{"id":55780,"date":"2020-07-03T16:44:54","date_gmt":"2020-07-03T22:44:54","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/?p=55780"},"modified":"2020-07-03T16:44:54","modified_gmt":"2020-07-03T22:44:54","slug":"with-a-nod-to-carl-reiner-my-favorite-year-recalls-the-infancy-of-tv-sketch-comedy","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/with-a-nod-to-carl-reiner-my-favorite-year-recalls-the-infancy-of-tv-sketch-comedy\/","title":{"rendered":"With a nod to Carl Reiner, \u2018My Favorite Year\u2019 recalls the infancy of TV sketch comedy"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By MARC BRODSKY<\/p>\n<p>(JTA) \u2014 With the passing this week of Carl Reiner, we lost one of the comedy greats, Jewish or otherwise. His obituary recalled a show business career that dated to the infancy of television in the 1950s.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_55782\" style=\"width: 209px\" class=\"wp-caption alignleft\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Carl_Reiner.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-55782\" class=\"wp-image-55782 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Carl_Reiner-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Carl_Reiner-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Carl_Reiner-679x1024.jpg 679w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Carl_Reiner-768x1158.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Carl_Reiner-1019x1536.jpg 1019w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Carl_Reiner.jpg 1038w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 199px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 199\/300;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-55782\" class=\"wp-image-55782 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Carl_Reiner-199x300.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"199\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Carl_Reiner-199x300.jpg 199w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Carl_Reiner-679x1024.jpg 679w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Carl_Reiner-768x1158.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Carl_Reiner-1019x1536.jpg 1019w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/Carl_Reiner.jpg 1038w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 199px) 100vw, 199px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-55782\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Carl Reiner at the 41st Academy Awards. (Photo by Alan Light via Wikimedia Commons)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>Reiner gained success starting in his late 20s as a writer and performer on \u201cYour Show of Shows\u201d and \u201cCaesar\u2019s Hour,\u201d sketch comedies that one might broadly consider precursors to \u201cSaturday Night Live,\u201d sans the politics. Those early programs featured an unparalleled staff of writers, almost all Jewish, that also included Neil Simon, Mel Brooks and Woody Allen.<\/p>\n<p>They provide the backdrop for the 1982 comedy \u201cMy Favorite Year,\u201d my choice for your COVID-19 lockdown viewing this week. (With cases on the rise, a reminder to heed what Larry David said in April: Stay home! Watch TV!)<\/p>\n<p>The film is seen through the eyes of a 20-something Jewish writer named Benjy Stone (nee Steinberg) for a show in the mid-\u201950s called \u201cComedy Cavalcade.\u201d Its star is King Kaiser, played by Joe Bologna, a Caesaresque personality: tyrannical and tough, but softhearted. Stone (Mark Linn-Baker) is enthralled that his hero, the dashing actor Alan Swann (Peter O\u2019Toole), will be appearing as the guest star.<\/p>\n<p>Stone and Swann develop a rapport, but Swann has a drinking problem, and in turn a promptness problem. Stone\u2019s more seasoned colleagues on the writing staff want Swann fired, but the youngster stands up for the down-on-his-luck thespian who had provided so many magical moments with his swashbuckling roles. In turn, Swann helps Stone to romance a young assistant on the show\u2019s staff. (Stone at one point offers his wannabe girlfriend lessons on how to tell a joke, Borscht Belt style. It doesn\u2019t go well.)<\/p>\n<p>Through it all, the odd couple experience plenty of craziness, like riding off on a horse together in Central Park following some chaos started by Swann.<\/p>\n<div id=\"attachment_55781\" style=\"width: 310px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><a href=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/7-2-20-myfavoriteyear-scaled.jpg\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-55781\" class=\"wp-image-55781 size-medium lazyload\" data-src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/7-2-20-myfavoriteyear-300x239.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"239\" data-srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/7-2-20-myfavoriteyear-300x239.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/7-2-20-myfavoriteyear-1024x814.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/7-2-20-myfavoriteyear-768x611.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/7-2-20-myfavoriteyear-1536x1222.