One of these days I'm going to have to go back and rewatch all of the Abbott and Costello films I saw to death as a child. My dad loved them, and every Sunday morning, after church, from 11:30 am to 1 pm, we would watch one of their films on WPIX, Channel 11, in NYC.
Simply put, no comedy team put a higher premium on intelligence and verbal dazzle. The Marx Bros. were just Groucho, the Three Stooges were slapstick alone, and Laurel and Hardy were emotional slapstick.
Here are a few routines, starting with the famed Who's on First?:
Here's another, the famous Math routine:
Just listen to the little comments in between.
But here's a routine that's my favorite. I piss my pants all the time seeing it:
Just fantastic blends of intellect and humor, verbal dazzle and slapstick. Abbott and Costello rule!
