One of the best things ever in baseball was when Taiwanese player, Chin-Lung Hu, played for a short time with the Dodgers big league club.....he hit a single and it was one of the greatest things to happen in baseball to be announced on air, and it was none other than Vin Scully who noticed the situation and said: "In shades of Abbot and Costello I can finally say Who is on first base.” Such a great moment with legendary Vin Scully!
I don't know if you understand the game of cricket, but a long time ago, there was a situation where the batsman from England was Peter Willey and the bowler (pitcher) was from West Indies, and his name was Michael Holding. The commentator blurted out "The batsman's Holding, the bowler's Willey". Priceless.
@@sopwithpuppy That was a classic. I also recall a time when Dennis Lillee was caught by Peter Willey off the bowling of Graham Dilley. Lillee - caught Willey - bowled Dilley.
@@sopwithpuppy Reminds me of a gym class I covered when I was substituting. The main teacher on the floor gave me the chart to do attendance for my class and assured me the other teachers would handle everything else. After all, it was a nice day and we were just going to go outside and play on the sport fields. After all the equipment was distributed she yelled, "Okay everybody, grab your balls and head outside!"
"When you pay the first baseman off every month, who gets the money?" "Yes." "...." "Sometimes his wife comes and collects it." "Who's wife?" "Yes." "........"
@@janearkell5185 … I cherish the memories of spending time in my childhood with my mother who got me into watching the Abbott & Costello movies & comedy shows. She was absolutely in tears from laughter when we saw this routine for the first time 😂😂😂. We would always spend time on Saturdays watching their double features that were shown on our tv networks here 👍😁
Yes it is, I've always said the comedians and actors back in the the day were the truly talented ones. Sing, dance, act, play instruments all in one package where as today you don't get anything near it without music tracks or lip syncing.
People will laugh at this until baseball ceases to be played at the professional level. Which it will, some day. Maybe in decades, maybe in centuries. Nothing is eternal.
I was once watching a game with a roommate and his girlfriend asked "who's on first?" Without saying a word to each other, we started doing the bit. His girlfriend, without knowing what we were doing, naturally started doing the Lou Costello part and we did the Bud Abbott lines. We had her going for several minutes. I'll never forget it.
Actually, they messed up all the time. In fact, in order to keep the routine fresh, they deliberately tried to fool each other. the genius is that they were each able to go with whatever curve the other threw them. That is why no two recorded versions of this routine are the same. For example, if you play the video again, you will notice that Bud tries to introduce paying Who before Lou is ready but it does not interrupt or slow the routine.
I learned this skit for a talent show. The easiest way to do is to forget the script. Learn the rules for how they respond and then just have a conversation with your partner.
I heard they estimated it was closer to 10,000 but who's counting. I've seen a few of these and I don't think they ever did it exactly the same way twice.
"Who's On First" plays constantly at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown , NY . I've heard it many times and still laugh . The timing and cadence of the skit is impeccable . Abbott and Costello did many movies and had a TV show .
This skit is timeless. It transcends time, cultures, age, generations... People will laugh at this hundreds of years from now. You really don't even need to understand much about baseball to get it. It's cool to see so many different people from different walks of life appreciate it.
My Mom was a huge baseball fan - and an Abbott and Costello fan. She and her dad introduced me to this skit when I was just a kid - and I still laugh so hard when I watch this. So happy to see that it still has an audience. Thank you!!!
In my senior year of high school, I did this routine with a friend for the end of year variety show that the theater department put on. I played the funny man (Costello) part and my friend played the straight man (Abbot). It was so much fun to learn and rehearse. The hardest part was to avoid getting caught in loops of dialogue. We would get caught in a circular back and forth of “I’m not asking you who’s on second….No Who’s on first….” and so on. There were certain transitional lines that moved it from one section to the next. It is a brilliantly scripted piece. It’s almost like an announcer calling a play by play with the dialogue being the “ball” that goes from base to base. I would LOVE to perform this again somewhere!
A friend of mine and I performed this during a "talent show" when we were in junior high school. We discovered that we both knew and loved this sketch during lunch one day when someone in our group asked, "Who?", and I popped off with "Who's on first!", and my friend immediately responded with the next line, and we started the routine. I think by then we "might" have worn our teachers out with things like talking in "Pig Latin", and an old "round" my mom taught me called "What's Life", and a few other assorted oldies, so the teachers said, "Y'all might as well entertain the whole school!", snd insisted that we perform it for the show. It was actually a lot of fun to do! But we had to write it all down from a cassette tape to rehearse !
Not only did they get through this skit flawlessly, it is comic gold! And I have heard it my whole life (and I’m not longer young), and I laugh every time! It’s got infinite comedy power. Amazing. Blows my mind.
