"Night Live"" host Charlie Sheen and ""SNL"" cast-member Rachel Dratch performed a modified version of ""Who's On First?"" in a sketch. A TV movie called ""Bud and Lou"", based on a book by Hollywood correspondent Bob Thomas, was broadcast in 1978. Starring Harvey Korman as Bud Abbott and Buddy Hackett as Lou Costello, the film told the duo's life story, focusing on Costello and portraying him as volatile and petty. The 1991 Comedy series Morton & Hayes featured a retired two man comedic acting team similar to Abbot and Costello. Jerry Seinfeld is an avid Abbott and Costello fan and"
"Abbott and Costello Abbott and Costello were an American comedy duo composed of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, whose work on radio and in film and television made them the most popular comedy team of the 1940s and early 1950s. Their patter routine ""Who's on First?"" is one of the best-known comedy routines of all time in the world, and set the framework for many of their best-known comedy bits. While they had crossed paths a few times prior, the two comedians first worked together in 1935 at the Eltinge Burlesque Theater on 42nd Street in New York City, which"
"Bud Abbott William Alexander ""Bud"" Abbott (October 2, 1897 – April 24, 1974) was an American actor, best known for his film comedy double act, as straight man to Lou Costello. Born into a showbusiness family, Abbott worked in the box office of several theatres, before becoming a comedian/producer of burlesque shows on Broadway, where he allowed Costello to appear with him when his own partner was off ill. They formally teamed up in 1935. Their signature routine, ""Who's on First?"", was carried through to radio and then to their film debut ""One Night in the Tropics"" (1940) and ""Buck"
"Lou Costello Louis Francis Cristillo, professionally known as Lou Costello (March 6, 1906 – March 3, 1959) was an American actor, best known for his film comedy double act with straight man Bud Abbott. Costello had started as an athlete, before working in burlesque on Broadway, where he stood-in for Abbott’s partner who had failed to show up. They formally teamed up in 1935. Their signature routine, ""Who's on First?"", was carried through to radio and then to their film debut ""One Night in the Tropics"" (1940) and ""Buck Privates"" (1941). The duo would go on to make 36 films."
"The Abbott and Costello Show The Abbott and Costello Show is an American television sitcom starring the popular comedy team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello. The program premiered in syndication in the fall of 1952 and ran two seasons, to the spring of 1954. Each season ran 26 episodes. The series is considered to be among the most influential comedy programs in history. In 1998 ""Entertainment Weekly"" praised the series as one of the ""100 Greatest TV Shows of All Time"". In 2007, ""Time"" magazine selected it for its ""The 100 Best TV Shows of All-TIME."" Jerry Seinfeld has"
"linguistics and miscommunication, it mirrors themes of the ""Who's on First?"" Routine. The names also have significance in the film because the heptapod named Abbott is taller and quieter while the heptapod named Costello is shorter and chattier, just as the real Abbott and Costello were on their shows. Abbott and Costello Abbott and Costello were an American comedy duo composed of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, whose work on radio and in film and television made them the most popular comedy team of the 1940s and early 1950s. Their patter routine ""Who's on First?"" is one of the best-known"
"John Grant (screenwriter) John Grant (December 27, 1891 – November 19, 1955) was a writer best known for his association with Abbott and Costello. Lou Costello called him their ""chief idea man"". Grant was a burlesque comedian, straight man and producer. He worked for the Mutual Burlesque wheel and the Minsky's in the 1930s. In 1938, after Abbott and Costello joined the Kate Smith radio program, they hired Grant, who was then working in Toronto, to be their head writer. The team performed their signature sketch, ""Who's on First?"", on the program in March, 1938. Grant contributed to the sketch"
"and Costello Cartoon Show"", with Stan Irwin providing the voice of Lou Costello. Bud and Betty Abbott were married for 55 years. The couple adopted two children: Bud Jr. in 1942 and Vickie in 1949. Bud Jr. died on January 19, 1997, at age 57. Abbott has three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame: the radio star is located at 6333 Hollywood Boulevard, the motion pictures star is located at 1611 Vine Street, and the television star is located at 6740 Hollywood Boulevard. Abbott died of cancer at age 76 on April 24, 1974, at his home in Woodland"
