For Those Who Dared to Have “Who’s on First” Explained to Them
Comedy is a hard subject to take seriously. Everybody in the world’s history, from William Shakespeare to that one uncle you had that would steal copper from abandoned houses, has had a different sense of humor. And since social paradigms change very quickly, it’s no wonder a joke made a few years ago can now be viewed as stale or, worse, offensive.
The vaudeville circuit was no exception. As a form of live entertainment that involved comedy, music, and dance it sometimes featured routines that could be considered mind-blowingly bad by today’s standards. Starving people living through a depression would throw food at the performers. That’s how bad we’re talking here. Yet, out of this landscape of antiquated humor, one comedy duo beat the odds and managed to become timeless.
Their names were Abbott and Costello.
Instead of spectacle, these two focused on clever wordplay and witty banter. The result was the crafting of sketches which are considered, even today, to be classic. They had a lot of memorable skits, but today I’m going to focus on their most famous one, “Who’s on First,” the most popular title that asks a rhetorical question, right ahead of “Whose Line is It Anyway.” Almost a century later, “Who’s on First” is still well-received and downright funny, somehow avoiding the erosion of time. This begs the question: what is it about this skit that appeals to the audiences of today as much as it appealed to the audiences of yesterday?
To order to find the answers, it’s important to begin with a brief history of the duo. Everybody loves history. Abbott and Costello started working together by accident. As the story goes, Lou Costello’s regular partner fell ill before a performance and Bud Abbott had to come in as a replacement. They must have hit it off, because they teamed up permanently a year later, with their roles in place. Abbott was the no-nonsense “straight man” and Costello was the bumbling “funny man.” A classic dynamic we’ll discuss in a little more detail later (spoiler alert).
One of the earlier sketches they worked on together was a reworking of a Burlesque comedy routine called “Who’s the Boss,” which, and I can’t emphasize this enough, had nothing to do with Tony Danza. They reworked the setting of the skit, replacing a workplace with a baseball game, and debuted it to American audiences during The Kate Smith Hour radio program in 1938. And from that moment, “Who’s on First” was born.
The skit was a runaway hit, becoming the duo’s signature work. They performed it on a variety of radio shows — including their own — vaudeville productions, and in several of their movies, most notably 1945’s “The Naughty Nineties,” which features one of the more popular versions of the sketch. At the height of its frenzy, Abbott and Costello were invited to the White House to perform “Who’s on First” for President Roosevelt. (Not Teddy, Franklin.)
Now, the million-dollar question is this: what makes the sketch work? Not just for presidents and vaudeville audiences, but to the YouTube generation almost a century later. I round up. To an outsider, the wild success of “Who’s on First” can feel like a mystery. It’s a simple premise. Maybe too simple. A guy doesn’t understand another guy. That’s it. At its core, that is the sketch. However, this simplicity may be the reason it’s endured. Anybody can understand it as long as they can grasp two basic subjects: baseball and questions. If these elements remain intact, the joke will never be lost.
While simplicity in comedy is important, there are hundreds of other easy-to-grasp skits that haven’t had the same success as “Who’s on First.” I mean, Saturday Night Live’s “Land Shark” sketch came out thirty years after Abbott and Costello’s, and it’s almost simpler — shark eats people on land — yet it’s been largely forgotten by time. Which is a shame, really. I can’t say “candygram” anymore without drawing confused looks. That kinda hurts. Simplicity aside, there must be another factor at play. And there is, three of them, in fact. We’ll start with the most obvious: wordplay.
What is wordplay, anyway? Since we’re talking about it, we may as well offer a description. It’s a classic literary technique that uses phonetic wit to make an impact, particularly in the realm of humor. Put simply, it’s the art of playing with words. (Easy, no?) Most entertainers use wordplay in one form or another. George Carlin explored the realm of swears in his “7 Dirty Words You Can’t Say on TV” bit, Norm Crosby (not the guy you’re thinking of, or that OTHER guy you’re thinking of) became famous for his use of intentionally misquoted phrases, called malapropisms, and, of course, there was Abbott and Costello. Most of their bits included wordplay of some type. Take, for example, this double-entendre from their movie “Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein:”
Wolfman: Every night when the moon is full, I turn into a wolf.
Costello: You and twenty million other guys.