When I first watched this. I didn’t know that Costello‘s son had just drowned in the pool, and he still came out and did the skit. He was a complete professional and went on stage as if nothing it happened. That is true professionalism. May they both rest in peace.
This is probably the greatest comedy sketch ever written from the Golden Age of Vaudeville before TV was even a thing. It wasn't before baseball, obviously, but it's still sobering to note that such a classic routine could stand the test of time. There is truly nothing new under the sun. 😄
I worked with a theater group in Southern Maryland and a friend of mine wanted to do this sketch together. I told him he was crazy, but we did it anyway. It was SOOOO hard to get it, but even more rewarding when we pulled it off. We did it about a dozen times over the course of a couple of months. We were asked to do it for fund raisers for several charities (including our County Arts Council) and we did every request. The smallest crowd was about 80 people but the biggest crowd was over 2,000! WHAT A RUSH! I never had so much fun on stage in my life. After one performance a little old lady of about 80 or so years came up to us and said 'You guys were great!' so we thanked her and she continued 'You were better than Abbott and Costello' to which we replied, 'Thank you so much, but no... they were the masters.' She scowled at us and said 'I saw then do it live and you guys were better!' I still don't believe her but all we could say was 'OK.... thank you again.' Later we did the one about the race horse...
I think that at this point this skit has pretty much become part of our cultural DNA. Bless you Jamel, for sharing it forward, as you do with so many great recordings. It's such a delight watching a young lad see this for the first time, and be whelmed by the sheer zanyness of it all.
I first heard this skit as a kid more than 50 years ago (and it was several decades old then), and it still never fails to crack me up. It's a masterclass in speed and timing.
The greatest comedy routine of all time in my opinion. The simplicity of it, the speed and the timing. It's a perfect bit that anyone can listen to and get it.
Ah! That brings back so many memories. Abbott and Costello was the duo we were always allowed to stay up late to watch! What an incredible duo; and always left us in tears of laughter.
Can you even imagine not only doing that whole *long* skit so incredibly clean but doing it on the spot with a live audience? Abbot and Costello were freakin' legend, man.
I love this sort of clever work play humour. Do smuttiness, no crudeness, no swearing, just good, clean, wholesome fun. Sadly, there is lacking in most modern comedy shows.
This skit of theirs is so timeless and one of, if not THE best crafted comedy skits ever written. It plays on a continuous loop playing in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
My dad and I used to watch reruns of their shows and movies every weekend when I was a kid. So much of their stuff is just perfectly timed, absolute hilarity. So much rehearsal had to go into all of these bits. So damn funny.
My field is the English Language and I have to say, while the delivery of this profoundly speaks of two lives lived in Vaudeville, the composition of this dialogue is nothing short of phenomenal. If you parse all this out, it maps out into what Music calls Baroque Variations. There is a precise, progressive evolution in the interplay of the swapping of descriptive phrases and nicknames. It really is a thing of beauty and logic, like a fractal branch.
I don't know how many times i've watched this skit , i still love it ! And it really warms my heart to see young people watching it and have a good laugh and understanding how good these two men were at what they did !
85 years old and young folk are STILL Listening. hat is Awesome is this Skit earned a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame! A lone Gold Record sitting there in with the greats like Babe Ruth.
Yeah, when you really stop and think about it, it's a silly skit, but it's delivered so quickly and perfectly that it's hilarious. You really buy into the idea that he doesn't get it and the ability to pull that off so effortlessly is what makes this skit so incredible. imo
Costello's absolutely tremendous, but one should be careful not to overlook the difficult role of the "straight" man. You need that "normal" character up there pretending there's nothing out of the ordinary going on to give you the contrast with the wacky dude. It also makes Costello's character more relatable, as we've all been in situations where everyone else seemed to take in-stride things that seemed absolutely insane to us. A lot of absurdist comedy relies on having someone who's able to seem completely sincere about ridiculous things, because if there was even a hint of a wink from them to say that they're aware of or in on the joke, the situation stops being absurd.
Let me tell you, I grew up in the '50's watching this and it is still just as funny today as the first time I saw it. Truly great talent. And I could watch this with my grandmother.
When Abbott and Costello's time as an act nearing its end, it was announced by a spokesman for the comedians on May 29, 1956, that a gold recording of the pair's “Who's on First?” routine would be placed on permanent display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
Now 66, I grew up watching Abbott & Costello and this routine is such a classic, that it is in the Baseball Hall of Fame!. These brothers came out of the super old theater style of vaudeville, where the emphasis on the banter and squeezing out the storyline is as comparable to the echo, backbeat, call & response patter is as fluid as Eminem lyrics. 👍🏾😎👍🏾
Genius is correct. One of the top comedy teams in human history and a perfect skit. It was fun to watch them watch Abbott & Costello and fully appreciate their genius.