"The Abbott and Costello Cartoon Show The Abbott and Costello Cartoon Show is an American half-hour animated series of the famous comedy duo that aired in syndication from September 9, 1967 to June 1, 1968. Each of the 39 individual episodes consisted of four five-minute cartoons. The cartoons were created jointly by Hanna-Barbera, RKO General and Jomar Productions between 1965 and 1967. The series was syndicated by Gold Key Entertainment and King World Productions, with the rights now owned by Warner Bros. Television Distribution. The primary feature of this cartoon series was the fact that Bud Abbott supplied the voice"
"a series of 156 five-minute ""Abbott and Costello"" cartoons made by Hanna-Barbera. Lou's character was voiced by Stan Irwin. Bud Abbott died of cancer on April 24, 1974. For a number of years Abbott and Costello were ranked among the most popular stars in the US according to the Quigley Publishers Poll of Exhibitors: The 1960s cartoon series was not the first time Abbott and Costello were animated. During the height of their popularity in the 1940s, Warner Bros.'s Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies animation unit produced 3 cartoons featuring the pair as cats or mice named ""Babbit and Catstello"". One of"
"a larger split of their salary, and Abbott agreed. Abbott and Costello were signed by the William Morris talent agency, which succeeded in landing them featured roles and national exposure on ""The Kate Smith Hour"", a popular variety show, in 1938. The team's signature routine, ""Who's on First?"", made its radio debut on Smith's show that year. Many of the team's sketches were further polished by John Grant, who was hired soon after the team joined the radio show. They had their own program, ""The Abbott and Costello Show"", on radio from 1942 to 1949. Their success on the Smith"
"of their filmed TV series, running approximately eight minutes. A live performance commemorating the opening day of the Lou Costello Jr Youth Foundation in 1947 was recorded, and has been included in numerous comedy albums. The team's final performance of ""Who's on First?"" on TV was on Steve Allen's variety show in 1957. Abbott and Costello both married perfomers they met in burlesque. Abbott wed Betty Smith, a dancer and comedienne, in 1918, and Costello married a chorus girl, Anne Battler, in 1934. The Costellos had four children; the Abbotts adopted two. Abbott and Costello faced personal demons at times."
"had become a standard bit for burlesque comics across the United States. Abbott's wife recalled him performing the routine with another comedian before teaming with Costello. Bud Abbott stated that it was taken from an older routine called ""Who's The Boss?"", a performance of which can be heard in an episode of the radio comedy program ""It Pays to Be Ignorant"" from the 1940s. After they formally teamed up in burlesque in 1936, he and Costello continued to hone the sketch. It was a big hit in 1937, when they performed the routine in a touring vaudeville revue called ""Hollywood"
"that, shortly after Abbott and Costello teamed up, they paid Musto $15 to write the script. Furthermore, several 1996 obituaries of songwriter Irving Gordon mention that he had written the sketch. The sketch has been reprised, updated, alluded to, and parodied innumerable times over the decades in all forms of media. Some notable examples include: Who's on First? ""Who's on First?"" is a comedy routine made famous by Abbott and Costello. The premise of the sketch is that Abbott is identifying the players on a baseball team for Costello, but their names and nicknames can be interpreted as non-responsive answers"
"comedy team Abbott and Costello: Regardless, Allied Artists film studio offered Mitchell and Petrillo a contract, and the production company Federal Films pitched the two on a TV series. ""We were offered things we turned down. We were stupid"", Petrillo said in 1991. The duo did play the Flamingo Hotel in Las Vegas, and Hollywood's famed Cocoanut Grove, and made a single TV appearance as a team, on the local L.A. program ""The Spade Cooley Show"", starring American Western swing musician and big band leader Donnell Clyde ""Spade"" Cooley. In 1953, Petrillo, solo, guest-starred in a TV pilot, ""Wings for"
"began to appear on live television, becoming one of the rotating hosts of ""The Colgate Comedy Hour"" (Eddie Cantor, Martin and Lewis and Bob Hope were among the others) and the following year they began their own filmed situation comedy, ""The Abbott and Costello Show"". Costello owned the half-hour series, with Abbott working on salary. The show, which was loosely adapted from their radio program, ran for two seasons, from 1952 to 1954, but found long life in syndicated reruns. They were forced to withdraw from ""Fireman Save My Child"" in 1954 due to Costello's poor health — he had"
"that he can respond to for laughs, while seeking no acclamation for himself. In vaudeville, effective straight men were much less common than comedians. The straight man's name usually appeared first and he usually received 60% of the take. This helped take the sting out of not being the laugh-getter and helped ensure the straight man's loyalty to the team. Abbott and Costello, one of America's most popular comedy duos of the 1940s and 50s in radio, film and television, began as nightclub performers when the straight-faced Bud Abbott contrasted against the bumbling Lou Costello; Abbott, unusually, allowed Costello a"
