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Even the most original shows aren’t created from nothing. Saturday Night Live, like every comedy show before or since, can point to funny ancestors that helped draw up the blueprint for its success. Here are five comedy classics that formed the template for the show that became SNL…

[subtitle]1Your Show of Shows [/subtitle]

“Saturday Night Live always had its roots showing,” wrote Tom Shales and James Andrew Miller in their oral history Live From New York. Those roots began in the golden era of live TV in New York, especially Your Show of Shows featuring Sid Caesar and his troupe. The comedy was enhanced by the thrill of the live broadcast, a “this is happening now!” quality that had disappeared from television before SNL brought it back in 1975.

When Dick Ebersol made his initial Saturday Night pitch to NBC, Your Show of Shows was one of his examples of what SNL would try to emulate,...

The New Yorker boarded Saturday Night Live's 50th birthday train early this week, posting its review of the show — then simply Saturday Night — from November 7, 1975, four shows into its epic run. While reviewer Michael J. Arlen would never have predicted the late-night show would run for 50 years, he did see its unsteady comedic potential.

“The truth is that it’s a funny show and has enough comic spirit behind it so that even an actress of no notable comic expertise, such as Candice Bergen, can work along easily with the program,” Arlen wrote. “Still, it’s not really the gross tonnage of jokes in the skits which makes Saturday Night worth looking at. What is attractive and unusual about the program is that it is an attempt, finally, to provide entertainment on television in a recognizable, human, non-celebrity voice — and in a voice, too, that tries to deal with...

Photo Credit: HBO Get ready to laugh! HBO and Judd Apatow are creating a two-part documentary on Mel Brooks, the mastermind behind Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein. This look at Brooks’s life promises to be both funny and insightful. Judd Apatow, a lifelong fan, calls it “the dream of a lifetime.” Brooks has changed comedy from his early days on *Your Show of Shows* to his classic movies in the ’70s and ’80s. His wit and satire have left a lasting mark. A talented artist in film, TV, theater, music, and literature, Brooks is an Egot winner with Emmy, Grammy, Tony, and Oscar awards. The documentary will explore Brooks’s personal life, creative process, and influence with interviews, archival footage, and clips. Fans can celebrate Mel Brooks’s career and find out why he’s one of comedy’s most beloved figures. Stay tuned!

The post Mel Brooks: A...

A new documentary will look at the life and career of filmmaker Mel Brooks, whose films like The Producers, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, and Spaceballs defined comedy for several generations of people through the past seven decades. The docuseries, which is still in production, will air in two parts on HBO. Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio are co-directing it.

“I went into comedy because of my love for Mel Brooks,” Apatow said in a statement. “This project is the dream of a lifetime.”

Apatow, who’s best known for his own films,...

HBO is working on a two-part documentary about comedy legend Mel Brooks.

Judd Apatow is directing the untitled doc with Michael Bonfiglio after the pair directed George Carlin’s American Dream together. It is now in production.

The docu is an “expansive yet intimate look at one of comedy’s most hilarious and influential minds, whose work has had audiences around the world laughing for more than 70 years”, per HBO.

It comes from HBO Documentary Films and Apatow Productions with Kevin Salter exec producing and Joe Beshenkovsky editing.

It marks the latest Mel Brooks doc to air on HBO; the network aired Mel Brooks: Unwrapped, originally a BBC production, in 2020.

“I went into comedy because of my love for Mel Brooks. This project is the dream of a lifetime,” said Apatow.

It is the latest documentary for Apatow, who directed Bob and Don: A Love Story and The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling.

A two-part documentary about comedy legend Mel Brooks from directors Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio has been set at HBO.

The HBO Documentary Films and Apatow Productions project, now in production, will trace Brooks’ journey from Brooklyn to Hollywood and Broadway. Joe Beshenkovsky, who last worked with Apatow and Bonfiglio on HBO’s four-hour documentary George Carlin’s American Dream, will edit the documentary.

Apatow promises a career-spanning film about the comedy legend behind classic movie farces and parodies. “I went into comedy because of my love for Mel Brooks. This project is the dream of a lifetime,” the Hollywood writer-director-producer said in a statement.

Brooks’ career began with Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows where he worked alongside the late Carl Reiner, Neil Simon, and Larry Gelbart. That’s after the teenage comedian in the Catskills conquered the entertainment world with his satirical comedy.

Brooks earned an Oscar...

Few names (if any) loom larger over the world of comedy than Mel Brooks. Now, his eight-decade career will be the subject of an upcoming two-part HBO special from co-directors Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio.

The documentary project, which is being produced through Apatow Productions, will reunite the two men with editor Joe Beshenkovsky, who collaborated with them on their recent documentaries “The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling” and “George Carlin’s American Dream.”

