Throwback Thursday Comedy Showcase: Sid Caesar in "The Hickenloopers: Poker Game"

It's Throwback Thursday again and today we get another chance to go back to the 1950s and watch Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca as The Hickenloopers on Your Show of Shows.

Caesar and Coca starred in many episodes of the hilarious marital tribulations of Doris and Charlie Hickenlooper. In this sketch, Sid Caesar forgets that he had a date with his wife and joins his friends (including Carl Reiner and Howard Morris) in Reiner's apartment for an evening of poker.

This week's sketch is a tribute on Caesar's centenary. The comedian was born 100 years ago on September 8, 1922.

No date is available for this sketch, which has only been released on very rare out of print VHS/Betamax tapes. We're grateful to a Sid Caesar super fan who found these tapes, had them transferred digitally, and shared them with a poster who made them available on YouTube.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO. 

 

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Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca in "Chinese Dinner"

It's Throwback Thursday again and today we get another chance to go back to the 1950s and another episode of The Hickenloopers on Your Show of Shows.

Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca starred in many episodes of the hilarious marital tribulations of Doris and Charlie Hickenlooper. In this sketch, Sid Caesar plays a husband who picks up a Chinese dinner on the way home from work, unaware that his wife has spent the whole day in the kitchen cooking a steak dinner for them.

Carl Reiner joins in the fun as their neighbor, who performs some impressive sleight-of-mouth with Chinese food. 

No date is available for this sketch, which has only been released on very rare out of print VHS/Betamax tapes. We're grateful to a Sid Caesar super fan who found these tapes, had them transferred digitally, and shared them with a poster who made them available on YouTube.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

  

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Throwback Thursday Comedy Showcase - Sid Caesar in "The Garbage Sketch" on Your Show of Shows

It's Throwback Thursday again, and today we're turning the clock back more than 60 years to revisit the antics of Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, and Howard Morris in a performance of The Garbage Sketch, which plays out in a courtroom scene.

No date is available for this sketch, which has only been released on very rare out of print VHS/Betamax tapes. It's from Your Show of Shows, a TV show that was aired from 1950 to 1954.

We're grateful to a Sid Caesar super fan who found these tapes, had them transferred digitally, and shared them with a poster who made them available on YouTube.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Sid Caesar and The Caesaros Flying Circus in the 1950s

It's Throwback Thursday again, and today we're turning the clock back more than 60 years to revisit the antics of Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner, and Howard Morris as they perform The Caesaros Flying Circus, their deranged version of a circus acrobatics act.

No date is available for this sketch, which has only been released on very rare out of print VHS/Betamax tapes. It's from Caesar's Hour, a TV show that was aired from 1954 to 1957.

We're grateful to a Sid Caesar super fan who found these tapes, had them transferred digitally, and shared them with a poster who made them available on YouTube.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

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 #Throwback Thursday    #TBT

Wacky Wednesday Comedy Special: Jackie Mason, Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner in the 1960s

Today we take a deep dive into the comedy pool and come up with an undated video clip of two performances that brought back funny memories of the early days of comedy.

A very young Jackie Mason takes the stage in the first clip showing his interaction with the audience that would become very familiar in the 1960s.  

Then Dick Shawn introduces Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner in an early episode of the 2000 year-old man. They did their shtick many times on The Ed Sullivan Show and other TV variety programs but every segment was unique.

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

Enjoy!

Wacky Wednesday Comedy Special: First Appearance of 2000 Year Old Man on Ed Sullivan Show

The 2000 Year Old Man skit that Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks performed for many years on records and TV began as a joke between the two of them that they shared at parties.

After their first record album became a hit in 1960, they made a TV appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show in February 1961. 

We have posted a few versions of the routine on Jewish Humor Central over the years, but today we are sharing their very first performance on Sullivan's show.

Each performance is a treasure because while Reiner had a fixed set of questions that he asked, Brooks always ad-libbed and never gave the same answer twice.

Here is their original sketch from 59 years ago. Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

Throwback Thursday Special Tribute: Carl Reiner Receives the 2000 Mark Twain Prize at the Kennedy Center

Continuing our tribute to master of comedy Carl Reiner, who died on Monday at the age of 98, we've been looking for video clips that showcased his great talents. Because most of his successes were in the writers' room and behind the cameras, it wasn't easy to find a clip that shows him alone, and not in the shadow of the actors and comics who he made famous.

Twenty years ago Reiner received the Mark Twain Prize at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D. C. 

The Mark Twain Prize recognizes people who have had an impact on American society in ways similar to the distinguished 19th century novelist and essayist best known as Mark Twain. As a social commentator, satirist and creator of memorable characters, Samuel Clemens was a fearless observer of society. He revealed the great truth of humor when he said "against the assault of laughter nothing can stand." 

In his speech accepting the prize, Reiner jokingly hinted that Mark Twain might have been Jewish, with Samuel as his first name and a last name that might have been Cleminsky before changing to Clemens.