"burlesque and vaudeville was passed down to his daughters. He also inspired his great grandson, Ken Drab, who in 2008 became a webcomic. He was married to former burlesque star, Dorothy Maye Grant. John Grant (screenwriter) John Grant (December 27, 1891 – November 19, 1955) was a writer best known for his association with Abbott and Costello. Lou Costello called him their ""chief idea man"". Grant was a burlesque comedian, straight man and producer. He worked for the Mutual Burlesque wheel and the Minsky's in the 1930s. In 1938, after Abbott and Costello joined the Kate Smith radio program, they"
"""The Abbott and Costello Show"" originally ran for only two seasons, it found a larger viewership in reruns from the 1960s to the 1990s. The shows have also been released in three different DVD sets over the years. ""Who's on First?"" is Abbott and Costello's signature routine. TIME magazine (December 26, 1999) named it the best comedy routine of the 20th century. The sketch was based on other earlier burlesque wordplay routines. They began honing the routine shortly after teaming up in 1936, and performed it in vaudeville acts in 1937 and 1938. It was first heard by a national"
"routines without Abbott. Costello performed stand-up in Las Vegas, and appeared in episodes of ""GE Theater"" and ""Wagon Train"". On March 3, 1959, not long after completing his lone solo film, ""The 30 Foot Bride of Candy Rock"", he died of a heart attack three days short of his 53rd birthday. Abbott attempted a comeback in 1960 with Candy Candido. Although the new act received good reviews, Bud quit, saying, ""No one could ever live up to Lou."" Abbott made a solo, dramatic appearance on an episode of ""General Electric Theater"" in 1961. In 1966, Abbott voiced his character in"
"is now the lobby of an AMC Theatres movie complex. Their first performance resulted from Costello's regular partner becoming ill. Decades later, when AMC moved the old theater further west on 42nd Street to its current location, giant balloons of Abbott and Costello were rigged to appear to pull it. Other performers in the show, including Abbott's wife, encouraged a permanent pairing. The duo built an act by refining and reworking numerous burlesque sketches with Abbott as the devious straight man and Costello as the dimwitted comic. The team's first known radio broadcast was on ""The Kate Smith Hour"" on"
"Sidney Fields Sidney Fields (February 5, 1898 — September 28, 1975), born Sidney H. Feldman, was a comedy actor and writer best known for his featured role on ""The Abbott and Costello Show"" in the 1940s (radio) and early 1950s (television). He was sometimes credited as ""Sid Fields"" or ""Sidney Field"". Fields was born in Milwaukee, Wisconsin on February 5, 1898. He began his career when he was a boy, by working in local theaters. As a teenager, he worked in carnivals and tent shows in the Midwest, and later became partner in a comedy team with vaudeville and burlesque"
"in the exhibit area. Abbott and Costello each have three stars on the Hollywood Walk of Fame for their work in radio, television and motion pictures. In 1942, they were voted the country's No. 1 Box Office Stars by exhibitors. Abbott received the Lifetime Achievement Award for Acting (posthumously) from the Garden State Film Festival in 2006; it was accepted on his behalf by his daughter Vickie Abbott Wheeler. Abbott is a 2009 inductee of the New Jersey Hall of Fame. Bud Abbott William Alexander ""Bud"" Abbott (October 2, 1897 – April 24, 1974) was an American actor, best known"
"from overexposure, and were eclipsed by the team of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis, who were the hot entertainment commodity that Abbott and Costello had been a decade earlier. In 1956, after troubles with the Internal Revenue Service forced both men to sell their large homes and the rights to some of their films, Abbott and Costello made their final film together, an independent production called ""Dance with Me, Henry"". The film was a box-office disappointment and received mixed critical reviews. Abbott and Costello dissolved their partnership in 1957 amicably. Costello went back to his roots of stand-up, including stints"
"Joe Kirk Ignazio ""Nat"" Curcuruto (October 1, 1903 – April 16, 1975), better known by his stage name Joe Kirk, was a Sicilian American radio, film, and television actor who was best known for playing the role of Mr. Bacciagalupe on ""The Abbott and Costello Show"". Kirk was married to Lou Costello's sister Marie in real life, and had 2 children with her. Kirk was born Ignazio Curcuruto (known as Nat to his family) in New York City, one of four children—Letitia, Philip (1902–95), Nat (1903–75) and Josephine—of Italian immigrants from Sicily, Giuseppe ""Joe"" Curcuruto and Elvira Puglisi Curcuruto (1882–1977)."
