CLASSIC! | Who's On First - Abbott & Costello (Reaction)

[@matthewbecker964]

This routine was voted the greatest comedy sketch of all time. It is the astonishingly fast pace and Costello's hilarious annoyance that makes it so funny. Years of perfect timing all rolled up into a few psychedelic minutes. They were real pros.

[@shwicaz]

"hilarious annoyance"is the perfect phrase.

[@signal12hvac]

well said

[@milesromine9960]

Abbott and Costello are the only two non baseball players in the Baseball Hall of Fame😮

[@Trebor78]

Psychedelic?

[@matthewbecker964]

Psychedelic means mind expanding in greek. It does not necessarily refer to drugs. Their astonishingly fast pace does open up the mind and stop thought in its tracks. @@Trebor78

[@bobhoffman9848]

Abbott and Costello's "Who's on First?" routine plays on a loop at the Baseball Hall of Fame in Cooperstown. Yes, it's that famous, and it's been copied in different forms many times.

[@AliasMark69]

I have been there many times and it plays non-stop in one of the shows.

[@LongandWeirdName]

My personal favorite is the Animaniacs version, where they have Slappy Squirrel and Skippy at Woodstock, aka Who's On Stage.

[@thecrye6798]

Bud Abbott is such an amazing straight man. He keeps the pace like a drummer. Just brilliant.

[@AB-ez4rm]

I think I read somewhere that the reason Bud was able to keep it straight was he didn't think Lou was that funny.

[@melenatorr]

@@AB-ez4rm I don't know about that, but Abbott had the reputation of being the best straight man in the business.

[@lancevaughn432]

Abbott and Costello, Who’s on First. Was voted the greatest comedy sketch ever. Also, in the baseball Hall of Fame

[@HRConsultant_Jeff]

I used this to teach a communication class. We could spend 2 hours dissecting and debating the proper elements of human communication. Seems like in this day and age, it may be needed more than ever with people who cannot even write full sentences or speak clearly.

[@sandralorenz1796]

Hilarious skit without a single four-letter word.

[@80sCanadian]

What Name Base Ball :p

[@anna9072]

Most of the time, I’ll laugh at a comedy routine the first time I see it, but then I know what’s going to happen and I don’t generally laugh when I see it a second time. But for some reason, this one it doesn’t seem to matter how many times I see it, it’s just as funny every time.

[@JedLemon38]

How much work it must’ve taken to perfect this routine?! Brilliant 8 decades later.

[@elbruces]

Between vaudeville and radio, they must have performed it a thousand times. Not counting rehearsals.

[@AliasMark69]

"Abbott and Costello" were an American comedy duo composed of comedians Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, whose work in radio, film, and television made them the most popular comedy team of the 1940s and 1950s, and the highest-paid entertainers in the world during the Second World War. They produced 38 films together.... Funny Stuff.

[@locustjohn3865]

This routine was first performed on national radio by Abbott and Costello 86 years ago.

[@OriginalLictre]

While it may have first been performed that long ago on radio, it was performed before that on vaudeville.

[@stretch753]

I'm 64. This was recorded years before I was born. Still holds up.

[@russelljudkins3314]

This routine is so good because they never mess up they never break character in it

[@AliasMark69]

Regardless of Who's On First, you just hit a HOME RUN with this one.

[@bugvswindshield]

😅😊😅

[@barryhickman6911]

As a child I thought this was the funniest thing I ever heard!

[@richardlandrum1966]

Another great bit is when they tackle math, and prove in multiple ways 7×13=28. One of my faves

[@franktraina4147]

When I was a kid I couldn't wait for Abbott and Costello movies to come on. The best is Abbott and Costello meet Frankenstein. 😎

[@beegee1960]

That was also my favorite.

[@sandywich7834]

My favorite is Hold That Ghost, even though it scared me at the time. Frankenstein is definitely one of their best.

[@user-no6yi3nz7j]

Buck Privates was great with the Andrews Sisters and the famous dice game.@@sandywich7834

[@picolo4102]

Still good. 80 yrs later

[@williambowman1660]

Vin Scully was a legendary sports broadcaster who did the radio play by play of the Dodgers doe over 50 years. One of his favorite moments was when a player with the name of Whuy( Not sure of spelling but pronounced Who. ) on the opposite team drew a walk, the usually unflappable Vin paused for a moment. Then in an obviously happy moment gleefully announced he has been waiting over 40 years to be able to announce, Who’s on First!. This from the man that was on the radio of Bobby Thomason’s Shot Heard Round the World, Don Larsons perfect game in the 55 Series, Dwight Clark’s catch against the Cowboys in 81, Kirk Gibsons pinch hit home run in the 88 series…. just to name a few of the many. Yet he loved to tell with the biggest smile , how he was able to say, Who’s on First in a forgettable regular season game. That’s the power and love this simple yet timeless routine has for baseball people and for many from that era.

