# Sid Caesar has died **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 12, 2014, 8:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-caesar-has-died/681184 "2014-02-12T20:23:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 8\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Hermione](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/cdc98d/32.png) [@Hermione](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hermione)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 4:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-caesar-has-died/681184/21 "2014-02-14T04:50:39Z")
Oh, and speaking of Neil Simon, I’d like to recommend the play Laughter On The 23rd Floor–an autobiographical comedy based on Neil’s work with Sid and the crew on Your Show Of Shows. RIP, Sid. ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 5:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-caesar-has-died/681184/22 "2014-02-14T05:41:36Z")
> [@Mahaloth](#): > > I know. It wasn’t that long ago that a bunch of them were alive. > > Milton Berle, Jonathan Winters, Buddy Hackett. ☹ And Edie Adams, Dorothy Provine, and Ethel Merman. I suppose we could throw in Terry-Thomas and Dick Shawn, too. ☹ ---
**Author:** ![terentii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/terentii/32/212_2.png) [@terentii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/terentii)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 5:55am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-caesar-has-died/681184/23 "2014-02-14T05:55:15Z")
> [@samclem](#): > > One of my favorite anecdotes told by Sid in an interview. Another astonishing thing about the show is that programs were printed up by Friday night, I think it was, to distribute to the audience on Saturday. That means the show was written, blocked, rehearsed, and timed down to the minute in, what, less than five days? No cue cards, no teleprompters. The cast knew their lines by heart in time for the show. When _ **SNL** _ first went on the air, someone gave Lorne Michaels a vintage _ **YSoS** _ program. He was amazed at what Sid, Imogene, and their crew had managed to accomplish. ---
**Author:** ![Loopus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loopus/32/15343_2.png) [@Loopus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loopus)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-caesar-has-died/681184/24 "2014-02-14T17:16:50Z")
Carl Reiner based Rob’s working environment on _The Dick Van Dyke Show_ on Reiner’s experience working on Caesar’s _Your Show of Shows_. However, he was always annoyed that people thought he based Rob’s boss, the megalomaniacal egomaniac Alan Brady, on Caesar. He always said that Caesar was a great guy to work for and a dear friend. (Alan Brady was actually based on Milton Berle and Jackie Gleason, among others.) ---
**Author:** ![BrainGlutton](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/82dd89/32.png) [@BrainGlutton](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BrainGlutton)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-caesar-has-died/681184/25 "2014-02-14T18:53:00Z")
Hail Caesar! ---
**Author:** ![Jeff\_Lichtman](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jeff_lichtman/32/1531_2.png) [@Jeff\_Lichtman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jeff_Lichtman)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 7:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-caesar-has-died/681184/26 "2014-02-14T19:32:57Z")
> [@Slithy\_Tove](#): > > Somebody on a talk show once told of sharing a cab with CS. . . I believe it was Mel Brooks who told that story. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 8:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-caesar-has-died/681184/27 "2014-02-14T20:48:53Z")
> [@Loopus](#): > > Carl Reiner based Rob’s working environment on _The Dick Van Dyke Show_ on Reiner’s experience working on Caesar’s _Your Show of Shows_. However, he was always annoyed that people thought he based Rob’s boss, the megalomaniacal egomaniac Alan Brady, on Caesar. He always said that Caesar was a great guy to work for and a dear friend. > > (Alan Brady was actually based on Milton Berle and Jackie Gleason, among others.) It’s kind of weird: Brooks, Reiner, Howard Morris, Imogene Coca- all of them said that he was erratic, bipolar, egomaniacal, had a sometimes violent temper… and they all loved him. He must have been one helluva guy when he wasn’t having tantrums. In a podcast Brooks did with Chris Hardwick last year he said that he and Reiner still visited Caesar, who was bedridden and couldn’t communicate well, every weekend. One reason Gleason and Berle were almost universally hated is that they were both notorious joke thieves. Caesar had a team of legendary writers, but from what I’ve read he was as good as any of them in coming up with material. ---
**Author:** ![Enderw24](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/ba9def/32.png) [@Enderw24](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enderw24)\ **Post date:** [February 14, 2014, 10:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-caesar-has-died/681184/28 "2014-02-14T22:05:25Z")
Did he drop a keno card on the floor as he passed? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/sid-caesar-has-died/681184.md?page=1)