Obit: comic Carl Reiner [Rob's dad] (1922-2020)

Subject: Obit: Carl Reiner, great talent [&Rob's dad]
From: Mrrzy
Date: 30 Jun 20 - 12:07 PM

Great comedian, talented actor, lived to 98 which ain't too shabby either. I liked him in the Ocean's movies but his early work with Mel Brooks is when I first started admiring him.

What are your fave Carl Reiner moments?

There are many tributes online, popping up all over people's feeds, so not posting blickies to any in particular.

Subject: RE: Obit: comic Carl Reiner [&Rob's dad] (1922-2020)
From: Joe Offer
Date: 30 Jun 20 - 06:39 PM

There was so much to like - what's not to like? I think my favorite Carl Reiner performances were the 2000 Year Old Man skits with Mel Brooks, which started in the 1950s and were broadcast in the 1960s. Brooks and Reiner won a Grammy for their last recording, which came out in 1998.

He must have sung something along the way, but he was not known as a musician. I'm sure he won't mind if I move him down to the non-music section.

-Joe-

Subject: RE: Obit: comic Carl Reiner [&Rob's dad] (1922-2020)
From: Donuel
Date: 30 Jun 20 - 06:54 PM

Mel on the other hand could be above or below - great musician
Hey Carl-St.Peter could use a good straight man but I think its god who is on a less than funny streak. See what you can do.

Subject: RE: Obit: comic Carl Reiner [&Rob's dad] (1922-2020)
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 30 Jun 20 - 09:15 PM

I think he and Mel used to talk every day at least once a day. I fear this will knock the wind out of Mel.

Carl Reiner on IMBb.

I know he has a lifetime of work, but whenever I hear his name I flash immediately to the vain boss Alan Brady on the Dick Van Dyke Show.

Subject: RE: Obit: comic Carl Reiner [& Rob's dad] (1922-2020)
From: keberoxu
Date: 30 Jun 20 - 09:22 PM

Yes, I feel for Mel Brooks,
who already became a widower years and years back
with the death of Anne Bancroft.

Which reminds me of Frank Langella, the actor whose
book of memoirs is called something like Dropping Names.
He knew Anne Bancroft very well indeed,
and he used to commiserate with Mel Brooks,
who loved her very much,
about how temperamental she was.

Subject: RE: Obit: comic Carl Reiner [& Rob's dad] (1922-2020)
From: robomatic
Date: 01 Jul 20 - 06:58 PM

I loved the switcheroo that was part of the structure of "The Dick Van Dyke Show" where the star played a writer and the creator/writer played the overbearing star.
The show was fun, entertaining, and made some social points along the way. Also gave the great Mary Tyler Moore a leg up on her path to greatness.

Carl Reiner was also a writer/ performer on Sid Caesar's "Your Show of Shows" which my father spoke of with reverence. It was a progenitor to most television sketch comedy and was staffed by many future comedy greats.

I grew up listening to the dialogues that formed Reiner's performances with Mel Brooks that went under the rubric "The 2000 Year Old Man"*. Reiner proved to me how important the straight man role is.

*The 2000 Year Old Man was the central tie-in, but in their first album there was also, going by memory, Mel Brooks playing such interviewees as a one hour old baby, an Argentinian tourist (Adolf Hitler), a slew of psychiatrists from a convention (Texan, Indian, Israeli), one of the first astronauts, an Italian film director... etc...

Any of the remembrances of him I've seen or read have left me laughing.

Subject: RE: Obit: comic Carl Reiner [& Rob's dad] (1922-2020)
From: Donuel
Date: 01 Jul 20 - 07:25 PM

'This is your life' was a real show. This is Carl's version
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNbT9Lf9xZo

Subject: RE: Obit: comic Carl Reiner [& Rob's dad] (1922-2020)
From: robomatic
Date: 03 Jul 20 - 11:41 PM

As I'm writing this a local channel is airing some Dick Van Dyke shows colorized and this one is where Allen Brady (Carl Reiner) is 'outed' by Laura as wearing a hairpiece. His long scene has his various toupees mounted on styrofoam heads in front of him and he is talking to them and working out his outrage in a very funny way.

Subject: RE: Obit: comic Carl Reiner [& Rob's dad] (1922-2020)
From: robomatic
Date: 03 Jul 20 - 11:47 PM

It's even better, the next episode is where Reiner (not as Allen Brady but as a 'crazy Russian') plays a painter who painted Laura as a nude. Still funny.