[@AliasMark69]

These guys have made dozens of HILARIOUS movies you will want to check out a few.

[@yambo59]

All performed from memory, amazing

[@samsmith4216]

The greatest comedy routine of all time! Nothing comes close and yes.. they were the originators.

[@jkkansasband7056]

The G.O.A.T.

[@Arrowflynn1897]

Abbot and Costello premiered “Who’s On First” in one of their movies back around 1938

[@countygraybeal6901]

When I was young, I would get up early to watch cartoons, then Abbott and Costello theater,then Martin and Louis movies, and finish off with Shirley Tempel! Lol,then I go out and play till dark! It was wonderful!

[@chriswiedeman2956]

Comedic perfection : )

[@user-uo6gz3tm5z]

One of the best skits ever

[@brianmccullough5764]

Apparently it's a sketch? No, my friend, this is THE sketch. Over and over it's voted the best ever done.

[@PeterOConnell-pq6io]

Funny stuff never gets less funny

[@marlarogers9304]

This is a masterclass on comic timing!

[@AliasMark69]

THANKS... This is a MUST DO for all Reactors. Millions have laughed at this iconic legendary act. Now you can say you have done it to.... TOO COOL.

[@diverdown631]

This will live forever.

[@jillk368]

We used to do this as kids - - Abbott and Costello movies and specials ran on TV a lot in the 70s. Some of their old movies were great, too.

[@jamesdesanders5618]

Watching this as a kid in the 70s I laughed my ass off!!😂

[@jeffdetmer4681]

This bit plays on a loop at the baseball hall of fame. Classic.

[@TheJohnnywbred]

13 times 7 equals 28’

[@Scottie_S]

Now, THAT'S a killer!

[@kevinmcconnell3641]

This is a top ten comedy skit of all time!!

[@MusicMan1965]

The timing and pace is incredible!! How old is this ? !! These guys were gold!! There were the originals of this!

[@davidmckenzie420]

Absolutely fantastic bit. And I'm not surprised it was voted (by?) the best comedy sketch ever. These two guys knew how to deliver comedy.

[@matthewbecker964]

Time Magazine

[@stevemorris6855]

So professional! Perfect timing. Word perfect. Never bettered. 🇬🇧

[@tomayres4237]

I have seen this Hundreds of times and its Still funny!!!

[@garyzink1927]

In the early 60's they had several movies that I loved on Saturday morning. Also they are in baseball hall of fame for this skit! Peace from Northern Michigan.

[@user-ft2bt9kw7x]

I think whose on first is an old vaudeville routine written by unknown writers . A little like some traditional songs . No one knows who wrote them .They were a group effort written over a number of years

[@tracyyork1428]

You are correct. Who's On First was performed by multiple comics before A&C teamed up. They refined it, and were the first to bring it to national attention on radio in 1938.

[@mikedee2412]

PEOPLE DON'T REALIZE THAT THIS WAS DONE LIVE... NO TAPING A SHOW, NO MISTAKES, NO ONE YELLING CUT AND DOING IT OVER...PURE TALENT!!!!

[@anjoleeeickhoff6800]

Every Halloween we watch Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein, it is such a great movie and the whole family can watch it. Our boys are 20 and 24 now and they still love to watch it. They made a lot of great movies and the Colgate Comedy Hour is also a great tv show to watch of theirs. ❤ The Who’s On First skit is 80+ years old and it never gets old and it’s clean, again something the whole family can watch because even if you have little kids where the references go over their heads they still usually enjoy watching Lou Costello get all riled up and jokingly hitting himself in the head with the bat. How many comics today have this kind of wide appeal and clean for the whole family to watch it without any nasty language? Very few. And how many comics nasty, cussing, sexual reference comedy routines today will still be relevant and funny 80+ years from now? I would say none. Abbott and Costello were masters of their craft and it’s stood the test of time! They knew how to entertain people!❤

[@user-rz2ht9pv3n]

That is an Abbot & Costello original. The funniest comedy routine of all time. I have heard it 1000 times and it still cracks me up! I have a copy of it on vinyl that was a page of a magazine. (I think it was Time or Life). I wonder how any of your viewers even recall getting records in magazines.

[@A_Bit_of_Thought]

I do remember having a record on the back of a cereal box. That's right, cut the back out of the cereal box, punch out the hole and play it on the record player. Don't remember the cereal or what was recorded.

