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Creator / Abbott and Costello

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https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Abbott_and_Costello_9396.jpg
Bud Abbott (left) and Lou Costello (right). Behind them, on first base: Who.

"Heeeeey, Abboooooooott!"
— Costello

William Alexander "Bud" Abbott (October 2, 1897 – April 24, 1974) and Louis Francis "Lou" Costello (March 6, 1906 – March 3, 1959) were an American Comedy Duo who worked together from 1935 to 1957, starting out in burlesque theatre and expanding into radio, television, and films. They're best remembered for their signature "Who's on First?" routine, in which Abbott attempts to tell Costello about a baseball team whose players have confusing names like "Who" and "What". ("Who's on first?" "Yes.")

In 1940, they appeared together in supporting roles in the film One Night in the Tropics, and stole the show. The following year, they had their first starring vehicle, Buck Privates. They went on to make over 30 films, remaining top-10 box office draws for the next decade. This later included the duo joining the Universal Horror Shared Universe with the pair encountering all sorts of monsters and equally fantastic situations, an artistic merger that worked surprisingly well with each franchise allowed to play to their strengths.

They also starred in The Abbott and Costello Show, a weekly sitcom-cum-sketch show that aired on radio from 1942–49 and on syndicated TV from 1952–54.

Eventually, Costello grew dissatisfied by the arrangements and left to perform his own in 1957, but he died soon after in 1959. Bud Abbott worked relatively little afterwards, suffering from gambling debts, income tax problems and declining health. However, he did get one last major gig near the end of his life performing the voice of himself in The Abbott and Costello Cartoon Show by Hanna-Barbera with Stan Irwin voicing Costello.

Not to be confused with Tony Abbott and Peter Costello, a pair of Australian politicians who served together as ministers under Prime Minister John Howard. Abbott was later the Prime Minister of Australia.

A list of their films:

Other Abbott and Costello works provide examples of:

