BRITISH FAMILY REACTS | Abbott and Costello - Who's On First
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- Опубліковано 7 чер 2023
- Aidan, Gaynor and Sophie react to Abbott and Costello.
Link to original video - • Video
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The joke itself is humorous, but the timing and delivery are what makes this a comedy classic. It gets going pretty fast and never a stumble.
They actually do stumble in this version. It's just hard to catch if it's your first time watching. They have better versions out there but a lot of them are audio only.
@@Riptionator When do they stumble?
@@eroccha you really asking me to watch it again and point out every time they stumbled?
5:25
6:58
Couple more but I need to watch again
@@Riptionator Those are not necessarily stumbles as they do different versions of the bit.
@@eroccha There's recordings of it where there's not a pause or a hiccup in the delivery. But I don't think folks from the UK would have an easy time following that one!
hard to believe this is rapidly approaching 100 years old and is still funny.
This particular version of the skit was done in the 50s. The original concept that is based on what is from the 20s and it was not who’s on first but over the years different comedy teams put their own spin on the original sketch. Abbott and Costello‘s is the most famous because movies, radio and television made their comedy more widespread.
There is a reason Lou said "I don't give a darn." That is because this was in the early years of television, and you couldn't@@mildredpierce4506 say "dam" on T.V.
I keep seeing this skit used for communications classes.
When a Taiwan-born player named Chin Lung Hu on his debut got on base, the commentator Vin Scully (RIP) said "I can finally say this. Hu is on first"
And Scully had been broadcasting Dodger games from 1950 to 2016, the man was a legend
I remembered that
I heard that game and nearly died laughing
Haha I miss Vin.
That's awesome. Wonder how many times Hu heard that growing up though 😂
@@edmunddantes7097 Probably not much since he grew up in Taiwan iirc but lol once he got to the states I bet people referenced that all the time
I grew up watching Abbott and Costello shows and had never realized just how challenging it must have been for them to survive paycheck to paycheck in the beginning and the amount of hours/days/weeks/etc it must have taken them to perfect their craft....how humbling it is to know that was how they earned a living...can't imagine the kind of struggles they must have faced in the early years of their careers...thanks for sharing this comedy gold skit... ✌
Especially with the great depression around the corner
They started out in Vaudeville, which predates the depression years. That circuit was brutal.
They were the biggest comedy duo at the time and made BIG money. With hard work comes big rewards!
This skit will NEVER get old! Comedy classic in every sense. The timing, the delivery - pure perfection.
A really cool thing about this skit is, they do it so well that you tend to forget how much hard work it took to practice and then do it in the first place. Each of them hits their mark perfectly, one after the other. And they’re doing it live
Amazingly perfect timing
What’s the saying? A true professional makes something extremely difficult look exceptionally easy, or something.
@@morothane so true. Did Jordan look like he was even trying? Does Yo Yo Ma look worried when he gets to the fast part?
They never do it the same way twice. They just play off each other so well that if Costello goes off script Abbott can bring him back in. This is actually one of my least favorite versions of this. Search online for any of the radio version. Less frantic but just as funny
It's funny for like the first 3 min but after that it gets old quick. lol
That one skit might go down in history as best duo skit all time - and through time
I don't know what organization did the judging and voting, but this skit was voted the funniest skit in comedy..they performed it countless times live and in their movies. It was included into the Major League Baseball Hall of Fame and plays there on a continuous loop.
I sit down and watch it every time I go to the Hall of Fame.
Rain Man (1988)
True Story: In 1986, at the age of 13, I once performed Who's On First for a Talent Show and my partner did NOT show! So I did the entire routine on my own, BY MYSELF!!! I switched hats & changed directions I was facing to represent the different speakers as the conversation/argument continued. The crowd loved it, I won the talent show, and my partner never worked with me again! :)
Partner? He's in right field.
Abbott and Costello had a very rocky relationship, but each realized they needed each other to be successful.
Like almost every other partnership. One of the skits that bothers me is LOAFING, where Bud slaps Lou. Smacking each other's shoulders is OK - face-slaps - that somehow crosses to line for me. They aren't the Three Stooges and the slaps puts a damper on it for me. Odd.
@@RoSaWa386-33 Lou wasn't an angel, he may have deserved a man slap.
Kind of like Dean Martin & Jerry Lewis…
Lol loved watching them trying to decipher Lou's accent. Who's on First is one of the best ever!
Abbot and Costello were comic geniuses, and their jokes still work decades later. Thanks so much for sharing this. :)
I recently watched This Is Your Life Lou Costello (the chubby one). He had a rough life. He was sick once for a year. Like he couldn't get out of bed. He had lots of hardships, but he opened a community center for inner city kids. He did a lot for charity.
