Stiller and Meara

Start with: their Ed Sullivan Show sketches (1963 to 1971) A husband-and-wife team who made marriage itself the material. Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara were among the first graduates of Chicago's Second City to become famous, and their sketches lampooned everything from marriage to everyday life with the two of them pulling in opposite directions, so the friction did the work a punchline usually does. Ed Sullivan was their home: after a debut on April 7, 1963, they came back 35 more times, one of the show's most frequent acts, appearing every year until its final season. Those short spots are the right size for a first taste, and fans of Seinfeld will hear where Frank Costanza's bluster came from.