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/7-2-20-myfavoriteyear-2048x1629.jpg 2048w\" data-sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" style=\"--smush-placeholder-width: 300px; --smush-placeholder-aspect-ratio: 300\/239;\" \/><noscript><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" aria-describedby=\"caption-attachment-55781\" class=\"wp-image-55781 size-medium\" src=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/7-2-20-myfavoriteyear-300x239.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"239\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/7-2-20-myfavoriteyear-300x239.jpg 300w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/7-2-20-myfavoriteyear-1024x814.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/7-2-20-myfavoriteyear-768x611.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/7-2-20-myfavoriteyear-1536x1222.jpg 1536w, https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2020\/07\/7-2-20-myfavoriteyear-2048x1629.jpg 2048w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/noscript><\/a><\/p>\n<p id=\"caption-attachment-55781\" class=\"wp-caption-text\">Peter O&#8217;Toole, left, as Alan Swann and Mark Linn-Baker as Benjy Stone in &#8220;My Favorite Year.&#8221; (Michael Ochs Archives\/Getty Images)<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<p>The movie has a Jewish ethos, but here\u2019s the most Jewy part: Stone goes to visit his mother, Belle (Lainie Kazan) in Brooklyn, a stereotypical Jewish mom \u2014 in a quintessential Jewish setting \u2014 except that she\u2019s now married to a former Filipino fighter named Rookie Carroca, who does all the cooking. (He makes parrot for the dinner: \u201cThey put up quite a squawk.\u201d)<\/p>\n<p>Other guests at the dinner include more relatives who embarrass Benjy: Uncle Morty (Lou Jacobi, one of my favorite character actors) and his wife, who wears her wedding dress to the function: \u201cYou like it? I only wore it once.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Belle the yenta prods Swann, whom she calls Swanny, about his personal life, and he divulges that he has a young daughter whom he hasn\u2019t seen in ages.<\/p>\n<p>Morty is more pointed in his inquiries: \u201cThat paternity suit \u2013 did you shtupp her?\u201d he asks. \u201cDid you go all the way?\u201d<\/p>\n<p>They leave the apartment with its throng of residents, all Jewish, trailing behind. One man offers his Italian surname and Swann asks how he got in the building. \u201cI\u2019m the super,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n<p>At showtime, Swann finds out that the broadcast is live and is petrified (\u201cI\u2019m a movie star, not an actor!\u201d), going off to drink away his fears. Stone gets him to return, and the one-time heartthrob makes amends for any difficulties he caused during the week by helping King Kaiser fight off some mobsters on the live show who don\u2019t take kindly to one sketch.<\/p>\n<p>Wonder if \u201cYour Show of Shows\u201d ever had the same dilemma?<\/p>\n<p>Back to Reiner: He would go on to create \u201cThe Dick Van Dyke Show,\u201d about a comedy writer named Rob Petrie, that would be one of the most embraced sitcoms not just of the \u201860s but all time. Looking back on it, the Emmy winning show may seem idyllic, especially as it was on the air during the civil rights era.<\/p>\n<p>But Reiner was well aware of what was happening: On one episode, Petrie makes an impassioned plea for brotherhood among all people at a banquet sponsored by a group for interracial understanding.<br \/>\nCarl Reiner left a legacy in so many ways. He will be greatly missed.<\/p>\n<div style=\"padding-bottom:20px; padding-top:10px;\" class=\"hupso-share-buttons\"><!-- Hupso Share Buttons - https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/ --><a class=\"hupso_toolbar\" href=\"https:\/\/www.hupso.com\/share\/\"><img decoding=\"async\" data-src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\" src=\"data:image\/gif;base64,R0lGODlhAQABAAAAACH5BAEKAAEALAAAAAABAAEAAAICTAEAOw==\" class=\"lazyload\" \/><noscript><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/buttons\/share-medium.png\" style=\"border:0px; padding-top: 5px; float:left;\" alt=\"Share Button\"\/><\/noscript><\/a><script type=\"text\/javascript\">var hupso_services_t=new Array(\"Twitter\",\"Facebook\",\"Google Plus\",\"Pinterest\",\"Linkedin\",\"Tumblr\",\"Email\");var hupso_background_t=\"#EAF4FF\";var hupso_border_t=\"#66CCFF\";var hupso_toolbar_size_t=\"medium\";var hupso_image_folder_url = \"\";var hupso_url_t=\"\";var hupso_title_t=\"With%20a%20nod%20to%20Carl%20Reiner%2C%20%E2%80%98My%20Favorite%20Year%E2%80%99%20recalls%20the%20infancy%20of%20TV%20sketch%20comedy\";<\/script><script type=\"text\/javascript\" src=\"https:\/\/static.hupso.com\/share\/js\/share_toolbar.js\"><\/script><!-- Hupso Share Buttons --><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[7139],"tags":[10743,10745,10744,8790,8795,8788],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55780"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55780"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55780\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":55783,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55780\/revisions\/55783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55780"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55780"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.crescentcityjewishnews.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55780"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}