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The Abbott and Costello Show

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Bringing their trademark slapstick, puns and gimmicks to the small screen, 'The Abbott and Costello Show' features Bud Abbott and Lou Costello as out-of-work actors and roommates staying at Mr. Field's Hollywood boarding house. Joined by an off-the-wall supporting cast, such as dimwitted policeman Mike Kelly (Gordon Jones) and bratty child Stinky (Joe Besser), Abbott and Costello encapsulate their classic burlesque routines in a loosely plotted television format.

Videos

Lou's Birthday Party
The Vacation
Barber Lou
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Lou's Birthday Party
The Vacation
Barber Lou
Honeymoon House
Fencing Master

Stories

Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein: The Quiz!
11 influential TV shows turning 70 years old in 2022
Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein: The Quiz!
11 influential TV shows turning 70 years old in 2022

Episode Guide

Episode Guide

Season 1
  • Season 1
  • Season 2

Ep : The Drug Store

Bud and Lou find jobs in Fields' drugstore and nearly wreck the place. This episode opens with the famous "Jonah and the Whale" routine.

Ep : The Dentist's Office

When Lou gets a toothache he attempts to get arrested so he can receive free treatment while incarcerated.

Ep : Jail

Lou damages Mrs. Crumbcake's waterpail and she drags him into court claiming .79 cents in damages. In jail, Lou's crazed cellmate becomes enraged whenever he hears "Niagara Falls."

Ep : The Vacation

Bud and Lou head off to the Biltmore Hotel near Phoenix for a vacation. "Hertz U-Drive" and the "Pack-Unpack" routines are performed.

Ep : Lou's Birthday Party

Lou throws a birthday party for himself, but nearly poisons his guests when he puts ant paste on his hors d'oeurves instead of anti pasto. Bud throws him out and Lou consoles himself by ordering a giant decorated cake.

Ep : Alaska

When news arrives that Lou's uncle has struck gold in Alaska, Bud and Lou plan to help him spend it.

Ep : The Vacuum Cleaner Salesman

Bud and Lou visit an employment agency run by Mr. Fields' brother, who gives Lou a job selling vacuum cleaners door to door.

Ep : The Army Story

Bud and Lou join the Army, where they recreate their routines from the feature film 'Buck Privates.' "Drill Routine" and "Dice Game" are performed.

Ep : The Charity Bazaar

Bud and Lou participate in Hillary's charity bazaar, raising money with the "shell game." Lou blows his money at the kissing booth.

Ep : The Western Story

Bud and Lou accept Hillary's invitation to visit her uncle's B-Bar-Bop ranch.

Ep : The Haunted Castle

Hillary will inherit a castle if she spends one night there. Bud and Lou come along with her for protection and Lou is scared out of his mind by frightful encounters.

Ep : Peace and Quiet

Lou sleeps all day but can't sleep at night. Bud takes him to see a psychiatrist. Eventually Bud checks him into a sanitarium for a night's rest. "Crazy House" is performed.

Ep : Hungry

Bud and Lou visit a couple of restaurants. In one they become involved with twin waitresses. In the other, Lou has a battle with an oyster.

Ep : The Music Lovers

Lou attempts to impress Hillary and her father with his musical abilities. While pretending to perform, Bud falls asleep and ruins the scheme.

Ep : The Politician

Bud coaches Lou on running for public office, a political campaign that ends with Lou delivering a disastrous speech in a neighborhood park.

Ep : The Wrestling Story

Lou and Stinky agree to settle their differences with a wrestling match. When Stinky becomes ill, his little brother Ivan the Terrible takes his place.

Ep : Getting a Job

Bud and Lou are hired to deliver hats to the Susquehanna Hat Company on Floogle Street and encounter several lunatics on the way. Also, Stinky attempts to kill Lou by backing him into traffic. The "Loafing" routine is performed.

Ep : Bingo the Chimp

Mike the Cop tells Lou that he must have a license for his pet chimp. But Lou accidentally applies for a marriage license.

Ep : Hillary's Birthday

While shopping for Hillary's birthay present, Lou nearly destroys a grocery store. Later, at her party, Mr. Fields becomes upset about the noise.

Ep : The Television Show

Lou is a contestant on a TV quiz show where he wins a pack of bubblegum. Their neighbor slips on a piece of gum and takes them to court.

Ep : Las Vegas

Bud and Lou pay $90 for a car and head for Las Vegas, where Lou takes part in a violent game of billiards. The "mudder/fodder" routine is performed.

Ep : Little Old Lady

Bud and Lou attempt to help an old lady who has been evicted. They raise $300 and she uses the money to bet on a racehorse.

Ep : The Actors' Home

Bud is taken away to an old actors' home where he and Lou perform their famous "Who's on first?" routine.