“I went into comedy because of my love for Mel Brooks,” Apatow said in a statement announcing the documentary. “This project is the dream of a lifetime.”

While the film does not yet have a title or release date, Brooks’ remarkable career will offer no shortage of material to pull from. After launching his career in the 1950s on the storied writing staff of Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows” and collaborating with Carl Reiner on...

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Comedy legend Mel Brooks is a national treasure, unquestionably one of the most important and influential figures in twentieth-century American culture. Brooks began his career as a comedy writer in the late 1940s and early 1950s, first gaining recognition for his work on Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows. In 1965, Brooks created the seminal television series Get Smart, which went on to win seven Emmy Awards. While it's been almost 30 years since Brooks directed a movie, his legacy lives on, and he's now producing a sequel to his iconic space comedy Spaceballs.

By the late 1960s, Brooks decided to shift his focus away from television, setting his sights on film directing. For the next 30 years, Brooks emerged as one of cinema's all-time great comedy directors through masterpieces such as Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, and The Producers. A man in rare company,...

When Mel Brooks feature filmmaking debut "The Producers" hit theaters in 1968, it was both a critical/commercial smash and a bit of a scandal. Emboldened in part by the increasing permissiveness of the counterculture comedy era, Brooks pushed the outside of the envelope with a ribald sense of humor he couldn't indulge as a writer for NBC's "Your Show of Shows" and "Caesar's Hour" and outright shredded it by making light of the Third Reich with the film's fictional musical "Springtime for Hitler." Soon after the film's release, he was confronted in an elevator by a woman who told him "The Producers" was vulgar. Brooks fired back, "Lady, it rose below vulgarity."

This, I believe, is true of "Jackass." Created by Jeff Tremaine, Spike Jonze and Johnny Knoxville, this showcase for a gang of lovable skateboard-culture knuckleheads who subject themselves and each other to a series of physically/mentally...

The actress-wife of Bill Hayes, the actor who played the colorful Doug Williams on Days of Our Lives for more than 50 years, has released her first statement since her husband’s passing last week at the age of 98.

On her Instagram account that she shared with her husband, Susan Seaforth-Hayes thanked fans for their support under a vintage black and white shot of the couple.

“To all of you who honored my Billy with a word of remembrance, a sense of personal loss, or even a tear- I thank you,” she wrote. “You touched my heart by seeing in him the goodness and joy I experienced every moment of our wonderful marriage. May we all embrace life with the gusto of Bill Hayes- and enrich it with grace and love ♥️ xx Susan”

Related: Steve Burton Bids Farewell To ‘Days Of Our Lives’

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Bill Hayes, a longtime star of the NBC soap opera “Days of Our Lives,” died Friday at the age of 98.

Hayes played the character of Doug Williams on the daytime serial since 1970, five years after the show’s debut. He met his real-life wife, actress Susan Seaforth, on the series set in the fictional Illinois town of Salem.

Hayes and Seaforth were married in 1974. Two years later, their characters were married on the show. The same year, the pair also appeared on the cover of Time magazine in a cover story on the popularity of daytime soaps.

“I have known Bill for most of my life and he embodied the heart and soul of ‘Days of our Lives,’ ” said executive producer Ken Corday. “Although we are grieving and will miss him, Bill’s indelible legacy will live on in our hearts and the stories we tell, both on and off the screen.

Bill Hayes, the actor and singer who with his real-life wife, Susan Seaforth Hayes, starred on NBC’s Days of Our Lives as the beloved first couple of daytime television, died Friday in Los Angeles, a rep from the show told The Hollywood Reporter. He was 98.

Before he was known as a soap opera legend, Hayes was a regular on Sid Caesar‘s famed live TV variety program Your Show of Shows, and in 1955 he had the No. 1 song in America, “The Ballad of Davy Crockett.”

He also partnered in a nightclub act with future Brady Bunch star Florence Henderson; they were known as “The Singing Sweethearts” and sang about Oldsmobiles on TV commercials, many of them performed live.

Hayes joined Days of Our Lives to play con artist/lounge singer Doug Williams in February 1970. Seaforth Hayes, who portrayed the spoiled heiress Julie Olsen Banning Anderson Williams, had joined the show 15 months earlier.

For the span of five years, Steve Martin and Carl Reiner combined their legendary talents to collaborate on four major film contributions to the comedy genre. An established figurehead in the world of entertainment, Carl Reiner received endless honors and achievements for nearly seven decades of work as an actor, stand-up comedian, director, and screenwriter. From early performances on the 1950s popular television series Your Show of Shows to the creation of the American sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show and notable credits on classics like Fatal Instinct (1993), Toy Story 4 (2019) and the Ocean's trilogy, it comes as no surprise that Reiner inspired entire generations of performers.

