RIP Sid Caesar

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Those of us who are old enough to remember watching some of his later shows in the mid 50s (I was only 6 years old but my mom watched it so I joined in), didn't really realize at the time what Sid Ceasar and his band of comedic co-horts would mean to the future of TV and comedy as we know it today.

The era of Sid Ceasar, Jack Benny, Carl Reiner, Milton Berle, Steve Allen, Lucille Ball, Bob Hope, Buster Keaton, and I could go on and on, was an era of real comedic minds and attitudes that is not instilled in 'comedians' today. Those not in my generation think they know what comedy is all about, but they don't. In those days there were no laugh tracks so the laughter on the TV was real. There was no taping of shows where 2nd chances due to mistakes was unheard of. If a mistake was made either in the dialog or with a prop, the show just continued and it was smoothly woven in to the show by individuals who really knew what improvisation was. I dare say that very, very few of todays 'comedians' could do that with any degree of success.

RIP Sid Ceasar. Thank you for being the great comedian you were and always will be.
 
So true, bsa. Comedy used to be loaded with cleverness and intelligence. The crap that passes for comedy today is mostly vulgar and puerile.
 
bsaeagle64 said:
Those of us who are old enough to remember watching some of his later shows in the mid 50s (I was only 6 years old but my mom watched it so I joined in), didn't really realize at the time what Sid Ceasar and his band of comedic co-horts would mean to the future of TV and comedy as we know it today.

The era of Sid Ceasar, Jack Benny, Carl Reiner, Milton Berle, Steve Allen, Lucille Ball, Bob Hope, Buster Keaton, and I could go on and on, was an era of real comedic minds and attitudes that is not instilled in 'comedians' today. Those not in my generation think they know what comedy is all about, but they don't. In those days there were no laugh tracks so the laughter on the TV was real. There was no taping of shows where 2nd chances due to mistakes was unheard of. If a mistake was made either in the dialog or with a prop, the show just continued and it was smoothly woven in to the show by individuals who really knew what improvisation was. I dare say that very, very few of todays 'comedians' could do that with any degree of success.

RIP Sid Ceasar. Thank you for being the great comedian you were and always will be.
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I am a little bit younger than you but I agree, the ablilty to adjust on the fly and maintain while complete chaos surrounded you is something many of the 20 take Jim Carey types would never be able to pull off.

I love watching the old clips of Sid and others, amazing when you think about what they created
 
All of those performers came from vaudeville. Live entertainment was the norm for them. They were all pioneers in transitioning comedy from vaudeville to TV. They were experimenting as they were going along. They were immensely talented.
 
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mikiemo83 said:
I am a little bit younger than you but I agree, the ablilty to adjust on the fly and maintain while complete chaos surrounded you is something many of the 20 take Jim Carey types would never be able to pull off.

I love watching the old clips of Sid and others, amazing when you think about what they created
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One interesting thing is that Sid Caesar's shows haven't aired in reruns over the years because that was before they filmed live tv shows. Desi Arnaz pioneered that idea because he foresaw that there would be a market for rebroadcasting the Lucy show.

That's too bad, because from what I've seen, the Caesar show would have held up over the years - I've watched some hilarious clips. The show was a real incubator of talented writers - Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Neil Simon, Larry Gelbart (Mash), Woody Allen, and lots of others.

Some of the early tv shows from the vaudeville era seem a bit dated to me, but Caesar's stuff was cutting edge sketch comedy that seems pretty timeless.
 
Mark_Henderson said:
One interesting thing is that Sid Caesar's shows haven't aired in reruns over the years because that was before they filmed live tv shows. Desi Arnaz pioneered that idea because he foresaw that there would be a market for rebroadcasting the Lucy show.

That's too bad, because from what I've seen, the Caesar show would have held up over the years - I've watched some hilarious clips. The show was a real incubator of talented writers - Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Neil Simon, Larry Gelbart (Mash), Woody Allen, and lots of others.

Some of the early tv shows from the vaudeville era seem a bit dated to me, but Caesar's stuff was cutting edge sketch comedy that seems pretty timeless.
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The swan song of the vaudeville TV show was arguably Laugh-In, and I can recall that they ran condensed 1/2 hour episodes 10 odd years ago on Comedy Central or some other network.

I remember watching the show when it first aired, in the before time, and it was one of the funniest things ever, at that time.

When I watched the reruns, it wasn't that funny. Others must have agreed because it didn't stay on for very long.

It's ironic regarding Sid's death with the re-mastered release of It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Sla845GW9YM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
 
O_P_T said:
The swan song of the vaudeville TV show was arguably Laugh-In, and I can recall that they ran condensed 1/2 hour episodes 10 odd years ago on Comedy Central or some other network.

I remember watching the show when it first aired, in the before time, and it was one of the funniest things ever, at that time.

When I watched the reruns, it wasn't that funny. Others must have agreed because it didn't stay on for very long.

It's ironic regarding Sid's death with the re-mastered release of It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/Sla845GW9YM" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
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Take a look at the picture - talk about a who's who of the early on comedians - Edie Adams (?), Sid Ceasar, Jonathan Winters, Milton Berle, Mickey Rooney, Ethel Merman, Buddy Hacket. The other stars opf the movie were just as great.
 
bsaeagle64 said:
Take a look at the picture - talk about a who's who of the early on comedians - Edie Adams (?), Sid Ceasar, Jonathan Winters, Milton Berle, Mickey Rooney, Ethel Merman, Buddy Hacket. The other stars opf the movie were just as great.
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One of the funniest movies of all-time. I think just about every known comedy act of the time made at least an appearance in it including The Stooges, Don Knotts, Jimmy Durante, Carl Reiner and far too many more to list. It also starred Spencer Tracy.
 
bideau said:
One of the funniest movies of all-time. I think just about every known comedy act of the time made at least an appearance in it including The Stooges, Don Knotts, Jimmy Durante, Carl Reiner and far too many more to list. It also starred Spencer Tracy.
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That's why there's IMDB
 
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