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Thread: RIP Sid Caesar

  1. #1
    Rally Onion! Chip R's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Raisor View Post
    I was wrong
    Quote Originally Posted by Raisor View Post
    Chip is right

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    Redsmetz redsmetz's Avatar
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    Comic Great, Sid Caesar, Dead at 91

    Just saw a news blurb that the comic genius Sid Caesar passed away today.

    http://nyti.ms/1grjtl4

    I first encountered Caesar when I went to the Northside Cinema and saw a film version of his classic TV show "Your Show of Shows" which featured Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner and Howard Morris. Really, have yourself a barrel of laughs watching episode out on the web. Some of the funniest stuff you'll ever see from TV history. The writing was topnotch and featured a pantheon of classic screenwriters - including Mel Brooks and Neil Simon.
    “In the same way that a baseball season never really begins, it never really ends either.” - Lonnie Wheeler, "Bleachers, A Summer in Wrigley Field"

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    Redsmetz redsmetz's Avatar
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    Re: Comic Great, Sid Caesar, Dead at 91

    Mods, please merge mine thread with Chip's. He beat me by a couple of minutes (doing my dang research!). Still, great minds and all that.
    “In the same way that a baseball season never really begins, it never really ends either.” - Lonnie Wheeler, "Bleachers, A Summer in Wrigley Field"

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    My clutch is broken RichRed's Avatar
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    Re: RIP Sid Caesar

    Now there's a guy I assumed had been dead for 20 years by now. RIP.
    "I can make all the stadiums rock."
    -Air Supply

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    My clutch is broken RichRed's Avatar
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    Re: RIP Sid Caesar

    Also, Bob Denver: still dead.
    "I can make all the stadiums rock."
    -Air Supply

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    Member jimbo's Avatar
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    Re: RIP Sid Caesar

    It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World is one of my favorite movies.

    RIP

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  10. #7
    Redsmetz redsmetz's Avatar
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    Re: RIP Sid Caesar

    I'm hesitant to pull the "old fogey" card, but I'd really recommend the younger posters to have a look at any number of the clips of Caesar and company from the 1950 series Your Show of Shows and the later Caesar's Hour. The earlier show featured an ensemble cast made up of Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner, Harold Morris (Ernest T. Bass from the Andy Griffith Show) and Imogene Coca. Just really funny, funny stuff. And as a 90 minute show length, some of the sketches are lengthy.

    The show predates SNL by 25 years and really laid the groundwork for that show, along with a number of other shows in between. Carol Burnett's show really had a similar format with a regular cast. Don't misunderstand, I'm not putting this out as "if you really want to see what comedy looked like." There are loads of funny folks putting out excellent work these days. Most can trace their heritage to the groundbreaking work Caesar and company first put forward.

    Enjoy .
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    breath westofyou's Avatar
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    Re: RIP Sid Caesar

    Never a Caesar fan myself, great writers though. He was mocked well by both The Alan Brady Show and the TV show in Peter O'Tooles My Favorite Year

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    Redsmetz redsmetz's Avatar
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    Re: RIP Sid Caesar

    Quote Originally Posted by westofyou View Post
    Never a Caesar fan myself, great writers though. He was mocked well by both The Alan Brady Show and the TV show in Peter O'Tooles My Favorite Year
    Here's a good piece from The Hollywood Reporter about Caesar which mentions his connection with both of those, along with a third, a play by Neil Simon.

    http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/new...y-titan-679817
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  14. #10
    First Time Caller SunDeck's Avatar
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    Re: RIP Sid Caesar

    It's a different era and I'm sure people would watch the stuff today and not think it's funny, or that it's naive. But, man, I've laughed hysterically at sketches from the Show of Shows. And what kind of royalty was sitting around the writers' table, eh?
    Next Reds manager, second shooter. --Confirmed on Redszone.

