Abbott and Costello

"Hey, Abboooooooott!"

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were a Comedy Duo who worked together from 1935 to 1957, starting out in Burlesque theatre and expanding into radio, television and films. They're best known for their signature routine, "Baseball", in which Abbott attempts to tell Costello about a baseball team whose players have confusing nicknames like "Who" and "What". ("Who's on first?" "Yes.")

In 1940 they appeared together in a supporting role in the film One Night in the Tropics, and stole the show. The following year, they had their first star vehicle, Buck Privates. They went on to make over 30 films, remaining top-10 box office draws for the next decade.

A list of their films:

One Night in the Tropics (1940)
Buck Privates (1941)
In the Navy (1941)
Hold That Ghost (1941)
Keep 'Em Flying (1941)
Ride 'Em Cowboy (1942)
Pardon My Sarong (1942)
Who Done It? (1942)
Rio Rita (1942)
It Ain't Hay (1943)
Hit the Ice (1943)
In Society (1944)
Lost in a Harem (1944)
Abbott and Costello in Hollywood (1945)
Here Come the Co-Eds (1945)
The Naughty Nineties (1945)
Little Giant (1946)
The Time of Their Lives (1946)
Buck Privates Come Home (1947)
The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap (1947)
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein (1948)
Mexican Hayride (1948)
The Noose Hangs High (1948)
Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer, Boris Karloff (1949)
Africa Screams (1949)
Abbott and Costello in the Foreign Legion (1950)
Abbott and Costello Meet the Invisible Man (1951)
Comin' Round the Mountain (1951)
Lost in Alaska (1952)
Jack and the Beanstalk (1952)
Abbott and Costello Meet Captain Kidd (1952)
Abbott and Costello Go to Mars (1953)
Abbott and Costello Meet Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde (1953)
Abbott and Costello Meet the Keystone Kops (1955)
Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy (1955)
Dance with Me Henry (1956)

Not to be confused with Tony Abbott and Peter Costello, a pair of Australian politicians who served as ministers under Prime Minister John Howard at the same time.

Abbott and Costello is the Trope Namer for:

Who's on First?

Abbott and Costello works with their own trope pages:

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein

Abbott and Costello provides examples of the following tropes:

Abhorrent Admirer: Moonbeam in Ride 'Em Cowboy, and the widow in The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap.
Accidental Aiming Skills: Oliver's (Lou's) final shot at the basket in Here Come the Co-Eds.
Adorkable: 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.
All Amazons Want Hercules: In Abbott and Costello Go To Mars, Lou falls in love with the Amazonian Queen of Venus, a love she reciprocates... until his inability to keep his hands off of her subjects, and his cohorts' foolish attempt at staging a palace revolt, gets them all shipped back to Earth.
Animated Adaptation: Abbott and Costello, made by Hanna-Barbera in 1966. Abbott voiced himself; Stan Irwin stood in for the late Costello.
Berserk Button: In the "Bagel Street" routine ("Susquehanna Hat Company!")
Boke and Tsukkomi Routine
But You Were There and You and You: Jack and the Beanstalk has Lou's character dreaming that he's Jack, with the other characters corresponding to people he knows in real life.
Butt Monkey: Costello most of the time. Abbott takes this role in "The Time Of Their Lives".
Catch Phrase: "Heeeeeey, Abb-ott!"
Celestial Bureaucracy: in The Time of Their Lives
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.
The Danza: In many of their later works, they skipped the intermediaries and just played characters named "Bud Abbott" and "Lou Costello".
- In Abbott And Costello Meet The Mummy, the comedians's characters were Peter Patterson and Freddie Franklin, respectively--according to the credits, anyway, which was the only place those names were used.
Derailed for Details: The "Jonah and the Whale" sketch
Disney Death: Several of their films include a routine in which Abbott believes Costello has been killed and laments how he treated his friend, while Costello listens and cries along with him. Once Abbott sees that he's all right, he goes back to his old self and slaps Costello for getting him so worried.
The Ditz: Costello
Dumb Is Good: Abbott is clever and sly and Costello is usually dumb and happy or at least naive and happy-go-lucky.
Elevator Floor Announcement: In an episode of their radio show.
The Exit Is That Way
Fat and Skinny: Abbott is the skinny, clever Straight Man; Costello is the chubby dimwit.
Fun with Foreign Languages: In Lost In Alaska, Costello sees some Eskimos communicating in sign language and makes a few random hand gestures of his own. The Eskimo chief starts laughing, telling Costello, "You just told a funny joke!" Later, when Costello meets an attractive Eskimo lady, he tries to impress her by creating the same hand gestures he used before. She slaps him in the face; apparently it was that kind of joke.
The Gay Nineties: The Naughty Nineties
Getting Crap Past the Radar: "The Flying Bordellos" in Who Done It?, among other examples.
Glamorous Wartime Singer: The Andrews Sisters (as themselves) in Buck Privates and In the Navy
Great White Hunter: Parodied in Africa Screams
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.
Hey, It's That Guy!: Happens quite a bit within their films.
- Frankenstein's Monster plays "Devil Dan" Winfield in "Comin' Round The Mountain".
Here We Go Again: In Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer after managed to hide one of the many Peek-a-Boo Corpses before he can get the blame, Costello believes he can finally relax and go to bed, but once he opens his closet, he finds another dead body hanging around. His reaction; give a resigned look, calmly walk away to fetch the laundry cart that were used to remove the previous body, place it by the closet and holler at the top of his lounges after Abbott.
Heterosexual Life Partners
Hollywood Mirage: in Abbott and Costello Join the Foreign Legion
How Would You Like to Die?: In Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer
Hurricane of Puns - the basis of most of their humor.
If It Tastes Bad, It Must Be Good for You:

