BOOTLEG FILES 920: “Abbott and Costello Meet the Exorcist” (2025 AI-fueled comedy short short).
LAST SEEN: On YouTube.
AMERICAN HOME VIDEO: None.
REASON FOR BOOTLEG STATUS: Unauthorized use of trademarked material.
CHANCES OF SEEING A COMMERCIAL DVD RELEASE: Maybe someday as part of a collection of AI viral videos.
The latest trend in viral videos involves comedy shorts where prominent cultural and political figures are animated via artificial intelligence to appear in unlikely situations. Among the most recent examples of this trend that I’ve seen include Ronald Reagan dancing in a hotel lobby, Mister Rogers as a belligerent WWE combatant, and Martin Luther King Jr. and Malcolm X dining together on a ribs dinner.
For the most part, the AI animation is impressive while the situations run the gamut from clever to dreary. One of the latest entrants in this new genre arrives just in time for Halloween: “Abbott and Costello Meet the Exorcist,” which combines the horror-comedy series of the late 1940s and early 1950s with the gruesome chiller that terrified audiences in the mid-1970s. Produced by the YouTube channel Ai for Euphoria, this faux-trailer has some of the worst AI animation that I’ve seen to date but also has some of the funniest gags ever compiled in a contemporary comedy.
This black-and-white romp opens in the bedroom of the possessed Regan, who is seen floating in a horizontal position above her bed. Abbott and Costello are watching this is amazement, with Costello declaring, “If she goes any higher, I’m gonna need a ladder and a new pair of trousers.”
This is followed by a title card promising a Universal-International release directed by Charles L. Hart and co-starring Mary Nolan and Bert Miller. I have no idea who those people are, but I assume they have something to do with this video’s creation.
The rest of this faux-trailer involves scenes from this alleged feature film, with the wacky duo encountering the creepiness of the possessed house. When Abbott tells Costello to approach Regan “nice and slow,” Costello replies, “Nice and slow? She looks like she bites fast.” After Regan speaks, Costello squeals, “She sounds like a trombone with a sore throat.”
Costello is in a constant state of anxiety and aggravation. When surrounded by a swarm of insects in a bathroom, he tells the tiny invaders, “Hey fellas, this is a bathroom, not a bus depot.” When Abbott gives the prayer recalling “in the name of the father and of the son and of the holy ghost,” Costello protests, “Holy ghost? I’m not comfortable with the regular kind.” He then adds, “I didn’t sign up for a job with furniture that talks back.”
Costello also gets chased around the house by several nuns and does a variation of “Who’s on First?” with Regan. There is a brief cutaway to an athletic field where Abbott is training Costello for the exorcism work. At the end, the duo race out of the house and down a rainy street while scared out of whatever wits they may possess.
Let’s get the problems with this video out the way first. In terms of production values, this is the sloppiest AI parody video I’ve seen. The appearance for the Abbott, Costello and Regan characters change considerably from shot to shot, and the soundtrack is screwed up – at one point the characters are speaking in high-pitched squeaks and elsewhere Abbott’s dialogue is coming out of Costello’s mouth and vice-versa. Didn’t anyone notice this before it was posted online?
However, the concept and dialogue are laugh out loud hilarious. “Abbott and Costello Meets the Exorcist” is the kind of shenanigans that should be playing on “Saturday Night Live” instead of those stupidly unfunny Please Don’t Destroy clips. The creators of this video perfectly capture the cadences of the Abbott and Costello patter routines and offer a perfect tribute to the team’s horror-comedy romps. Also, the voice performances are pretty darn close to the originals. I’ve watched this several times and will watch it several more times – it is that funny.
I sincerely hope the Ai for Euphoria team brings back Abbott and Costello for more AI videos – with better visuals and more care to the overall production, of course. In the meanwhile, enjoy the tangy fruits of their efforts:
IMPORTANT NOTICE: While this weekly column acknowledges the presence of rare film and television productions through the so-called collector-to-collector market, this should not be seen as encouraging or condoning the unauthorized duplication and distribution of copyright-protected material, either through DVDs or Blu-ray discs or through postings on Internet video sites.
Listen to Phil Hall’s award-winning podcast “The Online Movie Show with Phil Hall” on SoundCloud and his radio show “Nutmeg Chatter” on WAPJ-FM in Torrington, Connecticut, with a new episode every Sunday. You can also follow his book reviews at The Epoch Times.