YMMV / Abbott and Costello

• Alternative Character Interpretation: The operator in the telephone sketch. When Costello asks for "Alexander 4444", she says that the line is busy, in which Costello questions when every other person in his apartment can call without any problems. Either the operator wanted to toy with Costello, or that Field's Employment Agency was closed at that time, or that she didn't want to waste her time with a guy like him.
• Just Here for Godzilla: Likely the only reason most people want to see Abbott and Costello's first film, One Night in the Tropics, is for them. Critics praised them (leading to their film career) while otherwise disliking the film.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • In One Night in the Tropics, the main character's name is Stephen Harper.
  • In the first skit of the "Who's On First" show, Abbott dismisses Costello's girl-chasing ways by asking "Where do you think Benjamin Franklin would be if he thought of girls all the time?". Considering what we now know about Franklin's personal life, that question is pretty much moot.
  • One scene from It Ain't Hay had Wilbur Hoolihan (Costello) say that they were signed on to Universal after Grover Mockridge (Abbott) told him to answer the door for Gregory Warner, in which Wilbur thought he was referring to one of the Warner brothers. Come 1952, Abbott and Costello made two films for Warner Bros., those being Jack and the Beanstalk and Abbott And Costello Meet Captain Kidd, after signing a new contract with Universal which let them appear in films outside Universal.
• They Wasted a Perfectly Good Plot: Joe Besser and Shemp Howard, best known as being two of the six actors from The Three Stooges, both appear in Africa Screams but only get about two minutes of screen time together.
• The Woobie: If you've seen the many films and The Abbott and Costello Show, they showcase how Costello may be the most miserable comedy protagonist in the history of entertainment. His friend Abbott treats him as a doormat rather than as an equal, and tends to use him as a pawn, which shows that Costello is in a bad friendship; Costello also goes through so much comedic slapstick as if he's portrayed as this Cosmic Plaything to the point where he has no purpose in life but to be a Butt-Monkey wherever he's present. Somebody give this man a hug!

---