Like Dick Van Dyke, Burns & Allen, Hooneymooners. Etc
Al vivo la hogaza y al muerto, la mortaja.
I've always thought that they were the zaniest though the Marx Bros could have been zanier! And we can see how Seinfeld appreciated them and their great comedy.
shareFavourably.
shareI would consider the first season to be somewhat surreal, and hysterical.
I find some similarities in Burns and Allen.
Short Cut, Draw Blood
The first season was classic, just amazing television. At the slightest pretext they'd be in the army, or joining the police force, or out west on a ranch, or in Africa.
The second season, I think they were trying for something different, and didn't quite make it. Although I think the second season has the routine where Costello is giving Abbott a massage per instructions on a radio program, Abbott falls asleep, Costello leaves the room, and the programs switches to how to paint a car, so when Costello comes back, well, you can guess the rest. THAT routine was hilarious!
I think they made a mistake in ditching some of the cast members from the first season, like Hillary Brooke and Joe Besser.
All in all, just classic classic television.
Season one was great, but it did exhaust a lot of their classic routines. So they went for more of a sitcom route for season two.
shareGrew up watching their two year series over and over and never grew tired of the humor.... they were one of the great comedy routine acts of all time... still laugh when I see a DVD of their TV show...
shareLou Costello was a brilliant natural comic. His timing, physical "grace" (all great clowns have a great athleticism), facial expressions, ability to improvise and play off other actors are amazing.
I've read that Moe Howard (of the 3 Stooges) thought that Costello "borrowed" from Curly Howard's screen persona. I can't agree. I thought they were both brilliant comics, each in his own way. Costello had the ability to project pathos better.
Not up there with Burns & Allen or Car 54 -- and this is from somebody who is a GIANT A&C fan.
They're just nowhere near their best here, in either season. Look at their '40's movies (where you see them do most of the same routines as here, only better), and they are fantastic, world-class comedians. Also their Colgate Comedy Hour episodes, where they were playing to a live studio audience, are tremendous fun. But the 1/2 hour shows, like their radio shows beforehand, just don't show them at their best.
I've seen some of the CCH shows and can't agree that they were better live. Abbott was always breaking up over Costello's ad libs, and the routines just don't work unless Abbott plays it perfectly straight. And part of the brilliance of the show was in the sound effects which were added after filming.
And most of all, what the show had that CCH and the movies didn't have, was the immortal Sidney Fields, who I think of as the third member of a trio.
Seeing some of this stuff as a young kid and I have to say the show kind of scared me in a way. The characters were very odd and were always hitting each other and in one and others face. Also they looked like foreigners
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