Abbot and Costello

Abbott and Costello
Abbott (left) and Costello (right) circa 1940s.
Born	New Jersey, United States
Medium	Stand-up, television, film, vaudeville, radio
Nationality	American
Genres	Word play, slapstick, deadpan

Abbott and Costello were a comedy double act composed of William "Bud" Abbott and Lou Costello, whose work on radio and in film and television made them the most popular comedy team of the 1940s and early 1950s. Their patter routine "Who's on First?" is one of the best-known comedy routines of all time, and set the framework for many of their best-known comedy bits.

Bud Abbott (1897–1974) was a veteran burlesque entertainer from a show business family. He started in burlesque box offices as a treasurer around 1918, and eventually managed and produced touring burlesque companies before becoming a performer. He worked as a with his wife Betty, then with veteran burlesque comedians such as Harry Steppe and Harry Evanson.

Lou Costello (1906–1959) became a burlesque comic in 1928 after failing to break into movie acting and working as a stunt double and film extra. He appears briefly in the 1927 Laurel and Hardy silent two-reeler, The Battle of the Century, seated at ringside during Stan Laurel's ill-fated boxing match. (As a teenager, Costello had been an amateur boxer in his hometown of Paterson, New Jersey.) Costello's first appearance in burlesque was in St. Joseph, Missouri. He joined the Mutual Burlesque wheel in 1929, and Minsky's in 1932.

While they crossed paths a few times, the two comedians first worked together in 1935 at the Eltinge Burlesque Theater on 42nd Street—now the lobby of the AMC Empire movie complex in New York City. This performance came about when Costello's regular partner became ill. When AMC moved the old theater 168 ft (51 m) further west on 42nd Street to its current location, giant balloons of Abbott and Costello were rigged to appear to pull it.