Carl Reiner

Carl Reiner died yesterday at the age of 98, and there is no underestimating his place in the comedy pantheon. But what's interesting is that he was almost always behind the scene, making others look good, whether they were Sid Caesar, Dick Van Dyke, Mel Brooks, or Steve Martin. Those individuals were great comedians on their own, but Reiner made them even better.

Reiner started as a stage actor, but ended up conquering the world of television and film. His earliest success was as a performer and writer for Caesar's TV shows, which were a breeding ground for many great comic writers, including Brooks, Neil Simon, Larry Gelbart, and Woody Allen. Reiner was a straight man for Caesar, and earned a few Emmys as a performer (one should always remember the axiom that playing the straight man is harder, and they often earned more money). Reiner would go on to make sketches with Brooks as the "2,000 Year-Old Man," which were largely ad-libbed and heavily Jewish. Reiner tells a story about how Cary Grant gave one of their records to the Queen Mother, who loved it. Reiner told Brooks, "If the greatest shiksa in the world loves us, we're in."

Perhaps Reiner's biggest legacy was the creator of The Dick Van Dyke Show, which was almost accidental. He had developed a show called Man Of The Family, with himself starring as a comedy writer and family man. The network didn't want him as star (he was probably too Jewish) so it was repurposed for Dick Van Dyke, and the show became one of the great sit-coms of all time, making Van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore major stars. The show was a standard family sit-com, but also a workplace comedy, with a trio of writers toiling for a very Sid Caesar like star, Alan Brady. Who was played by Reiner.

Starting in the 1970s Reiner became something of a personal director for Steve Martin. He directed The Jerk, Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid, The Man With Two Brains, and All Of Me. (In between he directed Oh, God! which was part of the resurrection of George Burns' career). Martin, of course, is and was a great talent, but Reiner gave him a platform.

As a performer, Reiner could be outstanding. I think mostly of his turn as Walt Whitaker in The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming, in which he most memorably has a great slapstick scene while tied to a telephone operator. It was really his only major starring film role, but it was a great one.

Of course Reiner also is known as the father of Rob Reiner, who became a star on All In The Family and directed a film or two of his own. Rob worshiped his father, and when he was a boy told his mother he wanted to change his name. She figured it was to distinguish himself from his father, and asked him what he wanted to change it to. "Carl," was the answer,

It's hard to be too sad about a man who dies at 98, but Reiner had indicated he wanted to live long enough to vote Trump out of office. He fell a few months short, but perhaps we can grant Carl his wish.