Watching Duck Soup, it resonated more with me as an experiment of sorts than as a compelling or entertaining motion picture. The experiment seemed to ask the question, "Can we [this is the Marx Brothers now] make an entire film of jokes?" The plot is incidental to the film, and there's really very little going on, but it provides a basic framework on which they can hang, really, whatever jokes they want to use. Consider the following example:
Now, this is part of a larger scene that runs something like five minutes, and the only information gained from it is that these two guys - Chicolini (Chico) and Pinky (Harpo) - were hired to spy on Firefly (Groucho), and they failed. But on this simple premise, Chico and Harpo let fly a series of jokes and gags.
And oddly enough, the entire time I was watching it, I realized that's exactly what Family Guy does.
Now, debate if you must the comedic or cultural value of the show, but Family Guy, especially as the show goes on, is a fantastic example of the sort of stream-of-conscious narrative comedy that The Marx Brothers developed. Neither seemed to employ any editing - they each read very much like a first draft. Nor does either piece contain any real characters; they have distinct comedic personalities (and Family Guy's Meg more fully develops the comedy of a boring, useless character than the Marx Brothers' Zeppo), but no real genuine character. And while that form can often be sloppy, it provides fascinating insight into the creative mind.
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