Abbott and Costello routine

[Benjamin Zimmer]

On Tue, Mar 10, 2009 at 8:38 PM, Wilson Gray <hwgray at gmail.com> wrote:
>
> I (literally) once heard a "rock" version of the classic A&C routine:
>
> A. Guess Who will be the opening act.
>
> B. Who?
>
> A. No, Who will be closing.
>
> B. You tell me. Who'll be opening the set?
>
> A. No. Guess Who.
>
> B. Who?
>
> A. I've told you, Who is the closing act. Guess Who will be opening.
>
> 'N' so own 'n' so fo'th.

Wikipedia advises:

---
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Who%27s_on_First%3F
The 1960s comedy group The Credibility Gap recorded a variant in which a rock
concert promoter (Harry Shearer) attempts to advertise a concert, headlined by
The Who, The Guess Who, and Yes in the Los Angeles Times. When the advertising
manager David L. Lander asks him why he does not simply write the ad copy down,
Shearer closes the routine by saying, "If I could write, I wouldn't have had to
steal this bit!"
---

You can hear the routine on Shearer's website:
http://www.harryshearer.com/projects/radio/#the_credibility_gap


--Ben Zimmer

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