Sid Caesar 1922-2014

Very sorry to lose the great Sid Caesar today— even if it seems incredible we had him around as long as we did. I was a kid in the 70's, and knew him best from small parts in Mel Brooks movies, and as the mild-mannered dentist who ends up trying to bash his way out of a hardware store basement with a sledgehammer in It's A Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad, World. But, if you aren't familiar with his TV work from the 1950's, and care anything about comedy, you really owe it to yourself to track down the videos— nothing on YouTube does him justice. He was just a rampaging bull of talent and hilarity. An incredible lunatic.

There's a remembrance on Salon, here.

 Here's a small thing of his that is one of my own favorites, from Mel Brooks's 1976 film, Silent Movie: