Favourite Duos #7 - David Lister and Arnold Rimmer (Red Dwarf)

One of the classic odd couples in comedy, from one of my favourite TV shows of all time.

David Lister is a Third-Class Technician aboard the mining ship Red Dwarf. He's lazy, unkempt, and lacks ambition, but is still a moral individual and quite mechanically inclined. He shares his quarters with Second Technician Arnold Rimmer, his immediate superior who contrasts him in every way: While Lister has talent but no ambition, Rimmer is eager to advance his career but is too incompetent to have any hope. While Lister is laid back, Rimmer is neurotic and petty (not to mention egotistical). While Lister is prone to displaying strong moral courage, Rimmer is a dirty coward. Or to use the show's dialect, a smeghead.

After Lister survives the radiation leak which kills the rest of the crew, Rimmer is brought back as a hologram to keep him sane. And because of his ego, he tries to assert his (minimal) authority by claiming to be captain on the grounds that he is technically the highest-ranking crew member aboard the ship. Since Lister does not respect his authority, this goes about as well as you'd expect.

I think the first two seasons highlight this dynamic the best. Kryten hadn't joined the crew yet, and Cat wasn't really involved in the stories at this point. The best example from this series is in "Balance of Power", in which Rimmer confiscates the ship's entire supply of cigarettes and rations them to coerce Lister into working for him. Lister tries to get around this by taking a chef's exam; it's the easiest exam around, and if he passes, he'll technically out-rank Rimmer. The episode also establishes their relationship when Lister asks Holly about his decision to bring back Rimmer. Holly claims that Rimmer was the person he knew best because they exchanged a total of 14 million words. Lister's response: "7 million of those were me telling him to smeg off, and the other 7 million were him putting me on report for telling him to smeg off."

That said, there are some moments when Lister does genuinely care for Rimmer if the latter's depressed, showing that their relationship isn't entirely antagonistic. Rimmer is also surprisingly egalitarian and open-minded when it comes to conflicting beliefs.

The isolation of the show accentuates this greatly, providing some true comedic gold.