Carl Reiner & Mel Brooks' "2000 Year Old Man" albums

Have always loved these -- there's a new reissue -- and I'm laughing at the clips on Kurt Andersen's radio show right now. "I'd rather eat a rotten nectarine than a fresh plum, whaddya thinka that?"

http://www.themadmusicarchive.com/display_album_image.aspx?AlbumImageID=8977

really? THIS is an orphaned thread?

Apparently it was recorded without the intention of being ditributed widely, since Mel and carl did it as a party act. But Cary Grant kept giving it to more and more of his friends.

morbs have you ever been in possession of "the big book of jewish humor"? it was this giant collection that a friend of my parents' published in the 80s, I think. it was my BIBLE growing up. it had a bunch of transcripts of these in it, though i think i never actually heard them at the time!

oh yeah my family had a copy of that

I've never had that book, no. s1ocki, you have to hear Mel's delivery.

it's such a great book, so much of the american jewish comedy spectrum represented. i have heard some since, but at the time all i knew was the "print" version

I was listening to Marc Maron's interview with Carl Reiner and Reiner confirmed what Morbs said upthread.

Reiner and Brooks started doing the routine off the cuff in the writer's room on the Show Of Shows one day when Reiner was trying to work out a bit he was writing. Brooks just took Reiner's cues from the questions he asked and ran with it. They would do it with each other whenever things were slow, friends started asking them to do it at parties.

It interested me that Reiner said they did it for *10 Years* before it was recorded. Everyone said they should put it on a record, but they said no. they said it was for Jews and non antisemitic gentiles. As Reiner put it, "it was 5 years after the war, the Jewish accent was persona non grata in society, the Jews had been decimiated and made fun of.."

Steve Allen approached them after one party performance in particular and told them they had to record it, and gave them the use of a studio he used for his jazz recordings. So they went to the studio with 50 friends and recorded about 3 hours worth of material that they edited down to 47 minutes.

My father in law falls into gales of laughter and tears whenever he hears clips, he gets such a kick out of it - it's almost as fun to watch him as to listen to the albums.

"Joan of Arc? I went with her for awhile."

lool. How did you feel when she was burned at the stake? "Terrible"

"Fine, go save France, I'll be over here."

only 1907 yrs to go, happy birthday funny mel

RIP, Carl. So much incredible stuff: Your Show of Shows, The Dick Van Dyke Show, those Steve Martin movies. Played a small but key role in a sleeper favorite of mine, Slums of Beverly Hills. Still haven’t seen Where’s Poppa?

final tweet:
"Nothing pleases me more than knowing that I have lived the best life possible by having met & marrying the gifted Estelle (Stella) Lebost---who partnered with me in bringing Rob, Annie & Lucas Reiner into to this needy & evolving world."

I bet my kids would like Summer School.

Is any of his stuff streaming in the usual places?

several Van Dyke seasons are free w/ Bezos Prime

I have a Carl Reiner story that I hold very dear to me. I figured I'd share it today, on the day of his passing, because I hope it will bring some other people some joy the way it does me.

— Matthew Rosenberg (@AshcanPress) June 30, 2020

OMG, that is some serious icing on some serious cake.

stroganoff IS funnier

what a great story!

stroganoff def funnier

this lovely piece on max and carl's friendship, written before quarantine, is going around again: https://www.theguardian.com/global/2020/feb/20/love-and-free-food-mel-brooks-and-carl-reiner-share-the-secrets-of-their-70-year-friendship

this part kind of broke my heart a little:

“I don’t think I’ve ever had a better friend than Carl,” says Brooks.

“My God, the thought of being without him – the world would be too bleak!” says Reiner, and Brooks’ face falls a little, as if he is envisaging all too clearly a world without Reiner.

I know Seinfeld is not a favorite around here, but the episode of his comedian cartalk show with Mel Brooks then going over to hang out with Carl Reiner (which Mel did nearly every day) may be the best episode.

Is any of his stuff streaming in the usual places?

Summer School is free on Roku or Pluto, the Steve Martin collabs are all (I think) for digital rental, five seasons of Dick Van Dyke show are on Pluto or Tubi or Hoopla for free, plus on Hulu and Bezos in alleged HD with subscriptions.

Where's Poppa isn't even on torr3nt or d4ilym0tion.

it's on YouTube, but seems pretty unwatchable in this state

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvFvBoQA0PE

Blocked by MGM in the US and Canada. On VPNing to Iceland, yes, it's literally impossible to watch.

I'm guessing they've speeded it up, and it's got that gauzy vignette thing, and the sound has a weird echo.

It's been forever since I saw any of the movies he directed (most of which I never thought of as "Carl Reiner movies"). I have my doubts how well any of the Steve Martin ones hold up (trying to think of comedies my kids might light while we're stuck at home I considered "The Jerk" but didn't follow through).

I torrented Where's Poppa recently from a public tracker so it is about somewhere

Yeah, I don't know its quality but it seemed easy enough to find just now.

most of which I never thought of as "Carl Reiner movies"

racing for the exit at credits start even then, eh?

Where's Poppa 'holds up' just fine, ie one couldn't imagine a studio making in the current era of toxic cleanliness. I rewatched it three years ago with the cut ending, along with The Jerk, which is as it was in 1979, a fairly good Jerry Lewis-style vehicle.

I'm sure Two Brains and All of Me are better comedies than the shit you're gonna get from Judd and Lorne until the world ends.

I'm sure you're right, not least because Steve Martin is a force of nature. But even if I thought of them as "Carl Reiner" movies they never seemed to me to have any sort of unifying style or identifying characteristics or anything, not like a "Mel Brooks" movie, which conveys a lot more to me.

yeah, Reiner says in his Marc Maron interview that he was "called in" for The Jerk. Obviously he adapted himself to material unless he created something like the DVDShow (or the film about silent comedy he did with Van Dyke, The Comic).

A little surprised that Two Brains was the lowest-grossing of the 4 Martin films ($10 M domestically in '83). Then again it's probably the least "high concept."

I reference the "Give me a sign. Any sign at all." scene from Two Brains at least every other month.

I'm guessing they've speeded it up, and it's got that gauzy vignette thing, and the sound has a weird echo.

also cropped so only about 1/3 of the screen is visible

I torrented Where's Poppa recently from a public tracker so it is about somewhere

Ta! Looked further, should have it in 2d 17h.

I <3 Mw2B

The 3 Haircuts, ladies & gentlemen

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=He4S5UdQ76Y

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IXNIl8e7RZY

Wow

Where's Poppa isn't even on torr3nt or d4ilym0tion.

http://www.tcm.com/schedule/index.html?tz=est&sdate=2020-07-28

TCM has announced a 7/28 tribute to Reiner: ENTER LAUGHING (1967), ALL OF ME (1984), THE COMIC (1969), WHERE'S POPPA? (1970), and OH, GOD! (1977).

found The Comic online yesterday w/out much trouble; it's a patchy affair, from the few scenes i revisited.

Aside from aiding George Burns' late-life resurgence, Oh God! is most impressive for the adequacy of John Denver -- can't be easy to get that from a novice actor in a lead role.

"Patchy" is a fair cop. But it is to Sony's eternal discredit that they didn't put out a 50th anniversary disc, with commentary from Reiner and Van Dyke.

I think its interest for me now is that Van Dyke had befriended Buster Keaton and Stan Laurel in their last years, so he must've had some personal insight.

Where's Poppa? is out on BluRay.

https://www.klstudioclassics.com/search?q=film%7C%7CWhere%27s+Poppa&dvd=off&dvd=on&bluray=off&bluray=on