We Come to Bury Caesar

(Props to Joe)

Or

Great Caesar’s Ghost

 

Or

Your Corpse of Corpses

(Props to Monty)

 

Or

No Show of Shows

(Cheers  for Don)

 

Or

Caes and Desist

Sid Caesar, best remembered as Prince Sergei Polansky from a 1982 episode of Matt Houston, has died at the age of 91. One of the medium’s first stars, Caesar helped pioneer television comedy with Your Show of Shows, a live 90-minute show emphasizing sketches based on characters and situations, rather than slapstick. Renowned as one of the greatest sketch comedy performers in history, Caesar was adept at pantomime, word play, nonsensical double talk, mimicking the cadences and sounds of languages he didn’t speak and improve. He also had the good sense to surround himself with all-star teams on camera (Howard Morris, Imogene Coca and Carl Reiner) and in the writer’s room (Mel Brooks and Neil Simon) to create a TV juggernaut. Before there was Must See TV, Your Show of Shows kept people home on Saturday nights, with Broadway theater owners at one point asking NBC to move the show to midweek as it was killing Saturday night ticket sales. In 1954, Caesar continued the formula with Caesar’s Hour, adding eventual MASH creator Larry Gelbart to the writing team. Caesar had the reputation of being America’s strongest comedian in every sense of the word, once dangling Brooks out of an 18^th story window during a writing session, and punching out a horse that had thrown his wife, a scene later immortalized in Brooks’ Blazing Saddles. Having dominated television for 7 years by combining his talent with an insane work ethic, Caesar disappeared into alcohol, pills and unfathomable self doubt, while the exploits, successes and appreciation of those he had influenced and suckled elevated him to genius. Then he returned as a legend in occasional performances like Lou Bundles, the man with the magic cards on Amazing Stories, and to collect lifetime achievement awards.