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.

It Was Here, I Swear: A standard bit, that appears in Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein and Abbott and Costello Meet the Killer among others
Insane Troll Logic: The basis of the sketch where Costello proves that 7 x 13 = 28.
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 deal of episodes of The Abbott And Costello Show
Kitchen Sink Included: In Lost in Alaska, while throwing things at the bad guys to keep them from advancing, Abbott says they've thrown everything but the kitchen sink. Guess what Costello does.
Lady Land: Venus, as depicted in Abbott and Costello Go To Mars
Large Ham: Lou Costello, especially on radio.
Legion of Lost Souls: Abbott and Costello Join the Foreign Legion
Mistaken for An Imposter: Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy
Never Say That Again: The "Slowly I turned..." variant 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".
Non-Indicative Name: Abbott and Costello Go To Mars, in which Abbott and Costello go to Venus.
- Also, Abbott and Costello Meet The Killer, Boris Karloff, in which the killer is not Boris Karloff.
Not-So-Harmless Villain: Costello's not the sharpest tool in the shed, but he's not exactly stupid either, and Depending on the Writer he sometimes has scenes where he skillfully outwits people who only think he's just a moron - Whodunit in particular has him do this several times during the climax.
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.
Poisoned Chalice Switcheroo: In a routine involving a stolen necklace.
The Pratfall: Used regularly.
Quick Change: Several variations.
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.
Red Herring: In Abbott and Costello Meet The Killer, Boris Karloff, the Big Bad is actually the manager of the hotel where the film takes place, not Boris Karloff's character.
Red Oni, Blue Oni
Reflexive Response: Used in Hold That Ghost
Rule of Pool: Played with in Hit the Ice
Self-Offense: in Abbott and Costello Join the Foreign Legion
Shotgun Wedding: In Ride 'Em Cowboy, the Indians suggest forcing Costello into a "bow-and-arrow wedding".
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.
Signs of Disrepair: vote for townSEND pHELPs in Who Done It?
Straight Man: Abbott
Straight Man and Wise Guy: Abbott and Costello
Tempting Fate: From Hit The Ice: "If I ever fall in love with another girl, I hope they hang me". Cue Costello seeing a pretty girl and the mail hook of a train catching him by the neck.
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.
Two-Person Love Triangle: in the romantic subplot in Jack and the Beanstalk
"The Villain Sucks" Song: Costello sings one in Buck Privates, although it's more of a "The Army Sucks Song". Of course, the drill sergeant is frame behind him.
Vitriolic Best Buds: Onscreen, this was played straight. Offscreen, though, the "Best Buds" part was questionable.
Weak-Willed: In one film, a psychologist tries to hypnotize Lou Costello. Lou proves to be completely immune, but the psychologist accidentally hypnotizes himself. Then Lou wakes him up, and managed to accidentally hypnotizes him again mere seconds later.
Who's on First?: In many of their routines, of which the trope namer is only the most famous.
With Friends Like These...
You Kill It, You Bought It: Parodied in The Wistful Widow of Wagon Gap.

Works which reference Abbot and Costello:

Film

Robin Hood: Men in Tights has a scene where an abbot is greeted with Costello's catchphrase.

Abbot: I hate that guy...

Literature

The Dragaera novel Five Hundred Years 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.

Live-Action TV

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".
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 Television 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.

Video Games

Mother 3 features a duo of comedians named Lou and Bud as minor characters.

Web Original

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.

Western Animation

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?"
If you didn't see some similarities between Ren and Stimpy and Abbot and Costello, you weren't paying close enough attention.
The Gummi Bears episode "Friar Tum" features a character named Abbot Costello.
The Futurama episode "A Pharaoh to Remember" has a reference to Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy.
One episode of Veggie Tales 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.

Real Life

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.