Thank you Carl, for almost a century of laughs and good clean comedy. You will be greatly missed.

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.



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Remembering Carl Reiner - Producer, Director, Actor and Interviewer

The world of tasteful, professional comedy has been in mourning since Carl Reiner died Monday at the age of 98.

Reiner, who worked extensively with Sid Caesar and Mel Brooks in Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour, was the quiet genius who played the straight man to the often loud and boisterous characters played by Caesar and Brooks in their innovative sketch comedy.

Reiner's career spanned seven decades. In addition to his collaborations with Caesar and Brooks, he was also best known as the creator, producer, writer, and actor on The Dick Van Dyke Show.

His contributions to Hollywood included his acting in films such as It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World (1963); The Russians Are Coming, the Russians Are Coming (1966); and the Ocean's film series (2001–2007). He also had great success as a film director and writer and in the 1970s and 1980s. He co-wrote and directed some of Steve Martin's most successful films, including The Jerk (1979), and also directed notable comedies such as Where's Poppa? (1970), Oh, God! (1977), and All of Me (1984). 

Reiner's interviewing skills were honed on Your Show and Shows and Caesar's Hour when as an earnest roving reporter, he coaxed hilarious answers from Sid Caesar's loony characters such as The Professor, a daffy expert who bluffed his way through his interviews.
 
If we had to pick a favorite role, it would be as the interviewer of Mel Brooks in his largely ad-libbed portrayal of The 2000 Year Old Man. This now classic skit started out as a joke that Reiner and Brooks performed for their friends at parties. There are many versions of how this joke ended up as a series of live performances and records.

Reiner started bringing a tape recorder to the parties as Brooks never said the same thing twice. George Burns suggested to the two that they put their material on an album, but only Steve Allen managed to coax the two to record it in his studio.

In this video clip from The Conan O'Brien Show, Reiner recounted the chain of events that led to the worldwide success of The 2000 Year Old Man.

Enjoy!!

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How Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner are Coping with Coronavirus Lockdown

For millions of Americans, these are challenging times. For some insight into resilience from a generation that survived a depression and world war, Turner Classic Movies host Ben Mankiewicz turned to funnymen Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner. 

Via cyberchat, the two comedy writers, who first met in the 1950s ("Call it laugh at first sight"), talked about enduring World War II and coming out on top. 

Mankiewicz also talked with "Star Trek" actor and activist George Takei (who as a child was detained in a Japanese-American internment camp in the 1940s) about what Americans look for when facing an uncertain future.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.

Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca in "The Cigar Fight"

It's Throwback Thursday again and today we get another chance to go back 70 years to 1950 and another episode of The Hickenloopers on Your Show of Shows.

Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca starred in many episodes of the hilarious marital tribulations of Doris and Charlie Hickenlooper.

In this sketch, Sid Caesar as Charlie and Imogene Coca as Doris get into a marriage-challenging argument over Charlie's addiction to cigars and his table manners. Carl Reiner makes an appearance as Sid's neighbor.
 
Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.



#Throwback Thursday    #TBT

Throwback Thursday Comedy Classics: Sid Caesar in Gallipacci, a Spoof of the Opera Pagliacci

First telecast on Caesar's Hour on October 10, 1955 on NBC, this kinescoped sketch is a take-off on the Italian opera Pagliacci by Ruggero Leoncavallo. Sid plays the role of "Gallipacci" ("Canio" in the real opera) an actor in a traveling Italian comedia dell'arte troupe during the late 19th century. 

His wife "Rosa" ("Nedda" in the actual opera), who is played by singer and comedienne Nanette Fabray, falls in love with fellow actor "Emilio" (the opera's "Silvio" character), performed by Carl Reiner, and they make plans to elope. Sid sings a rendition of songs in a gibberish Italian dialect which he picked up in his youth from waiting tables at his father's 24-hour blue-collar diner in Yonkers, New York. 

Straying off of the real opera's musical score just a bit, we hear hilariously bastardized renditions of Santa Claus is Coming to Town, Cole Porter's Begin the Beguine, and Take Me Out to the Ball Game among others. Howie Morris (Ernest T. Bass from "The Andy Griffith Show") is "Vesuvio" (whose real opera character is "Tonio") and he performs a parody song and dance rountine to the tune If I Know What You Know. 

In one of the most famous "saves" in the history of live television, Sid was supposed to paint a teardrop on his cheek when the mascara pencil broke at the beginning of his nonsense rendition of Just One of Those Things. Not breaking his stride, Sid proceeds to pick up one of Nanette's lip brushes and paints an unscripted tic-tac-toe board on his face.  

The grand finale concluded with a variation of the song The Yellow Rose of Texas after Gallipacci takes care of the situation along the lines of a Mafia hit. Also, in the early days of live television, one time "specials" which pre-empted regular series programs were initially called "spectaculars". Listen for a young Don Pardo introducing the sketch.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO IS NOT VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.


