Who's On First
Who's on First? is a legendary routine by the comedy team of Abbott and Costello. The premise of the routine is that Abbott is identifying the players on a baseball team to Costello, but their names can all easily be heard as non-responsive answers to Costello's questions.
The comedy routine was first featured in the 1940 film, One Night in the Tropics. The duo reprised the bit in their 1945 film The Naughty Nineties, and also performed the routine numerous times on radio.
Abbott's explanations leave Costello hopelessly confused and infuriated until the end of the routine when he finally appears to catch on. "You got a couple of days on your team?" He never quite figures out that the first baseman's name literally is "Who." But after all this he announces, "I don't give a darn!" ("Oh, that's our shortstop.")
As a result of the routine, Abbott and Costello were honored in the Baseball Hall of Fame museum in Cooperstown, New York, even though they had no other connection to the sport. TIME magazine named the routine Best Comedy Sketch of the 20th century.
The names given in the routine for the players at each position are:
- Who: first base
- What: second base
- I Don't Know: third base
- Why: left field
- Because: center field
- Tomorrow: pitcher
- Today: catcher
- I Don't Give a Darn: shortstop
The name of the shortstop is not given until the very end of the routine, and the right fielder is never identified.
The theme has been reprised many times. In particular, late night television host Johnny Carson gave a memorable rendition showing President Ronald Reagan being briefed by an aide. Puns were made with the names of Chinese leader Hu (who?) of Yasser Arafat (yes, sir) and of Interior Secretary James Watt (what?). In the animated series Animaniacs, a music variant was performed with Slappy and Skippy Squirrel have a similiarily confusing conversation at the Woodstock Festival in 1969 about the rock bands, The Who, The Band, and Yes.
CanWest Global Park, a baseball stadium in Winnipeg, Manitoba, features a Chinese restaurant down the first-base line called "Hu's on First."
One version was produced by Vick Reves and Bob Mortimer, a UK comedy duo, which simply involved asking the question, "What is the unit of electrical power?" which naturally serves as its own answer.