    open/close all folders 

    General 

  • Adults Dressed as Children: The Abbott and Costello Show features Joe Besser as Stinky the Spoiled Brat, who would get into hilarious spats with the equally childish Costello.
  • Animated Adaptation:
    • Abbott and Costello, made by Hanna-Barbera in 1966. Abbott voiced himself; Stan Irwin stood in for the late Costello.
    • And, unofficially, the Looney Tunes characters Babbit and Catstello, who started out as cats (in Bob Clampett's A Tale of Two Kitties) before being redesigned as mice (in Frank Tashlin's A Tale of Two Mice and Robert McKimson's The Mouse-Merized Cat).
  • Beware the Silly Ones: Costello's not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he's not quite as stupid as he looks either. Depending on the Writer, he sometimes has scenes where he skillfully outwits people who think he's just a moron — Whodunit in particular has him do this several times during the climax.
  • Boke and Tsukkomi Routine: In the majority of their works, Abbott (tsukkomi) plays the relative straight-man to Costello's (boke) antics.
  • Brain Chain: Virtually every character played by Lou Costello. Occasionally he will even lampshade himself, such as when one of his characters in the film Who Done It? turns on a radio and hears "Who's on First?" (one of Abbott and Costello's most famous routines) and immediately turns it off, remarking how stupid the "short, chubby guy" (actually Costello himself) is.
  • Butt-Monkey: Costello, most of the time.
  • Cannot Spit It Out: Whenever Costello sees something that makes him flustered, he becomes hilariously tongue-tied and unable to explain it to Abbott.
  • Cassandra Truth: Played with in most of the horror spoofs — the monster or ghost (and in one case, Indian chief) terrorizes Lou, but only when Bud isn't around to see it. Naturally, Bud never believes Lou. At the end of Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Lou goes off like this:
    Costello: And another thing, Mr. Chick Young, the next time I tell you that I saw something when I saw it, YOU BELIEVE ME that I SAW it!
  • Chain of Corrections: Several of their routines fit this trope, none more famous than "Who's on First?". Played to perfection, the routine saw Abbott list the names of players on a baseball team to Costello, Costello constantly misinterpret the answers as non-responsive, Abbott correct him repeatedly and Costello becoming even more befuddled and confused to the point where, in the end he throws up his hands and says "I don't give a damn!" –- unwittingly identifying the shortstop.
  • Character Action Title: At least seven of their films have titles starting with the phrase Abbott and Costello Meet, followed by a third character or group's name.
  • Character Catchphrase: Costello's characters all have "Heeeeeey, Abb-ott!"
  • Compilation Movie: The World of Abbott and Costello (1965) features various scenes from eighteen of their films.
  • Derailed for Details: The "Jonah and the Whale" sketch, where Lou's trying to impress a pretty girl with a joke, but Bud keeps interrupting with demands for details.
  • Dirty Coward: Costello was often this in films, especially when dealing with the Universal monsters. Abbott usually upbraided him for this, telling him to "Be brave like me!". Of course moments later the monster would return and Abbott would practically trample Costello on his way out the door.
  • Disproportionate Retribution: Discussed (for laughs, natch):
    Costello: What time tomorrow are you going to tell me who's pitching?
    Abbott: Now listen. WHO is not PITCHING.
    Costello: *exasperated* I'll break your arm if you say Who's On First!
  • The Ditz: Virtually every character played by Lou Costello. Occasionally he will even lampshade himself, such as when one of his characters in the film Who Done It? turns on a radio and hears "Who's on First?" (one of Abbott and Costello's most famous routines) and immediately turns it off, remarking how stupid the "short, chubby guy" (actually Costello himself) is.
  • Don't Explain the Joke: Abbott explains the punchline to Costello's joke about Jonah and the whale, where the whale is cut up, and in it, has Jonah on a stool selling the apples he was hauling. Costello then leaves in dismay.
  • Drop the Cow: Taken literally, sort of, during one of the pair's live TV performances in the 1950s. In the middle of performing one of their many army skits, what appeared to be a cow (or a cow costume, to be more precise) suddenly falls from the rafters onto Costello, knocking him to the floor and causing Abbott and the rest of the cast to have a WTF? moment as Costello tosses the costume aside and the skit continues (all the while the audience is in hysterics). Since A&C occasionally incorporated faked flubs into their performances, it's unclear whether this was an actual mishap, or was intentional. It can be seen on a rare 1980s VHS release of A&C bloopers.
  • Dumb Is Good: Abbott is clever and sly and Costello is usually dumb and happy or at least naive and happy-go-lucky.
  • Eat the Camera: The intro to The Abbott and Costello Cartoon Show begins with an inversion, on Costello's mouth as he's running screaming.
  • Elevator Floor Announcement: In an episode of their radio show.
  • Endearingly Dorky: Often used in their movies: Costello's goofy, bumbling, buffoonish charm generally makes the women he meets fall for how adorable he is — despite being a goof Costello always gets the girl in situations where the two are involved in romance.
  • Extreme Doormat: Costello, although he does have occasional The Dog Bites Back moments when he stands up to Abbott for bullying and taking advantage of him.
  • Fat and Skinny: Abbott is the skinny, clever Straight Man; Costello is the chubby Ditz.
