Lou was born and raised in Paterson, New Jersey . Bud was born in Asbury Park, New Jersey.
The two comedians first became a team in 1935 at the Eltinge burlesque theater on 42nd Street in New York, with Costello having become a comic after failing as a movie stunt double and extra and Abbott having been in burlesque since 1916, as a cashier, producer, and finally a performer. They made their partnership formal in 1936, building an act by adapting and improving numerous old burlesque sketches into their own style, with Abbott playing the arch, often scheming straight man and Costello the confused, context-challenged laugh getter.
They got their first national exposure in 1938, when they appeared on radio's The Kate Smith Hour. This led to a role for the team in a Broadway musical, "The Streets of Paris," the following year. By 1940 they were signed by Universal, for the film One Night in the Tropics. They were cast strictly in a supporting capacity---but they stole the show with classic routines including their immortal "Who's on First?" Abbott and Costello's show-stealing provoked Universal to sign them to a long term contract; their second film, "Buck Privates," 1941 secured their place as movie stars.
During the height of Bud & Lou's radio and film popularity in the 1940s, Warner Bros.'s Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies animation unit produced a number of cartoons featuring the pair as cats named "Babbitt and Costello," each having the personalities of the men who inspired them.
Lou mentioned his hometown of Paterson, New Jersey, in virtually every episode of his TV show and in many of his films.
In September, 2003, Montclair State University in New Jersey dedicated a building in their new residence hall complex as "Abbott and Costello Center".
Lou had a habit of taking any prop or furniture item from a set that took his fancy. Once, when trying to re-shoot a scene, the director had to have Lou bring back a chair he had decided to take home.