[@libertylover4016]

This skit is actually in the baseball hall of fame. Warner Brothers had a cartoon, I think it was called tiny toons. They did a takeoff on this time traveling back to Woodstock. with the band "the who" It is hard to find but well worth it. Abbot and Costello did originate this. It was part of their act back in the 1920's on Vaudeville. They have another classic called "8X13=28" well worth the watch. Great reaction. Peace.

[@texasps91]

After they formally teamed up in burlesque in 1936, he and Costello continued to hone the sketch. It was a big hit in the fall of 1937, when they performed the routine in a touring vaudeville revue called Hollywood Bandwagon.[4][5] In February 1938, Abbott and Costello joined the cast of The Kate Smith Hour radio program and the sketch was first performed for a national radio audience on March 24 of that year.[2][1][6] The routine may have been further polished before this broadcast by burlesque producer John Grant, who became the team's chief collaborator, and Will Glickman, a staff writer on the Smith show.[7] Glickman may have added the nicknames of then-contemporary baseball players like Dizzy and Daffy Dean to set up the routine's premise. This version, with extensive wordplay based on most of the fictional baseball team's players having "strange nicknames" that seemed to be questions, became known as "Who's on First?" Some versions continue with references to Enos Slaughter, which Costello misunderstands as "He knows" Slaughter.[8] By 1944, Abbott and Costello had the routine copyrighted.[citation needed] Abbott and Costello performed "Who's on First?" hundreds of times in their careers. Although it was rarely performed precisely the same way twice, the routine follows a definite structure.[1] They did the routine for President Franklin Roosevelt several times. An abridged version was featured in the team's 1940 film debut, One Night in the Tropics. The duo reprised the bit in their 1945 film The Naughty Nineties and it is that longer version which is considered their finest recorded rendition.[a] They also performed "Who's on First?" several times on radio and television (notably in The Abbott and Costello Show episode "The Actor's Home"). In 1956, a gold record of "Who's on First?" was placed in the National Baseball Hall of Fame and Museum in Cooperstown, New York. A video (taken from The Naughty Nineties) now plays continuously on screens at the Hall.

[@thomasmayk]

Yes, "Who's on First?" did originate with Abbott and Costello on the vaudeville stage. I appreciated how you said your face hurt because I always judge comedy by the amount of physical pain it puts me through. The funnier it is, the more I hurt.

[@RLU-wt8vi]

Soon you'll HAVE to play "The Dentist", from Carol Burnett. I guarantee you will be crying. Harvey Korman, "the patient", admits later in interviews that he 'wet' himself trying not to laugh himself. Thanks for bringing another classic!

[@richstrobel]

That and the Tim Conway elephant story; the version which didn't air. To me it's not so much what Vicki said that's funny though their reaction was great. But Tim's story about the elephants makes me laugh.

[@monteejefferson695]

Take a look at Abbott and Costello 7x21=28

[@phyllisdwyer9777]

Absolutely love your smile, it’s beautiful. I’m old, you’re safe!

[@bernardcoombs1778]

Absolutely timeless. There's a modern version of this done by ventriloquist Jeff Dunham. Look for a video called "Peanut's Password Panic".

[@stephenelliott6552]

Watch these guys and others from broadly the same era. Been doing so from time to time for many years since a child. They never cease to be hilarious and so brighten my day. They have an eternal quality.

[@ThisIstheDay118]

This skit is really making its rounds on KZbin. It's brilliant. I laugh just as much at the skit as I do watching you view it. This is a classic.

[@lizbetty6661]

Love this, this was my morning entertainment growing up as a child in the 70s. It was good to laugh.

[@user-no6yi3nz7j]

Thanks! I'm really glad that you are reviewing my childhood formative years. From black and white TV to Vietnam, It was quite a ride.

[@ronlackey2689]

Comedy masterpiece

[@RICHIERICH91528]

Went to the hall of fame many guests just gathered around and watched it

[@TheGadgetwiz]

I remember the day I saw this on TV. It was old then. I was adjusting the rabbit ears one weekend morning. This came on, and I still remember every detail even though I was only 5.

[@KW-gb9cd]

A comedy troupe called The Credibility Gap once did a bit where two guys were planning a rock concert with three groups, and were trying to figure out which one would be on first; the Who, the Guess Who, or Yes.

[@bugvswindshield]

Some jokes don’t stand up even after a couple of years. This one has been around for 80 years!!!! Now that’s talent! By the by. A few years ago the dodgers had a Korean player named Hu. He got on first base and the announcer didn’t let it pass him by! 😃😅😂😃. There’s a short clip of it on the utubes.

[@AdaedA1]

Lou wrote this on an envelope in the back of a cab

[@joconnell8145]

Uhhh...no! It was written long before A&C started performing it.

