Great pre-SNL sketches for the 50’s and 60’s. A different time. Reminds me of The Dock Van Dyke Show and the writers. Carl Reiner used his experiences well.
Love this -- thought it's rather poignant to compare these sketches from the "Caesar's Hour" bits from a few months ealier. Sid's weight had plunged -- he was clearly distraught over getting canceled. Can't blame him -- but, through his pain, he still delivered the goods (and Carl Reiner was the *most* incredible straight man). Thanks for posting!!
Because Sid (rightly so) was and is considered the finest sketch tv comedian ever, I tend to think, that the magnificent Carl Reiner gets somewhat underrated...If you watch many of the posted sketches (thanks so much), you really get a true appreciation of just how versatile Carl was...he could play any part handed to him with such ease...I'm sure Carl was just thrilled to be in on the earliest exciting days of tv (and the work it provided), and was easily smart enough to understand his job was to make Sid look as good as he could possibly be..I also imagine Carl played down his own fabulous talents a bit, so as to never outshine Sid..it is of course obvious by the huge success Carl enjoyed " as his own man", in the years that came, that Carl had all the talent (both in front and behind the camera) in the world...on top of that, he seems to be universally recognized as a good and decent man and a great family man......
Carl was a totally brilliant performer, couldn't agree more. Only on a show with talents as immense as Sid and Carl could a talent as immense as Howard Morris have been considered a third banana! [wgw]
So very true...and while Howie and Sid continued to earn their livings in show business, YSOS and C/H were obviously the high points of their careers (at very young ages of course) while Carl and the young genius writing staff, { Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Larry Gelbart etc}, would go on to soaring heights in their careers with their own legendary programs, theatre, films, etc etc...and yet an interesting point..in an Archive of American Television interview (on youtube), Rob Reiner relates a story, whereby he threw a 40 year reunion party at his home in LA for all the surviving members of YSOS/C-H, and slowly even with all these now giants of the industry present, they sort of reverted back to their positions from decades earlier, and all deferred to Sid as if they were young men again, as Sid held forth,,I found it a wonderful anecdote...
Recently saw an interview w/ Carl's massively gifted son. Rob, who mentioned that Sid taught him to swim. I think that's pretty much all one needs to know about these guys -- they were all ultra-competitive, and more than a bit troubled, but they looked out for one another & their families. Thanks for posting!!!
I think that Sid's ingenious progeny all felt a bit guilty that, b/c of their own prodigious talents & the fickleness of fate, they ultimately usurped their onetime boss in fortune & fame. That's just how things work out sometimes -- but it's a testament to all their characters that they still respected "Mistah Sid" & acknowledged his incredible talent, even when the rest of the world had long forgotten it. Thanks for posting!!!
Band member “Nikto Barada”?!?! A throwaway reference to “The day the Earth stood still” That’s why you always had to pay close attention- there were sly nuggets of genius everywhere. No one, then or since, has come close.
OMG, you're absolutely right--"klatu barada nikto" indeed! I was always laughing too hard at Sid's spaced-out expressions and eyes to notice that throwaway. Also because it came right after "on trumpet the late Fats Fidelio," which gets me every. single. time. --kjh
Just my opinion of course...I know that the "jazz, hip, beat generation, coffee shop performances were sort of the rage in the late '50s (at least in some of the major cities of the US), and it might have seemed very natural for Sid and Co. to try and capitalize on it, but for some reason the character of Progress Hornsby never really got me laughing..(I'm sure others will disagree)..of course I am guilty of comparing every sketch to "This is Your Life--Al Dunphy", which I am fairly certain, most Sid aficiandos consider the true Gold Standard for both YSOS and C/H....
![SID CAESAR: Break Your Brains [SPOOF] (CAESAR'S HOUR, Apr 16 1957)](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/XpoR9dblJvs/mqdefault.jpg)
![SID CAESAR: Break Your Brains [SPOOF] (CAESAR'S HOUR, Apr 16 1957)](/img/tr.png)
Great pre-SNL sketches for the 50’s and 60’s. A different time. Reminds me of The Dock Van Dyke Show and the writers. Carl Reiner used his experiences well.
Best sitcom ever …..
Superb.
Radar! Love it.
