# Abbott and Costello **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Tags:** comedian-jokes\ **Created:** [May 23, 2024, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbott-and-costello/1001981 "2024-05-23T18:28:10Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Gyrate](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gyrate/32/3588_2.png) [@Gyrate](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gyrate)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2024, 11:03pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbott-and-costello/1001981/41 "2024-05-23T23:03:06Z")
I used to have records of a bunch of their old radio shows. Honestly, I prefer them to the movies because the comedy all rides on the writing and delivery rather than just Costello mugging. ---
**Author:** ![Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/prof.pepperwinkle/32/13627_2.png) [@Prof.Pepperwinkle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Prof.Pepperwinkle)\ **Post date:** [May 23, 2024, 11:08pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbott-and-costello/1001981/42 "2024-05-23T23:08:51Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I’d name _Hellzapoppin’_. I don’t think it has much of a reputation today, but when I watch it imagine how weird and powerful it must have been for 40s audiences. > > The show ran 1400 performances on Broadway, a huge deal when most shows ran for a year. Olson and Johnson, a now forgotten comic duo, led a revue of songs and madness, breaking the fourth wall and involving the audience in gags. When it worked it was supposed to be hysterical. Nobody will ever know because as a movie they had to change everything and were restricted by the screen. It’s very silly and not for anyone who looks down on slapstick, although this is slapstick done right, the Marx Brothers if Chico and Harpo were in charge. My dad saw _Hellzapoppin_ on stage and said he laughed his ass off. This is the same guy who couldn’t stand the Marx Brothers, the Three Stooges or Spike Jones. I never understood that. ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 12:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbott-and-costello/1001981/43 "2024-05-24T00:07:18Z")
I’m very glad to read this. My grandmother was in the stage show. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 12:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbott-and-costello/1001981/44 "2024-05-24T00:44:25Z")
Wow. Do you have any anecdotes? ---
**Author:** ![Slithy\_Tove](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/slithy_tove/32/18248_2.png) [@Slithy\_Tove](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Slithy_Tove)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbott-and-costello/1001981/45 "2024-05-24T00:53:07Z")
A lot of stories, not all happy. But the best are from when she was a leggy assistant for Blackstone Sr. At the time of Hellzapoppin she would have been married to [Billy Lowe,](https://www.ebay.com/itm/375252552428) who sometimes sang in Frankie Masters band. No IMDB bio since she never had any lines, and she changed names frequently. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 2:46am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbott-and-costello/1001981/46 "2024-05-24T02:46:48Z")
My daughter (now 29) attended a high school that specialized in the performing and visual arts. I went with her on Orientation Day and sat in on the welcoming auditorium. The presentation ended with two theatre students doing “Who’s on First?” Every kid in the hall loved it. By the end of the sketch, they were all laughing hard and loud. ---
**Author:** ![Asuka](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/dec6dc/32.png) [@Asuka](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asuka)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 5:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbott-and-costello/1001981/47 "2024-05-24T05:28:10Z")
Me personally the funniest bit I’ve ever seen from then is their [Susquehanna Hat Company](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHZA92LD-1I) bit, as it just keeps getting more and more absurd as it goes along. ---
**Author:** ![RealityChuck](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/realitychuck/32/195_2.png) [@RealityChuck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RealityChuck)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 5:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbott-and-costello/1001981/48 "2024-05-24T05:39:49Z")
A&C were terribly uneven, but their best bits still hold up well. “Who’s on First” is still one of the funniest bits of pure comedy ever performed (check out the reaction videos on YouTube; it never fails to delight the people who see it for the first time). There’s also “7 times 13 is 28” and “how long before she catches up.” Their movies don’t fully hold up. The comedy outside of their routines is only fair. But I will say _The Time of Their Lives_ is still worth seeing; Costello made a highly effective romantic character. It also stayed away from the shtick - A&C had a falling out and didn’t want to work together, so there were no comic dialogues. The two weren’t even able to talk to each other in a scene (for most of the film, Costello was a ghost who Abbott couldn’t see or hear). ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 5:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbott-and-costello/1001981/49 "2024-05-24T05:56:14Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > With Tony Pappenfus and John Voldstad, as Darryl and Darryl, respectively. You have that backwards, it was actually Voldstad who played Darryl, with Pappenfus as Darryl. ---
