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Carl Reiner was one of my favorite comedians right before I started school. Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows ran for 90 minutes live every Saturday, and I had to go to bed in the middle of it. I remember sneaking out of bed to hear the end of some of the skits from the hall outside the living room. Sid Caesar himself played a bigger range of characters, some of them were mean in the skits and as a little kid I was always a little leery of him. Imogene Coca was the glue that held the show together, and my favorite parts were when she and Reiner acted together. Reiner didn't always play a nice guy, but he was never threatening to a little kid. Coca and Caesar decided to go separate ways about the time I started school. Caesar's show was shortened to 60 minutes, and Coca was replaced by Nanette Fabray. Fabray quickly became a favorite of mine, but she was a totally different kind of actress from Imogene Coca and the show overall suffered. When Gunsmoke started a year later at the same time on a different network we switched and quickly forgot about Caesar's show.
A few years later, I heard that Carl Reiner was going to be involved with the new Dick Van Dyke Show, and I got excited about it. As great as that show was from the very beginning, I was always a little disappointed that his part in what we saw on air was so small. Not understanding how televison shows were put together, (despite the fact much of each episode centered on the writing team that worked for the fictitious show that Reiner's character, Alan Brady, was the big star of) I couldn't imagine how hard he must have been working behind the scenes to make the show as great as it was.
Reiner went on to write, direct and act in many movies. Today's televison owes a lot to Carl Reiner and I hope he'll be remembered for all his roles in it for a long time.
A few years later, I heard that Carl Reiner was going to be involved with the new Dick Van Dyke Show, and I got excited about it. As great as that show was from the very beginning, I was always a little disappointed that his part in what we saw on air was so small. Not understanding how televison shows were put together, (despite the fact much of each episode centered on the writing team that worked for the fictitious show that Reiner's character, Alan Brady, was the big star of) I couldn't imagine how hard he must have been working behind the scenes to make the show as great as it was.
Reiner went on to write, direct and act in many movies. Today's televison owes a lot to Carl Reiner and I hope he'll be remembered for all his roles in it for a long time.
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I have limited memories of Your Show of Shows and his comedy albums with Mel Brooks. I've never seen "Where's Poppa" all the way through--a mistake I need to rectify ASAP.
My love of Reiner's work mainly comes from his four movies with Steve Martin in the 1980s. The Jerk, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, The Man with Two Brains, and All of Me are all ingenious and funny, but each has its own personality. Reiner sprinkles touches of oddball visual humor throughout and they have a type of deadpan delivery that still makes them distinctive today.
All of Me has Martin's best performance, but DMDWP is my favorite, a film noir pastiche that celebrates and satirizes simultaneously. (Martin's Rigby on Bogart in The Big Sleep: "He solved the case, but he didn't understand it. And that's when he started to drink.")
At 98, Reiner was active to the very end, commenting on the news of the day on Twitter. He pretty much helped shape modern American comedy. He seemed to be loved by everyone who ever worked for him. I'd say a respectful goodbye and move on, but I can't help but be sad for Mel Brooks--who's gonna watch Jeopardy! with him now?
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