60 free Laurel and Hardy trivia questions with answers — entertainment quiz, new questions added Aug 2026.
Laurel and Hardy trivia rewards people who know the difference between a 'nice mess' and a 'fine mess'. The team made 107 films together across three decades, from a chance meeting in The Lucky Dog through the silent shorts at Hal Roach, the effortless move into talkies, the piano on the steps in The Music Box, the henpecked husbands of Sons of the Desert, the singing cowboys of Way Out West, the disappointing B-pictures at Fox and MGM, and one last sad French-Italian film called Atoll K. This quiz also covers the men behind the derbies: a theatrical child from Ulverston who understudied Chaplin for Fred Karno, and a Georgia moviehouse owner nicknamed 'Babe' by a barber in Jacksonville. It takes in Leo McCarey and the leg of lamb, Marvin Hatley's cuckoo tune, James Finlayson's 'D'oh!', the foreign-language remakes, the tit-for-tat fights, This Is Your Life, the 1953 tour when the church bells of Cobh rang their theme, the Sons of the Desert appreciation society, and Steve Coogan and John C. Reilly in Stan & Ollie. Easy questions suit anyone who has seen a clip; the expert tier is for people who know which 1927 short is completely lost. Every answer was checked against Wikipedia's article on Laurel and Hardy, and the supporting sentence is attached to each question.
30 of 60 questions with answers and explanations. Play the quiz
Q 01In which Lancashire town was Stan Laurel born in 1890?
Ulverston
There is a Laurel and Hardy museum there today, one of three in the world.
Q 02What was Stan Laurel's real surname?
Jefferson
He only changed his name legally in 1931, having used the stage name since 1917.
Q 03In which US state was Oliver Hardy born?
Georgia
His birthplace, Harlem, has a Laurel and Hardy museum of its own.
Q 04What was Oliver Hardy's nickname among friends and in his early film billing?
Babe
It came from an Italian barber in Florida who patted his face with talc and said 'That's nice-a baby!'
Q 05Before films, Laurel toured with Fred Karno's troupe as understudy to which comedian?
Charlie Chaplin
He went to America with the troupe in 1912 and never went home; he later did a Chaplin impression in a vaudeville trio.
Q 06In which Florida city did Hardy begin his film career with Lubin Motion Pictures in 1913?
Jacksonville
He started by helping with lights and props before acting; he made 177 shorts for the Vim Comedy Company between 1914 and 1916.
Q 07Why was Hardy rejected for army service in the First World War?
His large size
He was 6 ft 1 in and about 280 pounds in his prime.
Q 08In which 1921 short did the two men first appear together, purely by chance?
The Lucky Dog
Hardy played a mugger trying to rob Laurel; both later said they had forgotten the film entirely.
Q 09Which producer's studio brought the team together and employed them until 1940?
Hal Roach
Their director Charley Rogers said it could not have happened if the three men had not met at the right place and time.
Q 10What physical trait of Laurel's initially kept him off screen at the Roach studio, according to Roach?
His pale blue eyes photographed as white
The arrival of panchromatic film solved it; their first film together had used heavy eye makeup to compensate.
Q 11According to Leo McCarey, what kitchen accident led to Laurel and Hardy becoming a team?
Hardy burned his arm cooking a leg of lamb
McCarey's punchline on television: 'All on account of Hardy had a little lamb.'
Q 12Which 1927 silent short is usually cited as their first 'official' film as a team?
Putting Pants on Philip
Laurel played a kilted young Scotsman; Hardy played the uncle trying to get trousers on him.
Q 13How many films did Laurel and Hardy appear in together?
107
That is 32 silent shorts, 40 sound shorts, 23 features and a dozen cameos.
Q 21In their 1929 short Big Business, what are Stan and Ollie trying to sell door to door?
Christmas trees
The tit-for-tat fight with their neighbour destroys his house and their car; the film joined the National Film Registry in 1992.
Q 22The 1927 short The Battle of the Century is famous for a fight involving how many real pies?
Over 3,000
Only a fragment survived for decades until a more complete print turned up in 2015.
Q 23What was the title of Laurel and Hardy's first sound film, in 1929?
Unaccustomed As We Are
The title plays on 'Unaccustomed as I am to public speaking'; a trade paper said they used dialogue 'as a kind of punctuation'.
Q 14What is the team's famous theme tune usually called?
'The Dance of the Cuckoos'
Marvin Hatley wrote it as the on-the-hour chime for the Roach studio's radio station and Laurel asked to borrow it.
Q 15What kind of hat became as identified with the pair as their cuckoo theme?
The derby
Laurel's was narrower with a flattened brim; he also took the heels off his shoes for a flat-footed walk.
Q 16What did Hardy do with his necktie when his character was embarrassed?
Twiddled it
He improvised it in Sailors, Beware! after an unexpected pail of water in the face; his 'camera look' was born in the same film.
Q 17What did Laurel typically do at moments of shock, alongside screwing up his face as if crying?
Pulled his hair up
He kept his hair long on top specifically so it would stand up like a fright wig.
Q 18What is the exact wording of Hardy's most famous catchphrase?
'Here's another nice mess you've gotten me into'
The 'fine mess' misquote comes from the title of their film Another Fine Mess; W. S. Gilbert used the phrase in The Mikado.
Q 19In which 1930 film was the 'nice mess' catchphrase first spoken?
The Laurel-Hardy Murder Case
It was also the last line of dialogue in their final film.
Q 20Which Scottish supporting actor's exasperated 'D'oh!' inspired Homer Simpson's catchphrase?
James Finlayson
He appeared in 33 of their films, usually as the belligerent neighbour or foil.
Q 24Which 1932 short, in which the pair haul a piano up a long flight of steps, won an Academy Award?
The Music Box
It took the Oscar for Best Live Action Short Subject and remains their best-known film.
Q 25How did Roach cater to foreign audiences with the early talkies?
The pair spoke their lines phonetically in other languages
Their first feature was reshot in Spanish, Italian, French and German, with the supporting parts recast.
Q 26Their first feature, in 1931, grew out of a two-reeler set where?
A prison
Roach built his own expensive set after MGM demanded a picture in exchange for theirs, then added reels to justify the cost.
Q 27In Laurel and Hardy's 1933 lodge-convention feature, where do they tell their wives Ollie must go for his health?
Honolulu
They actually sneak off to a lodge convention, and the ship they claim to be on sinks.
Q 28Which 1934 fantasy film, still a Christmas TV staple, caused a lasting rift between Laurel and Roach?
Babes in Toyland
Laurel rejected Roach's story treatment outright; Roach later said he no longer wanted to produce for the team.
Q 29Way Out West (1937), a favourite of both stars, was a satire of which kind of film?
Gene Autry singing westerns
It is also the film in which Laurel lights his thumb like a lighter, to Hardy's bewilderment.
Q 30What did Laurel call the surreal streak in their comedy, like lighting a pipe with his thumb?
'White magic'
In Block-Heads he pours tobacco into his fist and smokes it like a pipe.