[@Mvtobebo]

My son just recently got to see this skit and he loved it. I remember watching it when I was a kid.

[@Raven5150]

This is considered the greatest comedy skit ever there are many versions of this skit the duo could change it on the spot make it longer or shorter as needed this verson is from a variety show they do, this was done in 1 take no editing this verson i consider it the be the only verson worth watching with maybe the exception to an earlier version with them in ball uniforms you can the difference between that verson and this verson both amazing but this they were just perfect

[@jimguisinger2846]

Imagine the comedic genius it took between those two men to sit down with a pencil and paper and write this!!

[@skipicusmaximus847]

The grammatical comic genius presentation is unparalleled

[@Dougwarren69]

I'm glad you got to react to such a comedy classic. If this were music, it would be called jazz. ☮️

[@williamoldenburg4468]

What great comic timing.

[@jeffuren6942]

I believe the clip we are watching was the radio show skit...radio shows in the 2930s to 1950s always had a " live " audience

[@wcwindom56]

this was originally done for one of their movies. they had the basic idea and done the whole thing ad lib for the movie

[@pudder68]

Its amazing how they could keep it up

[@kevinogracia1615]

Ol' classic. Peace on earth.

[@TairnKA]

"Genius!"

[@dionysiacosmos]

Mystery Science Theater 3000 has a host segment called Noh Japanese Theater. There's two kinds of classic Japanese Theater one is called Kabuki, the other one is Noh. It's hilarious.

[@markavell7111]

Comedy based on Confusion!!!!! The Best in the World.

[@jennifermolina4396]

I hope that you had heard this skit before! It's iconic! Tim Conway is another good one to react to. Both hysterical.

[@thomastimlin1724]

Comic geniouses

[@davidferguson5521]

Abbott and Costello "dice game" is great as well

[@michaelchilcott210]

Brilliant, Brilliant love these two i'm British but grew up with there later stuff.👌👌

[@MrLancelot49]

Yes they did originate it

[@guyray1504]

And no bad words used. Today's comic should take notes. This will still be funny in 60 years from now.

[@GilbertHorn1]

Love your reaction to this greatest of comedy sketches.

[@jeannehurdel312]

I can't imagine remembering all of that.

[@johnwright1957]

When i heard this for the first time, i thinkbit was the firstvtime i hadctears from laughibgvso hard...that was 50 years ago. I still laugh

[@stevenboettcher4796]

A fun review. Abbott and Costello had many great films. Even if you don’t review them, you need to watch: Buck Private In The Navy Hold That Ghost Abbott & Costello Meets Frankenstein - (also Dracula and the Wolf Man).

[@richstrobel]

I watched some of those A&C spooky movies when I was a kid. It seems to me they might have done one with the invisible man too.

[@FreshMootz]

I’ve seen this so many times and it is still ffffunny!

[@TeamEMPYT]

This never gets old!!

[@Richard-od7yd]

You should watch ABBOTT AND COSTELLO'S DOLLAR A DAY routine 😂

[@cog4life]

Classic….😂😅😂 always funny. Timeless. 😊

[@AliasMark69]

These guys might get you to 20,000 subs, just watch.

[@Nclght]

Just imagine if this was done today by Chapelle. It might just include "They" , along with Who, What and I don't know . He'd probably get roasted but he wouldn't give a damn. 😂

[@billsimonis]

Canadian comedy troupe, The Kids In The Hall, did a version of this skit that I would reccomend you watching.

[@WinteryMix84]

Hilarious classic! Next try WC Fields skit called I Want My Kumquats. (It’s an unusual fruit if anyone is unfamiliar and yes, the name sounds a little “off”. The skit is good clean fun, I promise!

[@jacquesm6847]

My favorite show growing up lol 😁

[@jesusloverofmysoul8794]

There are actually much better versions of them doing this bit. It was very awesome watching you enjoy this.

[@lorilxn1597]

My favorite comedy team, great movies too. I also love Laurel and Hardy, WC Fields, Charlie Chaplin and the Smothers Brothers

[@patriciaotoole5930]

Clean and funny. Glad u liked it

[@davidrichards6509]

These two have been doing this routine on the Vaudeville stage, on the radio, and in the movies for about 25 or 30 years by the time they did this on their TV program in the 1950's. This video is "how it started" and this next video is one of many many "tributes" for "how it's going" ... Chris Tucker even "sounds" like Lou Costello 😂😂😂 kzbin.info/www/bejne/bnKlgZh4gK6Ba6ssi=CLYeAWnrrfwJ1C8M

[@elbruces]

Yes, this came out before the "Rush Hour" franchise.

[@Stickywicket1keet]

Grew up with this lol Glad to see it is still funny hahaha