Abbott and Costello

Posted April 18, 201015 yr

Abbott and Costello, one of the greatest comedy teams of all time

Abbott and Costello was a legendary comedy team, consisting of Bud Abbott, the tall, thin straight man, and Lou Costello, the short, pudgy comic. They were famous for their rapid-fire verbal exchanges, and Costello’s clownish view of the world. Like Laurel and Hardy, they were a visual contrast - the tall, debonair Bud Abbott, and the short, goofy, unkempt Lou Costello. In fact, when they were hired by Universal Studios, the studio was thinking of them as a more up-to-date version of Laurel and Hardy.

Abbott and Costello initially teamed up in 1931 when Bud Abbott was working at a Brooklyn theater, and Lou Costello asked him to fill in for his act’s straight man, who had taken ill. Throughout the 1930’s Abbott and Costello built and polished their act in vaudeville and burlesque theaters, using well-known vaudeville routines.

In 1938, they came to national prominence after performing on the radio show The Kate Smith Hour, which lead to Abbott and Costello signing a movie contract with Universal Studios the next year. In 1940, Abbott and Costello released their first film, One Night in the Tropics, in which they were only supposed to be supporting roles, but they ended up stealing the show, notably with an abridged version of their classic "Who's on First?" routine. They were quickly propelled to stardom, starring in the movies, their own radio show and television program.

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello swiftly became box office sensations, and one of the most popular comedy teams of all times, creating dozens of movies (as well as radio shows, a ground-breaking television show, and their own comic book series) over the next twenty years.