Carl Reiner, hosting Sunday Best, 1991. Photograph: NBC via Getty Images
Carl Reiner died yesterday.
Who? I can hear you ask.
My wife didn't know when I just asked her. It's not weird. I don't think most of my friends know who Carl Reiner was.
I refer to him as Carl. If I knew that I could alleviate some of the mourning that his death brings to his children and Mel Brooks, I'd go to them. They don't know me, and that's kind of a measurement of how much happiness and joy Carl brought to the world.
This man, who never knew many of his admirers, made people better and made them feel better. (I genuinely believe this to be true.)
I'm crying as I write this.
Just read this lovely article by Hadley Freeman of The Guardian when she visited Carl and Mel in February 2020. It's absolutely wonderful and inspirational and I recommend it to all even if you've never heard of Carl. Or Mel. I might forgive if you've heard of one of them.
“My dad invented clocks that run on batteries and he thought: ‘I’m gonna make a fortune!’” says Reiner, pointing to a battery-operated clock on a side table, barely visible among the dozens of century-spanning family photos. “But then the war started, the Germans took the patent and they flooded the market.”
“So really, we lost the war,” says Brooks with (of course) perfect comic timing.
Why do they think so many comedians were – and are –Jewish? “Well, back when we started there weren’t that many jobs for Jews. It was either the garment centre, sports or comedy,” says Brooks.
“I think Jews were naturally funny because they were low on the totem pole, so they made fun of the people higher on the pole,” says Reiner.
“Oh yeah, that’s good. Carl’s very quick. He’s going to be 98 in March and he’s quicker than anybody,” says Brooks.
Hadley Freeman https://www.theguardian.com/global/2020/feb/20/love-and-free-food-mel-brooks-and-carl-reiner-share-the-secrets-of-their-70-year-friendship
Just imagine being this witty and quick at 97 years of age:
I tell Reiner I interviewed his son, Rob, two years ago.
“Who?” he asks, having drifted off a little.
“Rob Reiner, your son,” Brooks mock shouts into Reiner’s ear.
“Oh, Rob! He should have been president, but he says he can’t get 60% of the votes in his own house,” says Reiner.
Hadley Freeman https://www.theguardian.com/global/2020/feb/20/love-and-free-food-mel-brooks-and-carl-reiner-share-the-secrets-of-their-70-year-friendship
Carl Reiner, his daughter Annie, and Mel Brooks 2 days ago for Mel's birthday. Source:
https://twitter.com/AshcanPress/status/1278075099262959619/photo/1
- AshcanPress
A few hours ago, Matthew Rosenfeld shared this story about a bit of the greatness of Carl Reiner (and also Mel Brooks and Sid Caesar), and I find it absolutely delightful:
I have a Carl Reiner story that I hold very dear to me. I figured I'd share it today, on the day of his passing, because I hope it will bring some other people some joy the way it does me.
Growing up my dad and his twin brother fell in love with Sid Caeser's Your Show Of Shows. It is the show that made my dad fall in love with storytelling and comedy. They worshipped Caeser along with castmember/writer Carl Reiner.
Caeser, Reiner, and the other writers on their show, including Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Larry Gelbart, and Woody Allen, all made my dad and uncle want to be writers, which they both ended up being.
Growing up my dad's choice of dinner on every birthday was Beef Stroganoff. Why did he eat Beef Stroganoff on every birthday for his whole life? Because of a joke on Your Show of Shows.
When Charlton Heston was a guest on the show they did a cold war spy sketch where Reiner was told to go to a restaurant and “ask for Beef Stroganoff.” He sits down and the waitress comes over. Reiner says "I'm here for Beef Stroganoff."
She leaves and a short while later Heston walks over to the table and asks Reiner “can I help you?” Reiner responds “I asked for Beef Stroganoff,” and Heston pauses and then in his deep voice deadpans “I am Beef Stroganoff.”
The joke made my dad laugh his whole life.
Around 20 years ago my dad had his yearly birthday call with his brother (they're twins). My dad mentioned having Beef Stroganoff and my uncle asked why he always had that on his birthday. Confused my dad just said “because of the sketch.”
My uncle had no idea what he was talking about. It turns out he remembered the sketch clearly but was convinced Heston's name in it was “Sauerbraten” not “Beef Stroganoff.” They ended up arguing about this for years.
My dad bought every DVD and VHS of Your Show of Shows he could find. He watched every clip online and every documentary, but there didn't seem to be any surviving tape of the sketch.
Jump ahead 10 years and Carl Reiner writes a new book. He announces he will be signing and giving a talk in NY at the 92nd Street Y. My dad sees his chance. He buys tickets as fast as he can.
My dad was desperate to ask him about the sketch in person. But knowing that he may not get the chance, he also wrote up a letter to hand to Reiner in case there was no time to ask.
When it came time for the signing my dad waited in line and when he got in front of Reiner he told the story of how his whole life he'd loved the show, and the sketch, and Beef Stroganoff, but then he got in the fight with his brother. Carl listened.
When he got to the part about how they couldn't remember whether it was Beef Stroganoff or Sauerbraten he asked Carl point blank- which was it? Carl Reiner stared at my dad, laughed, and simply said “That was a long time ago.”
