Sid Caesar is gone too...

[ADMIN]

Sid Caesar, Comedian of Comedians From TV’s Early Days, Dies at 91

Sid Caesar, a comedic force of nature who became one of television’s first stars in the early 1950s and influenced generations of comedians and comedy writers, died on Wednesday at his home in Beverly Hills, Calif. He was 91.

New York Times obit

A refinement of Vaudeville, Sid's early TV shows were the basis for all sketch comedy to follow. He was the consummate performer and the bevy of writers he gathered still boggles the mind - Carl Reiner, Neil Simon (and his brother Danny), Woody Allen, Larry Gelbart and Mel Brooks all worked together on his shows. While the humor may not have been "politically correct" by today's standards, it was "clean" - never cutting, cruel or mean - and very, very funny. (...and unlike today's performers, he was married to the same woman for almost 70 years!)

Nice tribute and slideshow at NPR

There are scads of clips on YouTube, just search his name.

[birchie]

Two legends this week Shirley & now Sid. Carl Reiner recently joined twitter, it was sad to hear that he lost his old friend.

[chessie]

Sid Caesar was a brilliant sketch comedian. He always attributed his show's success to the writing staff, which was indeed impressive, but Sid and his fellow performers were comic geniuses.

Carol