Thanks very much for sharing this, very funny! By the way, it's in The Baseball Hall of Fame. Abbott & Costello never repeated the bit exactly the same because in order to keep it fresh, each tried to trip the other up so each time was a new battle of wits/fun. The best version of this, all time, is in the Abbott and Costello film "The Naughty 90's", which otherwise wasn't that good. After a whole day of shooting the bit for the movie, the director/editors wove together a final version that astounded Bud and Lou as it kept the very best bits of their improv/variations. By the way, Lou Costello, the short dumpy one here, was an All State basketball player at Patterson High School and often picked up chump money when he was a struggling unknown by challenging local yokels on town courts when he was on the road. If anyone isn't familiar with the boys, you have cheated yourself as they made the funniest horror flick of all time, "Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein". With the Werewolf and Dracula and at the end in an unbilled cameo, Vincent Price as The Invisible Man. It works because they keep the comedy and the horror separate, the monsters are truly scary. Thank you again James AKA Jamal for sharing this video from the boy's TV show, which huge fan Seinfeld says inspired how his show was structured, with the crazy neighbors, and the look of it.
You NAILED it and I was just telling my wife the same as I viewed this...how many times did they rehearse this to NEVER miss a beat?!?! Not one stutter, no editing...straight from the heart. Much like Stairway to Heaven...TIMELESS!!!
This skit never gets old. I have seen it many times & it still is funny! This is what you call good clean comedy that has lasted for decades. That was real talent! What a difference compared to the garbage that gets passed off today as comedy full of swearing & dirty jokes.
To be fair, that has a place in comedy too. I love the old comedians and performers, but they are not the only kind out there. sometimes the world is kind of crude and comedy reflects that.
There was just as much swearing and dirty jokes back then. There are just as many clean comics now. Nothing changed except whether or not you were allowed to say it on television.
This is the Holy Grail of skit comedy. Greatest skit ever made. They first did it in a movie called "The Naughty 90s", where they were doing vaudeville on a Mississippi riverboat.
That there are still people showing this to other people almost a century later is a testament to how good this is. Superman was first published in 1938. This comedy routine written and performed by Abbott and Costello predates that, and was based off burlesque show routines from the late 20s and early 30s. Abbott and Costello didn't invent the idea behind this famous sketch, but they honed and shaped this particular dialogue into absolute perfection. It never gets old. Well it is old but it feels just as fresh and fun and since weird names for baseball players is still a thing, so's this gag.
I'm also watches a hundred times and I still laugh every time I see it. Even though I know it's coming. The skill involved and not missing a beat. Keeping the story going is incredible. Love your videos keep them up
I’m 53 years old and have been hearing this my whole life. It never gets old- and neither does anything from these two guys! Their movies are hilarious!!
I used to work in a nursing home years ago and we put on a show for them with singers, piano players and skits. I and another aide did this one. I studied this and rehearsed it with my dad for 2 weeks every day and still messed up once but she covered and we were back on. I did the same for her. One of my favorite memories of working there. I also did a pillow dance to Turkey In The Straw. You should check to see if you can find a performance of someone doing that. Hilarious 😂
This skit was originally written by two black vaudeville performers in Hoboken NJ, I knew one of them Daz who worked at a place called the Halfway House Inn in Scotch Plaines back in 1974 -1976. They were cousins and sold the act to Abbott & Costello who seen the act and he even had the contract with the signatures, I wish I hade a camera handy to take a photo of him and the contract. He was the town homeless man and I would see him as a child wondering around town. When I would stop at my mom's work at that restaurant as I went to Vo-Tech school, I would chat and loved to hear his life stories about those day's, he enjoyed performing and was crushed when his cousin sold the act from under him. I was sad when we moved out of town and yet I knew he was happy that he could tell his life story to someone.
We've all done this to some extent. Ever try to explain something to someone and they just don't get it? This is it. Anything that can make all generations laugh is classic. There will never be another Abbott and Costello. They come around once in a lifetime. Glad you enjoyed it. They have other skits too. Look them up.
And this is why Abbott and Costello are still known today. They were brilliant and the jokes are still funny after all these years. Those two were Master Craftsman!!!!!
when i was young i remember seeing this with him , and it was definitely a lifelong running joke between us , every chance we got to throw in a "who's on first" we did. Its amazing how long and how much of an impact comedy has on life.
What is monumentally fun is now you're IN on the joke, so it will forever be in the back of your brain, and someone goes "Wait, who's on first?" and you'll just go, "Naturally..." Or, "Who's on third?" and you'll automatically respond with, "No, Who's on first..." It's an IYKYK, and the shared smile of those in the know is really special (and if they don't know, you get to share it with them!).
I watched them do the original and have watched them 50 times on you tube and I’m still laughing! I’m 82 years old this year and wish I was back there, when this was first done!