**Author:** ![TriPolar](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tripolar/32/3008_2.png) [@TriPolar](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TriPolar)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 6:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbott-and-costello/1001981/50 "2024-05-24T06:01:34Z")
No, he had the order right. Pappenfus played Larry’s brother Darryl. Voldstad played his other brother Darryl. ---
**Author:** ![Dead\_Cat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/9fc29f/32.png) [@Dead\_Cat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dead_Cat)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 6:06am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbott-and-costello/1001981/51 "2024-05-24T06:06:09Z")
Stone me, you’re right - turns out for all these years I had it the wrong way round! ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 6:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbott-and-costello/1001981/52 "2024-05-24T06:22:51Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > I’d name _Hellzapoppin’_. I don’t think it has much of a reputation today, but when I watch it imagine how weird and powerful it must have been for 40s audiences. > > The show ran 1400 performances on Broadway, a huge deal when most shows ran for a year. Olson and Johnson, a now forgotten comic duo, led a revue of songs and madness, breaking the fourth wall and involving the audience in gags. When it worked it was supposed to be hysterical. Nobody will ever know because as a movie they had to change everything and were restricted by the screen. It’s very silly and not for anyone who looks down on slapstick, although this is slapstick done right, the Marx Brothers if Chico and Harpo were in charge. My mother saw it on Broadway. She said that they rained stuff down on the audience, which you don’t quite get on TV. I brought it up in the movies unavailable on DVD thread. It is not officially released, but I did buy a good quality DVD online. I saw it on TV as a kid, and was worried that it wouldn’t stand up to my memories. It turned out to be funnier. I think the destroying the production scene is better than in Night at the Opera - but not the rest of it. ---
**Author:** ![Darren\_Garrison](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/darren_garrison/32/92_2.png) [@Darren\_Garrison](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Darren_Garrison)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 9:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbott-and-costello/1001981/53 "2024-05-24T09:41:52Z")
> [@Asuka](#): > > Me personally the funniest bit I’ve ever seen from then is their [Susquehanna Hat Company](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SHZA92LD-1I) bit, So did the first guy actually cut his finger? ---
**Author:** ![Peter\_Morris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/peter_morris/32/359_2.png) [@Peter\_Morris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Peter_Morris)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 10:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbott-and-costello/1001981/54 "2024-05-24T10:17:53Z")
> [@Odesio](#): > > Oh, wow. I just didn’t a little reading and found out Abbott and Costello really didn’t get along all that well while working together. **Does any artistic duo like each other**? Laurel and Hardy. Penn and Teller Morcambe and Wise > [@Elmer\_J.Fudd](#): > > Can you name many comedies from the 1940s that were funnier? Road to Morocco/ Road to Rio Secret Life of Walter Mitty/ Wonder Man The Great Dictator The Miracle of Morgan’s Creek Arsenic and Old Lace Kind Hearts and Coronets Passport to Pimlico Here comes Mr Jordan. … ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 11:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbott-and-costello/1001981/55 "2024-05-24T11:22:41Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > Kind Hearts and Coronets Maybe I’ll start my own “why is this funny?” thread; I had seen Kind Hearts and Coronets on lists of the greatest comedies of all time and when I finally got around to watching it, I found it only mildly amusing. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 11:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbott-and-costello/1001981/56 "2024-05-24T11:27:05Z")
> [@Peter\_Morris](#): > > > [@Odesio](#): > > > > Oh, wow. I just didn’t a little reading and found out Abbott and Costello really didn’t get along all that well while working together. **Does any artistic duo like each other**? > > Laurel and Hardy. > Penn and Teller > Morcambe and Wise Stiller and Meara McCall and Brill ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 11:28am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbott-and-costello/1001981/57 "2024-05-24T11:28:10Z")
Burns and Allen ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dr.winston_oboogie/32/2945_2.png) [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Winston_OBoogie)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 4:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbott-and-costello/1001981/58 "2024-05-24T16:58:14Z")
> [@Robot\_Arm](#): > > Stiller and Meara > [@RitterSport](#): > > Burns and Allen They didn’t like each other - they were married! ---
**Author:** ![RitterSport](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rittersport/32/6326_2.png) [@RitterSport](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RitterSport)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 5:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbott-and-costello/1001981/59 "2024-05-24T17:06:39Z")
Haha!! Nicely played. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [May 24, 2024, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbott-and-costello/1001981/60 "2024-05-24T17:56:34Z")
> [@Dr.Winston\_OBoogie](#): > > They didn’t like each other - they were married! McCall and Brill, too; 64 years and counting. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbott-and-costello/1001981.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/abbott-and-costello/1001981.md?page=4)