Sid Caesar RIP

[Smilin Ed H]

http://fridaynightboys300.blogspot.co.uk/2014/02/sid-caesar-rip.html

[Rocky Raccoon]

Pretty incredible he lived so long with all of the problems he had.  One of the legends of comedy and without him, we might have never been introduced to the genius of Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner.

[bluesno1fann]

R.I.P.

[Smilin Ed H]

Pretty incredible he lived so long with all of the problems he had.  One of the legends of comedy and without him, we might have never been introduced to the genius of Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner.

And maybe Woody Allen, Neil Simon and Larry Gelbart...

[Jay]

No!  An innovator, and a genius. RIP.

[guitarfool2002]

RIP Sid.

My parents were in their 20's and 30's when Sid was on TV in the 50's, and they would tell me about his show "Your Show Of Shows", "Uncle Milty", Gleason, Ernie Kovacs, Lucy and Desi, all the pioneers. But there really wasn't a way to see much of their work, if any, especially Caesar and Kovacs. And what was there may be just a handful of surviving kinescopes taken off the air, grainy but watchable.

So my first actual viewing of "Your Show Of Shows" as it was in the day was when the PBS station played a compilation film from the 70's or so called "Ten From Your Show Of Shows", and some of those clips are terrific, hilarious, whatever word we can apply.

Some of it gets lost in cultural translation, but there is one spoof of "This Is Your Life" (a reference totally lost to anyone born after 1980 at this point) where Sid gets called from the audience to have his life told, and he has to be chased through the studio by security because he doesn't want to be on TV. And then it turns into a weepy affair where Sid's long-lost relatives like "Uncle Goofy" come out to see him, and they all start weeping and sobbing. You have to see it...I believe it was voted one of the funniest comedy bits ever aired on TV only recently.

And Sid in one skit from the "Ten From..." compilation is watching a classical recital with Imogene Coca, dressed to the nines in evening wear, and where silence is required from the crowd, every little move Sid tries to make creates obnoxious noises which draws "shhhh!" sounds from the crowd and dirty looks from Imogene. Then the payoff for me was seeing him reach for a smoke, and he has one of those old-school lighters shaped like a handgun. But the thing that happened next made me cry laughing when I first saw that bit, again you'll need to watch it to see the humor. 

Then about 10-15 years later, there was a big effort to revisit Sid and his show, and especially his writing staff which has already been mentioned, guys like Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, and a host of other now-legends of showbiz and comedy. So it got put into perspective even more, just how influential the guy was and how they were basically doing Vaudeville on a TV screen until guys like Sid and his writers made it a medium of its own, and basically wrote some of the rules that are still seen on TV comedy productions.

I'm sure there will be all kinds of compilations and clips shown in the next few weeks, definitely look for "Your Show Of Shows" though, to really see Sid in his prime and in his element.

[ontor pertawst]

Uncle Goopy! My father saw that episode the first week he arrived in America and wanted to watch it again for decades. I also grew up hearing about Sid and Imogene, and boy did he grin like a lunatic when the DVDs come out and he was able to finally see his comedy holy grail again. Howie Morris cracked me the hell up in it as well... later on he voiced every other cartoon ever made.

Adored the Sunset Blvd parody... Aggravation Blvd. The longer Brooksian parodies seemed like dry runs for his later work!  

RIP Sid, Grand Master of Double Talk!

[guitarfool2002]

I was able to find the other skit on YouTube, it's called "The Recital". I always loved this, and laugh every time I see it. Take a few minutes and watch how Sid Caesar could work a whole skit without a single word of dialogue, and stay tuned for the payoff in the last minute or so. RIP Sid, you made us laugh our asses off.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3ivzcLEzUs

(Seriously, if you don't know Sid or have never seen his original skits, check this out and trace the other links to other clips like the "This Is Your Life" parody, it's worth it for the laughs.)  

[bgas]

It wasn't that funny.

[guitarfool2002]

It wasn't that funny.

I guess in a world where Chelsea Handler is successful and considered "funny", I guess Sid's old-time humor really is a lost art form. Sorry it didn't live up to jokes about yeast infections and skits based around dressing little people in silly costumes for cheap laughs. 

[bgas]

It wasn't that funny.

I guess in a world where Chelsea Handler is successful and considered "funny", I guess Sid's old-time humor really is a lost art form. Sorry it didn't live up to jokes about yeast infections and skits based around dressing little people in silly costumes for cheap laughs. 

who is Chelsea Handler?

[ontor pertawst]

I think she's an Ernie Kovacs character.

[guitarfool2002]

It wasn't that funny.

I guess in a world where Chelsea Handler is successful and considered "funny", I guess Sid's old-time humor really is a lost art form. Sorry it didn't live up to jokes about yeast infections and skits based around dressing little people in silly costumes for cheap laughs. 

who is Chelsea Handler?

Exactly!  

Seriously though, if you're ever channel surfing after midnight and see a dirty-blonde middle aged woman randomly dropping film-biz names like "Jennifer Aniston" and "Diablo" whether they're part of the discussion or not, telling gynecology jokes with a panel of D-list commentators who no one has ever heard of yet the crowd cheers like they're Jack Nicholson and Meryl Streep, and looking like a combination of a college-dorm walk of shame and a bad hangover from a bottle of cheap vodka, you've found her show.  

Or just search the listings for "Chelsea Lately", but don't say I didn't warn 'ya.