It must be a laugh-a-minute in their house. That was the inevitable first thought when I heard yesterday that Sarah Millican and Gary Delaney had tied the knot. My second thought was congratulations. My third thought was that I wouldn't have liked to have been the best man. No pressure on that speech then.

The Millican/Delaney wedding is just the latest in a long line of stand-up double acts in the romantic sense. Stewart Lee and Bridget Christie are clearly the Posh and Becks of the alt-com generation, but there are plenty more comic relationships that seem to thrive. Richard Herring is married to Catie Wilkins. Lucy Porter and Justin Edwards manage to juggle their work commitments and the alarmingly disproportionate height ratio pretty well. David Baddiel and Morwenna Banks have two children together, but are not married.

There are obvious advantages to these marriages. Each partner can relate to the other having a bad gig - yes, I bet even Stewart Lee has had a bad gig – and each partner will hopefully be sympathetic when their other half comes home in the middle of the night knackered, fed up and in need of being told that they are brilliant. They've all been there.

There are probably more advantages than disadvantages - it certainly makes accommodation at the Edinburgh Festival cheaper. I'm not saying marriage to "civilians" doesn't work, but having someone who understands your job because they do the same job themselves does seem to have more pros than cons. There are other serious comedy relationships that spring to mind too, but I won't mention them as they are not public knowledge.

If there is a problem it is a creative one. For comedians who draw on their domestic life for material how does that get divvied up? Maybe the best way is for both sides to have a stab at a stand-up routine and the funniest one gets to keep it. Delaney and Millican have distinct enought styles that this is probably not an issue. She gets to do her smutty schtick, he sticks to his finely honed one-liners.

Looking back at recent comedy history these alliances have a pretty good track record (Woody Allen should, of course, have married Diane Keaton…). Robert Webb and comedian Abigail Burdess are married with kids. Their best man was David Mitchell, so presumably there was no problem with the speech there. Webb then reciprocated and was best man at David Mitchell's wedding to Victoria Coren.

It is funny that on a circuit where everyone assumes everyone else is constantly rutting like rabbits here are plenty of stable relationships. Ade Edmondson and Jennifer Saunders are still going strong after over a quarter of a century and Lenny Henry and Dawn French had a pretty good run by showbiz standards. Comedians seem to be a surprisingly loyal bunch. I can't think offhand of any regrettable marriages that have been over before the groom has picked all of the rice out of his turn-ups. 

What rarely happens though, is that the offstage marriage is also an onstage partnership*. Since Edmondson and Saunders, who were never a double act, more part of an ensemble, there haven't been any really high profile couples who regularly work together. It is usually said that a comedy double act is like a marriage but without the sex. Maybe that's what creates the tension that drives the humour. If you were having sex with your onstage partner after the gig maybe you simply wouldn't be as funny. 

*After this piece appeared Dan Roden tweeted me to flag up The Krankies. Can't imagine how I overlooked them. I also remembered Gareth Berliner and Kiruna Stamell who work both solo and as a double act. Gareth reminded me of Brian Damage and Krysstal, who met at the Edinburgh Festival in 2000 and got married shortly after. How appropriate and romantic.