This is a comedy routine that I have turned to time and time again, it has become my go-to-clip whenever I meet someone at work who says “old films aren’t funny” – and I can’t think of a better single clip for April Fools Day.

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were a couple of vaudeville clowns who first teamed up back in 1935. The rumour is that Lou Costello insisted on all of their contracts be split 60/40 in favour of Bud Abbott because he felt so strongly that the act lived an died with the ‘straight man’ and that good ones were far harder to find than ‘funny guys’.

‘Who’s on first’ is their most famous routine and was actually named the best comedy routine of the 20th century by TIME magazine – but that’s not why it’s here. It is here because despite being almost 100 years old it still makes me laugh, and any joke with that sort of life span simply has to be seen. So here it is, enjoy…

 

This routine has been replicated, parodied, alluded to and lovingly updated by so many greats including Dustin Hoffman, Billy Crystal, Jerry Seinfeld, Peter Griffin, Homer Simpson, Eugene Levy and of course the Animaniacs. In fact if you ask either Alexa or Siri “Who is on first” they are programmed to respond with a reference to the routine.

Of course, none of these incarnations even come close to the original routine and that is why it belongs as a part of any comedy lexicon. “First Base!!”

Clown Stars: * * * * *

 @’The Actors Home’, The Abbott & Costello Show