Bud and Lou Oh my gawd brother thank you soooo much. They were SUCH a HUGE part of my childhood and they still make me hoot!!! Have you ever seen the one with them as ghosts, and Lou at the well trying to quench his thirst?🤣🤣😂😂😁💯🤣
A friend of mine, and me got sent to the principal's office for doing this in class. This was back when they still gave swats in school. We were supposed to get swats, but the principal was laughing so hard, he sent us to detention instead.
they had that down cold and were perfect professionals. They had a performance of that skit for the USO for troops heading off to WWII that had been scheduled. On the morning of that day, Lou Costello's child had drowned in the family pool. He still put on the show for the troops and nobody at the show knew.
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Classic comedic word play, this never gets old!🤣😂😅
Abbot and Costello are Kings of Comedy!!!!!!!
I HIGHLY suggest you watch some Burns and Allen.
Very good job guys! That Abbott and Costello with Who's on first will never be topped!🤣👍😂
I think you would like Red Skelton too
One of the best things ever in baseball was when Taiwanese player, Chin-Lung Hu, played for a short time with the Dodgers big league club.....he hit a single and it was one of the greatest things to happen in baseball to be announced on air, and it was none other than Vin Scully who noticed the situation and said: "In shades of Abbot and Costello I can finally say Who is on first base.” Such a great moment with legendary Vin Scully!
I don't know if you understand the game of cricket, but a long time ago, there was a situation where the batsman from England was Peter Willey and the bowler (pitcher) was from West Indies, and his name was Michael Holding. The commentator blurted out "The batsman's Holding, the bowler's Willey". Priceless.
@@sopwithpuppy That was a classic. I also recall a time when Dennis Lillee was caught by Peter Willey off the bowling of Graham Dilley.
Lillee - caught Willey - bowled Dilley.
@@sopwithpuppy Haha…that’s funny!
@@sopwithpuppy Reminds me of a gym class I covered when I was substituting. The main teacher on the floor gave me the chart to do attendance for my class and assured me the other teachers would handle everything else. After all, it was a nice day and we were just going to go outside and play on the sport fields. After all the equipment was distributed she yelled, "Okay everybody, grab your balls and head outside!"
Dear gawd!!! No he didn't!!!
Laughed so hard n tears!!!😂😆😅😜😁
Thanks for the Google search!!!
My favorite part is when Lou gets all the positions right and then says: "I don't know what I'm talkin' about!"
_Third base!_
Who's on 1st. What's on 2nd. I don't knows on 3rd. I'm not sure shortstop.
@Louis Winterbower: I don't give a darn!
Mine too the delivery of that line is amazing!
"When you pay the first baseman off every month, who gets the money?"
"Yes."
"...."
"Sometimes his wife comes and collects it."
"Who's wife?"
"Yes."
"........"
THE greatest comedy sketch ever written (in my opinion)… NO ONE could possibly recreate the electricity generated by this classic duo ☝️😁⚾️⚾️⚾️
LOL...I'm actually exhausted just from watching it....awesome...sure brings back memories!
@@janearkell5185 … I cherish the memories of spending time in my childhood with my mother who got me into watching the Abbott & Costello movies & comedy shows. She was absolutely in tears from laughter when we saw this routine for the first time 😂😂😂. We would always spend time on Saturdays watching their double features that were shown on our tv networks here 👍😁
I seem to recall reading that it was actually an old vaudeville routine originally, but they certainly perfected it and brought it to the TV era.
@@jeremymull6138 … To quote an old saying, they well & truly “turned a lump of coal into a diamond” ✊️😄👍
The rhythm to it and that they could each keep ahead of the other is amazing even after all these years
This skit is an absolute masterclass in delivery and comedic timing. It's utter perfection.
Its perfectly written and flawlessly executed. I don't know if its better written or performed.
@@averagegatsby, this delivery is widely considered as the definitive version.
Yes it is, I've always said the comedians and actors back in the the day were the truly talented ones. Sing, dance, act, play instruments all in one package where as today you don't get anything near it without music tracks or lip syncing.
AMEN!!!
Agreed
100 years from now, people will still be laughing at this. Abbott and Costello are eternal.
It is such a Gold Standard play on miscommunication.
I’m putting money on “in a thousand years” 👍😂💵💵💵
@@gerardroll6468 As long as there are folks who still understand 20th century English.
People will laugh at this until baseball ceases to be played at the professional level. Which it will, some day. Maybe in decades, maybe in centuries. Nothing is eternal.
@@Two4Brew … Oh there will be ✌️😁
I was once watching a game with a roommate and his girlfriend asked "who's on first?" Without saying a word to each other, we started doing the bit. His girlfriend, without knowing what we were doing, naturally started doing the Lou Costello part and we did the Bud Abbott lines. We had her going for several minutes. I'll never forget it.