Now you know how hard it is for me to understand you guys when you talk fast lol
Abbott and Costello did some of the best old time movies like Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, " Meet The Mummy, Jack In The Beanstalk, etc.
My Dad grew up watching and loving them, so of course he instilled that same love for Abbott & Costello in my brother and me. ❤
Yeah, I hadn't even thought about how hard it could be to follow those New York accents. I'm from the south but you just grow up hearing different accents on TV and get used to them.
I have seen this routine too many times, but i still get a goofy grin and a cheeky chuckle every time. It's perfect.
I'm older but still Abbott and Costello doing Who's On First was before my time but I'm old enough that my sister and I used to watch it as little kids in black-and-white syndication reruns on Saturday morning TV between some of the other stuff. Or actually I think it was after all the cartoons.
And I fell in love with this one in first grade. My friend and I did a version of it in our basement and then gradually did it in front of other people and it was funny.
But I would propose that it's not all that simple. And that it actually does not go on for too long. Here's why: the overall logical conceit itself is really clever. But in the course of it, they keep going down little logical tangents that are just microcosms to the larger logical macrocosm. And yet they maintain their everyday-man roles that people could relate to on one level or the other while they do it. It really is quite brilliant. Which I think is why it's still a thing after the better part of a century.
There are several recorded audio versions of this skit as they performed it on various radio shows and I don't think they ever performed it exactly the same way twice. It was a credit to both of them that they managed to pull it off so well every single time.
My dad had the audio tapes of one of their really polished performances (this one they mess up a little). I had that one and the cadence timed. In junior high (in the 80s) a friend and I did this for the talent show. We thought we were a hoot... I feel sorry for anyone that had to watch us haha! Also, I had to transcribe the script by stopping and rewinding the audio tape to get it right!
The thing that is impressive about the routine is the timing and memory involved in pulling that off without mistakes, just try it and see how incredibly difficult it is.
I gotta tell you folks, I feel the same way sometimes hearing YOU speak!
100 mph (ok, 160 kmph. lol) and sometimes I turn subtitles on! lol
I was raised in Oklahoma and I'd probably sound like someone out of an American western to you!
LOVE your channel and interactions and you just keep doing what you're doing!
My dad served in the US armed forces during the 1980s and was stationed in Germany. One of the other guys in his unit was the son of an American father and a German mother and grew up speaking both English and German. The guy could understand German perfectly, but the native Germans couldn't understand him when he spoke German because he had a very thick rural Oklahoman accent!
@@DamonNomad82 My dad was a WW2 vet who fought the Japanese. I'm a USAF vet from the mid 1970s.
I moved from Oklahoma to NY 23 years ago and they still ask me where in Texas I'm from. LOL
Shakespeare style misunderstanding and comedy
Pure clean humor
When you really break it down, the skit itself is silly, but the way they deliver it is what makes it hilarious. The dialogue timing and speed is spot on and you actually believe that he doesn't get it., I don't believe any two other comedians could pull that off the way they did.
Abbot and Costello were renowned for their timing and rapid-fire delivery.
This is actually a later version of the skit. It originally appeared in a film (don't ask me which, I can't recall), but it got so much love that they wound up doing it in live appearances. They would add bits in to keep it fresh for them, but the core idea stays the same. Of course, you can see where the Two Ronnies got their 'four candles' idea from.
An abridged version of this skit was featured in Abbott and Costello's 1940 film debut, One Night in the Tropics. The duo reprized the bit in their 1945 film The Naughty Nineties and it is that longer version which is considered their finest recorded rendition. This version is from The Abbott and Costello Show episode 'The Actor's Home'.
Booby was Bobby, who handed Lou his props.
The movie was the 1945 film "The Naughty Nineties". It is this version that is considered their best. It is played on a continuous loop at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown, New York.
My local DJ did a remix on Abbott and Costello's classic but switched it to bands playing at Woodstock. With band names The Who, Yes and Guess Who...
I am 51 years old and my dad Sat me down when I was maybe 5 or 6 years old and said this is funny and you'll still be laughing at it when you are their age. He was right. It's the perfect comedy sketch. Slapstick, timing, word play. There's no room for improvement.
I'm an American who grew up watching Benny Hill in the 70s and 80s.
It’s not slap-stick. It’s AMAZING word-play! It’s so classic that if you look up “comedy” in an American dictionary it very well may have a picture of this.
