Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy

bumbling clownish slapstick

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy form a classic American comedy duo known for slapstick mishaps and bumbling antics that shorthand logistical chaos. In the inauguration limousine, Abbey blames the missing ceremonial Bible on 'Laurel and Hardy,' linking their comedic incompetence to the delay. Bartlet rejects the direct cause but labels them clowns whose unexpected wisdom fits the crisis, deploying the reference to deflate tension and frame the error as serendipitous amid ceremony.

2 appearances

Also known as: Laurel and Hardy

Stan Laurel …'s Journey

A timeline through the narrative

2 moments

S4E15 · Inauguration Part II: Over There

Too Cold for a Parade / The Missing Bible

N/A (referenced) — their invocation invites laughter and deflation of tension.

Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy are invoked by Abbey (and referenced by Bartlet) as a comic shorthand for bumbling mishaps that have affected the inauguration logistics; they are not present …

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S4E15 · Inauguration Part II: Over There

Missing Bible, Quick Fix

Referenced symbolically; no internal emotional state in-scene.

Invoked by Bartlet and Abbey earlier as a comic reference to bungling competence; functions here as shorthand for light, deflating humor that frames procedural mistakes as human folly.

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