I wish that was recorded-that was a magical few minutes it sounds like!
Would it be safe to say you all were laughing real hard at the end?😆😁
One of the best lineups ever... Jimmy Hu, Fred Watt, Victor Adunough, Tom Wye, Cesar Tamara, Haruto Tidei, and Eidon Givatarn. Heavy hitters all!
I am embarrassed. I'd been misspelling Victor's last name as "Idanough".
You forgot the 8 and 9 hitters, Koko B. Kuz and Ulysses Nobhady.
(The right fielder Nobody was only identified in a board game.)
It is said that they performed this routine over 1,000 times and never messed it up. Pure comic brilliance along with many other routines.
Actually, they messed up all the time. In fact, in order to keep the routine fresh, they deliberately tried to fool each other. the genius is that they were each able to go with whatever curve the other threw them. That is why no two recorded versions of this routine are the same. For example, if you play the video again, you will notice that Bud tries to introduce paying Who before Lou is ready but it does not interrupt or slow the routine.
I learned this skit for a talent show. The easiest way to do is to forget the script. Learn the rules for how they respond and then just have a conversation with your partner.
I heard they estimated it was closer to 10,000 but who's counting. I've seen a few of these and I don't think they ever did it exactly the same way twice.
@@GarthKlein this makes the routine even better
@@pierrelevasseur2701 Who's on first, he's not counting. 😂🤣😅
"Who's On First" plays constantly at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown , NY . I've heard it many times and still laugh . The timing and cadence of the skit is impeccable . Abbott and Costello did many movies and had a TV show .
Don't forget the radio show. You can find them on Internet Archives.
Nearly 80 years later and this sketch is still as funny now as it was then ,
Has to be the best written comedy bit ever
This skit is timeless. It transcends time, cultures, age, generations... People will laugh at this hundreds of years from now. You really don't even need to understand much about baseball to get it. It's cool to see so many different people from different walks of life appreciate it.
This routine NEVER gets old. The GOAT f them all.
My Mom was a huge baseball fan - and an Abbott and Costello fan. She and her dad introduced me to this skit when I was just a kid - and I still laugh so hard when I watch this. So happy to see that it still has an audience. Thank you!!!
73 years old, and I still laugh every time I hear it
Same here. I have never been able to watch it or listen to it without laughing.
We just showed this to our 17 yo grandson (he had never heard before) All of us laughing😂
it thrills me and warms my heart to see younger generations appreciating classic comedy gold like this! thank you for posting!
In my senior year of high school, I did this routine with a friend for the end of year variety show that the theater department put on. I played the funny man (Costello) part and my friend played the straight man (Abbot). It was so much fun to learn and rehearse. The hardest part was to avoid getting caught in loops of dialogue. We would get caught in a circular back and forth of “I’m not asking you who’s on second….No Who’s on first….” and so on. There were certain transitional lines that moved it from one section to the next. It is a brilliantly scripted piece. It’s almost like an announcer calling a play by play with the dialogue being the “ball” that goes from base to base. I would LOVE to perform this again somewhere!
A friend of mine and I performed this during a "talent show" when we were in junior high school. We discovered that we both knew and loved this sketch during lunch one day when someone in our group asked, "Who?", and I popped off with "Who's on first!", and my friend immediately responded with the next line, and we started the routine. I think by then we "might" have worn our teachers out with things like talking in "Pig Latin", and an old "round" my mom taught me called "What's Life", and a few other assorted oldies, so the teachers said, "Y'all might as well entertain the whole school!", snd insisted that we perform it for the show. It was actually a lot of fun to do! But we had to write it all down from a cassette tape to rehearse !
About 70 years later people still love it its so cool
Not only did they get through this skit flawlessly, it is comic gold! And I have heard it my whole life (and I’m not longer young), and I laugh every time! It’s got infinite comedy power. Amazing. Blows my mind.
When I first watched this. I didn’t know that Costello‘s son had just drowned in the pool, and he still came out and did the skit. He was a complete professional and went on stage as if nothing it happened. That is true professionalism. May they both rest in peace.
This is probably the greatest comedy sketch ever written from the Golden Age of Vaudeville before TV was even a thing. It wasn't before baseball, obviously, but it's still sobering to note that such a classic routine could stand the test of time. There is truly nothing new under the sun. 😄
These guys were among the best comedians of all time.
This is an all time classic. It never gets old.They did this entire skit from memory usually in front of a live audience.