One of the best comedy duos
Our teacher played this video for us in school when I was about 10 years old. I remember the kids in my class couldn't keep it together when we first watched it, so our teacher had to play it for us a second time so we could really appreciate the joke in its entirety.
I love how this skit is so funny, that it makes people laugh decades after these guys have died. The true mark of a classic comedy skit.
Nothing will ever be funnier than misunderstanding.
The skit is so famous it is in the Baseball hall of fame.
As Brits, you'd know more about the game of cricket. One famous commentary occurred during a match between the West Indies and England. The West Indian bowler was Michael Holding. The English batsman was Peter Willy. The commentator blurted out "The bowler's Holding, the batsman's Willy".
I remember seeing this on TV decades ago when they had a show on Saturdays. They'd play some of their old bits and movies when I was a kid.
I like when people first reaction to Abbott And Costello think Costello talks fast.
It's classic because we've all been in the situation of trying to explain something to someone and they're just not getting it.
If you liked this, there's another Abbott and Costello bit called "7 x 13 = 28" that's also amazing.
If they do, then they need to make sure to get the full length version that is more than 4 minutes long. Floating around, there has been a shorter condensed version that chops out the first 30 seconds. That is annoying.
RIDICULOUSLY CLASSIC FUNNY SKIT! NEVER GETS OLD!😮😊😊😊😊😊😊
It is an act that never gets old. They were just one of many great comedy teams.
Abbott and Costello started off as friends, but then grew to really dislike each other. They did this skit all in one shot.
"Who's On First?" is a VERY famous comedy bit that Abbott and Costello used to do. Over the years some comedians have tried to replicate it but NEVER as good as the original.
The reaction reminds me watching British reactors and sometimes I put subtitles on so I get everything. Not joking. You guys I can understand ... some Brits the words just fly past my ears .. mostly.
I love the 29 minute version of this sketch. Such a simple concept. A famous ball player like Joe DiMaggio recovering from a foot operation asks Costello to fill in for him so he looks to find out the other players on the team. Throw in Marilyn Maxwell and Skinnay Ennis who both sing a number each and you have a fantastic sketch. “Who’s on First?” What a scream.
Lou Costello was born and raised in Paterson, New Jersey, a suburb of New York City. His rapid fire speaking style was typical of us folks that grew up in the "burbs" around the City. They had a TV series in the early 50's that was played in syndication on a few NYC television stations plus their feature length movies were played often during my childhood in the 1960's. Their skits were many and hilarious.
You should see the bit on how Costello explains to Lou how 7x13=28. It’s factually incorrect, yes, but if you see the clips on how he explains it, he’ll almost convince you he’s right. They do it by division, multiplication, and addition-and Costello gets the same answer every time.
Abbott: “Did you go to school, stupid?”
Costello: “Yes! And I came out the same way!”
Costello adopted the voice when they first started appearing on radio and they were told they sounded too similar. They had previously been vaudeville performers. This bit comes from early in their careers - by the time this was filmed it was already well-known.
My dad and I used to watch these guys all the time.
Abbott and Costello so good and If you havn't seen much of him Victor Bourge is an amazing Comical Pianist
Not only did Lou talk very fast, making it difficult for British viewers, but Bud had a bit of a New York accent. So sometimes it can be hard to understand. This bit dates from radio in the late 1930s and they first performed it on film in One Night in the Tropics (1940). They rarely performed it the same way twice.
This version is slightly different than the recording of Who's On First I grew up with. Lou Costello even gets a little angrier in this one It still had me laughing!
When people say we get both smarter in some ways and dumber in others, this reaction shows that in spades.
As kids, we used to do this bit as we played baseball back in the 80's. Abbott and Costello are the only people to make it to the baseball hall of fame who had nothing to do with the actual game of baseball.
Old stage comedians and vauldville acts dating back to the beginning of the 1900s used to have routines involving wordplay like this. Abbott and Costello developed their bit in the 1930s revolving around the idea that baseball players at that time tended to have odd nicknames. They performed it many times on stage, and then later on for radio and a couple of their movies. The version you watched here was performed on their television show in the 1950s.
No one else could do word play like the Marx brothers.
This comedy skit is so iconic that it's actually been inshrined in the Baseball Hall Of Fame & is without a doubt the greatest comedy skit of all time .
The girl said this was simple comedy and, yes, to an extent. There's no big gags or flashy props but is it so simple? This is, by far, the greatest sports skit in the world.
Abbott and Costello did this bit all the time. Live. Just think of having to memorize all that and do it perfectly because one misstep and the whole flow ends.
Masters at the craft. No denying.