Steven Martin was one of Reiner's many devotees whose love for comedy and appreciation of Reiner's commitment to the mastery of the genre influenced him to become a comedic force on his own. Martin not only cherished Reiner's best film and TV...

HBO’s “Succession” was a critical darling, so it’s probably befitting that the show would end its run with two final lauds from the Television Critics Assn. The 39th Annual TCA Awards — which canceled its in-person event this year due to the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes — released its list of winners on Monday, with “Succession” grabbing the prizes for program of the year, as well as outstanding achievement in drama (an award it also won in 2022 and 2020).

Other major winners included FX’s “The Bear,” which airs on Hulu. The series’ first season was honored as outstanding new program, as well as outstanding achievement in comedy. The TCA spread the wealth when it comes to individual achievements, honoring “Better Call Saul” star Rhea Seehorn in drama, and “Poker Face” star Natasha Lyonne in comedy.

Also, Netflix’s “Beef” and “I Think You Should Leave with Tim Robinson” won top prizes,...

When I was a little kid in the 1960s and a teen in the 1970s, there was simply no one cooler than Mel Brooks. He was the guy (along with Buck Henry) who created and wrote the comedy masterpiece “Get Smart,” and even as a child I could recognize the genius behind it. While I was a little too young to appreciate the greatness of his 1967 directorial debut, “The Producers”, once the ’70s rolled around I was in comedy heaven thanks to “Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein.” Those two classics of big screen comedy came out the same year: 1974.

As a result, I spent much of that year as a high school sophomore and junior laughing my proverbial butt off in movie theaters (those things we used to frequent prior to the advent of streaming technology). The campfire farting scene in “Bs” was my generation’s comedic colossus.

I lost...

Angela Bassett may have gone home empty handed at the Oscars in March, but the two-time nominee will be getting a golden statuette this year after all – and in very good company too.

In November, Bassett, Mel Brooks and film editor Carol Littleton will receive honorary Oscars at the Governors Awards, the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences said Monday.

Michelle Satter, the founding senior director of the Sundance Institute’s Artist Programs, will also be given the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award at the untelevised event.

Read More: Angela Bassett Says Whoopi Goldberg ‘Stepped Up’ For Crew On ‘How Stella Got Her Groove Back’

“The Academy’s Board of Governors is thrilled to honor four trailblazers who have transformed the film industry and inspired generations of filmmakers and movie fans,” Janet Yang, the academy’s president, said in a statement.

Most recipients of the academy’s honorary awards have not won competitive Oscars.

NBC’s landmark “Your Show of Shows” won its second consecutive best variety program statuette at the primetime Emmy Awards held Feb. 5, 1953 at the old Hotel Statler hosted by Art Linkletter. The 90-minute live program had strong competition- “Arthur Godfrey and His Friends” (CBS); “The Colgate Comedy Hour” (NBC); “The Jackie Gleason Show” (CBS) and “The Toast of the Town” (CBS).

Other winners that evening included another landmark series, CBS’ “I Love Lucy” which was named best situation comedy with NBC’s “Robert Montgomery Presents” receiving best dramatic program honors. CBS’ “What’s My Line? claimed the title of best audience participation, quiz or panel show. NBC’s “Dragnet” was the recipient of the best mystery, action or adventure program. Ktla’s “Time for Beany” won best children’s program, while Edward R. Murrow’s “See It Now” (CBS) received the Emmy for public affairs program.

On the acting front, Oscar-winners...

Mel Brooks came up with the title to his 1981 comedy feature “History of the World, Part I” as a joke. There were never any plans to make a Part II.

Until now.

As the streaming revolution took hold, Brooks, his producing partner Kevin Salter and rightsholder Searchlight Pictures decided to explore a long overdue sequel, but in series form. That’s when they contacted Nick Kroll, who’s known for his sketch comedy (in addition to the painfully funny take on adolescence “Big Mouth”), to kick around a “Part II” that was four decades not in the making.

“There was something slightly more exciting about hearing from Mel Brooks, with all due respect to the wonderful folks at Searchlight,” Kroll says.

Kroll brought in Wanda Sykes, Ike Barinholtz, and David Stassen to develop the 21st century take on the original. But they didn’t want to do a new “History...

"History of the World Part II" begins today, with the first two episodes arriving on Hulu (read our review here). Over 40 years after Mel Brooks parodied epics of the Roman and biblical kind in "History of the World Part I," the sequel series broadens the horizons of historical comedy in more ways than one. Not only does the series dive into even more time periods, including the unfolding of the Russian Revolution, the struggles of ending the Civil War, and the times of William Shakespeare, but it also gets considerably raunchier than its predecessor and digs into more contemporary pop culture styling while also staying true to Brooks' comedic spirit.

