As a baseball fan, I’ve suffered through the foul smelling excrement that is the ‘comedy’ routine of Who’s on First.
It sucks! Maybe I had to be there. Maybe comedy doesn’t age well. Regardless, it’s awful and I’m glad it seems be dying a slow boomer death. You won’t see it during a baseball rain delay any longer.
It’s a little bit funny the first time, IMHO. It does not hold up well to being repeated over and over.
I think the beginning is a complete riot, but when they get to “Today” and “Tomorrow” and “Why” and “Because” it tends to sound too contrived.
There are also differences in how funny it is that depend on which particular performance you watch. Sometimes it looks like Lou Costello is just reciting the script, but when he seems to be genuinely acting, and he’s visibly (or audibly) doing a slow burn of frustration, it’s a lot funnier. As with all comedy, “it’s all in the delivery.”
And, of course, constant repetition can make a joke feel less funny over time.
Always hated that schtick. I can’t fathom it ever being funny.
It’s a classic routine, I still find it funny.
Mildly funny for the first few minutes, and for the first few viewings. Worthless garbage now.
I guess it’s technically clever…on paper…but with all the bits of mirth gleaned from it, I can barely manage a half-hearted chuckle.
They should have put Today and Tomorrow in the outfield along with Yesterday in Right.
It is funny but goes on too long.
Somebody did a version of a concert with the Who, the Guess Who, and Yes. It was funny too.
If it’s done right, it’s funny.
There’s going to be a limit to how many times any particular person wants to listen to it, of course. This is true of just about anything; though the number of times that any given thing is funny will vary from person to person – just ask anybody who’s been around a toddler.
Just showed my kids (11 & 9) this routine for the first time a few weeks ago. Once they caught on to the joke, they were laughing so hard I had to stop and rewind a couple times. I was laughing right along with them, but admittedly, I may have been influenced by their reaction.
Yes, funny.
Here is a version of Who, Guess Who, Yes with Harry Shearer
This is pretty funny from Andy Griffith in 1953Funny—but with the caveats that cmkeller mentioned. There’s a reason it’s a classic.
The first time I heard it, sure. The first time someone cleverly snuck it into something else (ie tv dialogue), yeah. Now, not so much. Not that it’s not funny, just that I’ve heard it so many times. I’d hardly call it worthless garbage, just tired. I’m sure it would be just as funny to someone that’s never heard it as it would have been to any of us the first time we heard it.
I think the problem is that it’s overused now. How many times do you hear a dialogue, the two people talking are clearly confused over who or what they’re talking about and you already know it’s going to end with them saying, together “Who’s on first” or “[person’s name]'s on first”.
You hear that enough times and the thought of listening to a two minute sketch of just that doesn’t sound all that entertaining.
It was funny when I heard it at the age of 7, so, yeah.
It’s not funny; it’s hilarious.
Yes. I love wordplay and I find it funny every time!
Some of my most favorite Monty Python sketches are Eric Idle and Michael Palin bits about language.
It’s a classic for a reason.
As is the KiTH parody - The Kids in the Hall - McGuillicutty and Green - YouTube
[quote=“Bijou_Drains, post:13, topic:849018”]
Here is a version of Who, Guess Who, Yes with Harry Shearer
[/QUOTE]I think this was also done on Eight is Enough in 1981 - there’s definitely a “three bands” version, but I am not sure if they were The Who, The Guess Who, and Yes.
Meanwhile, here’s an updated version with bands.
As for the original: yes, I think it’s funny. It may depend on how you listen to it. Most radio versions have audience reaction, but the movie version (in The Naughty Nineties) does not, and it doesn’t come across as well. Well, there is “some” audience reaction; you can hear one person - I think it’s the movie’s director - laughing at the routine. Also note that, because of the Hays Code, the shortstop’s name had to be changed from “I Don’t Give A Damn” to “I Don’t Care.” (The producers of Gone With the Wind felt it was worth paying the fine for using the line. The producers of the Abbott & Costello films? Not so much.)