  • Handy Cuffs: One sketch involves one of them getting handcuffed with his hands in front when he points out that he can still swing his hands around. He then asks his captor to show where the cuffs need to go; the captor puts his hands behind his back, gets cuffed, and the good guy escapes.
  • Heterosexual Life-Partners: Bud and Lou's characters, and only on-screen. In real life, they were not particularly close (and at one point, at the height of their fame, spent a year not speaking to one another except when the cameras were rolling).
  • Hurricane of Puns: The basis of most of their humor.
  • Hustling the Mark: This happens in several of the pair's movies. Typically it's also subverted in that Abbott 'tricks' seeming clueless innocent Costello into a game of dice or poker, only for Lou to walk away with everyone's money.
  • Hypocritical Humor: In one of the versions of their argument about hot dogs going with mustard, Costello says that he prefers Worcestershire sauce, but pronounces it "Wooshteshire-sheer shaush". Abbott tries to pronounce it, but messes it up, to which Costello replies "You can't even shay it."
  • Idiot Ball: In the diner routine (seen in Keep 'em Flying and an episode of The Abbott and Costello Show), the waitress gives Lou a free piece of cake, only to leave and her twin sister comes in and tells Lou he has to pay for it, both coming in and out at different times and confusing Lou. Considering they're twin sisters working together, they should have explained they were twins, especially when Lou keeps mentioning his confusion.
  • If It Tastes Bad, It Must Be Good for You: The "Who's on First?" routine has Bud try to convince Lou to go on a diet, resulting in this exchange:
    Abbott: You should really go on a diet. You know what a diet is, don't you?
    Costello: Sure, that's where you can eat all you want of everything you don't like.
  • I'll Take Two Beers Too: Inverted in this bit from The Abbott and Costello Show episode "Hungry":
    Abbott: Go ahead, just order something small.
    Costello: I'll have a small steak.
  • Insane Troll Logic:
    • The "You're Not Here" routine, as seen in this video. In short, "If you aren't in Chicago, or in Philadelphia, or in St. Louis, then you must be someplace else... so you can't be here."
    • Also the basis of the sketch where Costello proves that 7 x 13 = 28.
  • It Was Here, I Swear!: A standard bit, appearing in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein and Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff among others.
  • The Jailbait Wait: Played for laughs with the "You're 40, She's 10" routine, when Abbott asks Costello how long he has to wait for the girl to be his age before marrying:
    Abbott: Now here's the question: how long do you have to wait before you and the little girl are the same age? Now go ahead now, there's a very simple question. Think hard.
    Costello: I mean, the whole thing's ridiculous.
    Abbott: What's ridiculous?
    Costello: If I keep waiting for that girl, she'll pass me up!
    Abbott: What do you mean!?
    Costello: She'll wind up older than I am!
    Abbott: What're you talking about!?
    Costello: She'll have to wait for me!
    Abbott: Why should she wait for you!?
    Costello: [with emphasis] I was nice enough to wait for her.
  • Jerkass: Abbott frequently is one to Costello.
  • Joisey: Lou was very proud of his hometown of Paterson, New Jersey, and managed to get it mentioned in a great many episodes of The Abbott and Costello Show.
  • Kitchen Sink Included: In one of their works:
    Costello: You know –- you know, they have hit me with everything but the kitchen sink
    Abbott: Oh, well –- we can fix that.
    (Pulls the sink out of the wall, breaks it over Costello's head.)
  • Large Ham: Lou Costello, especially on radio.
  • Literal-Minded: Costello.
  • Lovable Coward, Costello, frequently. Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein is a prime example.
  • Manchild: Costello generally acts as one.
  • Never Bareheaded: Costello was always been seen wearing a hat throughout a majority of movies, such as Africa Screams and Jack and the Beanstalk, but The Abbott and Costello Show stood out the most with him always wearing his derby on even at home when Abbott takes off his when they don't go out.
  • Never Say That Again: The "Slowly I turned..." routine, in which a certain phrase causes a character to go berserk or otherwise react negatively, was used by Abbott and Costello several times: in the films Lost In a Harem with the trigger word "Pokomoko", and In Society with the trigger phrase "Susquehanna Hat Company", as well as in The Abbott and Costello Show on television, using the more traditional "Niagara Falls".
  • Not Now, We're Too Busy Crying Over You: Several of their films include a routine in which Abbott believes Costello has been killed and has a Heel Realization, lamenting how he treated his friend, while Costello listens and cries along with him. Once Abbott sees that he's all right, he instantly goes back to his old self and slaps Costello for getting him so worried.
  • Not Quite Starring: The The Abbott and Costello Cartoon Show actually managed to get Bud Abbott to do his own voice (in a large part because he owed a lot of money to the IRS), but featured Stan Irwin as the voice of Lou Costello (the real Lou Costello being, unfortunately, deceased by this time).
  • Obfuscating Stupidity: Very rarely, Costello is portrayed or merely implied as having this. Or more like he acts like a moron but he can be pretty quick when he wants to be.
  • The Operators Must Be Crazy: The episode "Who Done It" has a skit about a particularly bizarre and abusive operator.
