These two similarly-developed films from the inimitable Laurel and Hardy are certainly representative of their comedy style, especially the two-reel silents:

‘Typical of their interplay was the tit-for-tat routine which they brought to perfection.  Sometimes, as in Two Tars and Big Business, a whole film was devoted to it.  The basic routine was an exchange of physical violence, usually involving a third party, beginning with a light unintentional injury but with each reaction growing in fury and inventiveness until the whole scene took on the appearance of a national disaster area.’

Two Tars features a traffic jam in which the comedy duo cause a mass brawl with the other drivers; Big Business sees them as Christmas Tree salesmen getting into an argument with a chap who proceeds to destroy their car whilst they wreck his house.  Halliwell further describes their scenes of reciprocal destruction…

 

‘…each injured party, instead of exacting immediate revenge on his attacker, would quietly simmer while thinking up his next onslaught, an onslaught which his victim would make no attempt to avoid, watching instead with interest as the scissors or the eggs or the gluepot were procured and wielded.’

LH also adds that Big Business…

‘…is doubly pleasant to linger over because it gives equal screen time to their old sparring partner James Finlayson.’