The name Costello in the news reminded me of Abbott and Costello which reminded me of something that’s always puzzled me: how are they still (relatively) famous if “Who’s on First?” is their most famous routine? Maybe when it was fresh people were falling out of their chairs, but it’s pretty lame. Their movies don’t have much to recommend them. No offense to A & C fans, if any.
None taken, but I think you’re wrong. “Who’s on First?”, done properly, is a killer routine, and I still admire it. They run it on a continuous loop at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, NY. A lot of A&C’s other vaudeville-incubated routines are still funny, too, especially if you haven’t encountered them a zillion times before.
Back in the '70s and '80s, I assume their movies and TV shows were relatively cheap, inoffensive, all-ages content to pad out a channel’s schedule on Saturdays and Sundays. I don’t know if kids watch A&C nowadays, though.
As far as being funny goes, I thought some of their bits were pretty good when I was a kid. In fact, I searched for the skit where Bud was “teaching” Lou how to play craps the other day and I still thought it was funny:
I played Who’s On First for my kids (8 and 11 at the time) and it killed. They’ve regularly requested to rewatch. My older daughter has tinkered with the possibility of translating it into French and/or German, and figuring out how to adapt the wordplay. She says German will probably be easier.
Disagree. Yeah, they’re not great works of cinema, but as far as slapstick comedy goes, they’re top notch.
Agreed. My son and a partner were chosen in their high school drama class to perform in a state forensics competition on the strength of their rendition of WoF, and done with proper timing and emphasis, it still holds up as a great routine.
(Emphasis mine) That’s the thing about comedy. A lot of the humor springs from an unexpected turn of phrase or outcome. No comedy routine is ever going to be as funny as the first time you hear it.
When my grandson was in High School (he’s 22 now) he and his friends discovered it on YouTube and howled with laughter.
“Who’s on First” has so many imitators that there’s a trope for it:
Here’s my favorite:
Slappy & Skippy at Woodstock is okay.
I don’t think it’s that they’re “still famous” as much as they are “still recognizable.”
When was the last time you saw a Three Stooges short on TV? And yet, even young kids seem to know who they are, or who you mean when you say “Moe, Larry, and Curly.” On the other hand, if you say, “Larry, Darryl, and Darryl,” most younger people today would stare at you.
It also helps that Abbott & Costello were known as “themselves”; speaking of Larry Darryl & Darryl, can you name any of the three actors? For that matter, could most people name any of them even at the height of their popularity?
William Sanderson as Larry. Because I was a fan of Blade Runner.
Kids in the Hall, McGillicutty & Green, do a terrible job: https://youtu.be/jFhvmCgs_L4?feature=shared&t=105&
I’m going to join the pile-on against this. If you think it’s “pretty lame,” I suspect one of the following:
- You’ve seen/heard a sub-par performance of the routine.
- You’ve seen/heard it often enough that it’s become stale.
- It doesn’t mesh well with your own personal sense of humor.
But any comedy routine is vulnerable to these.
My impression is that Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is still fairly highly regarded.
My personal favorite is the “Heard of cows.” one. But it’s all too short and not really expandable. Worse, the clips on YouTube don’t even give the full routine. (They leave out the part with "Of course a cow heard, they’re standing right there, etc.)
I also love the bits where Bud cheats Lou out of money (or some other thing involving arithmetic) by inventing all sorts of ways to cut the number down. I swear some companies are using these tricks to get away with not paying what’s due.
That’s one for you, one for me. Two for you, one, two for me. Three for you, one, two, three for me…
I still laugh at the right version of Who’s on First. My kids loved it as well.
Yeah, I really should ask why they’re funny, rather than if. Honest to God, I once thought the Bowery Boys movies were amusing, so I’m no one to judge the funny.
Who’s on First is the funniest comedy bit ever recorded. There. I said it. The language is perfect and the interaction between Lou and Bud is such a masterpiece of timing that atomic clocks bow down to them. Multiple recordings of them from radio to movies to television exist. I think the best was on radio, but the script varied over time as they kept fiddling with it.
The best imitation was the Credibility Gap’s Harry Shearer & David L. Lander doing The Rock Festival. A music promoter goes to a newspaper office to compose an ad for a festival starring the Who, Guess Who, and Yes. Mayhem results. It’s a direct homage to A&C; the original record version has the clueless newspaper guy telling the promoter to just write down the acts. “If I knew how to write, I wouldn’t need to steal this bit!”
They also performed for a movie, like A&C did in Naughty Nineties. Cracking Up doesn’t include the last time, which is the perfect topper, but they inhabit A&C.
Their timing is amazing, the jokes are good, and Costello does a great job seeming angry and frustrated. Abbott does the straight man part will impeccable calm and fantastic timing. (I think this is the version I know best).
ETA: I’m listening to it right now and laughing.
Although it bothered me that no right fielder was referenced, it’s still a great routine. Apart from that, Abbott may have been one of the greatest straight men the business has ever known, but Costello was always too damn obnoxious and I never found their films even remotely amusing.