Meaning
A performance, predecessor or achievement so outstanding that whoever comes next will struggle to match it. Farlex's examples run from an admired manager to an award-winning play: whoever replaces the star inherits the comparison. Originally said literally of a vaudeville bill, where the next act had to take the stage after the showstopper. Both forms are standard: a hard act to follow is the earlier dictionary headword and a tough act to follow the commoner in speech. Usually with be: he is a tough act to follow. Regional use: American show-business origin; now general English.
Origin
Show-business slang. Wiktionary's entry for the hard form records the etymology: originally referring to an outstandingly successful vaudeville act, with the noun defined as a performance so outstanding that it is unlikely to be equalled - and cites Eric Partridge's Dictionary of Slang and Unconventional English on the act-to-follow formula. The tough form is listed as its synonym, and Farlex's idiom guide prints both in its examples ('he'll be a tough act to follow... She is such a talented singer that she'll be a hard act to follow'). The phrase spread from the variety stage to any succession - managers, champions, retiring professors - where the predecessor's shadow sets the standard. No major dictionary prints a first-use date for either form.
Research Sources
References used to check this entry’s meaning, history, or documented forms.
Variants
- a hard act to follow
- tough acts to follow
Usage Examples
- Mel's replacement will struggle; he was so admired that he's a tough act to follow.
- The award-winning play will be a tough act to follow for whatever opens next on that stage.
- After a championship season, the new coach inherited a tough act to follow and everyone knew it.