Which slapstick comedian are you most closely connected to?

+22 votes
2.3k views

This week we're featuring slapstick comedians in the Connection Finder, starting with Stan Laurel from Laurel & Hardy, who was born this week (16 June) in 1890.

Featured alongside him are other slapstick comedians:

Are you more closely connected to Laurel or Hardy? 

Overall, who are you most closely connected to? If you're one of the 22,678,000 of us who are connected to each other on our big tree you can check with the Connection Finder.

You can check for shared ancestors with the Relationship Finder. Are you a cousin to any of them? Your Relationship Finder Quick Links page (see your profile pull-down menu under "Relationships") has quick links for several notable groups.

Let us know below! If you want to share your connection on social media with cousins and friends, click the "get shareable image" below the results, e.g. Frida Kahlo and Georgia O'Keeffe. Then just upload it along with the URL of your direct connection. (Please refrain from sharing your connection on the featured profiles, though. It clutters conversations on research and collaboration. Thanks!)

P.S. Help us choose and improve profiles for next week's feature: Race Drivers!

WikiTree profile: Stan Laurel
in The Tree House by Eowyn Walker G2G Astronaut (2.4m points)
edited by Eowyn Walker
I am disappointed that 8 out of the 10 are American.
Yeah, please don't judge too harshly this week. Abby is out and I'm helping with this on top of all my other stuff. I only had limited time to review everything and was also trying to get more females in there. Sorry! I'm sure when Abby is back it'll be better again.

Not criticising your work on this. You did a great job.  Just expressing my personal disappointment that you missed the Aussie: Graham Kennedy, and the Frenchman: Louis Germain David de Funès.

So I'm adding them here!  cheeky

(Oliver Hardy wasn't needed with Laurel as the focus!!)

It was great to see THREE women included! yes

Oops! It looks like Moe is no longer connected. frown Larry also seems to have lost his connection.

Quick, quick --- stick in Louis Germain David de Funès!

Huh, how about that.

29 Answers

+10 votes
Lucy, at 18 degrees, 20th cousins, 3 times removed.
by Mark Weinheimer G2G Astronaut (1.2m points)
Oops, I missed Buster, 17 degrees, 13th cousins, uncertain.
+12 votes
I am most closely connected to Buster Keaton at 26 degrees.
by Samantha Thomson G2G6 Pilot (252k points)
+12 votes

29 degrees from Stan Laurel21 degrees from Oliver Hardy25 degrees from Harpo Marx36 degrees from Benny Hill23 degrees from Lucille Ball23 degrees from Gale Henry23 degrees from Charlie Chaplin22 degrees from Buster Keaton29 degrees from Joan Davis

Oliver Hardy is the closest.

In the 1980s, I watched old shows of Benny Hill and Lucille Ball. The only one that was from my paternal side is Joan Davis (29 degrees). 

by Eileen Robinson G2G6 Pilot (198k points)
+10 votes
Buster Keaton, 11th cousin 3 times removed. That does not sound very close!
by Kristina Adams G2G6 Pilot (340k points)
+11 votes
26 degrees from Stan Laurel.

19 degrees from Oliver Hardy. 16th cousin thrice removed. MRCA Bartholomew Appleyard (abt 1335 - abt 1412).

22 degrees from Arthur (Harpo) Marx.

31 degrees from Alfred (Benny) Hill.

20 degrees from Lucille (Morton) Ball. 14th cousin thrice removed. MRCA Thomas Greville (abt 1450 - 1513).

16 degrees from Gale Henry.

18 degrees from Charlie Chaplin.

17 degrees from Buster Keaton. 12th cousin thrice removed. MRCA Richard (Field) Felde (abt 1500 - 1542).

26 degrees from Joan Davis.
by Frank Blankenship G2G6 Pilot (123k points)
edited by Frank Blankenship
35 degrees from Graham Kennedy.

37 degrees from Louis Germain David de Funes.
+10 votes
Lucille Ball is an 8th cousin 2x removed from my spouse - but that is because they both have French Canadian ancestry!!

She is also 19 degrees from him as well - and thus 20 degrees from me!!
by Robynne Lozier G2G Astronaut (1.2m points)
Almost as close. Lucille Ball is my 10th cousin 2x removed!
+13 votes

Jackpot!  I occasionally find a cousin on these lists, but today there are three.

  • Lucille Ball, 7th cousin twice removed
  • Buster Keaton, 9th cousin once removed
  • Oliver Hardy, 9th cousin three times removed
Lucy is also the closed connection at 17 degrees.

by Steve Ryan G2G6 Mach 7 (78.2k points)
How cool!

The same three are cousins to me!  