"began performing as a straight man in the show when he could no longer afford to pay one. He continued producing and performing in burlesque shows on the Mutual Burlesque wheel, and as his reputation grew, he began working with veteran comedians like Harry Steppe and Harry Evanson. Abbott suffered from epilepsy starting from about 1926. In 1964, he suffered the first in a series of strokes. Abbott crossed paths with Lou Costello in burlesque a few times in the early 1930s when Abbott was producing and performing in Minsky's Burlesque shows and Costello was a rising comic. They first"
"the cartoons, Bob Clampett's ""A Tale of Two Kitties"" (1941), introduced Tweety. The other cartoons are ""A Tale of Two Mice"" and ""Mouse-Merized Cat"". In all three cartoons, Tedd Pierce (normally a storyman/writer for the cartoons) and Mel Blanc, respectively, provide voice impressions of the comedy duo. The revival of their former television series in syndicated reruns in the late 1960s and early 1970s helped spark renewed interest in the duo, as did the televising of many of their old film hits. In 1994, comedian Jerry Seinfeld— who says Abbott and Costello were strong influences on his work — hosted"
"Babbit and Catstello Babbit and Catstello are fictional characters, based on the comedic duo Abbott and Costello, that appeared in certain Warner Bros. animated cartoons. Although the short, fat character calls the other one ""Babbit"", the tall, skinny one (whose build is similar to that of Sylvester the Cat) never addresses his partner by name; the name ""Catstello"" was invented later. In their first three cartoons, the ""Babbit"" character was voiced by Tedd Pierce, and Mel Blanc performed ""Catstello"". Originally, the pair were cats in pursuit of a small bird for their meal in the 1942 Bob Clampett-directed cartoon ""A"
"Who's on First? ""Who's on First?"" is a comedy routine made famous by Abbott and Costello. The premise of the sketch is that Abbott is identifying the players on a baseball team for Costello, but their names and nicknames can be interpreted as non-responsive answers to Costello's questions. For example, the first baseman is named ""Who""; thus, the utterance ""Who's on first"" is ambiguous between the question (""Which person is the first baseman?"") and the answer (""The name of the first baseman is 'Who). ""Who's on First?"" is descended from turn-of-the-century burlesque sketches that used plays on words and names."
"one them features the tubby Costello being pursued by some bugeyed monster or giant sized garden pest"" and that ""None of the classic verbal exchanges which brought the real Abbott and Costello to fame in the first place are evident."" An episode of the show was released in May 2013 as part of ""The Best of Warner Bros.: Hanna Barbera 25 Cartoon Collection"" DVD set. The Abbott and Costello Cartoon Show The Abbott and Costello Cartoon Show is an American half-hour animated series of the famous comedy duo that aired in syndication from September 9, 1967 to June 1, 1968."
"mainly cameos in modern Warner Bros. animated projects such as ""The Sylvester and Tweety Mysteries"". Babbit and Catstello Babbit and Catstello are fictional characters, based on the comedic duo Abbott and Costello, that appeared in certain Warner Bros. animated cartoons. Although the short, fat character calls the other one ""Babbit"", the tall, skinny one (whose build is similar to that of Sylvester the Cat) never addresses his partner by name; the name ""Catstello"" was invented later. In their first three cartoons, the ""Babbit"" character was voiced by Tedd Pierce, and Mel Blanc performed ""Catstello"". Originally, the pair were cats in"
"Both were inveterate gamblers and had serious health problems. Abbott suffered from epilepsy and turned to alcohol for seizure management. Costello had occasional, near-fatal bouts with rheumatic fever. His son, Lou Jr., drowned in a swimming pool two days before his first birthday. In the 1950s, Abbott and Costello's popularity waned with the emergence of Dean Martin and Jerry Lewis. Another reason for their decline was overexposure. Each year they made two new films, while Realart Pictures re-issued their older hits; their filmed television series was widely syndicated, and the same routines appeared frequently on the Colgate program. (Writer Parke"
"and a Cop"", which was shot at the Lou Costello, Jr. Youth Center in East Los Angeles. In 2009, Costello was inducted into the New Jersey Hall of Fame. Abbott and Costello are among the few non-baseball personnel to be memorialized in the Baseball Hall of Fame, although they are not inductees of the Hall. A plaque and a gold record of the Who's on First? sketch have been on permanent display there since 1956, and a video of the routine loops endlessly in the exhibit area. Lou Costello Louis Francis Cristillo, professionally known as Lou Costello (March 6, 1906"