Quotes of All Topics . Occasions . Authors
Abbott and Costello were huge for me as a very young person.
I grew up on Jerry Lewis and Abbot and Costello, the Marx Brothers.
When somebody like Elvis Costello comes along, anybody can make a good record with him.
Although in Abbott and Costello, and straight man was first. That's a very interesting concept.
I've been here all the time; I could be putting out as many albums as Costello, y'know what I mean?
Elvis Costello had a brand new bag. He was a musician, but he knew all about the attitude part of it.
Diana Krall I met in, I think it was Canada. She's a lovely lady. Her husband, Elvis Costello, is a great star.
It gets so boring at home. After all, how many reruns of Abbott and Costello movies can a guy watch on television?
As a kid, I saw a lot of scary movies, but they were mixed with comedy, like 'Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein.'
Elvis Costello's song writing is so peerless and individualistic. It's storytelling and it's deeply intelligent and clever.
Dealing with sketch comedy and buddy teams like Abbott and Costello, Bob Hope and Bing Crosby - I just loved buddy comedies.
The stuff I write I'm very proud of, but I'm smart enough to know I'll never get on the cover of 'Rolling Stone' next to Elvis Costello.
I remember watching 'Abbott and Costello vs Frankenstein' continuously as a kid and being amazed that my horror legends were making a comedy.
People are going to see both of us and think it's an Abbott and Costello kind of thing. It's not an easy switch. It's not an easy transition from TV to film.
I remember Simple Minds, Echo and the Bunnymen, Nina Hagen, Elvis Costello and Duran Duran. And the best concert I ever saw was the Rolling Stones, in the stadium of Sporting Lisbon.
I like some of Annie Proulx, some of those very brief stories of hers. And I love J. M. Coetzee's Elizabeth Costello. I like Geoff Dyer. I also liked W. G. Sebald, especially his book 'The Emigrants'.
I never look for music by genre. I look for an artist who puts a dependable trademark on things. Like Elvis Costello - he's a great songwriter who presents his songs in a number of contexts. I feel the same about my own music.
I've always done just pretty much what I wanted to do. I mean, I just did a thing for a small press called 'Zeppelins West' that's nothing but an absolute, over-the-top farce, almost like an Abbott & Costello, alternate-universe Western.
We didn't know anything about comedy duos - Abbot and Costello, Martin and Lewis - we didn't know anything about that. Kim Fields showed us a tape of Martin and Lewis and their old shows and they come through the curtain so we started doing research on them.
A formidable game of 'Name That Influence' could be based on the music of the seductive rock duo Girls: The band's first single, 'Hellhole Ratrace,' would barely reach its opening words before screams of 'Elvis Costello!' and 'Wreckless Eric!' drown out the music.
What happens with 'Mad Men,' it's like an Elvis Costello album; I'll watch it, and then I immediately have to watch it again. AMC will play it back-to-back. I have a tendency to yell at it when my wife's not around because if she catches me yelling at 'Mad Men,' then it gets weird.
After receiving strong encouragement from numerous people that I respect and admire, discussing with my family, and seriously considering it, I have decided not to run for the 12th Congressional District, a seat currently held by a man I admire very much, Representative Jerry Costello.
I couldn't sing without a guitar. I like the way it feels to sing and be holding a guitar, even if I'm not playing it that much. All my idols that I grew up liking always had a guitar on them, but they didn't play it - Buddy Holly, John Lennon, Lou Reed, Elvis Costello. It's like having a partner with you.
At 5 years old, I saw 'Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein,' and I was so scared when Costello sat himself down in the lap of the monster, not realizing where he was. My friends teased me. They were older, 8 years old. And my goal was to become a mad scientist and get back at them. And here I am, mad as hell!
My mum was a big fan of E.L.O. and Elvis Costello. She used to play that, consistently, all the time when we were kids. And my dad, he would claim to be a singer... You know, he loves singing, and he used to sing a lot when he was a kid and at parties and stuff like that. So I come from a very party-musical family.
The funny thing is, I was not a fan of horror when I was a kid. I was scared to watch scary movies. And then along came 'Abbott and Costello Meet Frankenstein,' and 'Abbott and Costello Meet the Mummy.' And I like those films because they made scary funny, and it was kind of ironic that I ended up doing the 'Hotel' movies.
I was always a fan of the old-style comics. I loved vaudeville. I loved Milton Berle, Dick Shawn, Phyllis Diller, Don Rickles, Charlie Callas, all those guys. Hilarious. I love the Bing Crosby and Bob Hope movies, and Abbott & Costello. My television influences were 'Monty Python's Flying Circus,' 'Benny Hill,' and 'Hee Haw.'
For me, growing up in New York, it started with Elvis Costello and the Clash and then got into louder things like Bad Brains and Stimulators, because those were, like, the local bands. Then I started getting into bands from England like the Slits. I remember seeing Gang of Four at Irving Plaza; that was a really big show for me.
Now a 'funnyman' can get a laugh before opening his mouth - looking funny. Lou Costello was one of your great funnymen. Harry Langdon, Larry Semon; they were all funnymen - they looked funny. W.C. Fields was never a comedian. Slim Summerville was a comedian, yet looked funny. Now if you have both attributes, you are in good shape.
