In going through some classic comedy on this July 4th holiday, I watched the classic Abbott & Costello routine below and realized: it sounds like political discussion in America today. When this skit was popular (the 40s and in this version from the early 1950s TV show) it was outrageous. Now it sounds almost like the way partisans, politicians, talk show hosts, etc. talk about politics. Judge for yourself:
This is from Abbott & Costello’s TV show which influenced Jerry Seinfeld and his TV show. Here’s another bit along the same lines. This You Tube starts with the show opening, Abbott & Costello doing their opening bit — and then another routine that sounds like our political talk these days:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MmcVpJFm590
FOOTNOTE: Lou Costello is probably my all time favorite comedian, someone who had a very sad life and died at 52.
You can buy a new, remastered, restored collection of the full two seasons of their TV show. The first season had nutty plots plus lots of old vaudeville and burlesque bits that they filmed so they and their families would own the rights. The second season had original scripts and were akin to Three Stooges slapstick shorts or situation comedies. Both seasons hold up very well today for comedy fans young and old.
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.