The legendary team of Bud Abbott and Lou Costello received the animated treatment in the mid-60s with Hanna-Barbera’s Abbott and Costello cartoons. The show consisted of a series of 156 5-minute animations, mostly featuring a terrified Costello running for his life and shouting his famous catchphrase, “Hey, Abbott!”

The cartoon Abbott was actually voiced by Bud himself, though another voice actor, Stan Irwin, provided the voice for Lou Costello, who had died a few years earlier. The cartoons mainly rehashed old themes, without any new material or comedy routines. Still, the job came at a crucial time for Abbott who was hounded by the IRS and had a variety of health problems. A lifelong smoking habit and recent stroke had robbed Bud Abbott of his smooth, straight-man voice and his delivery suffered as a result.

The pair of comedians had appeared in cartoons before, about 20 years earlier. Several cartoons in the Merrie Melodies studio were based on the comedy duo, though they featured anthropomorphic animals as per usual.  For example, “Babbit and Catstello” were two felines looking and sounding remarkably like the originals, even though in-house talent—like Mel Blanc—provided the voices. Discounting the old Merrie Melodies cartoons (since the characters were cats or mice), the newer Abbott and Costello is in fact significant for being one of the first animated series based on real people, along with The New Three Stooges and Laurel & Hardy, both created a few years later.