Leading up to today's debut of "History of the World Part II," we spoke with stars, writers, and executive producers Nick Kroll and Ike Barinholtz (as well as the showrunner and director) about working with Mel Brooks, parodying "Curb Your Enthusiasm...

Marsha Hunt, a veteran actress of the Golden Age of film, radio and Broadway who later saw her career wither over her protests against the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee (Huac), died of natural causes on Sept. 7 in Los Angeles.

Her caregivers, nephew, actor/director Allan Hunt and Elizabeth Lauritsen, confirmed her death.

Hunt starred in more than 60 films for Paramount, MGM and Republic, starting her career in 1935. She also appeared in more than 30 staged productions, including six on Broadway.

In television’s early days, Hunt appeared as Viola in Twelfth Night, the first Shakespeare play to be aired coast to coast. She hosted and guest starred twice on Your Show Of Shows, featuring Sid Caesar, Imogene Coca, and Carl Reiner. Numerable live and recorded guest appearances followed through the decades.

But her name appeared in Red Channels, an anti-communist pamphlet that was said to wield considerable influence over TV and film studios.

So, what do the 4th Primetime Emmy Awards, which took place Feb. 18, 1952, have in common with the 2022 edition?

Lucille Ball and Desi Arnaz.

The stars of the No. 1 TV series, CBS’ “I Love Lucy,” were the hosts of the Emmy ceremony, which was telecast in Los Angeles on Kcea, now known as Kabc. And it was the first time that the Emmys embraced national television networks. Previously, nominations and awards were bestowed on projects that were produced or aired in Los Angeles.

This year, Amy Poehler’s valentine of a film, “Lucy and Desi,” not only received strong reviews but six Emmy nominations including Best Documentary or Nonfiction Special and directing for Poehler. The Amazon Prime doc won two: writer Mark Monroe and composer David Schwartz.

Traveling back to the 1952, the ceremony took places at venerable nightclub, the Cocoanut Grove. It must have been a short show because only seven awards were handed out.

One of Mel Brooks’ comedic masterworks is 1974’s “Young Frankenstein” starring Gene Wilder as Dr. F and Peter Boyle as the Monster. So, it seems apropos that the first movie the 95-year-old Egot ever saw was James Whale’s 1931 “Frankenstein” starring Boris Karloff as the Monster. During a recent Zoom conversation with Emmy and Golden Globe Award-winning writer/producer Larry Karaszewski for his autobiography “All About Me: My Remarkable Life in Show Business,” Brooks admitted the film terrified him.

“My brother Bernie took me… I was too young to see a scary picture like that, but my mother was doing the floors. She said [to Bernie] ‘Get him out. Take him to the movies.”’ When five-year-old Mel came home from the window, he closed the window next to his bed. “It was July and my mother rushed in and opened the window. It was before air conditioning. I said, ‘No, keep it...

Mel Brooks Awarded With the Los Angeles Film Critics Association Career Achievement Award

The Los Angeles Film Critics Association (Lafca) has announced that legendary filmmaker Mel Brooks will receive the Lafca Career Achievement Award.

Brooks began as a comic and writer on Sid Caesar’s variety show, “Your Show of Shows” and went on to create the comic character The 2000 Year Old Man with Carl Reiner. Brooks also wrote TV comedy series “Get Smart” with Buck Henry.

“Mel Brooks is a national treasure and a comedy filmmaking legend,” said Lafca president Claudia Puig. “Most of our members could probably quote whole swathes of his screenplays.” She added, “He not only has made us laugh uproariously, he has broken comic barriers and paved the way for and influenced generations of filmmakers after him.”

Brooks’ filmography includes “The Producers,” “Twelve Chairs,” “Blazing Saddles,” “Young Frankenstein,” “Silent Movie” and “High Anxiety.” Brooks is also an Egot winner,...

Mel Brooks has been set as the 2021 recipient of the Los Angeles Film Critics Association’s Career Achievement Award.

He’s the latest in a distinguished line of artists to receive the honor, joining the likes of John Huston, Orson Welles, Billy Wilder, Robert Mitchum, Barbara Stanwyck, Myrna Loy, Robert Preston, Roger Corman, cinematographer Conrad L. Hall and composer Ennio Morricone.

Lafca’s members will decide on other honorees December 12. They will be honored alongside Brooks early next year.

Brooks is a prolific writer, director, producer and actor with a career spanning more than seven decades, whose iconic films include The Producers (1967), The Twelve Chairs (1970), Blazing Saddles (1974), Young Frankenstein (1974), Silent Movie (1976), High Anxiety (1977), History of the World, Part I (1981), Spaceballs (1987) and Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993).

Brooks began his career as a comic and writer on Sid Caesar’s variety series Your Show of Shows. Later, with Carl Reiner, he...

