-child in
I Won't Grow Up!: The Comic Man-Child in Film from 1901 to the Present.
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