This type of comedy was key for the duo and is featured heavily in “Who’s on First.” Every player’s name brings a new type of communication error to the exasperated Costello, which creates an entirely different joke for the audience. They utilize almost every position on the baseball field, with each player receiving a brief moment in the bit. Since the names are based on everyday words and questions, like the titular Who, Costello can’t discuss one player without inadvertently shifting the conversation to another. The exchange between the two is rapid-fire, with just enough of a pause at the end of each misunderstanding so that Costello has a moment to reflect on his ignorance:
Costello: Look, all I want to find out is what’s the name of the guy on first base.
Abbott: What’s the name of the guy on second base.
Costello: I’m not asking you who’s on second.
Abbott: Who’s on first.
Costello: I don’t know.
Abbott: He’s on third, we’re not talking about him.
This back and forth is common in the next technique they utilized, the straight man/ funny man double act. This typically works with two people (aren’t you glad I’m here to figure this out for you?), where one person is no-nonsense, or the “straight man,” and the other is wilder and more unpredictable. It’s a character designation employed by many comics in the Vaudeville era, as well as a technique that can still be found today. From Laurel and Hardy to Key and Peele, the straight man/ funny man double act is steeped in tradition.
What makes the formula successful is that it compliments the two-part structure of a joke: set-up and punchline. A straight man will lay the groundwork for a bit, forgoing exaggerated character for the sake of his counterpart. When the funny man delivers the punchline, its effect is doubled because both parts have committed to their roles. Think about it. Two funny men wouldn’t work; a joke can’t be all punchline and no set-up. Watch:
“Aye Matey.”
Yeah, that doesn’t work without the set-up: “What did the pirate say when he turned 80?” The only way a double-act bit works is if the two parts are working in tandem.
Abbott and Costello are considered one of the best double-acts of all time. “Who’s on First” demonstrates the pinnacle of their straight man/ funny man routine. The humor is derived from Abbott’s calm, cool demeanor as much as it is from Costello’s increasing agitation. Abbott relays the facts. Costello struggles to understand. That’s their role through the whole segment. And the dynamic only works because they both play these roles throughout.
Costello’s increasing impatience illustrates the third technique used by the duo: storytelling. The sketch resembles a three-act structure. It has a defined beginning, middle, and end, which is mirrored in the progression of the baseball setting. It starts in the infield, moves to the outfield, then finishes with the pitching and catching. With each new area explored, Costello becomes more perplexed and, therefore, angrier and more explosive. And because the audience loves a slow thinker (I didn’t make that up, that’s a well-known adage in comedy, I swear), the more confused Costello becomes, the funnier he is. But the real punchline to the bit is at the very end. After struggling through the entire roster of ridiculous names, he begins to grasp what is being said to him. He rattles off the names and positions in a moment of final, blissful understanding. That’s a big part of the storytelling aspect; it completes his arc. He has to understand, otherwise the sketch wouldn’t be complete. The sketch is a story, and every story needs an ending. Of course, there’s a coda that adds one final layer to Costello’s confusion and gives the audience a last laugh:
Costello: Who picks up the ball and throws it to What, What throws it to I Don’t
Know, I Don’t Know throws it back to Tomorrow, a triple play. The
next guy up hits a long fly ball to Because. Why? I Don’t Know, he’s
on third, and I Don’t Care.
Abbott: What was that?
Costello: I said, “I Don’t Care.”
Abbott: Oh, that’s our shortstop.
These three elements working together, wordplay, double-act, and use of storytelling, combine to make a sketch that is memorable and timeless. There have been many imitators who have used this same formula to tweak the sketch and make it their own. Famed late-night talk-show host Johnny Carson created an adaptation called “Hu’s on the Phone,” replacing the setting of baseball with politics. Even “The Animaniacs,” a cartoon aimed at children, took their own approach, using Woodstock as the background and calling it “Who’s on Stage.” While both of these sketches embraced the important elements of the original, there was one key difference. Can you guess it? It’s that timeless simplicity again. As I mentioned before, all you need to understand “Who’s on First” is two things: questions and baseball. In the decades that have passed, those factors have remained unchanged. Politics, on the other hand, always changes. And while almost everybody’s been to a ball game, not everybody has been to Woodstock. As time marches on, there will be less people who remember it. So, while these skits are funny, they’re not timeless.
The legacy of “Who’s on First” is impressive. Because of it, Abbott and Costello grace the Baseball Hall of Fame Museum in Cooperstown, New York, preserving their sketch for all time. And it seems that newer generations love it as much as older ones. Take a look at the videos it has on YouTube. Some of them have views in the millions, proving it’s a piece of comedy that will never go out of style. Because as long as miscommunication is a part of life, “Who’s on First” will continue to endure.
