LOS ANGELES — They may be the hottest young comedy team on television, but the stars of "Drake & Josh" are really old souls at heart.

How old, you may wonder. Just old enough to hold up Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis as role models.

"I would really like for us to try to emulate the Martin and Lewis kind of thing and bring it up to today," says Drake Bell, the duo's Dean Martin-style straight man to partner Josh Peck's loud, rubber-faced comedian.

But why Martin and Lewis, a comedy team that broke up 30 years before 19-year-old Peck and his 20-year-old partner were born? The answer, the two say, is simple: There's never been another as funny, or simply as much fun, to draw inspiration from.

"Working with Josh isn't work. It's fun. It's like a big party," Bell laughs.

"When I work on other stuff, it's like 'All right, now I have to concentrate,' " he adds, lowering his voice to a more serious tone. "I don't have my goofy sidekick next to me."

For his part, Peck can't understand why another duo like Martin and Lewis never came along. Then, again, when he thinks about it some more, he ponders that maybe it has.

"I'm kind of known for physical comedy on the show. I'm always falling over something, and I think of Jerry Lewis every time I do it," Peck says. "And Drake, he's a total Dean; debonair and with charisma — and plus he sings."

At one point the duo had more a Laurel and Hardy look, before Peck, the heavyset foil to rock-star handsome, guitar-strumming Bell, dropped 100 pounds with the help of exercise and a diet that meant no longer "living off pizza."

Although he looked noticeably thinner in last season's episodes, the change in appearance was even more dramatic when the show launched its fourth season on the Nickelodeon cable network in September.

"It was about being happy in my own skin and having a healthier outlook on life," he says of the decision to lose weight.

Although they look more alike now, Peck's Josh remains firmly rooted as the loud, blustering stepbrother to Bell's smirking slacker, who in his efforts to woo girls and play gigs with his rock band is likely to leave their lives in a shambles.

It's been a fun run, the two say, adding they're proud of "Drake & Josh" and the fact they hear not only from teens but even college students and parents who tell them they enjoy the show.

But now they're ready to stretch a bit. Nickelodeon Movies recently announced it would star the two in a theatrical film they hope might be the next step in their Martin-and-Lewis evolution. They won't play their TV show characters this time, although Bell will still be the slacker who drags the reluctant Peck into ill-conceived comedic adventures.

If the film scores with the public, the two figure there might be more "Drake & Josh" movies in their future.