Well, no, it is not funny, it would be too easy to relieve the dramatic tension by having Abbott explain the actual situation to Costello. One is not wrong to call the whole thing stupid.

Yet there is another reading of the skit which stands at least some chance of being funny, though it is not funny either.

You will note that Louis Costello was an Italian-American and son of an immigrant, and he had the obvious class mannerisms of such a stereotype. Bud Abbott was half Jewish and I believe half some mainstream ethnicity. He is a stand-in for the establishment, part of which was Jewish and highly commercial. You can read the skit as a commentary on how the establishment rips off the “less tutored” immigrants and refuses to apologize for that or even to explain it. The establishment simply keeps on talking rings around the lower-class immigrant, whether or not those words make sense. The immigrant has no real recourse, as he is less articulate and is also less in control and can only play the role of boob.…