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Carl Reiner, an iconic figure in American comedy for over half a century, passed away today at the age of 98. Reiner was “multi-platform” decades before the term existed, carving out a memorable presence from early TV to Twitter. Along the way he forged a path for Jewish humor to find a comfortable place in the mainstream of American show business. Without Reiner, it’s unlikely that Woody Allen (before his fall from grace), Jerry Seinfeld and even Ross and Rachel on Friends would ever have occupied their places on the pedestal of popular culture.
So … what is Jewish humor? To paraphrase Supreme Court Justice Potter Stewart’s description of pornography: “You’ll know once you see it.” Some elements are obvious, from the elaboration of words in Yiddish to references to an integration of the diversity of unprofitable and indigestible foods of the “old country”. There can also be a wonderful variety of black humor at stake, as millennia of being in the wrong aspect of anti-Semitic discrimination, dislocation and violence have fueled humor as an indispensable defense mechanism.
The wise faith of Reiner’s demo business is the known college best friend, but it is their responsibility to only reach their reach. He rose to fame as a performer and editor on Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows in the 1950s, which shaped the genre of live comedy comedy a generation before SNL. He created The Dick Van Dyke Show, up to 60 years later, few more enjoyed sitcoms of all time. He has directed such prominent films as Where’s Poppa (with George Segal and Ruth Gordon), The Jerk (Steve Martin), Oh, God (George Burns) and All of Me (Martin and Lily Tomlin). He co-created the 2000-year-old Old Man comedy albums with Mel Brooks in the 1960s and 1970s. Reiner even wrote a chain of books for teens, adding You Say God Bless You For Sneezing and Farting. In its later years, it has become a timely and widely followed presence on Twitter.
There have been more visual presences of Jewish comedians and culturals than Reiner, comedians who revel in taking their “trick” from Borsht Belt hotels on television with variety monitors such as The Ed Sullivan Show (the beyond because of Jerry Stiller’s station in mind), Mel Brooks, Reiner’s old friend and collaborator, to film actors writers and administrators such as Adam Sandler, Larry David and Judd Apatow. But Reiner’s influence was a direct component due to a discreet and convoluting technique that helped highlight Jewish humor in unforeseen and unforeseen situations.
An incredibly unknown component of Reiner’s influence was his incredible skill as a manly comedian. In the group game comedy for two, the man’s mantle directly seemed like the province of sweet sweet, however, Reiner perfected the role without even carefully attracting his ethnitown one way or another. It was brilliant in lighting up the comedy station by quirky artists such as Howard Morris and Mel Brooks without losing their own influence. If you prefer Brooks’ 2000-year-old man genius, you must recognize that Brooks only answered the questions he was asked through Reiner.
Reiner was originally the best friend who pretended to be the star of what had become The Dick Van Dyke Show, and Van Dyke’s WASP character was the cause of the change. In fact, it wasn’t a “Jewish problem.” But Reiner has created an unforgettable cast in which the Jewish Buddy (Morey Amsterdam) integrates perfectly into the surroundings of paintings, not always the simplest solution in the early 1960s. If you were a Jewish child at the time (hello), you won’t forget the episode in which Buddy surreptitiously takes sessions for the Bar-Mitzvah that never had a child. It didn’t take “an episode that’s too special” to succeed. Without a trace of pedantism, Reiner taught the United States what pluralism and acceptance were years before someone uttered words like that, especially the best friend in a sitcom. May he continue to knock them out, without a pun, in his next home.
Howard Homonoff is a professional in the expansion of classic and virtual media companies. Howard has worked with global clients such as Comcast/NBCU, Fox C Networks,