My dad thanked him anyway, got his book signed, and then decided to hand him the letter he'd written too, just because he had said some nice things in it about how much he appreciated Reiner's work over the years.
Two months later. My dad is out for a bike ride. The phone rings. My mom answers. A man asks to speak to my father. She tells him that he's out. The man says he'll try back another time. She asks who it is and he says “Carl Reiner” and hangs up. No number. No caller id.
Obviously we are all in awe that he called and we wait for him to call back. And we wait. And we wait. Finally a week goes by and the phone rings. My dad answers it excitedly, like he'd answered every call the past week. But this time it's Carl Reiner again.
He says he read the letter my dad gave him at the signing and he found it so touching that he wanted to share it “with the others.” Then he puts the phone on speaker and Carl Reiner is having dinner with Mel Brooks and Sid Caeser.
They are calling my dad to answer his question about a sketch from 50 years ago. They all make some jokes and then admit they have no idea whether Charlton Heston was named Beef Stroganoff or Sauerbraten in the sketch.
But they all agree Beef Stroganoff is funnier, so they give the victory to my dad over my uncle.
This was literally one of the best days of my father's entire life. His heroes called him up to chat and make jokes and thank him for caring. It meant the world to him then, and it means as much to me now that they would do that.
As a sidenote a few years later my dad went to the Museum of Television in New York and decided to watch some stuff from the archives. There they had some episodes of Your Show of Shows that aren't available anywhere else. My dad sat down and watched them all.
On the very last episode they announced a special guest- Charlton Heston. My dad held his breath. The sketch begins just as my dad remembers it. And then Sid Caeser tells Carl Reiner “Go to this restaurant and ask for Saurbrauten.”
So even your heroes get it wrong sometimes. But I love that my dad made the joke funnier. Thanks Carl for inspiring my dad to be a writer. And thanks for being so kind, generous and warm. He tried to follow in your footsteps in all of those things and I'm trying to follow in his.
2,000 Year Old Man, 1961.
Reiner and Mel Brooks performing the famous skit on The Steve Allen Show. The pair performed the routine many times over the years and, in 1999, shared the Grammy for best spoken comedy album for The 2000 Year Old Man in the Year 2000
Photograph: ABC Photo Archives/Getty Images
Mel Brooks, left, and Carl Reiner, best friends for 70 years. This is in February, 2020. Photograph: Damon Casarez/The Guardian
Mel Brooks stated this yesterday:
Carl was a giant, unmatched in his contributions to entertainment. He created comedy gems like The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Jerk and Where’s Poppa? I met him in 1950 when he joined Sid Caesar on Your Show of Shows and we’ve been best friends ever since. I loved him. When we were doing The 2000 Year Old Man together there was no better straight man in the world. So whether he wrote or performed or he was just your best friend—nobody could do it better. He’ll be greatly missed. A tired cliché in times like this, but in Carl Reiner’s case it’s absolutely true. He will be greatly missed. @THR https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/carl-reiner-dead-celebrities-react-social-media-1301091
Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner.
If you've never seen his films or any of the skits he created and/or played in, I suggest that you look him up on IMDb or similar, and start digging, because it's brilliant. His work truly was.
I'll finish by quoting this via The Guardian:
In what would become a momentous collaboration, Reiner was asked by then-white-hot stage and TV comic Steve Martin to direct his debut film, and the 1979 film The Jerk was the result. After its impressive box office figures, the pair made three more films in a row – Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid (1982), The Man with Two Brains (1983) and All of Me (1984) – all of which were substantial successes.
In subsequent decades, his status as a comedy legend secure he completed numerous guest shots in TV shows such as Frasier, King of the Hill, The Larry Sanders Show and Ally McBeal, while latterday film roles included Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven remake as con artist Saul Bloom and “Carl Reinorcerous” in Toy Story 4.
Reiner was a committed Democrat, and a fervent opponent of President Trump. he remained active on social media, and one of his final posts castigated Trump as “a bankrupted and corrupt businessman who had no qualifications to be the leader of any country in the civilized world”.
In 1943 he married cabaret singer Estelle Lebost, who would become renowned herself for her one-line role in her son’s film When Harry Met Sally: “I’ll have what she’s having.” Lebost died in 2008, and Reiner is survived by three children, Rob, Sylvia and Lucas.
Andrew Pulver https://www.theguardian.com/film/2020/jun/30/hollywood-comedy-legend-carl-reiner-dies-aged-98
The Twitter post that the quote refers to:
As I arose at 7:30 this morning, I was saddened to relive the day that led up to the election of a bankrupted and corrupt businessman who had no qualifications to be the leader of any country in the civilized world...
— carl reiner (@carlreiner) June 29, 2020
... At the same time, Hillary Clinton, who had all the needed
— carl reiner (
qualifications to lead our beloved nation, had received 3 million more popular votes than our Russian-installed puppet president.
More reading:
- Carl Reiner: a life in pictures
- Hollywood comedy legend Carl Reiner dies aged 98
- Carl Reiner’s Twitter Musings Remained Essential and Hilarious Until the End
- Carl Reiner's Wikipedia page
Posted from my blog with SteemPress : https://niklasblog.com/?p=25009