*Lucille Ball--8th cousins, twice removed 

*Buster Keaton--8th cousin, twice removed 

*Oliver Hardy--9th cousin, once removed

+10 votes
19 degrees from Buster Keaton (7th cousins, 4x removed)
19 degrees from Lucille Ball (10th cousins, 1x removed)
20 degrees from Oliver Hardy (9th cousins, 3x removed)
20 degrees from Arthur Marx
20 degrees from Gale Henry
20 degrees from Charlie Chaplin
21 degrees from Joan Davis
23 degrees from Stan Laurel
32 degrees from Benny Hill
34 degrees from Graham Kennedy
40 degrees from Louis de Funès
by Mike Wells G2G6 Pilot (131k points)
+10 votes
I'm only 15 degrees from Gale Henry! Growing up I was always called Lucille Ball and I hated it. I couldn't truthfully hate her, so I hated my name. Luckily I'm over it now and don't even cringe when called Lucille.
by Lucy Selvaggio-Diaz G2G6 Pilot (816k points)
+9 votes

19 degrees from Lucille Ball(through only one marriage)

19 degrees from Joan Davis 

21 degrees from Charlie Chaplin

21 degrees from Buster Keaton

22 degrees from Gale Henry (through my sister-in-law who has a blood relationship with Gale’s husband, going thru a little girl who was captured at Deerfield in 1704, taken to what is now Canada, and raised Quebecoise.)

23 degrees from Arthur Marx

24 degrees from Oliver Hardy

25 degrees from Stan Laurel

31 degrees from Benny Hill

34 degrees from Graham Kennedy

39 degrees from Louis de Funès(through Napoleon Bonaparte, of all surprising things!)

by Shirlea Smith G2G6 Pilot (279k points)
+8 votes

 I've got a few slapstick comedians in the family (and some I wish were in the family):

13 degrees from Buster Keaton; 5th cousins 2x removed through MRCA Samuel Barber

18 degrees from Lucille Ball; 8th cousins 1x removed through MRCA Thomas Flagg

20 degrees from Gale Henry; no relation

20 degrees from Harpo Marx; no relation

22 degrees from Oliver Hardy; 15th cousins through MRCA Thomas Boys

22 degrees from Charlie Chaplin; no relation

23 degrees from Stan Laurel; no relation

32 degrees from Graham Kennedy; no relation

33 degrees from Benny Hill; no relation

40 degrees from Louis de Funes; no relation

by Carol Baldwin G2G Astronaut (1.1m points)
+8 votes
I am 18 degrees from Lucille Ball and Gale Henry.

Lucy is also a cousin--8th cousins, twice removed;

Buster Keaton is also my 8th cousin, twice removed;

and Oliver Hardy is my 9th cousin, once removed.
by Cheryl Cruise G2G6 Pilot (184k points)
+7 votes
Closest this week is 13 degrees to Lucille Ball, love her, so was happy to learn we are 8th cousins twice removed in our Buckland branches!  Rest...25 degrees from Stan Laurel, 18 degrees from Oliver Hardy, 20 degrees from Harpo Marx, 34 degrees from Graham Kennedy, 38 degrees from Louis de Funès, 30 degrees from Benny Hill, 19 degrees from from Gale Henry, 19 degrees from Charlie Chaplin, 17 degrees from Buster Keaton, 25 degrees from Joan Davis.
by Loretta Morrison G2G6 Pilot (176k points)
+6 votes
22 to Keaton and 23 to Chaplin
by Laura Bozzay G2G6 Pilot (817k points)
+7 votes
Buster Keaton 7th cousin once removed

Oliver Hardy 13th cousin one removed

Lucille Ball 8th cousin once removed
by B. Best G2G3 (3.0k points)
+7 votes
17 degrees from Lucille Ball, Ball-3, 8th cousins, MRCA Thomas Eaton Sr, Eaton-121

19 degrees from Buster Keaton, Keaton-175, 9th cousins, MRCA Francis Parrat, Parrat-6

22 degrees from Oliver Hardy, Hardy-2617, 15th cousins once removed, MRCA Thomas Boys, Boys-33
by Mildred Wheeler G2G6 Mach 7 (77.2k points)
+6 votes
HOW About JACQUES TATI-!!! "Mr. Hulot's Holiday" & other films were so hysterically hilarious-he was a physical comedy Master! You didn't need to understand French --his movements explain it all! Wonderful GENIUS comedian!
by Anonymous Spencer G2G4 (5.0k points)
+4 votes

Let's see who I'm closest to this week: the winner is Gale Henry at 14 degrees! No clear blood relationship, but one that runs through multiple families and marriages and such. Interestingly enough, I am blood related cousins with Oliver Hardy, Lucille Ball, and Buster Keaton.

Scott is 22 degrees from Stan Laurel20 degrees from Oliver Hardy21 degrees from Harpo Marx37 degrees from Graham Kennedy38 degrees from Louis de Funès32 degrees from Benny Hill20 degrees from Lucille Ball14 degrees from Gale Henry19 degrees from Charlie Chaplin17 degrees from Buster Keaton24 degrees from Joan Davis

by Scott Fulkerson G2G Astronaut (1.5m points)
+6 votes
Buster Keaton 14 degrees... 5th cousin 3 times removed (Shirley family), and Lucille Ball 17 degrees... 7th cousin twice removed (Willis family)... and both are through my one same great-great-grandmother (Buster on her father's side, and Lucy on her mother's side)!  

To make it even better, I shared this news on facebook, and my 3rd cousin on that same side (who I met through Ancestry DNA) was very excited because her niece (also my relative on that side) is a HUGE Lucy fan, and today is the niece's birthday!
by K. Dixit G2G Crew (970 points)

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