Originally broadcast on Syndicated, 24 March 1949. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
The run
- Network
- NBC
- Years active
- 1940–1949
- Surviving broadcasts
- 167
- Genre
- comedy
Abbott and Costello were an American comedy duo composed of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello, whose work on radio and in film and television made them the most popular comedy team of the 1940s and early 1950s. Their patter routine Who's on First?
1949 · 181948 · 22
Restoration quality — measured from the surviving files
Clean transfer · 13 of 40Listenable · 19 of 40Rough but complete · 8 of 40
Source collection
Old Time Radio Researchers Group
Rights
Public domain — no renewed US copyright
Cataloguing
Air dates and notes from the Archive item record
Every broadcast below carries its own provenance sheet — transfer quality, file source and rights.Archive record: OTRR_Abbott_Costello_Singles
The shape of the run
What survives, year by year
14 dated broadcasts across 10 years on the air, with 8 years where nothing is known to survive. Brightness is transfer quality; empty cells are months lost to time.
JFMAMJJASOND
1940
1941
1942
1943
1944
1945
1946
1947
1948
1949
Clean transferListenableRough but complete No surviving recording
Episodes
Start here
Listen to the run in order
Restored broadcasts from 1948, in original transmission order.
- 1. Costello's Race Horse, Peanut Butter · 19 May 1948
- 2. Joins the Foreign Legion · 26 May 1948
- 3. Guest - Lon Chaney Jr · 2 Jun 1948
Sam Shovel - The Case of the China Man
9 Jun 1949 · 28 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 9 June 1949. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Sam Shovel - Dust Be My Destiny
19 May 1949 · 28 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 19 May 1949. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Sam Shovel - They Caught Him with His Plants Down
5 May 1949 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 5 May 1949. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Sam Shovel - Tony's Home Permanent
28 Apr 1949 · 28 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 28 April 1949. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Sam Shovel - Case Of The Russian Diplomat
14 Apr 1949 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 14 April 1949. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Sam Shovel - He Was A Short Order Cook
7 Apr 1949 · 30 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 7 April 1949. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Sam Shovel - There's Good Booze Tonight
31 Mar 1949 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 31 March 1949. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Sam Shovel - I've got My Love to Keep Me Warm
24 Mar 1949 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on NBC, 24 March 1949. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Same night on the air
24 Mar 1949
Everything else the archive still holds from the night of 24 Mar 1949.
The George Burns and Gracie Allen Show
The Burns and Allen Show Jane Wyman - the Academy Awards
24 Mar 1949 · 29 min
Originally broadcast on CBS, 24 March 1949. Restored from the Old Time Radio archives.
Also on NBC
NBC in 1940–1949
Other series the network carried while Abbott and Costello was on the air.
Same seasons
comedy on the air then
Series in the same genre whose runs overlapped this one.
What it became
Friends in front of a microphone
Jack Benny and Fibber McGee sold intimacy: recurring characters, in-jokes, a house style. The modern hang-out show is the same trick without the script.
Lineage is written by our editors, not inferred from listening data.
Descendants
Working in the tradition of Abbott and Costello
Modern series carrying this form forward.
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