Laugh Tracks Legends of Comedy with Randy and Steve

Who’s on First

This week we serve up a "changeup" and focus on a legendary comedy routine instead of a comedian. And with the World Series going on, what better choice than Bud Abbott and Lou Costello's classic wordplay routine "Who's on First?" Bud and Lou borrowed the basic concept from a number of wordplay routines making the vaudeville circuit, but their all-American spin using a baseball team as the focus made it an instant hit. It also was a masterclass in slow burn comedy, with Lou becoming more and more frustrated until he explodes. As always find extra cuts below and thanks for sharing our shows!

Want more Who's On First?

Laugh Tracks Legends of Comedy

Bud and Lou first performed the routine to a wide audience on the Kate Smith Radio Hour in 1938. This clip is taken from a later appearance on the show, but it's a fun listen as the boys have fully inhabited their characters. https://youtu.be/Y91PmP9AXbI

 

There are a number of video versions of the routine available, but this version -- taken from their early 1950s tv show -- is among the very best. https://youtu.be/2ve20PVNZ18

 

All great comedy inspires great comedy homages and this one by the Credibility Gap is a gem. Instead of baseball we have a rock concert, but the bit translates perfectly. https://youtu.be/ludCVowT-DE

Richard Ayoade

Richard Ayoade is one of the modern masters of UK comedy, honing his craft at Cambridge (where he was President of the Footlights Society performing group -- which also include John Oliver). Since then he has become a staple on British tv with great roles in classic sitcoms such as The Mighty Boosh and The IT Crowd. He now hosts a clever travel show called "Travel Man" in which he explores a different city each episode with a celebrity guest. Find extended clips below and thanks for sharing our shows!

Want more Ayoade?

The Brits have a gift for comedy television shows that are very funny AND very surreal. Case in point -- The Mighty Boosh. It's so hard to describe in print, so just feast your eyes. https://youtu.be/ngXzLcWGMTY

While a long-rumored US version has yet to materialize, the UK show The IT Crowd remains a cult favorite. In the show, Ayoade plays Moss -- a socially awkward and painfully shy computer tech. Here's a fan clip of the Best of Moss. https://youtu.be/o0gH_omVWIg

Richard Ayoade may seem an unlikely choice to host a travel show, but he makes the show like his humor -- full of dry wit and wry observations. The premise of Travel Man is simple. Ayoade and a celebrity guest explore a foreign city for 48 hours. In the hands of Ayoade and a fine guest such as Jon Hamm, it's a delight to watch. https://youtu.be/q2C0EO0zzAY

 

Flight of the Conchords

It's "Business Time" here at Laugh Tracks Legends -- and by that we mean it's time to salute Flight of the Conchords, a musical comedy duo from New Zealand who took a song with that title to the top of the charts in the mid-2000s. Bret McKenzie and Jermaine Clements met in college where they honed a "folk duo" act, blending sharp satire with great musical chops. They won raves at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival and the Melbourne International Comedy Competition which launched a career that includes (to date) several studio albums (including a Grammy winner), sold out concert tours, a BBC radio series, and a beloved HBO comedy series. Not bad for a couple of lads who bill themselves as "the almost award-winning fourth-most-popular folk duo in New Zealand”! As always, find extra cuts at laughtracksradio.com -- or check out our YouTube channel (Laugh Tracks Legends of Comedy) where you can get new episodes as well as a complete archive. As always, thanks for sharing our shows!

Catherine O’Hara

If you've watched comedy, even casually, over the last 40 years you know Catherine O'Hara. An icon of contemporary comic acting, Catherine was a founding cast member of SCTV, a frequent guest star in hit movies (Beetlejuice, Waiting for Guffman), and a co-star (with Eugene Levy) on the Schitt's Creek series. No wonder Canada honored her with her own postage stamp in 2014. As always, find extra cuts at laughtracksradio.com and thanks for sharing our shows!

 

Dom DeLuise

Meet Dom DeLuise, a fixture on tv variety and talk shows during the 1970s and 80s and a frequent comic costar in the movies, particularly in a string of (first) Mel Brooks' and (then) Burt Reynolds' flicks including classics such as Blazing Saddles and Smokey and the Bandit. Whether goofing with Dean Martin as floundering magician "Dominick the Great", trying to get down from a mountain as Father Fyodor in The Twelve Chairs, or even teaching you how to make great Italian dishes in his warm and funny series of cooking videos, Dom never wore out his welcome in a career that spanned 40 years. As always, look for full cuts in the comments at laughtracksradio.com and thanks for sharing our shows.

Norm MacDonald

Norm MacDonald was never afraid to make an audience VERY uncomfortable as he worked to a punchline. Beginning as a standup star in Canada, Norm eventually became a cast member of Saturday Night Live. At SNL he helmed Weekend Update until getting unceremoniously dumped by network executives for telling one too many OJ Simpson jokes! Much later he penned a highly entertaining "autobiography" that knitted his real life struggles into an epic "Fear and Loathing" -- style road trip. As always, find extra clips in the comments at laughtracksradio.com and thanks for sharing our shows.

Alan King

Meet Alan King, an icon of old-school comedy who was a fixture on nightclub stages, tv variety and talk shows, and the big screen from the 1960s through the 90s. While King started off as a rapid fire punchline machine, he developed into a fine storyteller, often drawing on his Jewish background for inspiration. He also became a sought after character actor, but his true calling was as the Abbot of the New York Friar's Club where he had a big hand in their legendary and legendarily profane "roasts." As always, find extended cuts in the comments at laughtracksradio.com, and thanks for sharing our shows.

Rusty Warren

Rusty Warren never made it on big variety shows or nightclubs because her bawdy material was too strong for the prudish 50s. A quick tour of any Goodwill store used record section, however, will show that everyone in America must have owned at least one of her albums. In Rusty's world women not only liked sex, they ran the show. Her songs were naughty and her crowd work superb. Catherine O'Hara's spot-on impression on SCTV (in the character of "Dusty Towne") was an affectionate sendup, and in later life Rusty became an icon for young female comics who wanted to tell it like it really is! As always find extra cuts in the comments and thanks for sharing our shows. Miss an episode? We now have a full archive on YouTube along with themed playlists. Check it out!

George Lopez

Were back with new shows! This time out meet George Lopez who has turned a playful (and sometimes pointed) eye toward his challenging childhood and his beloved Mexican-American community into a stellar career on tv, in movies, and on the stand-up stage. As always, find extra cuts in the comments at laughtracksradio.com and thanks for sharing our shows.

Rev. Billy C. Wirtz

Prepare for some musical comedy salvation this episode with the Rev. Billy C. Wirtz who has blended rollicking piano with sharp comedy for four decades. His lyrics run the gamut from laments about aging to praise for pro wrestling to revival tent exhortations about the afterlife (Will There Be A Shopping Mall in Heaven?). He's a one of a kind act and we're glad to say that after a few years off to deal with health issues, the Rev is back and on the road taking his "First Church of Polyester Worship and Horizontal Throbbing Teenage Desire" to the masses. Say Amen -- and look for extra cuts in the comments at laughtracksradio.com!