Abbott And Costello

Picture a short, round, confused man, standing next to someone tall, slick, and intellectual, and you have a duo that brought laughter to numerous audiences. Together Bud Abbott and Lou Costello formed a team with great chemistry; by using their natural abilities and deep backgrounds they produced a successful career that carried on throughout three decades. Steve Allen agrees, "Only a very talented team like Abbott & Costello could have survived the transition from burlesque and vaudeville to radio to films to television to night clubs, over a period of twenty-two years" (qtd. in Costello xii).

Obviously from the beginning of Abbott and Costello's careers, these two comics were indeed talented. Before Costello, Abbott had previously worked with funnymen Harry Steppe and Harry Evanson. "With both Steppe and Evanson, Bud had the uncommon knack of making them seem funnier than they were. . . . [Furthermore,] everyone in burlesque agreed Bud Abbott would go far, if he could only find the right comic to team up with" (Thomas 37). The same problem occurred with the early years of Lou Costello's career. When Bud first saw Lou perform he thought to himself, "Joe Lyons [Costello's partner] simply wasn't doing it right. But the Costello kid was all right. Damn good, in fact, even without a strong straight man" (Thomas 50). Finally, in 1935, two years after they first met, Abbott and Costello officially decided to work together; they would later perform together for the first time in 1936 (Furmanek 18).

Abbott and Costello were known as a double act or comedy duo, in which one comedian is considered the straight man and the other is called the comic or funny man. The straight man (Bud Abbott) was known to be intelligent and reasonable, in contrast the comic (Lou Costello) was commonly seen as a dumb and an unfortunate character ("Double Act"). Brooks Atkinson, in his Times piece describes:

Abbott is the overbearing mastermind whose feverish, impatient guidance of the conversation produces the crisis. Costello is the short, fat he-who-gets-slapped. He is a moon-faced zany with wide, credulous eyes, a high voice, and puffy hands that struggle in futile gestures. Both men work themselves into a state of excitement that is wonderful to behold. (qtd. by Thomas 73)

What produced this duo's classic humor was the uncanny ability to play off each other's roles and differences, as Abbott would use his classy, intelligent role to belittle the fat, dim-witted Costello.