ABBOTT & COSTELLO

One of radio's most popular comedy teams, Bud Abbott and Lou Costello began their 30-year partnership in 1929, with Abbott serving as the perfect straight man and Costello as the bumbling, wisecracking man-child.

The duo were veteran vaudeville and burlesque performers when producer Ted Collins signed them up for a series of appearances on The Kate Smith Show in 1938. They achieved national recognition by performing seasoned vaudeville routines for a national audience—the most popular being a baseball routine called "Who's On First?". The classic routine became synonymous with the pair and a recording was sent to the Baseball Hall of Fame in 1956. Abbott and Costello starred in a 1940 summer replacement series for Fred Allen before signing with Universal Pictures. From 1942 to 1947, the duo enjoyed huge success in movies and on radio, where The Abbott & Costello Show was a Thursday night fixture on NBC. The pair broadcast for ABC from 1947 to 1949, where they starred in a weekly evening series as well as a Saturday morning show aimed at their younger fans. Lou Costello died on March 3, 1959. Bud Abbott died on April 24, 1974.

Bud Abbott and Lou Costello were inducted into the Radio Hall of Fame in 2005.