Bill Clotworthy, the standards and practices exec lovingly referred to as “Dr. No” by the cast and crew of Saturday Night Live, died on Thursday in hospice, in Salt Lake City, Ut. He was 95.

The executive’s son, actor Robert Clotworthy, confirmed the news to Deadline.

Born on Jan. 13, 1926, in Westfield, New Jersey, William Griffith Clotworthy worked as SNL‘s on-set censor between 1979 and 1991.

During his time at NBC, he also oversaw programs including Late Night With David Letterman and The Cosby Show, among others.

Before moving over to the network, Clotworthy spent nearly thirty years working in advertising at Madison Avenue firm, Bbdo. In his time there, he worked on series including Your Show of Shows, You Bet Your Life, The Jack Benny Program and Your Hit Parade.

Clotworthy was also a veteran of the Second World War and an author, who published the memoir Saturday Night Live: Equal Opportunity Offender,...

When a classic television series goes off the air they rarely ever ride into the sunset thanks to the nostalgia channels that rerun the show, streaming services and DVD and Blu-Ray box sets. They are also often rebooted or turn up as a TV movie such as “Return to Mayberry,” “Return from the Man from U.N.C.L.E” and “Still the Beaver.” And networks also have mined ratings gold bringing back the casts of TV series often on a notable anniversary of the show for reminisces, tears and a plethora of clips.

This year, HBO Max scored with its much ballyhooed and at times surprisingly emotional “Friends: The Reunion,” It just received an Emmy nomination for Best Variety Special (pre-taped), as did “A West Wing Special to Benefit When We All Vote,” which found the cast of the multi-Emmy Award-winning NBC series reuniting to encourage people to vote...

Laraine Newman was 23 years old when she was cherry-picked by Lorne Michaels to join the inaugural cast of NBC’s “Saturday Night Live” in 1975, along with Chevy Chase, Gilda Radner, John Belushi, Jane Curtin, Garrett Morris and Dan Aykroyd. During her five-year tenure on the iconic show, Newman skyrocketed to fame for playing memorable characters such as Connie Conehead and Sheri the Valley Girl. A founding member of the legendary comedy troupe the Groundlings, the Emmy-nominated comic would go on to appear in Woody Allen’s “Stardust Memories” and in TV series such as “St. Elsewhere” and “Laverne & Shirley.” Newman would later carve out a thriving career as a voiceover artist, behind characters in such blockbuster animation projects as “The Incredibles,” “Minions” and “The Secret Life of Pets.” She’s also continued to hone her comic chops in the Drama Desk award-winning show “Celebrity Autobiography,” which was created by Eugene Pack.

Many TV legends and contributors were included for the “In Memoriam” segment on Sunday’s Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony for ABC. But producers are always forced to omit some of the 100+ insiders who died since the last ceremony. Who was left out of the group that was honored?

With dozens of television veterans having died since last year’s mid-September ceremony, people certainly included were these six TV Academy Hall of Fame members:

Diahann Carroll

Leonard Goldberg (executive at 20th Century Fox and ABC; producer of “Charlie’s Angels” and more)

Jim Lehrer (anchor/reporter of “MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour)

Regis Philbin

Carl Reiner

Fred Silverman

SEECelebrity Deaths 2020: In Memoriam Gallery

Even though he wasn’t known for his TV work, blockbuster film actor Chadwick Boseman was featured in the final slot. NBA Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant was not mentioned, even though the event was being held in the Staples Center.

For Sunday’s Primetime Emmy Awards ceremony on ABC, producers will have the always difficult task of assembling a memoriam segment. Even though the event hosted by Jimmy Kimmel will be virtual, it’s a certainty they will include the popular “In Memoriam” on the show.

With over 100 television veterans having died since last year’s mid-September ceremony, those expected to be honored would include such TV legends and TV Academy Hall of Fame members:

Diahann Carroll

Leonard Goldberg (executive at 20th Century Fox and ABC; producer of “Charlie’s Angels” and more)

Jim Lehrer (anchor/reporter of “MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour)

Regis Philbin

Carl Reiner

Fred Silverman

SEECelebrity Deaths 2020: In Memoriam Gallery

Even though they weren’t known for their TV work, it’s very likely NBA Hall of Famer Kobe Bryant and blockbuster film actor Chadwick Boseman will be honored. Also among the dozens most likely included since they...

Carl Reiner, the comedy giant who died June 29 at age 98, was in a pretty good place when he won his first Emmy in 1957.

“I owned an affordable home on Bonnie Meadow Road in New Rochelle, had a good marriage, good kids and was gainfully employed,” Reiner wrote in his 2003 memoir, My Anecdotal Life. That gainful employment involved serving as wingman to Sid Caesar on Caesar’s Hour, the sketch comedy program that aired live on NBC from 1954 to 1957. It was a follow-up to Caesar’s groundbreaking Your Show of Shows, which also aired live on ...