  • Peek-a-Boo Corpse: Happens several times in the murder mystery films, like Who Done It? and Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff. Of course, when Costello alerts Abbott or the authorities, the body is nowhere to be found.
  • Pig Latin: In an episode of "The Abbott and Costello Show", the duo are filming a movie with Dorothy Lamour, where they face off against an Arab sultan named Atfay Elli-bay.
  • Poisoned Chalice Switcheroo: The duo sometimes did a variation: Lou gets a necklace from a mysterious woman, detective comes by and says a mysterious woman just stole a necklace, then Lou tries to hide it in Bud's hamburger so they don't get blamed for it. Eventually, Lou ends up eating it, just as the detective comes back and mentions there's a reward for it.
  • Potty Dance: An outtake exists from one film of Costello stopping a take by doing the dance because he had to pee.
  • The Pratfall: Used regularly — Lou was a master of the technique.
  • Precision F-Strike: The punchline to the "Who's on First" sketch is that the shortstop is named "I don't give a darn," a big enough deal at the time that they had to change it to "I don't care" when the routine was used in the film The Naughty Nineties.
  • Pungeon Master: Lou Costello, given that most of their humor was puns and deliberate misunderstandings of a punny nature.
  • Random Events Plot: Many of the pair's films could qualify. If you were to tear out every scene that has little or nothing to do with the plot, you'd wind up with about twenty minutes of film per movie. Note that, of course, Tropes Are Not Bad; many of these gratuitous scenes, while not being plot-relevant, are still funny.
  • Reaching Between the Lines: Lou keeps trying to make an important call but is obstructed by the operator who keeps telling him, "The line is busy". Eventually Lou gets so frustrated that he squirts a soda siphon down the mouthpiece and the operator gets squirted in the face.
  • "The Reason You Suck" Speech: The two receive one from Mr. Fields of Fields' Employment Agency after acting like bigshot jackasses.
    Fields: You've had your shay, now you listen to me. You came into this office like a wild man, you criticized my business and the way I run my business, you knocked my furniture, you insulted my wife. My wife! (picks up a photo of his wife from his desk) Do you realize that's the woman I married? That's the woman I love. The day I married her, she ran third of... (lets it go) You see? Now, you've got me insulting my own wife! Don't you know that a gentleman never insults anybody? (Abbott agrees with him) The first essential of politeness is consideration of the feelings of others? Graciousness without condescension? That's the attribute devoutly to be wished. You don't have it! Now listen to me. The next time you come into a man's place of business, always knock before you enter; and when you do come in, take off your hat. TAKE IT OFF! And when you speak to a man, address him as "sir". Sir! S-I-R, "sir"! Another thing, politeness costs you nothing. If you can't say anything nice the way a man runs his business, don't say anything at all! Now I want you two hoodlums to get out of my office, and don't you dare to come back until you learn to act like gentlemen. GET OUT!
  • Riches to Rags: In real life, Abbott and Costello got hit by the IRS demanding back taxes in the late fifties, forcing them to sell their homes and most of their assets, including the rights to most of their films.
  • Sad Clown: Lou Costello himself, who suffered tragedy at the height of the duo's fame when his infant son accidentally drowned in his family pool. It's said he was a completely different person afterward, often clashing with partner Bud Abbott, which nearly led to the break-up of their act. Costello would later die of a heart attack at the age of 52, brought on by complications from chronic rheumatism.
  • Say My Name:
    • HEEEEY ABBBOOOOOTTTTT!
    • Substituted with Abbott's various character names in the movies.
  • The Show Must Go On: On the radio show Lou and Bud worked on, one day around the time they were working on Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein Lou came in for show late, very quiet, and went through his routines flawlessly but without speaking to anyone outside of the job, which was very unusual for him. Then at the end he said to his very young son, "That one's for you." He then explained to his fellow performers and the listeners at home that his son had drowned earlier that day, but not before Lou promised him that "Tonight you'll hear Dad on the radio." Lou kept his promise.
  • Signature Headgear:
    • One of Costello's trademarks across his appearances was a nice derby hat. Over time, he definitely has a habit of trying on various hats throughout his movies.
      • At one point, in Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy, he sees a panhandler carrying a basket and asking for money and tries to buy the basket as a hat, but gives it back after it turns out it's too big for him to wear.
  • Sit Comic: The Abbott and Costello Show was produced by having the film and Vaudeville stars give their performances in camera-equipped area.
  • Slapstick: A staple of their routines.
  • Slipping a Mickey: A regular routine, where Lou realizes his drink has been poisoned, so he distracts the bad guy ("HELLO! Steve, old boy!") so he can switch the glasses. Hilarity Ensues, especially when the move was faked.
  • Smart Jerk and Nice Moron: Bud Abbott's character is always portrayed as more intelligent than Lou Costello's, and he often talked down to him, complained about him, and slapped him. Lou Costello was almost always nice and friendly, but not very bright.
  • Spoiled Brat: The Abbott and Costello Show features Joe Besser as Stinky, dressed as a little boy and constantly in a Sitcom Arch-Nemesis rivalry with Costello.