  15. #11
    Redsmetz redsmetz's Avatar
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    Re: RIP Sid Caesar

    Quote Originally Posted by SunDeck View Post
    It's a different era and I'm sure people would watch the stuff today and not think it's funny, or that it's naive. But, man, I've laughed hysterically at sketches from the Show of Shows. And what kind of royalty was sitting around the writers' table, eh?
    Here's a blurb from a blog post on TV shows with fantastic writing staffs

    Your Show of Shows (NBC, 1950-1954)
    Staff: Mel Brooks (Blazing Saddles); Carl Reiner (The 2000 Year Old Man); Neil Simon (The Odd Couple); Danny Simon (Caesar’s Hour); and Mel Tolkin (All In the Family)

    Head writer Mel Tolkin presided over the most prestigious comedy writing staff in TV history, and one that the show’s members couldn’t stop writing about for years to come. Playwright Neil Simon wrote Laughter on the 23rd Floor about his experiences here, Carl Reiner used his time on Your Show of Shows as the basis for The Dick Van Dyke Show, and Mel Brooks produced My Favorite Year, which was inspired by his stints on this show and its successor, Caesar’s Hour. The staff also included Danny Simon, who inspired The Odd Couple and is also credited with teaching brother Neil Simon and Woody Allen how to write comedy. It’s a common misconception that Woody Allen and M*A*S*H* creator Larry Gelbart were also on staff at Your Show of Shows. Gelbart joined up with the group later for Caesar’s Hour, while Woody Allen came onboard later to write on Sid Caesar’s TV specials that followed that series.




    The whole piece is actually a good read.

    http://splitsider.com/2011/06/the-gr...rs-rooms-ever/
    “In the same way that a baseball season never really begins, it never really ends either.” - Lonnie Wheeler, "Bleachers, A Summer in Wrigley Field"

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  16. #12
    Member Kingspoint's Avatar
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    Re: Comic Great, Sid Caesar, Dead at 91

    Quote Originally Posted by redsmetz View Post
    Just saw a news blurb that the comic genius Sid Caesar passed away today.

    http://nyti.ms/1grjtl4

    I first encountered Caesar when I went to the Northside Cinema and saw a film version of his classic TV show "Your Show of Shows" which featured Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner and Howard Morris. Really, have yourself a barrel of laughs watching episode out on the web. Some of the funniest stuff you'll ever see from TV history. The writing was topnotch and featured a pantheon of classic screenwriters - including Mel Brooks and Neil Simon.
    ...Woody Allen, and I'm thinking Carl Reiner, too, but I'd have to look it up.

  17. #13
    Member cumberlandreds's Avatar
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    Re: RIP Sid Caesar

    I never saw much of Sid Ceaar other than a few clips here and there of his show. He is considered a great TV pioneer for comedy and I did like what I saw of him and his show.
    Reds Fan Since 1971

  18. #14
    Goober GAC's Avatar
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    Re: RIP Sid Caesar

    Quote Originally Posted by redsmetz View Post
    Here's a blurb from a blog post on TV shows with fantastic writing staffs

    [I]Your Show of Shows (NBC, 1950-1954)
    Staff: Mel Brooks (Blazing Saddles); Carl Reiner (The 2000 Year Old Man); Neil Simon (The Odd Couple); Danny Simon (Caesar’s Hour); and Mel Tolkin (All In the Family)

    Head writer Mel Tolkin presided over the most prestigious comedy writing staff in TV history, and one that the show’s members couldn’t stop writing about for years to come. Playwright Neil Simon wrote Laughter on the 23rd Floor about his experiences here, Carl Reiner used his time on Your Show of Shows as the basis for The Dick Van Dyke Show, and Mel Brooks produced My Favorite Year, which was inspired by his stints on this show and its successor, Caesar’s Hour. The staff also included Danny Simon, who inspired The Odd Couple and is also credited with teaching brother Neil Simon and Woody Allen how to write comedy. It’s a common misconception that Woody Allen and M*A*S*H* creator Larry Gelbart were also on staff at Your Show of Shows. Gelbart joined up with the group later for Caesar’s Hour, while Woody Allen came onboard later to write on Sid Caesar’s TV specials that followed that series.
    Also, one of the writer's on Your Show of Shows, who was also very good friends with Carl Reiner, was Howard Morris who is best remembered as Ernest T Bass.
    "In my day you had musicians who experimented with drugs. Now it's druggies experimenting with music" - Alfred G Clark (circa 1972)

  19. #15
    Who wants a mustache ride Ohayou's Avatar
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    Re: RIP Sid Caesar

    Dude was all kinds of funny and gave great mentorship to Mel Brooks and many others.

    If I'm not mistaken, he was also fluent in a number of languages. Anyone know how many?
    Arise and walk, come through. A world beyond that door is calling out for you. Arise and walk, come through. It's calling out for you.

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