Carl Reiner, the comedy giant who died June 29 at age 98, was in a pretty good place when he won his first Emmy in 1957.

“I owned an affordable home on Bonnie Meadow Road in New Rochelle, had a good marriage, good kids and was gainfully employed,” Reiner wrote in his 2003 memoir, My Anecdotal Life. That gainful employment involved serving as wingman to Sid Caesar on Caesar’s Hour, the sketch comedy program that aired live on NBC from 1954 to 1957. It was a follow-up to Caesar’s groundbreaking Your Show of Shows, which also aired live on ...

Family comedies have gone to Schitt. “Schitt’s Creek” that is. The little Canadian comedy series that airs on Pop and streams on Netflix has hit Emmy paydirt in its sixth and final season, earning 15 Emmy nominations including best comedy series, actor for Eugene Levy, actress for Catherine O’Hara, supporting actor, writer and director for Dan Levy and supporting actress for Annie Murphy.

Sort of a reverse “The Beverly Hillbillies,” the series follows a seriously vapid, dysfunctional family, John and Moira Rose and their adult children David and Alexis, who lose their family fortune and end up living in a rundown motel in Schitt’s Creek, a tiny rural town which is the only asset they still own. And “Schitt’s Creek” is a family affair with Eugene Levy creating the series with his son Dan, who plays his eldest on the show. And the comedy legend’s daughter Emily also is...

In just the past few days alone, the entertainment industry has lost some icons and favorites from film, television and Broadway. Our newly updated photo gallery above now features 29 people who have died in the first half of 2020, included the recent losses of TV legend Carl Reiner, Oscar-winning composer Ennio Morricone, veteran newsman Hugh Downs, theatre star Nick Cordero and Country Music Hall of Famer Charlie Daniels.

Here are some of the bios included in our special photo gallery tribute:

NBA superstar Kobe Bryant died on January 26 in a helicopter crash at age 41. After he retired from playing, he won an Oscar for his animated short “Dear Basketball” in 2018.

Broadway star Nick Cordero died on July 5 age age 41 after complications from Covid-19. He was a Tony nominee for “Bullets Over Broadway” and also starred in “Rock of Ages,” “Waitress” and “A Bronx Tale.”

Singer, songwriter and fiddler Charlie Daniels died...

With the passing of comedy legend Carl Reiner, tributes have poured in from all over the world. Bernadette Peters spoke with Variety about her memories of growing up watching Reiner on television in Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows” and in “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” then getting to work with him on the seminal 1979 comedy “The Jerk,” which Reiner directed.

We’d watch Sid Caesar every Sunday night. Still there’s nothing better than that kind of comedy that was so raw. And it was live television! It was Sid, Imogene Coca and then Carl Reiner. I remember Carl’s presence. He was tall, he was authoritative. And apparently he became a writer during that show. He was an actor, but became a writer because he had kept coming up with ideas.

On “The Jerk,” he and Steve Martin would rewrite the scene on the way to the...

Carl Reiner amassed many accolades during his eight decades in showbiz, from 12 Emmys and a Grammy to the Mark Twain Prize to a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame.

The multi-hyphenate master of comedy, who died June 29 at age 98, also claimed another prestigious tribute — his name on the menu at Los Angeles’ venerable Pink’s Hot Dogs stand on La Brea Avenue. The Reiner Dog is a 9-inch stretch dog topped with mustard and sauerkraut. As fate would have it, a Reiner Dog proved to be its namesake’s last meal.

“It was his favorite meal — a hot dog with mustard and sauerkraut and a side of baked beans,” said George Shapiro, producer and manager who was a nephew of Reiner’s late wife, Estelle Reiner (Shapiro’s mother was Estelle’s older sister).

On June 29, Reiner had been in good spirits all day. He spent time at his...

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(Photo: Jeff Ross)

By Eddy Friedfeld

When famed producer and former gangster character actor Sheldon Leonard saw the failed television sitcom pilot “Head of the Family,” which was based on Carl Reiner’s experience as a writer and performer for Sid Caesar’s “Your Show of Shows” and “Caesar’s Hour”, he immediately saw its brilliance and potential. He said to creator and star Carl Reiner, who would become his producing partner, in his distinctive tough guy voice, “We’ll get a better actor to play you.” That actor became the lead in the show whose name became the new title. “The Dick Van Dyke Show”, now a classic sitcom, with Carl as writer, producer, show runner, and co-star, has become a touchstone for everything that followed and is one of Carl’s many masterpieces. He also launched the career of the legendary Mary Tyler Moore.

The word rang out this morning in the world of laughter. A member of comedy royalty had taken his last well-deserved bow.