 
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Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner in "The Two Hour Old Baby"

Fifty-eight years ago in 1961, Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner, riding high on the success of their comedy album The 2000 Year Old Man, couldn't resist producing a follow-on album called 2000 and One Years with Carl Reiner & Mel Brooks.

One of the funniest tracks on this album is The 2 Hour Old Baby, in which Carl Reiner finds his way into the maternity ward of the UCLA Medical Center to interview a two hour old baby who was born with the power of speech and intelligence.

The nurses have told him that the baby has been speaking nonstop since he was born and Reiner, the interviewer, has been given permission to ask questions of the baby, who is played by none other than Mel Brooks.

We don't have video for this skit, only audio, so you'll have to be content listening to the audio and looking at the album cover. It's still a riot, and we hope you'll enjoy the dialogue.

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.



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Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Sid Caesar in "The Truck Driver and the Lady"

A lot of the guest hosts on Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows participated in sketches. In this sketch the guest host is Paul Douglas, who had a successful career as an actor and announcer. 

No stranger to comedy, he starred with Judy Holliday in Born Yesterday on Broadway. Here he is Imogene Coca's lawyer defending her in a traffic case involving Sid as a truck driver. 

Carl Reiner is the judge and Howie Morris a hapless witness. When Douglas swings his cane in a stirring summation, watch for Carl and Sid's masterful reactions. 

No date is available for this sketch, which has only been released on very rare out of print VHS/Betamax tapes. We're grateful to the anonymous devoted collectors of Sid Caesar originals who found these tapes, had them transferred digitally, and shared them on YouTube.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO. 




#Throwback Thursday    #TBT

Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca in "The Good Investment"

It's Throwback Thursday again and today we get another chance to go back 67 years to 1951 and another episode of The Hickenloopers on Your Show of Shows.

Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca starred in many episodes of the hilarious marital tribulations of Doris and Charlie Hickenlooper.

In this sketch, Doris Hickenlooper (Imogene Coca) invests $2200 of their savings in the stock market. Charlie (Sid Caesar) castigates her for squandering his life savings. The stock rises and falls and so do their emotions as they watch the roller coaster value of Consolidated U&M change by the minute.

Although the skit was performed in 1951 on Your Show of Shows, well before digital technology ruled Wall Street, it shows that investing hasn't really changed that much as we watch the stock market rise and fall in its current roller coaster ride.

Enjoy and Happy Thanksgiving to all our readers.

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO. 



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Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca in "The Sewing Machine Girl"

Silent film parodies were an important part of Your Show of Shows, the 90 minute weekly live TV show pioneered by Sid Caesar in the early 1950s. These parodies were also tributes to the acting skills needed to convey plot and emotion in the absence of spoken words.

Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, Carl Reiner, and Howard Morris all had a special talent to bring these early films to life in hilarious takeoffs. This video, The Sewing Machine Girl has the classic elements of this genre: The mean shop owner, the poor overworked, underpaid girl, and her beleaguered co-worker who emerges as her hero.

This is a rare sketch just made available to a mass audience as one of the "Ten from Your Show of Shows" now available as part of the five DVD set Sid Caesar: The Works.

Enjoy!

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Throwback Thursday Comedy Special: Billy Crystal and Carl Reiner Remember Sid Caesar

Without Sid Caesar, comedy would have been a lot less funny.

In 1949, television was an infant technology. No one knew how long it would last ... or whether it would last at all. 

A 27-year-old Broadway star, along with a team of writers and performers who would become legendary, including Imogene Coca, Nanette Fabray, Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Larry Gelbart, Neil Simon, and Woody Allen, revolutionized sketch comedy by telling stories rooted in the human condition. They redefined television sketch comedy, and paved the way for landmark comedy shows like Saturday Night Live.

Sid Caesar – The Works is a just released collection of the best work of Caesar and his teams, beginning with The Admiral Broadway Review, through Your Show Of Shows and Caesar's Hour, and featuring many interviews and extras, including the 2014 Paley Center For Media Tribute with Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner and Billy Crystal.

We just ordered this 5 disc, 11 hour set and look forward to watching it soon. We'll try to share whatever we can from it in the coming weeks and months.


In this clip, Billy Crystal talks about his introduction to Sid Caesar and his unique comedy.

Enjoy!

A SPECIAL NOTE FOR NEW EMAIL SUBSCRIBERS:  THE VIDEO MAY NOT BE VIEWABLE DIRECTLY FROM THE EMAIL THAT YOU GET EACH DAY ON SOME COMPUTERS AND TABLETS.  YOU MUST CLICK ON THE TITLE AT THE TOP OF THE EMAIL TO REACH THE JEWISH HUMOR CENTRAL WEBSITE, FROM WHICH YOU CLICK ON THE PLAY BUTTON IN THE VIDEO IMAGE TO START THE VIDEO.



#Throwback Thursday   #TBT