I think they have a general flow to the skit and all they've got to do is hit each mark and if they're struggling they can fall back to "Who's on second?" "No, Who's on first!" until they remember the next part. You can definitely see that in this version of the skit where Abbott was going into the paycheck bit and Costello was dragging the whole thing back a step and then he went into the paycheck bit. I'm not saying it's simple, but they've made it a pretty "safe" skit where any kind of improve is within the story of the skit and it just helps extend time for them to remember the flow of the entire thing. If you watch other recordings of them doing this skit, and there are others out there, you can identify that flow really easily. Introduce the basemen, confuse Who on second, What on first, and establish I Don't Know as third. Run that out a bit to establish that punch line. Go to outfield. Talk about pay checks. Pitcher and catcher. End it with the Shortstop. Ad lib as many "What's the name of the guy on First/Who's on first/ I don't know/Third base" as needed to fill the time.
The thing to remember is how difficult this was to do without a mistake.
And they never break character!
@2:06 "We got the props for you here."
That was Mel Blank -- the voice of Bugs Bunny, and countless other beloved cartoon characters.
He also was in major motion pictures, and had his own radio show.
THIS IS A PHENOMENAL VIDEO!!! THANK YOU FOR POSTING
You guys took me right back to my childhood and driving for vacation with my parents when you pulled this one up.
One of the greatest. REALLY MISSED RIP GUYS
Originally they did not want to do this skit, I was written by a writer who worked for their management.
When Bud and Lou read it they were deadset against it, however they were contractually obligated to do it. Thank goodness they did it.
Very funny, no matter how many times I’ve seen it
The British and the Americans are indeed two people separated by a common language. 😂😂😂😂
That one is a real classic, lol.
Daz says, "It's hard to understand Lou (Costello), because he speaks such a weird language." 😉😃
Abbott and Costello do a skit "7 times 13 equals 28" that is worth watching. You can find it on youtube without any trouble.
This bit is in the baseball hall of fame
As an American, I will share w/you that their rapid-fire staccato is also hard for us to understand today. Maybe it was more common 70 years ago but I/we have some trouble w/it too
Speak for yourself
@@chrischar9428 I already did. Put yourself in the shoes of a Brit for once.
It's that old timey way of speaking from like the 30's and 40's movies. Quasi british called Transatlantic speech. Costello also has it on top of his NY accent as well. Iol
Impeccable timing
This is brilliant. You’ll never figure out who’s on first because who IS on first.
Not simple comedy. Brilliant, and all about timing.
The 24 x 7 I think is my fav skit of theirs
Another Abbott & Costello classic that is absolutely hilarious is the sketch "Loafing". You'll love it!
Abbott and Costello got their start in 30's vaudeville.
Seems to always be the case back then. Martin & Lewis did too…makes you wonder how much effort went into performing when they probably hated each other but had to pretend so hard that they didn’t on stage.
@@strider9184 Hate is a strong term. I don't think they hated each other. I think it was a clash of egos.
Costello was the brains behind the act, just like Jerry Lewis was the brains behind Martin and Lewis.
I did not realize Costello was so fowl-mouthed until I watched bloopers from their movies. He'd fit right into today's world.
Abbott and Costello wrote many of their bits with Sid field and Hillary brook, who played their neighbor on the tv show. Hillary said that they abd field could be very rough with each other until she came in the room and then, at Lou’s insistence, they were always perfect gentlemen. She was kind of disappointed as she wanted to mix it up with Lou and sid but they would only be gentlemen around her.
This routine is older than all three of you,it goes back to the early days of entertainment.
If you enjoyed Abbott and Costello in this skit, two of their funniest movies that they made and were my favorites as a kid were, "Hold That Ghost" and "Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein." I do believe you'll enjoy them.
The little guy, Lou Costello, was born and raised in Paterson, NJ--there is actually a statue there of him. Bud Abbott is from In Asbury Park, NJ (yep, that Asbury Park).
This is an oldie but a goldie. It's even before my time even though I first heard this joke off a (cassette) tape of the original radio broadcast some 40 years ago. That one wasn't as smooth as this, but it still packs the same punch. They've done this joke many times to the point that it is almost reflexive for them.
It's much easier to understand the joke if you think of the first baseman as a Chinaman named "Hu".
The statement "Hu is on first" vs. the question "Who is on first?"
The statement "You throw the ball to Hu" vs. the question "You throw the ball to who?".
The legendary pair have quite a few hilarious comedies out there. If possible, find the one with "mudder" and "fodder". I don't know if they are in video format. I heard the audio from radio broadcasts.
