Althouse: "From 2013, Marc talks with Carl Reiner about his journey from writing to acting to directing, as well as his collaborative relationships with..."

July 1, 2020

"From 2013, Marc talks with Carl Reiner about his journey from writing to acting to directing, as well as his collaborative relationships with..."

"... Sid Ceasar, Dick Van Dyke, Steve Martin and, of course, Mel Brooks. Carl died on June 29, 2020 at age 98."

Listen to that. I did. I'm in awe. What a life!

By the way, it's spelled "Caesar." There's a whole story about Sid's recognition of Carl's ability to imitate James Mason, so I give you this:

27 comments:

Anthony said...: "Reinemachefrau! It means she could be my. . . . .cleaning woman."; 7/1/20, 11:51 AM
MikeR said...: Sid Caesar was awesome. He had so many amazing things he could do with his face.; 7/1/20, 12:05 PM
Michael K said...: Why no mention of Imogene Coca?; 7/1/20, 12:09 PM
LYNNDH said...: Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca were one of my favorites growing up.
In this clip I believe that the Dr. is Strother Martin. He played in Westerns a lot.; 7/1/20, 12:49 PM
MadTownGuy said...: Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee has a great meet up with Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks, quite the two-for-one deal.; 7/1/20, 12:57 PM
Joan said...: I knew from the minute he first swung that stick it was going to break at the perfect point in the story to get a huge laugh. What a gem!; 7/1/20, 1:10 PM
Not Sure said...: De gustibus non est disputandum, I guess.; 7/1/20, 1:17 PM
Rory said...: "In this clip I believe that the Dr. is Strother Martin."

That's Howard Morris, who becomes the wild man Ernest T. Bass on The Andy Griffith Show. He directed many sitcom episodes in the next couple of decades.; 7/1/20, 1:46 PM
eddie willers said...: Sid Caesar was never as funny again after he lost weight. And I've seen that happen before.; 7/1/20, 2:02 PM
Narr said...: I could watch that twenty times w/o the slightest idea that anyone involved was spoofing the great James Mason.

Narr
Nice choice of Rachy for the music--back then nothing said sophistication like Rachy; 7/1/20, 2:04 PM
Temujin said...: Reiner. Brooks. Caesar. They are/were all geniuses.

Break Your Brains If nothing else, check the 2 minutes starting around the 8:00 mark. You'll get a dose of how funny and talented Reiner and Caesar were. Doing this thing live.

Classic Alan Brady; 7/1/20, 3:12 PM
Quaestor said...: Ave, Ceasar! Propter quod abicientes omnem, quae nunc.; 7/1/20, 5:32 PM
Narr said...: America produced such great comics-- these guys and their fledglings . . . Woody Allen . . . Ernie Kovacs!

Narr
Time for some Utoobin; 7/1/20, 5:40 PM
Iman said...: Almost makes up for foisting Meathead on the world...; 7/1/20, 5:57 PM
Quaestor said...: Check out the 1967 comedy film "Enter Laughing". It's based on a play by Joseph Stein which in turn was based on the autobiographical novel by Carl Reiner. The film of the play was directed by Reiner, who cast Meathead* in a very minor role as a hopeless hopeful at an open audition given by a very rundown acting company doing an off-off-off-Broadway production of a silly whodunit. The rundown impresario of the rundown theatre company is played by Jose Ferrer. The ingenue is his hot-to-trot daughter, played by Elaine May. Reni Santoni plays "Carl Reiner". To avoid his watchful and disapproving parents he's adopted a non de scène, Donald Coleman (get it?).

This isn't a knee-slapper, but it has a few good lines, most notably Mr. Farrer's "...thank God I'm an alcoholic."

While you're looking do find another Elain May masterpiece, "A New Leaf".

*Rob "the Meathead" Reiner was tolerably fresh in 1967, however, the meat has gone revoltingly rancid lately.; 7/1/20, 7:02 PM
TML said...: ERNEST T.!!!!!!; 7/1/20, 9:28 PM
EsoxLucius said...: I always thought "The Bavarian Clock", made by three Jews and a Mexican-American just eight years after Schicklgruber met his maker, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qOjn5_1Y-Jg not only the funniest, most biting thing Carl Reiner ever wrote but a touchstone when Fascism wears me down.; 7/2/20, 4:19 AM
The Crack Emcee said...: That man caught more breaks than anyone I've ever heard in my life.

It must be nice.; 7/2/20, 9:46 AM
Lewis said...: I know this - - I known it like my bible, back to front, Apocalypses towards genesis. Do I take you my the hand?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y-E7_VHLvkE; 7/2/20, 6:54 PM
Lewis said...: No one assumes, if they assume, anything about you - except your age, which I know. A kind of wilting leg supporting what? you assume all the legs of civilisation could exist - but I can just take away my leg?; 7/2/20, 7:11 PM
Lewis said...: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VSJPEZpHKFg
#

How foolish you are; 7/2/20, 7:14 PM
Lewis said...: It doesn't exist anymore; 7/2/20, 7:17 PM
Lewis said...: I know Bach and Shelley will live for ever; 7/2/20, 7:23 PM
Lewis said...: He died when he was 32 - bastard; 7/2/20, 7:26 PM
Lewis said...: I'm 53 - I should be dead - I stoped writing when I was 40 - should be dead; 7/2/20, 7:28 PM
Lewis said...: It would be interesting to start writing, again, but why? What is the meaning? 20 years I gave it up, I said 'you're a shit - stop it'. 30 years - you say it's like riding bicycle - horror, there is no bicycle; 7/2/20, 7:37 PM
Lewis said...: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7CH7sXaXe5A; 7/2/20, 7:59 PM