Sid Caesar, Master of TV Comedy, Dies at 91

[The Straight Story]

Sid Caesar, one of the first stars created by television via his weekly live comedy program “Your Show of Shows,” has died at 91. TV host Larry King announced the news on Twitter.

Caesar, partnered with Imogene Coca, is credited with breaking ripe comedic ground with the 90-minute live program: It didn’t rely on vaudeville or standup-inspired material but rather on long skits and sketches written by an impressive roster of comedy writers including Mel Brooks, Woody Allen, Neil Simon, Larry Gelbart, Lucille Kallen and Mel Tolkin.

“Your Show of Shows” was “different from other programs of its time because its humor was aimed at truth,” Simon once observed. “Other television shows would present situations with farcical characters; we would put real-life people into identifiable situations.”

Following Caesar’s Camelot-days in the ’50s, however, he made a precipitous decline into alcoholism and barbiturates, a self-described “20 year blackout” from which Caesar finally recovered and subsequently related in his 1982 autobiography “Where Have I Been. “At my worst, I had been downing eight Tuinals and a quart of Scotch a day,” Caesar recalled of his darkest days. “When I was awake I’d think of nothing but ‘I must do it faster, kill myself faster. I’d get up to take pills just to go back to sleep. I had no friends. My life was over.”

http://variety.com/2014/tv/news/sid-caesar-master-of-tv-comedy-dies-at-91-1201100019/

[calimary]

1. Whoa! Damn!

Another one of the original greats. Gone.

Damn.

[asjr]

29. Your Shows of Shows was the best comic

routines I have ever seen. After all these years I still miss it. I am so glad I was able to see such wonderful people doing something they truly loved doing.

[Thirties Child]

31. When you remember a show you saw 55 years ago

It was a magnificent show. I love the Swiss clock and the take-off on the Mikado - he was so great at speaking in English so you could understand it, but your brain insisted he was speaking in Japanese. Amazing comedy.

[joeybee12]

2. A legend...a brilliant artist...RIP

But I have to day I thought he was older...seems like he'd been around forever!

[frazzled]

3. Au revoir, Percy Dovetonsils! (who was Ernie Kovacs, not Sid Caesar!)

I didn't even know Sid Caesar was still alive.

A favorite childhood memory is being allowed to watch Your Show of Shows with my parents every week. A great, great innovator.
RIP.

ON EDIT: Apologies for making such a stupid mistake, but since the video is so good, I'll leave it up

[CBGLuthier]

5. Percy Dovetonsils was Ernie Kovacs and he has been dead for 50 years

[frazzled]

6. Oy Vey, I'm getting Alzheimers!

I'm so embarrassed. But I did watch Sid Caesar with my parents every week.

[bullwinkle428]

23. Don't feel bad - I thought of EK as well when I heard of Sid Caesar's death.

They were both great pioneers when it came to comedy on TV!

[jakeXT]

4. Recently I watched Mel Brooks and Conan talk about him

[sinkingfeeling]

7. I'm shocked. For some reason I thought he'd already passed. My dad loved

Sid Caesar.

[Bluenorthwest]

8. Your Show of Shows

[ellie]

9. Your Show of Shows was hilarious!

I used to watch the reruns with my dad.

[cui bono]

10. Sid Caesar was genius!

Thanks for all you did!

[Hubert Flottz]

11. I'll tell you a little secret...

I remember when Sid's show was on every week! TV was great back in those days.

[underpants]

15. Consider this Hubert- he went from basically the beginning of TV to his death announced on Twitter

THAT is an amazing summary of the changes in communication in one lifetime.

[indepat]

12. That someone could live to the age of 91 after 20 years of such self-abuse is testament

to how incredibly magical human life is. RIP, Sid.

[cui bono]

13. I think laughter is key.

[indepat]

25. A key factor indeed

[Ikonoklast]

34. Sid Caesar had the constitution of an ox.

His strength was legendary among his fellow comics, as was his temper.

[underpants]

14. Amazing talent.

[Aldo Leopold]

16. Aw, damn. My big sister and I loved this guy when we were kids.

Such a kind charisma he had.

[Blue_In_AK]

17. Sid Caesar is one of my earliest TV memories.

[MineralMan]

18. I used to watch "Show of Shows" as a child.

Loved that guy.

[Liberal_in_LA]

19. rip

[bkanderson76]

20. It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World...Rest In Peace Sid Caesar

[Teacheral]

21. Sid from Yonkers

Young Sid played tenor sax in Mike Ciffacello's Swingtime Six band in Yonkers, NY. Mike was my HS history teacher who entertained us with tales of Sid's pre-famous musical career.

[cate94]

22. RIP

[Spitfire of ATJ]

24. ...and Dick Cheney is still not dead yet.

[spanone]

26. rip sid....grew up on his wacky humor.

[liberal_at_heart]

27. A truly talented comedian. RIP.

[hunter]

28. Crap. I'm turning into my grandparents.

They were always talking about some celebrity who'd died I'd never heard of.

I'm already a great uncle, but not a grandparent yet.

[Glorfindel]

30. May he rest in peace. He gave me many, many laughs

I remember watching "Your Show of Shows" when I was just a kid. Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca were, in my opinion, the funniest comedy duo ever.

[Loaded Liberal Dem]

32. Hail Caesar!

Truly one of the originals!

[ReRe]

33. Sid Caesar was one of the funniest...

... that's for sure. I remember watching him and Imogene Coca with my family when I was a kid. TV was so different in the beginning. He proved the point that "Laughter is the Best Medicine." RIP, Sid. Thanks for all the smiles!

[trof]

35. Dang. I watched YSOS in my early teens.

Yeah, I'm THAT old.


He and Coca were made for each other, showbiz-wise.
I think she died several years ago.

[A-Schwarzenegger]

36. Master of funny

& one of my main inspirations to get sober.