Keystone Kop

American  

[kop] / ˈkiˌstoʊn ˈkɒp /

noun

1. Usually Keystone Kops. (in early silent movies) a team of comic policemen noted for their slapstick routines.

2. Also Keystone Cop a person noted for bungling inefficiency.

   a backfield of Keystone Kops.

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Example Sentences

Family friends urged Slim to get into movies “because he was such a character,” Clark said, “so in the early ’20s, he hitchhiked to Hollywood” and became a Keystone Kop and then a character actor.

From Los Angeles Times

This time, though, I loved the novel as a frenetic, over-the-top farce, packed with Keystone Kop action.

From Washington Post

I identified the Keystone Kop on Main Street, U.S.A., as an official undercover policeman.

From Los Angeles Times

“Behind this whole Keystone Kop display of incompetence,” Clement said in an interview Wednesday, “there’s this determination to purge the agency of anyone who doesn’t support the secretary’s flag.”

From Washington Post

The Keystone Kop moment resulted the Cowboys’ Drew Pearson racing 83 yards for the game-clinching touchdown.

From Los Angeles Times