Who's on First?
Who's on First? . (German: "Who is on the first [ base ] " /? " Who is on the first [ base ]") is a famous baseball Sketch of U.S. comedians Abbott and Costello pair from the year 1938 The sketch was by Time magazine in 1999 named the best sketch of the 20th century.
Content
In about six minutes Sketch Dexter Bud Abbott Broadhurt plays the manager of the fictional club St. Louis Wolves, the peanut seller Sebastion Dinwiddle ( Lou Costello) tries to explain the names of the players. The joke is that the players nickname ( " Who", " What", "I Do not Know" / "who", "what", "Do not know " ) can all be interpreted as evasive answers.
In the course of Sketches Dinwiddle asks, among other things, "who / who ' because on the first base stand. Replies to this Broadhurt surprise that ( a player named ) "Who / Who ' actually stand on the first base. But Dinwiddle comes before ridiculed because he the answer as a return question ( Who? ) Understands. When he repeated his questions the "answer " "Who / Who ' gets, he will always impatient and angry. This running gag is in all other field players (base people, outfielder, pitcher and catcher ) continued that also have ambiguous names. As the confusion reaches its climax, Dinwiddle " I Do not Give a Damn " screams ( "I not give a damn " ), whereupon Broadhurt gently replied that it was the name of the shortstops.
Name of the baseball team
- First Base: Who ( "Who " )
- Second Base: What ( "what" )
- Third Base: I Do not Know ( "Do not know " )
- Left Field: Why ( " Why " )
- Center Field: Because ( " why " )
- Pitcher ( pitcher ): Tomorrow ( "Tomorrow " )
- Catcher ( catcher ): Today ( "Today" )
- Shortstop: I Do not Give a Damn ( "I not give a damn " ) and " I Do not Care " in the version of the film One Night in the Tropics
The name of the RightFielders is not mentioned. In addition, Costello goes over the sketch assumes that the name of the first baseman "Naturally " is, but this is just another misunderstanding on his part.
The puns are difficult to transfer into German, as in English the pronoun " Who" for both "who" and colloquially instead of " Whom " can be used for " Who " and "Whom ". Furthermore, in English " Whose " sound and "Who's " ( for "Who is") quite similar, which are translated in German respectively in the dissimilar "Whose " and " Who's ".
Importance
" Who's on First? " Reached cult status among baseball fans and went as a household word in everyday American language, for example, if it turns out that a previous conversation was full of misunderstandings and they had talked past each other.
Honors
In 1999, " Who's on First? " By Time magazine before The parrot is dead of Monty Python and Rope Tricks by Will Rogers Award for Best Sketch of the 20th century and praised for " perfectly orchestrated absurd confusion ". A video of the skit is continuously visible to this day in the Baseball Hall of Fame. In 2003 a radio recording by the Library of Congress with the reference "all time best of recorded comedy " archived.
" Who's on First? " Was published in 1978 as a board game, the right fielder was baptized with the name " Nobody" ( "No "). The aim of the game is to figure out all the players names of the opposing teams in the shortest possible time.
Other Versions
The sketch is often one of Dustin Hoffman quoted in the Oscar -winning film Rain, who portrayed the autistic Raymond Babbitt. Every time Babbitt is overwhelmed by his environment, he recites the sketch as a defensive mechanism. Unlike his brother Charlie (Tom Cruise) Raymond escapes the joke puns, and the viewer is given that the verbal autistic humor simply can not detect.
A movie quote is also found in Rush Hour 3 as Chris Tucker in a Battle School Master and his assistants for the name asks
The sketch has been translated into over 30 languages. Homages and parodies include, among other things, a version of Johnny Carson, who plays the sketch politically satirized and word games with the Chinese leader Hu Yaobang ( " Who" ), Palestinian leader Yasser Arafat ( "Yes, sir " ) and Secretary of the Interior James G. Watt ( " What" ) produced. For presidency of Hu Jintao of the People's Republic of China from this arose a fictional dialogue between George W. Bush and Condoleezza Rice with the same pun ( " Hu is the new leader of China? ").