I worked with a theater group in Southern Maryland and a friend of mine wanted to do this sketch together. I told him he was crazy, but we did it anyway. It was SOOOO hard to get it, but even more rewarding when we pulled it off. We did it about a dozen times over the course of a couple of months. We were asked to do it for fund raisers for several charities (including our County Arts Council) and we did every request. The smallest crowd was about 80 people but the biggest crowd was over 2,000! WHAT A RUSH! I never had so much fun on stage in my life. After one performance a little old lady of about 80 or so years came up to us and said 'You guys were great!' so we thanked her and she continued 'You were better than Abbott and Costello' to which we replied, 'Thank you so much, but no... they were the masters.' She scowled at us and said 'I saw then do it live and you guys were better!' I still don't believe her but all we could say was 'OK.... thank you again.' Later we did the one about the race horse...
It will outlive all of us,for eons to come😅🤣😂🤣😂
I think that at this point this skit has pretty much become part of our cultural DNA. Bless you Jamel, for sharing it forward, as you do with so many great recordings.
It's such a delight watching a young lad see this for the first time, and be whelmed by the sheer zanyness of it all.
I first heard this skit as a kid more than 50 years ago (and it was several decades old then), and it still never fails to crack me up. It's a masterclass in speed and timing.
The greatest comedy routine of all time in my opinion. The simplicity of it, the speed and the timing. It's a perfect bit that anyone can listen to and get it.
Ah! That brings back so many memories. Abbott and Costello was the duo we were always allowed to stay up late to watch! What an incredible duo; and always left us in tears of laughter.
I remember my Dad watching this in the 70's. I'm 62 now and this never gets old. The more you listen to it, the funnier it gets. Absolute geniuses.
Can you even imagine not only doing that whole *long* skit so incredibly clean but doing it on the spot with a live audience? Abbot and Costello were freakin' legend, man.
I love this sort of clever work play humour. Do smuttiness, no crudeness, no swearing, just good, clean, wholesome fun. Sadly, there is lacking in most modern comedy shows.
The chemistry between those two was incredible! That's why this routine has been passed down from generation to generation, because nobody can top it!
Although Tim Conway comes in a close 2nd
@@thesimwarlock Tim Conway was a natural for sure!
Best comedy skit ever...........timeless.
This skit of theirs is so timeless and one of, if not THE best crafted comedy skits ever written. It plays on a continuous loop playing in the Baseball Hall of Fame.
No matter how many times I see this done by Abbott and Costello it still cracks me up !! This was pure Genius !! 😝👍👍
Seen this so many times but still enthralled by it. So clever, funny and timeless. One of THE greatest comedy sketches of all time!
A timeless classic! One of the very best comedy routines ever!
My dad and I used to watch reruns of their shows and movies every weekend when I was a kid. So much of their stuff is just perfectly timed, absolute hilarity. So much rehearsal had to go into all of these bits. So damn funny.
My field is the English Language and I have to say, while the delivery of this profoundly speaks of two lives lived in Vaudeville, the composition of this dialogue is nothing short of phenomenal. If you parse all this out, it maps out into what Music calls Baroque Variations. There is a precise, progressive evolution in the interplay of the swapping of descriptive phrases and nicknames. It really is a thing of beauty and logic, like a fractal branch.
As a kid, I painstakingly transcribed this from a cassette, just so I could learn it and have it forever.
I don't know how many times i've watched this skit , i still love it ! And it really warms my heart to see young people watching it and have a good laugh and understanding how good these two men were at what they did !
85 years old and young folk are STILL Listening. hat is Awesome is this Skit earned a spot in the Baseball Hall of Fame! A lone Gold Record sitting there in with the greats like Babe Ruth.
Yeah, when you really stop and think about it, it's a silly skit, but it's delivered so quickly and perfectly that it's hilarious. You really buy into the idea that he doesn't get it and the ability to pull that off so effortlessly is what makes this skit so incredible. imo
Exactly this.
Besides the banter back and forth being funny on it's own, Lou Costello's mannerisms and reactions really make their comedy bits even funnier.
Costello's absolutely tremendous, but one should be careful not to overlook the difficult role of the "straight" man. You need that "normal" character up there pretending there's nothing out of the ordinary going on to give you the contrast with the wacky dude. It also makes Costello's character more relatable, as we've all been in situations where everyone else seemed to take in-stride things that seemed absolutely insane to us.
A lot of absurdist comedy relies on having someone who's able to seem completely sincere about ridiculous things, because if there was even a hint of a wink from them to say that they're aware of or in on the joke, the situation stops being absurd.
@@michaelccozens I agree
Let me tell you, I grew up in the '50's watching this and it is still just as funny today as the first time I saw it. Truly great talent. And I could watch this with my grandmother.
I first saw this about 50 years ago and it was over twenty years old then, pure genius! Never gets old, only better!!!
SO glad to see a new generation enjoying this. These guys were fantastic.