That skit is GENIUS
Timeless
I remember Johnny Carson honoring this skit back in the 80's with him playing Ronald Reagan. The names were plays on Yasser, Watt, and a few others that were in his cabinet or on the world stage at the time.
Highly recommend Brad Williams. He has two full specials on UA-cam broken up into segments and they're very funny.
The thing that always impressed me was that Lou Costello seemed genuinely frustrated by the whole experience of not being able to understand what Bud Abbott was trying to explain to him.
@11:26 "It went on way longer than it should have. Didn't it?"
No, it did not go on way longer than it should have.
Since you found their comedy act boring, then be honest with your audience and say so.
@11:30 "It was hard to understand as well."
No, it is easy to understand, if you are paying attention, and listening with speakers that did not come out of a 1972 clock radio.
@11:34 "It was very, like, simple comedy."
No, it was anything but "simple comedy". It was brilliant comedy. It is considered to be one of the best comedy acts of all time.
It is so brilliant, that they are the only two people on the planet, having no affiliation with baseball, to be inducted into the National Baseball Hall Of Fame.
Their brilliant act is on a continuously playing loop in the National Baseball Hall Of Fame.
They have received many other accolades, over the decades, including giving a personal performance of that routine to President Franklin Roosevelt.
Find another comedy routine that is still remembered, and being broadcast, after 71 years.
You (in the middle) did not like the act. To each his own.
At one time Abbott & Costello were the highest payed actors in Hollywood. This was during WWII, May I suggest their film "Buck Privates",(Not for reaction, but to enjoy) that came out Dec 1941, Just before Pearl Harbor. It's their best work, and some cool swing music as well by the Andrew Sisters...
Pay attention to the cadence of Lou's speech. That makes the whole routine work.
Lou lead a remarkable and at times painful life. Well worth looking into. There is a This is Your Life video that goes into some of it. And by the way, Lou was very athletic.
Your mom is so knowledgeable on different subjects.
I expect the first time they did this skit, or whichever variation on it, they had to rehearse it a fair bit to get the timing. Keep in mind though, that by the time this came out in an Abbott and Costello movie, they'd done it for years by then, as it was first done on their radio show sometime in the mid 1940s. (One thing Ill remember about that episode was the commercial for Camel cigarettes. Becaause more doctors smoke Camel than any other brand of cigarette.) But it's worth noting it was just as funny during its first outing as it was in later renditions. Other takes on a similar theme, like renting a car called a U-Drive, obviously, weren't, to my mind, nearly as successful.
This is considered by many comedians to be the best comedy skit ever. It's all in the timing. Famous comedians like Jerry Seinfeld study this clip because of the timing.
The word play is famous but what drives the comedy is Lou Costello's inability to understand what's going on. The fact that we understand makes it funny. Bud Abbott is prob one of the best straight men out there. He isnthe one that anchors us to the skit. We know what he's talking about when he says Who's on first. When they are talking about the paychecks and Lou asks Who gets the money? And Bud's answer is Naturally. We know what he's saying but we started laughing in anticipation to Lou's reaction, which is going to be drenched in confusion.
But this is where I think they are geniuses. Usually in comedy skits where you have one guy who knows what he's talking about and the other is confused, the guy in the know is traditionally the fast talker and the guy who is confused as the slow talker. Think of a skit like a city slicker meeting a country rube. But in this skit, they turned it around. The "rube" is the fast talker. In a way they become the fast talker and we become the rube. Amazing stuff.
I watch a lot of British tv shows and always have closed caption on so I know what they're saying. So it's hilarious to hear the panel complain that they can't understand what's being said. 😅
When I was a child I grew up watching their films on tv, I remember the short guy (lou Costello) always got short changed with a funny money trick.
Lou was from Paterson, NJ. There is a statue of him in a small park in the city. This version is from their TV show in the early 50's. They had been doing this since their radio days of the 30's, as well as in a movie in the 40's.
They were the Kings of Frustration Comedy....seeing someone Frustrated tends to not to very funny....but it all depends on Who, What, Where, When, is the cause of the Frustration where laughter is guaranteed to happen in a instant
They were one of the most successful comic duos of the Golden Age of Hollywood and made many films at Universal Studios during the 1940’s & ‘50’s.
CLASSIC!
Still after all these years...
This was done in one take in front of that live audience. They were really good They had been doing this but since vaudeville days and could lengthen or shorten it depending on the time available for it.
You have to watch this video and listen closely cause they are quick😂😂
Amazing
3:36 Older baseball players had great nicknames. My favorites are "Oil Can" Boyd and Walter "Big Train" Johnson.