Here’s how the AP news service spread the word:

New York (AP) — Carl Reiner, the ingenious and versatile writer, actor and director who broke through as a “second banana” to Sid Caesar and rose to comedy’s front ranks as creator of “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and straight man to Mel Brooks’ “2000 Year Old Man,” has died. He was 98.

Reiner’s assistant Judy Nagy said he died Monday night of natural causes at his home in Beverly Hills, California.

While he made significant contributions to the worlds of live theatre, television, recordings, and literature, we at Wamg would like to applaud his body of work in motion pictures: acting, writing and directing. But in order to begin, lets’ double back to TV. Carl first achieved worldwide...

Mel Brooks, whose enduring friendship with the late Carl Reiner began in 1950, has paid tribute to his “best friend” and Your Show of Shows costar. Reiner died on Monday at age 98.

“Carl was a giant, unmatched in his contributions to entertainment,” Brooks shared in a post on Twitter. “He created comedy gems like The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Jerk, and Where’s Poppa?“

Brooks said they met in 1950 on Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows. “We’ve been best friends ever since,” he added. “I loved him.” It was...

The web series “Dispatches From Quarantine” — which has been chronicling the coronavirus quarantines of famous entertainers as they stay at home — featured what turned out to be Carl Reiner’s final interview. In it, the 98-year-old Reiner, who died Monday, talks about his love of comedy, meeting his wife and having kids, and creating the “Dick Van Dyke Show,” which he calls “my best work.”

He also talks about meeting Mel Brooks for the first time on “Your Show of Shows.” It was a friendship that endured: During quarantine, Reiner says of Brooks, “He comes every night. We watch ‘Jeopardy,’ among other things. We watch movies we remember fondly, you know, old-time movies.”

On Tuesday, Brooks tweeted about Reiner’s death:

pic.twitter.com/QbycBcRzFo

— Mel Brooks (@MelBrooks) June 30, 2020

“Dispatches From Quarantine” was created by Tiffany Woolf and Noam Dromi for Silver Screen Studios and Reboot, and has also featured interviews with Ellen Burstyn,...

Mel Brooks, whose close friendship with the late Carl Reiner stretched back to the 1950s, has posted a tribute to his old Your Show of Shows costar.

“Carl was a giant,” said Brooks on Twitter, “unmatched in his contributions to entertainment. He created comedy gems.”

Brooks recalled meeting Reiner in 1950 on Your Show of Shows and, said Brooks, “We’ve been best friends ever since.”

Of his experience doing The 2,000 Year Old Man with Reiner, Brooks remembered, “There was no better straight man in the world.” The bit became a regular thing for the duo, who went on to create hit albums and a book based on it, winning a Grammy in the process.

Whether it was writing or performing or being a best friend, “nobody could do it better” than Reiner, said Brooks.

In later years, according to Vanity Fair, Reiner and Brooks would get together every evening at Reiner’s home,...

Iconic comedian Carl Reiner died at 98 in his home in Beverly Hills on Monday night from natural causes. Reiner is known for his work on Your Show of Shows, The Dick Van Dyke Show and the 2000 Year Old Man as well as his writing, acting, directing and producing. While he had great success […]

The post Comedian Carl Reiner, Creator Of ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show,’ Dies At 98 appeared first on uInterview.

Comedy legend Carl Reiner died Monday, June 29, at age 98 in his Beverly Hills home. He was the creator of “The Dick Van Dyke Show,” star of pioneering TV variety shows “Your Show of Shows” and “Caesar’s Hour,” comedy partner of Mel Brooks on stage and recordings and director of many films, including several early Steve Martin movies. He was the father of Emmy-winning actor and director Rob Reiner, plus daughter Sylvia Anne and son Lucas.

SEERob Reiner movies: 12 greatest films ranked worst to best

Gold Derby interviewed the icon two summers ago (watch our funny 20-minute video chat above). At 96 years old, Reiner had become the oldest Emmy nominee in history for narrating the HBO documentary “If You’re Not in the Obit, Eat Breakfast,” which he also stars in. It’s not a bad record to break, especially considering, as he revealed, the film “fell into my lap accidentally.

Comedy legend and TV pioneer Carl Reiner died at 98, according to Variety. His assistant, Judy Nagy, said he was with his family when he died of natural causes at his home in Beverly Hills on Monday night.

Reiner was one of the true greats. He helped shape comedy on television from the early golden era. Filmed comedy would not be the same without him. Even standup comedy owes him a great debt. There are sandwiches named after him in kosher delis around the world. Reiner was always beloved, and forever acting. He was instantly popular from the moment he appeared on Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows in 1950. He and Mel Brooks brought a party gag to national prominence they created the “2,000 Year Old Man” routine. He was veteran conman Saul Bloom in Steven Soderbergh’s Ocean’s Eleven movie franchise, played Charlie Sheen and Jon Cryer’s stepfather on Two and a Half Men.