👍😎 I’ve been listening to this for over 50 years and still cracks me up every time. Best comedy routine EVER
When Abbott and Costello's time as an act nearing its end, it was announced by a spokesman for the comedians on May 29, 1956, that a gold recording of the pair's “Who's on First?” routine would be placed on permanent display at the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum.
Now 66, I grew up watching Abbott & Costello and this routine is such a classic, that it is in the Baseball Hall of Fame!. These brothers came out of the super old theater style of vaudeville, where the emphasis on the banter and squeezing out the storyline is as comparable to the echo, backbeat, call & response patter is as fluid as Eminem lyrics. 👍🏾😎👍🏾
They weren't brothers, Bud Abbott & Lou Costello
@@thesimwarlock pretty sure he's using the term "brothers" to mean "mates".
Do not compare the low life garbage high speed trash talk chanting of Eminem’s singing “to” the high standard genius of Abbott & Costello.
Its great to see another new generation discovering "Who's on First" . Abbott and Costello will live on forever................as long as baseball.
Iconic.....nothing short of iconic. First heard this back in the 60's I think it was. It was sheer brilliance then and has grown with age !!
I'm 71 and heard this maybe 100 times in my life and I still laugh. Every single time.
My favorite part is seeing people discover the classics of Abbott & Costello and Burns & Allen, et al. So glad you found them!!
Genius is correct. One of the top comedy teams in human history and a perfect skit. It was fun to watch them watch Abbott & Costello and fully appreciate their genius.
Thanks very much for sharing this, very funny! By the way, it's in The Baseball Hall of Fame.
Abbott & Costello never repeated the bit exactly the same because in order to keep it fresh, each tried to trip the other up
so each time was a new battle of wits/fun.
The best version of this, all time, is in the Abbott and Costello film "The Naughty 90's", which otherwise wasn't that good.
After a whole day of shooting the bit for the movie, the director/editors wove together a final version that astounded Bud and Lou
as it kept the very best bits of their improv/variations. By the way, Lou Costello, the short dumpy one here, was an All State
basketball player at Patterson High School and often picked up chump money when he was a struggling unknown
by challenging local yokels on town courts when he was on the road.
If anyone isn't familiar with the boys, you have cheated yourself as they made the funniest horror flick of all time,
"Abbot and Costello Meet Frankenstein". With the Werewolf and Dracula and at the end in an unbilled cameo, Vincent
Price as The Invisible Man. It works because they keep the comedy and the horror separate, the monsters are truly scary.
Thank you again James AKA Jamal for sharing this video from the boy's TV show, which huge fan Seinfeld says inspired how
his show was structured, with the crazy neighbors, and the look of it.
Im 70 and I love that skit! I been watching their baseball skit for 60 years when it on! Its still cracks me up!
I’m 63 yrs old and been laughing at this routine since the 1960’s when I a small child , love it hahaha
This skit is totally, unequivocally and without a doubt PURE GENIUS.
Abbott and Costello remain one of my favorites to this day. Their monster movies are loads of fun.
You NAILED it and I was just telling my wife the same as I viewed this...how many times did they rehearse this to NEVER miss a beat?!?! Not one stutter, no editing...straight from the heart. Much like Stairway to Heaven...TIMELESS!!!
Great laughs with Abbott & Costello, my era for TV ….. Good times !!
😘
There will NEVER be another comedy team as AWESOME as Abbot and Costello! They are one of a kind! UNBELIEVABLE!
This skit never gets old. I have seen it many times & it still is funny! This is what you call good clean comedy that has lasted for decades. That was real talent! What a difference compared to the garbage that gets passed off today as comedy full of swearing & dirty jokes.
To be fair, that has a place in comedy too. I love the old comedians and performers, but they are not the only kind out there. sometimes the world is kind of crude and comedy reflects that.
There was just as much swearing and dirty jokes back then. There are just as many clean comics now. Nothing changed except whether or not you were allowed to say it on television.
@@Rystefn The first time I heard Redd Foxx's standup my jaw dropped. Then the uncontrollable laughter seized me.
This is the Holy Grail of skit comedy. Greatest skit ever made. They first did it in a movie called "The Naughty 90s", where they were doing vaudeville on a Mississippi riverboat.
That there are still people showing this to other people almost a century later is a testament to how good this is. Superman was first published in 1938. This comedy routine written and performed by Abbott and Costello predates that, and was based off burlesque show routines from the late 20s and early 30s. Abbott and Costello didn't invent the idea behind this famous sketch, but they honed and shaped this particular dialogue into absolute perfection. It never gets old. Well it is old but it feels just as fresh and fun and since weird names for baseball players is still a thing, so's this gag.
My kids and I watched this together for the first time a few years ago. Absolute brilliance.