  • Stock Scream: Costello's screams from the wax museum scene in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein became this through their following movies.
  • Straight Man: Abbott. Generally regarded as one of the greatest straight men in the history of show business, if not the greatest. He was so important to the team that Costello originally insisted he get 60% of their pay.
    Lou Costello: Comics are a dime a dozen. Good straight men are hard to find.
  • Straight Man and Wise Guy: Abbott and Costello are masters of this.
  • They Wasted a Perfectly Good Sandwich: Zig-zagged in a sketch from The Colgate Comedy Hour. The joke is that Costello is supposed to eat a hamburger on which a thief has secretly stashed a stolen diamond necklace. The only problem is, he finds it too hard to scarf down an entire burger for real and, being on live TV, suffers a total fit of corpsing. (At one point toward the end of the sketch, you can see him turn to Abbott, gesture helplessly at the burger, and between giggles clearly mouth the words, "I can't do it!")
  • Tongue-Tied: Several films have Costello needed to impart some important information, usually that the movie's villain is nearby. However, while he mimes speaking the words, he's so scared that he literally cannot make any kind of audible sound.
  • Trauma Button Ending: Used in two classic routines that follow a similar path:
    • The "Niagara Falls" routine (also made famous by The Three Stooges), in which two men meet (one is implied to be a wanderer) and in casual conversation, Costello's character triggers Abbott's (the wanderer) Berserk Button ("NIAGARA FALLS!"), and he brutalizes Costello's character while reminiscing the time that he hunted down a man who stole his girlfriend to that location. Variations of the routine have Costello's character either reflexively wincing when someone else comes along and says the name after the wanderer leaves, being pummeled by the wanderer because of said button-pressing (but the newcomer stays safe), repeating the wanderer's irate rambling (and pummeling) to the newcomer, or discovering the hard way that the bitter rival the wanderer keeps reminiscing developed the same Berserk Button from those events and getting pummeled again.
    • The "Susquehanna Hat Company" routine has Costello's character wandering the streets trying to deliver straw hats to the titular hat company, only to find out that every person that he meets for one reason or another has the hat company as a Berserk Button (the company is rumored to be corrupt, their loved ones died wearing a hat from the company, a crazy guy (that thinks he's a ghost and is implied to be the one that a previous passerby considered "dead") was wearing one when he "died", etc) and they wreck a hat in a rage before storming off (to add insult to injury, they pluck it off Costello's character's head to do so — and in one occasion even pulling it off the box he placed it in to prevent them from destroying it the moment he noticed they were starting to act crazy). The routine ends with Abbott's character (a fellow salesman) pointing out that Costello's character only has one hat remaining ("and what excuse are we gonna give the Susquehanna Hat Company?") and Costello's character wrecking the hat as he goes in a similar screaming fury.
  • Universal-Adaptor Cast: Abbott and Costello starred in several films where the pair acted in various genres. Probably the most notable were a series titled Abbott and Costello Meet... where they would indeed meet various horror monsters.
  • Unsympathetic Comedy Protagonist: At his worst, Abbott is a manipulative and selfish Jerkass.
  • Versus Title: Many of the duo's later movies had titles of the form Abbott and Costello Meet (something else from Universal).
  • Vitriolic Best Buds:
    • Onscreen, this was played straight. Offscreen, though, the "Best Buds" part was questionable.
    • The reason they have so few scenes together in Little Giant and The Time of Their Lives is because they were so estranged at that point, that was the only way they would agree to appear in the same picture.
    • Though their relationship was strained in their later years, there were a few moments of They Really Do Love Each Other, if you knew where to look. Abbott volunteered at Costello's charity as an attempt to bury the hatchet (Costello was allegedly deeply touched when Abbott suggested naming the establishment after Costello's late son) and, when Costello died of a heart attack, Abbott backed out of a revival project with Candy Candido playing Costello's role, claiming that there was no one who could truly replace Lou.
  • Whatever Happened to the Mouse?: In the immortal Who's on First? routine, Bud and Lou go through the names of eight players, but never name the right fielder.
  • What's a Henway?: One of their recurring gags. For example, from the episode "Costello's Farm":
    Abbott: What kind of cow have you? A heifer cow?
    Costello: What?
    Abbott: A heifer cow?
    Costello: Nah, I gotta whole cow! I gotta whole flock o' cows!
    Abbott: No, no, no, stupid! It's not flock, it's herd!
    Costello: Herd o' what?
    Abbott: Herd of cows.
    Costello: Sure I've heard o' cows!
    Abbott: No, no, no, I mean a cow herd.
    Costello: What do I care if a cow heard? I ain't said nothin' to be ashamed of!
    Abbott: Oh, just forget it, Costello. I'm not in the mood.
    Costello: Not in what mood?
    Abbott: A cow mood.
    Costello: Who cares if a cow mooed?!
  • Who's on First?: In many of their routines, of which the trope namer is only the most famous.
  • With Friends Like These...: In the majority of their films, the pair's characters are supposedly friends, yet Abbott's character almost always bullies and abuses Costello's.

