Comedy has had its share of husband-and-wife teams, from George Burns and Gracie Allen to Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara. All of them mined the quirks of their relationships for laughs and squared off about their personal differences. But Boston may have produced the oddest couple of all in the form of DJ Hazard, 48-year-old veteran of the Boston comedy boom, and Kyria Abrahams, 28-year-old member of Boston's rising new comedy elite. The two, who have been married for two years, will face off against each other in Comedy Central's Laugh Riots competition this Wednesday.

Sitting in the living room of their Somerville apartment, Hazard and Abrahams cut quite a figure. Hazard stands 6 feet 3 inches tall, with a broad, imposing frame. With his shaved head and rocky features, he could be the doppleganger of Spider-Man archenemy Kingpin. Abrahams is about a foot shorter, with glasses and chin-length black hair that give her the look of someone whose help you might ask for at the library. When he hugs her, she disappears.

The two had seen each other perform at the Comedy Studio (where Abrahams's comedy group, Piston Honda, hosts Friday nights) and the Comedy Vault before they started dating. They had bonded while talking about comedy and ''Doctor Who'' after shows, but they kept their distance at first, each thinking the other wasn't really interested.

''I avoided her for a long time because I was afraid of her, because I thought she was really cool,'' Hazard says as Abrahams laughs. ''And I had a feeling she thought I was really cool, and I'm not. And I was afraid if I hung around her too much she would get sorely disappointed.''

In November 1999, Hazard found himself with no apartment, and he left for New Hampshire to house-sit for a friend over the Y2K holidays. He likes to joke that people thought he was joining a militia, and it was Abrahams who brought him back. ''She had to ruin everything by wheedling her way into my heart when I thought I was self-sufficient,'' he says. ''I mean, Y2K, you've got to be self-sufficient. No emotional ties. They don't take married people, people with kids.''

''That's much sweeter when he doesn't have cookies in his mouth,'' Abrahams rejoins.

The couple fell in love when Hazard came back, and they were married the next December. In the year they were dating, they received plenty of advice from their comrades about comedians dating comedians, but ignored it.

The relationship has helped both comics blossom. Abrahams credits Hazard with helping her learn to play a variety of rooms. Hazard says Abrahams has helped him trust his own material and be himself onstage again. She has gone as far as sending his tape to the producers of ''Eating It'' at the Luna Lounge, New York City's hottest stand-up show, which regularly features the likes of Jon Stewart and Janeane Garofalo. Both have now played that show twice.

There have been some growing pains, especially when the topic of critiquing each other first came up.

''One of the first things I asked him was, `Hey, what do you think of my stand-up?''' Abrahams relates. ''And he was like, `Oh, you know. It's OK. It's got potential. You've got potential.' And I was really hurt, but he was just being honest with me because I wasn't really good at that point at all.''

Now the two try out material on each other during the day, and they sometimes work together on videos and sketches. When asked if they're developing anything together, they launch into two characters, Tigrou and S'amonkey, which they envision as host and cohost of a warped foreign cartoon show.

The two plan to do nothing differently before the Laugh Riots this Wednesday. They will be competing against each other for a chance to go to the finals in Los Angeles. The prizes for winning at the next level are $5,000, a car, and - most important - the chance to appear at the Just for Laughs Festival in Montreal and on Comedy Central's Premium Blend showcase. Still, they plan to help each other sharpen their best sets for the show.

''We feel like we have two chances to win,'' Hazard says. ''This isn't like `Robot Wars,' where part of winning is damaging your opponent. It's all self-contained. Kyria's going to do the very best presentation of her very best. I'm going to do the very best presentation of my very best.''