Under the Radar DVD of the Week: 'The Abbott and Costello Show: Who's on First?'

This week, the oddest DVD to appear on release lists is:

“The Abbott and Costello Show: Who’s on First?”

Here in the bleak days of winter, with spring training still weeks away, it’s comforting to contemplate the coming of warm weather and the opening of baseball season. And what better way to bask in the glow of diamond days than to revisit comics Abbott and Costello and their classic skit, “Who’s on First?”

“The Abbott and Costello Show: Who’s on First?” (due out on DVD Tuesday) is a compilation of sketches from the comic duo’s TV series, which debuted in 1952 and ran for 52 episodes over two seasons. The new disk repackages previous digitally restored and re-mastered material from 2010’s “Complete Collector’s Series,” with the classic baseball skit as its centerpiece.

“Who’s on First?” originated as a vaudeville skit, which was later adapted by Abbott and Costello into a verbally dexterous routine they performed on The Kate Smith Radio Hour. In it, Abbott attempts to identify for Costello the nicknamed players on a baseball team, and the famed “Who’s on first, What’s on second, I Don’t Know is on third” routine was born. The skit was later featured in the comedy team’s 1941 hit “Buck Privates,” as well as in at least two other feature films and on their TV radio shows.