2020 just got worse. We lost Carl Reiner.
Reiner, the author-playwright-director-producer-actor-comedian and national treasure best known for creating "The Dick Van Dyke Show," has passed away of natural causes. He was 98.
Reiner first became prominent as a writer and cast member on Sid Caesar's "Your Show of Shows" in the mid-fifties, where he worked in a writer's room that was staffed by the likes of Woody Allen, Neil Simon and Mel Brooks. With Brooks, who became his lifelong friend, he created a long-running and ever-evolving skit about "The 2000 Year Old Man," which remains a model of laugh-out-loud funny. He also directed a number of hit films, such as The Jerk, All Of Me, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, The Man With Two Brains, and Oh, God, and acted in films ranging from It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World to The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming to all three of the recent Ocean's Eleven films.
- KC's View:
-
This one hurts.
Want to watch something hysterical? Check out the episode of "Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee" in which Jerry Seinfeld hangs out with Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks. It is priceless.
My daughter, Allison, is just 26 years old, but she will tell you without hesitation that "The Dick Van Dyke Show" is her favorite TV series. Ever. It is her definition of comfort food, and she's seen every episode multiple times. It is a testimony to the timelessness of Reiner's creation that she knows not just who he is, but can tell you every time he appeared on the show as Alan Brady.
Here's one:
