Molly McGee - when the "straight man" is not there

There are several episodes of the Fibber McGee and Molly radio show in which Molly was absent. (For some reason, legal, I suppose, these were entitled Fibber McGee & Company.) Without exception, these were not as funny as the regular shows, which demonstrates the value of the "straight man" role in comedic teams. Costello would not have been as funny without Abbott, for example. Somehow it just does not work as well, perhaps because the other person has to play both roles and thus moves out of his personna, or perhaps because it destroys the rhythm and flow of the dialogue. For whatever reason, on this show it just did not work nearly as well as when both were there.