Knute5

Knute5 t1_jd8u4df wrote

I went to an honoring event for Mel Brooks at the Paley Center for Media in Los Angeles a few years back, and Reiner was hovering around at the reception. Then in the theatre he lovingly heckled Mel from the back of the room. You could tell just how close they were.

Back when the Friar's Club was still open on the West Coast, the old legends used to hang out including Sid Caesar and Milton Berle who'd show up now and then. I was a young nobody who snuck out of work to grab Thursday lunches and was grateful to catch a glimpse of these guys before they passed away. Caesar in particular was very gracious, always eager to impart some wisdom (usually about diet and exercise) to us young punks.

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Knute5 t1_jd7fy5z wrote

Reiner worked with Mel Brooks and a writers room full of future legends, including Neil Simon, on "Your Show of Shows" with Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca which ran from 1950-54.

Yeah, Dick Van Dyke was more of an acceptable leading man at the time and Reiner wrote himself as the Sid Caesar character, Alan Brady.

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