I'm also watches a hundred times and I still laugh every time I see it. Even though I know it's coming. The skill involved and not missing a beat. Keeping the story going is incredible. Love your videos keep them up
I’m 53 years old and have been hearing this my whole life. It never gets old- and neither does anything from these two guys! Their movies are hilarious!!
Their timing was impeccable... They were known for that.. Top notch!
I've seen this bit so many times and it never gets old and always makes me laugh.
Never gets old.. very funny each and every time.. even better to watch someone who has never seen it and the light comes on.. wonderful!
I first saw this when I was about 6 or 7; my grandparents had me watch it. I was crying and laughing hysterically. Pure comedy.
One word to describe Abbott and Costello... PRICELESS!
I used to work in a nursing home years ago and we put on a show for them with singers, piano players and skits. I and another aide did this one. I studied this and rehearsed it with my dad for 2 weeks every day and still messed up once but she covered and we were back on. I did the same for her. One of my favorite memories of working there. I also did a pillow dance to Turkey In The Straw. You should check to see if you can find a performance of someone doing that. Hilarious 😂
Abbott and Costello were some of the best!
I wish they would show their monster movies, those were good too!
I've seen this a zillion times and it never fails to make me laugh out loud. Comedic genius.
This skit was originally written by two black vaudeville performers in Hoboken NJ, I knew one of them Daz who worked at a place called the Halfway House Inn in Scotch Plaines back in 1974 -1976. They were cousins and sold the act to Abbott & Costello who seen the act and he even had the contract with the signatures, I wish I hade a camera handy to take a photo of him and the contract. He was the town homeless man and I would see him as a child wondering around town. When I would stop at my mom's work at that restaurant as I went to Vo-Tech school, I would chat and loved to hear his life stories about those day's, he enjoyed performing and was crushed when his cousin sold the act from under him. I was sad when we moved out of town and yet I knew he was happy that he could tell his life story to someone.
I still watch Abbott and Costello reruns, soo funny
We've all done this to some extent. Ever try to explain something to someone and they just don't get it? This is it. Anything that can make all generations laugh is classic. There will never be another Abbott and Costello. They come around once in a lifetime. Glad you enjoyed it. They have other skits too. Look them up.
They perfected their act on the Vaudeville circuit. They were geniuses, that was the golden age of entertainment.
It’s always great to see the reaction of those seeing this for the first time!
I listened to this when 9 was a child, greatest comedian duo team of their day. Absolute geniuses. "WHO'S ON FIRST" is pure Genius.
It's timeless. It's always the "I don't know... 3rd base" that always gets me the most.
And this is why Abbott and Costello are still known today. They were brilliant and the jokes are still funny after all these years. Those two were Master Craftsman!!!!!
when i was young i remember seeing this with him , and it was definitely a lifelong running joke between us , every chance we got to throw in a "who's on first" we did. Its amazing how long and how much of an impact comedy has on life.
Nice to see laughter over the classics. So many ignore this kind of fun. It truly amazes me what passes for comedy today.
These two men are legends !!!! Their movies were some of the funniest of all time !!!! My childhood favorites, right there with three stooges.
What is monumentally fun is now you're IN on the joke, so it will forever be in the back of your brain, and someone goes "Wait, who's on first?" and you'll just go, "Naturally..." Or, "Who's on third?" and you'll automatically respond with, "No, Who's on first..." It's an IYKYK, and the shared smile of those in the know is really special (and if they don't know, you get to share it with them!).
I'm 60 yr. old and this was before my time. But it never gets old and is always hilarious.
So glad you guys watched this! Comedy gold from a couple of the masters. Loved watching your reactions. Priceless.
Never gets old no matter how many times I watch it!
Saturday morning after cartoons watching Abbott and Costello and the The Bowery Boys! Man growing up in the 70's was awesome.
You said exactly what I was thinking. They've done this skit probably hundreds of times but they still do it flawlessly.
Agreed No one could ever recreate this so fluidly
I watched them do the original and have watched them 50 times on you tube and I’m still laughing! I’m 82 years old this year and wish I was back there, when this was first done!
Bud and Lou
Oh my gawd brother thank you soooo much. They were SUCH a HUGE part of my childhood and they still make me hoot!!! Have you ever seen the one with them as ghosts, and Lou at the well trying to quench his thirst?🤣🤣😂😂😁💯🤣
That skit is timeless because it's so perfectly written. 300 years from now any English-speaking person will still find it hilarious.
A friend of mine, and me got sent to the principal's office for doing this in class. This was back when they still gave swats in school. We were supposed to get swats, but the principal was laughing so hard, he sent us to detention instead.
they had that down cold and were perfect professionals. They had a performance of that skit for the USO for troops heading off to WWII that had been scheduled. On the morning of that day, Lou Costello's child had drowned in the family pool. He still put on the show for the troops and nobody at the show knew.
I never get tired of hearing this routine,thanks for the memory