Almost as good as "and on trumpet, the late Fats Fidelio"! ---kjh
Love this -- thought it's rather poignant to compare these sketches from the "Caesar's Hour" bits from a few months ealier. Sid's weight had plunged -- he was clearly distraught over getting canceled. Can't blame him -- but, through his pain, he still delivered the goods (and Carl Reiner was the *most* incredible straight man). Thanks for posting!!
Interesting! Thanks.
Because Sid (rightly so) was and is considered the finest sketch tv comedian ever, I tend to think, that the magnificent Carl Reiner gets somewhat underrated...If you watch many of the posted sketches (thanks so much), you really get a true appreciation of just how versatile Carl was...he could play any part handed to him with such ease...I'm sure Carl was just thrilled to be in on the earliest exciting days of tv (and the work it provided), and was easily smart enough to understand his job was to make Sid look as good as he could possibly be..I also imagine Carl played down his own fabulous talents a bit, so as to never outshine Sid..it is of course obvious by the huge success Carl enjoyed " as his own man", in the years that came, that Carl had all the talent (both in front and behind the camera) in the world...on top of that, he seems to be universally recognized as a good and decent man and a great family man......
Carl was a totally brilliant performer, couldn't agree more. Only on a show with talents as immense as Sid and Carl could a talent as immense as Howard Morris have been considered a third banana! [wgw]
So very true...and while Howie and Sid continued to earn their livings in show business, YSOS and C/H were obviously the high points of their careers (at very young ages of course) while Carl and the young genius writing staff, { Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Larry Gelbart etc}, would go on to soaring heights in their careers with their own legendary programs, theatre, films, etc etc...and yet an interesting point..in an Archive of American Television interview (on youtube), Rob Reiner relates a story, whereby he threw a 40 year reunion party at his home in LA for all the surviving members of YSOS/C-H, and slowly even with all these now giants of the industry present, they sort of reverted back to their positions from decades earlier, and all deferred to Sid as if they were young men again, as Sid held forth,,I found it a wonderful anecdote...
daniel lack “
Recently saw an interview w/ Carl's massively gifted son. Rob, who mentioned that Sid taught him to swim. I think that's pretty much all one needs to know about these guys -- they were all ultra-competitive, and more than a bit troubled, but they looked out for one another & their families. Thanks for posting!!!
I think that Sid's ingenious progeny all felt a bit guilty that, b/c of their own prodigious talents & the fickleness of fate, they ultimately usurped their onetime boss in fortune & fame. That's just how things work out sometimes -- but it's a testament to all their characters that they still respected "Mistah Sid" & acknowledged his incredible talent, even when the rest of the world had long forgotten it. Thanks for posting!!!
Band member “Nikto Barada”?!?!
A throwaway reference to “The day the Earth stood still”
That’s why you always had to pay close attention- there were sly nuggets of genius everywhere.
No one, then or since, has come close.
OMG, you're absolutely right--"klatu barada nikto" indeed! I was always laughing too hard at Sid's spaced-out expressions and eyes to notice that throwaway. Also because it came right after "on trumpet the late Fats Fidelio," which gets me every. single. time. --kjh
PROGRESS: There was a war?
BURROUGHS: Oh, yes.
PROGRESS: How did we come out?
BURROUGHS: We won.
PROGRESS: Solid.
Corpses me every time! :-D
The "solid" retort really corpses me, too -- they were so very ahead of their time!!!
Just my opinion of course...I know that the "jazz, hip, beat generation, coffee shop performances were sort of the rage in the late '50s (at least in some of the major cities of the US), and it might have seemed very natural for Sid and Co. to try and capitalize on it, but for some reason the character of Progress Hornsby never really got me laughing..(I'm sure others will disagree)..of course I am guilty of comparing every sketch to "This is Your Life--Al Dunphy", which I am fairly certain, most Sid aficiandos consider the true Gold Standard for both YSOS and C/H....
I'm a giant jazz fanatic and Sid Caesar fanatic for several decades. . . and for what it's worth, I'm not a huge fan of these sketches, either! [wgw]
I was 8 years old and this sketch I loved. Yeah. I disagree with you.
Yeah, I really disagree. Progress is mythic.
Best sitcom ever ….
Best sitcom ever ….