In his Beverly Hills home, American comedy celebrity Carl Reiner passed away. He was 98 years old.
Reiner was one of the leading pranksters in the United States for decades, both behind and behind the scenes. He played in the ensemble of Sid Caesar, whose Your Show of Shows a blueprint for all sketch programs on TV that would follow, such as Saturday Night Live. He also wrote for Caesar.
He also developed The Dick van Dyke Show, for which he again wrote and in which he played. That comedy is still considered one of the best in its genre and was an example for many sitcoms after that.
The 2,000-year-old man
One of his colleagues at Sid Caesar was Mel Brooks, with whom he would remain friends throughout his life. With Brooks he made his most famous sketch: the 2000 year old man. As so often on stage and screen, Reiner played the calm declarant and interviewed Brooks, whom he introduced as “the man who actually was at the crucifixion 2,000 years ago”. His first words: “Boy”.
After great success at parties, Reiner and Brooks were persuaded to release the sketch on record in 1960. That album was a huge hit, after which the two would release four more albums. For the latter, from 1997, they received a Grammy.
Reiner and Brooks also performed on TV with their most famous sketch, like here in 1967:
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