Ep : Police Rookies

Mike the Cop helps Bud and Lou enroll in the Police Rookie School, where Lou blows up the gymnasium while playing with a hand grenade.

Ep : Safari

When Bingo gets sick, the whole gang travels to Africa to find his parents.

Ep : Pots and Pans

Working as a door-to-door cookware salesman, Lou prepares a dinner for his friends in hopes of moving some product. However, his honest culinary efforts are met with disaster.

Ep : The Paper Hangers

To pay back rent, Bud and Lou attempt to wallpaper an apartment. Later, as waiters in a restaurant, they brawl with hoodlums.

Ep : Uncle Bozzo's Visit

Lou's eccentric opera singing uncle comes to stay with the boys for a couple of months.

Ep : In Society

A wealthy society matron pays Bud to attend a formal reception and impersonate the Duke of Gluten. Lou comes along pretending to be his cousin, the Earl of Waldo.

Ep : Life Insurance

Mr. Fields takes out an insurance policy on Lou. Later, Bud takes Lou on a hunting trip, and Lou suspects Bud and Mr. Fields have plotted to kill him for the insurance money.

Ep : Pest Exterminators

Bud and Lou are pest exterminators mistaken for psychiatrists when they attend to Mrs. Featherton's "aunts."

Ep : Killer's Wife

When a heavyweight prize fighter named Killer thinks that Lou is having an affair with his wife, Bud attempts to get Lou trained and fit in a gym.

Ep : Cheap Skates

Bud and Lou accidentally buy a crate of rollerskates, not knowing that they have stolen diamonds hidden inside.

Ep : South of Dixie

Lou accidentally lands himself and Bud roles in a Civil War melodrama.

Ep : From Bed to Worse

Bud and Lou attempt to plant a backyard garden in order to win a cash prize offered by a civic group.

Ep : $1,000 TV Prize

Lou wins a $1,000 dollar prize pretending to be Mr. Fields. He then has to get Mr. Fields out of the way so he can collect it.

Ep : Amnesia

Lou is in love with a girl he has never met. As a gag, Bud and his friends convince him that he has already married the girl. The woman who poses as his wife then makes his existence miserable.

Ep : Efficiency Experts

Bud and Lou land jobs as efficiency experts, and are assigned to restrain their client’s daughters from spending money. The young women, however, get the boys to buy them expensive dresses and take them to a casino, where they end up in a brawl.

Ep : Car Trouble

When Lou wins a car, Bud sells it to buy a cheaper one, using the profits to try to finance a vacation in Flint, Michigan.

Ep : Wife Wanted

When Lou finds out he will inherit $10,000 provided that he has a wife, he tries to marry a former girlfriend—who is dating a man named Bonebender Brodsky.

Ep : Uncle From New Jersey

When Mr. Fields is just about to evict the boys, Bud convinces him that Lou's Uncle Ruppert is a millionaire and Lou is the sole heir. Complications arise, however, when Mike the Cop begins to believe that the visiting uncle (Lou in disguise) has been murdered.

Ep : Private Eye

After receiving his private eye diploma from the Watchdo Correspondence School, Lou helps a friend locate some valuable bonds in a haunted house.

Ep : The Tax Return

Lou receives a tax refund check for $1,000,000. He takes the check to a bank and demands cash. He is subsequently followed by home by crooks.

Ep : Public Enemies

Lou is mistaken for a crook named Dapper Dan and is forced to take part in a robbery.

Ep : Bank Holdup

Bud and Lou unwittingly take jobs as armed bodyguards for a couple of hoodlums and assist in a bank robbery. They use their share of money to pay their rent, and later try to get it back from Mr. Fields' safe.

Ep : Well Oiled

Bud and Lou help Mr. Fields, who is being threatened with a lawsuit. Lou poses as a Texas millionaire to help discredit the complainant.

Ep : The Pigeon

Bud and Lou's beautiful next door neighbor uses Lou as a decoy to help break up with her mobster boyfriend.

Ep : Honeymoon House

When Bud and Mr. Fields help Lou put together a prefab house in order to impress his fiancée and her parents, a jealous former boyfriend sabotages their work.

Ep : Fencing Master

A mad scientist's experiment convinces Lou that he is indestructible.

Ep : Beauty Contest Story

When Bud and Lou judge a beauty contest, pressure is applied to sway their votes.

Ep : Fall Guy

Bud and Lou want to take two sisters on a date but their father convinces the boys to put an antenna on his roof instead.

Ep : Hey, Abbott!

This is a TV special narrated by Milton Berle and featuring "Slowly I Turn," "Herd of Cows," "Floogle Street," "Who's On First" and other classic comedy sketches.

Ep : Barber Lou

Lou tries to give Bud a rubdown following instructions from a radio show, but he's tuned into a program explaining how to paint a car at home.