Olsen and Johnson
| Olsen and Johnson | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Medium | Stand-up, television, film, vaudville, radio |
| Nationality | American |
| Genres | Slapstick, musical comedy |
John Sigvard "Ole" Olsen and Harold Ogden "Chic" Johnson were American comedians of vaudeville, radio, the Broadway stage, motion pictures and television. Their shows were noted for their crazy blackout gags and orchestrated mayhem ("anything can happen, and it probably will"). Their most famous concept, Hellzapoppin', has become show-business shorthand for freewheeling, anything-goes comedy; it enjoyed a lengthy run on Broadway and spawned a movie version.
Ole Olsen and Chic Johnson began as musical entertainers: Olsen played the violin and Johnson played ragtime piano. They met in 1914, when Olsen hired Johnson to replace the pianist in his College Four quartet. Ole and Chic hit it off immediately and joined forces for a vaudeville act. No joke was too old, no song too corny for Ole and Chic, and the two engaging comics became a minor sensation in the Midwest. Radio enlarged their audience and led to appearances in early talkie movies for Warner Bros. and two more minor features for Republic Pictures. The movies of the 1930s were much too confining for Olsen and Johnson's special brand of nut humor. Ole and Chic recited their lines and played off each other well, but their scripts were too formal, leaving the team little room for their nonsensical comedy. During the Summer of 1932, they were featured each week on NBC's (radio) Red Networks' Fleischmann's Yeast Hour. Based on surviving samples, Rudy Vallee did not interact with them on-air. The intense and fast paced segments were titled "The Padded Cell of the Air". 1932 being a Presidential Election year they nominate Mickey Mouse for President. The "Padded Cell..." segments are clearly a predecessor of Hellzapoppin'.
Comedy teams traditionally had a straight man and a stooge. However, Olsen and Johnson both took on the comic role, goodnaturedly chuckling their way through the steady barrage of gunshots, explosions, props plummeting to earth, intrusions from other performers and input from the audience.
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