Mike Nichols and Elaine May - At the Hospital

Last week we posted a few skits that Mike Nichols,  the late director, producer, actor, and comedian performed with Elaine May on TV shows in the 1950s. 

We had so many positive comments and requests for more of the skits  that we're running another one today.

This skit takes place at a private hospital in New York. Nichols enters the emergency room with a broken arm, having just being run over by a car. Before he is examined by a doctor, he has to get past the admitting nurse, who is more interested in completing paperwork than getting care for this accident victim.

As with all of their skits, the timing is impeccable, and the laughs come from the recognition that this preposterous reaction to a person in need is sadly close to reality, or at least it was in the 1950s.

There is a bit of background noise for a few minutes in the middle of the clip, but we feel it doesn't detract from the story line and the laughs.

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.) 

Mike Nichols and Elaine May - Teenagers on a First Date

Our last post was a tribute to the late director, producer, actor, and comedian Mike Nichols. We had so many positive comments and requests for more of the skits that he performed on TV with Elaine May that we decided to run some more.

Here is another classic skit showing Nichols and May as a pair of awkward teenagers sitting in a car on their first date. The dialogue captures the anxiety, uncertainty, and eagerness of young budding love. Some of it was said to be improvised, and it shows the quick wit of both comedians.

May, now 82, was born Elaine Iva Berlin in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1932, the daughter of Jewish parents, theater director/actor Jack Berlin and actress Ida Berlin. As a child, Elaine performed with her father in his traveling Yiddish theater company, which he took around the country. Her stage debut on the road was at the age of three, and she eventually played the character of a generic little boy named Benny.

There is no sound for the first 17 seconds of the routine, but it doesn't affect the story line, so just be patient until the sound kicks in.

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.)

Remembering Mike Nichols: First of a Series - The $65 Funeral

Mike Nichols, film, theatre and television director, producer and comedian, died yesterday at the age of 83. He is mostly being remembered as a celebrated director and one of a very few who won an Oscar, Tony, Emmy, and Grammy.

From 1961 to this year, he was widely acclaimed for his more than 20 successful films and more than 20 successful Broadway shows, but our recollections of him are mostly of his appearances on television shows in the 1950s with his comedy partner Elaine May.

The comedy skits of Nichols and May were never slapstick, but they were clever pieces of social satire. 

Born in Berlin in 1931 as Mikhail Igor Peschkowsky, Nichols attended a segregated school for Jewish children. His father, a doctor, fled the Nazis by moving the family to New York City when Nichols was still a child. May was born in 1932 in Philadelphia, the daughter of the director, writer, and principal actor of a traveling Jewish theatrical company. She caught the thespian bug early, appearing on stage in the roles of little boys.

In 2012 we posted one of their funniest skits, a phone call between Nichols as the son and May as his mother. Just click on the line above to see it again.

Today we're posting another of their classics, The $65 Funeral, a skit they performed on the Jack Paar show. As an extended tribute, we'll be posting a few more Nichols and May routines in the coming days.

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.)