    Specific films 

In Society (1944)

  • Noodle Incident: The "Susquehanna Hat Company" phrase makes men react in rage and anger against Costello and causes women to scream in terror and anguish. We never really discover why the mention of this company causes such wild and violent reactions in passersby, although one stranger accuses the company of employing child labor, and another blames their hats for her husband's death.

Here Come the Co-Eds (1945)

  • Accidental Aiming Skills: In completely the wrong direction — Oliver Quackenbush (Lou Costello) loses a tied basketball game when his shot at goal misses, bounces of the backboard and flies the entire length of the court to land in the opposition's basket.
  • Lineage Ladder: Mr. Kirkland, the stuck-in-his-ways landlord of Bixby College, uses one of these to rebuke the newly appointed Dean's requests to modernize the school.
    Dean Benson: But, if you'd just let me make this a real school—
    Mr. Kirkland: Bixby was good enough for my mother. And her mother! And her mother's mother! And her mother's mother's mother!
  • Non-Indicative Name: The school in question is actually an all-girls school, so technically the girls there are not "co-eds."
  • Own Goal: Oliver (Costello) makes a shot at goal in a basketball game that bounces off the backboard, flies the full length of the court, and lands in the opposition's basket.
  • Super Ringer: A professional women's basketball team is secretly brought in to play a women's college team. (There's heavy betting involved. The college's future is at stake.) One of the college players is injured, so Lou Costello puts on a dress and a wig and goes in as a sub. He's terrible, but after he's knocked out mid-game, he awakens with amnesia and is told, "You're Dolly Dimple, the world's greatest woman basketball player!" Living up to his billing, his team wins. At the end of the game, all of the ringers are revealed. The officials decide that "Five ringers are worse than one" and award the game to the college players (and Lou, who isn't in college.)
  • The Tape Knew You Would Say That: Costello is about to sweep under the rug but as he lift it there's writing on it saying "Don't put it here" and when he lifts the other corner there's more writing saying "Not here either".

The Naughty Nineties (1945)

  • The Gay '90s: The film is set in the 1890s, and involves Abbott and Costello's characters trying to help their boss regain ownership of his showboat after he loses it in a card game.
  • Poisoned Chalice Switcheroo: Costello's character ends up having a drink with a Femme Fatale. At one point Costello loses track of who has the poison, so he dumps it into a potted plant. That Poor Plant withers away and dies, prompting Costello to wipe his glass out very thoroughly.
  • That Poor Plant: In a hilarious scene, the Big Bad and Costello's character Sebastian are put alone together in a private room in a theater, where she proceeds to poison his drink. They then do a Poisoned Chalice Switcheroo back and forth until he gets confused and opts to toss the drink in the fern next to him. Sebastian watches the fern die very slowly, and then wipes his glass very thoroughly on his tux.

Little Giant (1946)

  • Reassigned to Antarctica: Benny Miller (Costello) is so incompetent in his job as a Traveling Salesman that his boss John Morrison transfers him to a remote regional branch: Morrison not wanting to fire him for it will expose that he has been Stealing from the Till.
  • Reassignment Backfire: Benny Miller is transferred to a remote sales district following a disastrous first day as a Traveling Salesman. However, due in a large part to a prank played on him by his coworkers, he ends up becoming the company's Salesman of the Year.
  • Traveling Salesman: Lou plays a naïve country boy named Benny Miller, from Cucamonga, California, who has been taking correspondence phonograph lessons in salesmanship. Convinced of his own brilliance as a salesman, he gets a job as travelling salesman for the Hercules Vacuum Cleaner Company. He is so inept that after one day he gets transferred to a remote regional branch where he can't do any harm. This becomes a Reassignment Backfire when circumstances conspire to make him the company's Salesman of the Year.
  • Uncanny Family Resemblance: Bud Abbott plays the head of a vacuum cleaner company and his much nicer cousin and head of a branch office, who explains the resemblance with a photo of their grandmother (Abbott in drag).

Buck Privates Come Home (1947)

  • Butt-Monkey: The fate of Sgt. Collins.
  • Honorary Uncle: The boys (Costello mostly) become this to an adorable French orphan girl.
  • I Am Spartacus: A six-year-old orphan named Evey is discovered hiding out in an Army troop ship. She's discovered by the hated Sgt. Collins who intends to turn her over to the authorities.
    A soldier: How about pretending you didn't see her?
    Sgt. Collins: Oh sure, sure. And lose my stripes for it. Then what?
    Another soldier: You might become a regular guy
    Sgt. Collins: [angrily] Who said that?
    All the Soldiers: I did.
    Evey: I did.
  • Mistaken for Terrorist: Slicker (Bud) and Herbie (Lou) apply for a bank loan for their friend's midget race car. When demonstrating the model of the car, Herbie starts it in reverse, causing it to backfire, making it look like they were robbing the bank with a machine gun.
  • An Odd Place to Sleep: Herbie (Lou) finds it too hot to sleep inside the apartment, so he rigs up a makeshift hammock on the clothesline that runs between the buildings.
  • Sequel: Buck Privates Come Home is, indeed, one of these to Buck Privates.