By Lee Pfeiffer

Carl Reiner has passed away at age 98. The New York native who served in WWII and then went on to become a comedy icon, had a varied career and many achievements that were often behind the cameras. He gained fame as a member of Sid Caesar's ensemble on his legendary 1950s TV series "Your Show of Shows" and "Caesar's Hour". Reiner was usually happy to play the straight man in skits that help revolutionize the world of comedy. With his good friend Mel Brooks, who wrote for Caesar's shows, he created the concept of the 2,000 Year-Old Man, which found Reiner interviewing the elderly Jewish guy, played by Brooks. The concept started informally when the duo would improvise acts at social gatherings, but when they finally released the 2,000 Year-Old Man as a comedy album, it sold over a million copies and institutionalized Jewish humor for a generation of American comedians.

Creator of The Dick Van Dyke Show and comedic legend, Carl Reiner passed away at the age of 98. Reiner died of natural causes. The actor, writer, producer, comedian and director leaves behind a momentous legacy that spans more than six decades in the industry. Now, Hollywood has taken to social media to pay tribute to the late icon.

Rob Reiner, Carl's son, took to Twitter to pay tribute to his father. Rob went on to have an impressive career himself, directing movies such as The Princess Bride, This is Spinal Tap and Stand By Me. Rob Reiner also starred in All in the Family, The Wolf of Wall Street, Sleepless in Seattle and New Girl. Here's what Reiner had to say about dad Carl Reiner.

"Last night my dad passed away. As I write this my heart is hurting. He was my guiding light."

Aside from his on-screen work, Carl...

Los Angeles – If there ever was a living embodiment of show business history from the mid 20th Century to now, it was Carl Reiner. The producer, director, writer and sometimes actor worked in the business from 1938 to the present, and is probably best known for creating “The Dick Van Dyke Show” (1961-66). He died of natural causes in Los Angeles on June 29th, 2020.

Reiner touched all forms of media, up to and including the modern social media, where he was active on Twitter (read one of his last tweets below). His incredible resume includes film director, TV series creator and movie/TV performer.

Carl Reiner in a Recent Publicity Picture

Photo credit: Carl Reiner

Carl Reiner was born in the Bronx, New York, and first tried theater as a 16-year-old during the Depression (1938). He was drafted into the Army Air Forces during World War II and eventually landed into Special Forces,...

We've lost one of Hollywood's brightest talents as legendary filmmaker Carl Reiner has sadly passed away. A director, producer, and actor with over 400 credits to his name, Reiner's career spanned over seven decades, making him one of the most prolific entertainers in history. Sadly, TMZ is reporting that Reiner died on Monday evening at his home in Beverly Hills with his family by his side, though an exact cause wasn't revealed. He was 98 years old.

Carl Reiner was born on March 20, 1922, in The Bronx, New York. Taking an interest in acting as a teenager, Reiner was later performing on stage for troops during his stint with the Army Air Forces in the 1940's. He'd follow this up with performances in Broadway musicals, including a lead role in the show Call Me Mister. By 1950, he was appearing on television when he was cast in the sketch comedy series Your Show of Shows.

Carl Reiner, who died Monday night of natural causes at the age of 98, came to prominence in the 1950s as a performer and writer on Sid Caesar's variety programs Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour.

After his early collaborations with Caesar and Mel Brooks, with whom he became lifelong friends, the pair doing the great two-man comedy routine The 2000 Year Old Man, Reiner created the beloved sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show, based on his own life.

He later jump-started Steve Martin's big-screen career by directing him in The Jerk. The two would go on to team up ...

Carl Reiner, who died Monday night of natural causes at the age of 98, came to prominence in the 1950s as a performer and writer on Sid Caesar's variety programs Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour.

After his early collaborations with Caesar and Mel Brooks, with whom he became lifelong friends, the pair doing the great two-man comedy routine The 2000 Year Old Man, Reiner created the beloved sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show, based on his own life.

He later jump-started Steve Martin's big-screen career by directing him in The Jerk. The two would go on to team up ...

Reiner was a prolific actor, writer and director for over 60 years.

Carl Reiner, the acclaimed Us actor, writer and director, has died aged 98 of natural causes.

A native of The Bronx, New York, Reiner began working as a writer and performer on variety show Your Show Of Shows in 1950. His colleagues included Mel Brooks, who became a longtime collaborator and friend.

In 1961 he created The Dick Van Dyke show, a sitcom which ran for five years and made its titular lead a star.

Reiner formed a successful film partnership with Steve Martin in the late 1970s and early 1980s, directing...