The Noose Hangs High (1948)

Africa Screams (1949)

  • Because You Were Nice to Me: After Costello rescues a gorilla from a trapper's pit, the gorilla follows him around, repeatedly saving him from other animals and cannibal natives and recovering a bag of diamonds Abbot had stolen from the natives. Later, after Costello makes it back to America (presumably with the Gorilla's help) he uses the diamonds to become head of the department store where he worked and appoints the Gorilla as his vice-president while Abbot (who used and abused Costello throughout the entire film before abandoning him after losing the diamonds) is reduced to working beneath them as an elevator operator.
  • Bowdlerization: The original movie poster, as well as some early home video releases, shows a racist caricature of an African stewing Abbott and Costello in a cauldron as he holds a cookbook. This is absent from modern video covers and streaming service thumbnails for obvious reasons.
  • Darkest Africa: The setting of the film, complete with a friendly gorilla, a safari, a cannibal tribe that wants to cook Bud and Lou in, respectively, a tall skinny and short round iron kettle, and oodles of Costello-hating African wildlife.
  • Not Now, We're Too Busy Crying Over You: When Buzz Johnson (Abbott) thinks Stanley Livington (Costello) has been eaten by a lion, he begins mourning and wishing he'd been nicer to Livington, only for Livington to show up and commiserate with him. Once Buzz finally realizes that it's Livington crying on his shoulder, he immediately reverts back to his old self and slaps Livington.
  • Public Domain: The film Africa Screams; its rights were purchased in 1953 by independent distributor Robert Haggiag. However, he eventually lost interest in the film and failed to renew its copyright, resulting in it lapsing into public domain, the first and only Abbott and Costello film as of 2024 to do so.
  • Took a Level in Jerkass: Abbott's selfishness and cruelty to Costello is taken up to eleven here, where he's nearly driven insane by greed upon discovering diamonds in the African jungle. He ends up being a victim of Laser-Guided Karma at the end when a friendly gorilla gives Costello the diamonds and makes him filthy rich, and Abbott ends up working as his elevator operator.

Jack and the Beanstalk (1952)

  • Beanstalk Parody: Eloise Larkin and her fiancé Arthur's plans to attend the rehearsal of a play are jeopardized because no one will babysit her obnoxious kid brother Donald. Eloise phones the Cosman Employment Agency, where Mr. Dinkel (Bud) and Jack (Lou) just happen to be seeking work. Jack flirts with Cosman employee Polly, but he is thwarted by the arrival of her boyfriend, a towering police officer. Polly sends Dinkle and Jack to babysit, but an attempt to lull the boy to sleep by reading the fairy tale Jack and the Beanstalk (Jack's "favorite novel") aloud fails when Jack stumbles over the larger words. Bemused by Jack, Donald reads the story instead — a role-reversal made complete when Jack falls asleep as Donald reads. In his slumber, Jack dreams that he is the young Jack of the fairy tale. Hilarity Ensues as he the people he has met fill the various roles in the story.
  • But You Were There, and You, and You: Lou's character dreams that he's Jack, with the other characters corresponding to people he knows in real life.
  • Cooking the Live Meal: The giant captures Jack (Costello) and ties him to a rotating spit in his fireplace, complete with an apple in his mouth. Jack manages to get rid of the apple to cry for help.
  • Two-Person Love Triangle: This was part of the basis for the romantic subplot. Princess Eloise is supposed to marry Prince Arthur, but they've never met. They both get kidnapped by the giant, call themselves Darlene and Arthur, and fall in love.

Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd (1952)

  • Puddle-Covering Chivalry: Played for laughs when the duo stops to help a woman in this manner. Costello puts his vest down, she steps off the curb... and sinks waist-deep in mud.

Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops (1955)

    Referenced by 

Referenced by...:

  • Jerry Seinfeld referenced them a number of times on his show, most notably when George tries to explain his idea about 'a show about nothing'. He would also produce and star in an NBC special Abbott and Costello Meet Jerry Seinfeld.
  • Looney Tunes parodied them in three cartoons as "Babbit and Catstello". They also borrowed some of Lou's catch phrases and made them their own, like "I'm only three-and-a-half years old" and Bugs Bunny's "Gee, ain't I a stinker?"
  • In the "Vintage Steele" episode of Remington Steele a body is found in a vat of wine at the Costello Monastery. When Laura suggests they interview the abbot, Movie buff Steele quips "Ah...the Abbot of Costello".
  • Robin Hood: Men in Tights has a scene where a church abbot is greeted with Costello's catchphrase.
    Costello lookalike: HEY ABBOT!
    Abbot: I hate that guy...
  • If you didn't see some similarities between Ren and Stimpy and Abbott and Costello, you weren't paying close enough attention.
  • The Adventures of the Gummi Bears episode "Friar Tum" features a character named Abbot Costello.
  • Five Hundred Years After has a passing mention of a famous farce, Who Dropped Her First?, set in a bedchamber laid out (reading between the lines) like a baseball diamond.
  • The Futurama episode "A Pharaoh to Remember" has a reference to Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy.
  • Mother 3 features a duo of comedians named Lou and Bud as minor characters.
  • An anonymous email that has been circulating around the internet for many years casts Abbott as a tech-support operator attempting to explain to Costello that to stop his Windows PC he must click on the "Start" button.
  • In Australia, the days when Tony Abbott and Peter Costello were prominent members of the Liberal Party were a gift to political commentators across the country.
  • One episode of VeggieTales featured Larry and Mr. Lunt's characters having a battle of wits, with the riddle they must solve being presented by the Abbot of Costello. The riddle itself is a parody of the Who's on First? routine.
  • In the Batman: The Animated Series episode "Joker's Millions", Joker named his loyal pet hyenas Bud and Lou (previously only known as Harley Quinn's "babies"). This makes sense, given Joker's appreciation of comedy. The hyenas are given the same names in Krypto the Superdog.
  • In the Hercules: The Legendary Journeys episode, "Monster Child In A Promised Land," Iolaus mentions a comedy team known as Abbotus and Costellocles.
  • A recurring segment on Square One TV featured Cabot and Marshmallow. Set backstage at a Vaudeville theater, the segments show Cabot getting the better of Marshmallow through a variety of math related tricks. Always started with a suitably altered version of Costello's catch phrase.
  • In the Sherlock episode "The Hounds of Baskerville", the Major snarkily tells Sherlock (who he's mistaken for a Conspiracy Theorist) that they have two aliens in their basement named Abbott and Costello.
  • Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal has them in a dark subversion of their Who's on First? routine.
  • Housepets! has two characters named Falstaff and Truck who act like raccoon versions of Abbott and Costello.
  • Robert Rankin has a Running Gag that Hugo Rune hates Bud Abbott. In The Book of Ultimate Truths, the protagonists visit an monastery. Guess the Abbot's name.
  • Garfield and Friends used a Who's on First joke in an U.S. Acres episode where three dog brothers come to help on the farm, their names are "Who, What, and Where"!
  • The Simpsons had Chalmers and Principal Skinner attempting to do a recreation of Who's on First?. Skinner ruins it almost immediately by explaining the joke.
  • The "Next" cell phone app did a radio ad with Bud and Lou soundalikes doing a routine with "Which app?" "The Next app!" "The one you got on your phone!" etc.
  • In The Amazing Spider-Man #205, Black Cat burgles a museum guarded by two inept security officers named "Bud" and "Lou", who look and act like the duo.
  • Animaniacs had "Who's on Stage?" in "Woodstock Slappy", ironically using the real names of various 60s rock bands such as The Who.
  • In the Diana: Warrior Princess spin-off Elvis: The Legendary Tours (a role-playing game based on an imaginary far-future TV series with massive amounts of Future Imperfect), Elvis Presley's Evil Twin is the Sinister Minister Abbot Costello (which is also a sideways reference to Elvis Costello).

"I don't care who's on first!
"Oh, that's our shortstop."

 
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Video Example(s):

7 x 13 = 28

In this timeless Abbott and Costello sketch, Costello proves without a shadow of a doubt that 7 x 13 is equal to 28 (he's wrong, but who's asking?)

Example of:
Insane Troll Logic

Who's on First(...

Alternative Title(s): Lou Costello, Bud Abbott

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7 x 13 = 28

In this timeless Abbott and Costello sketch, Costello proves without a shadow of a doubt that 7 x 13 is equal to 28 (he's wrong, but who's asking?)

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5 (13 votes)

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7 x 13 = 28

Who's on First(...