Product Description

One of the greatest comedians ever, Sid Caesar has been making America laugh since the 1950s, when he ruled airwaves with his Emmy® Award-winning Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour. Now, for the first time ever, 20 of his fans' all-time favorite sketche

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #50883 in DVD
• Brand: New Video
• Released on: 2004-06-29
• Rating: NR (Not Rated)
• Aspect ratio: 1.33:1
• Formats: Box set, Black & White, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 3
• Running time: 277 minutes

Amazon.com
When we worked together," reminisces Sid Caesar, "it was magic, and you don't question magic." So just enjoy this essential three-disc collection of vintage sketches from Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour. To work on these programs was to attend "the Harvard of Comedy," and this "great amalgamation of talents," which included Carl Reiner, Imogene Coca, Howard Morris, Nanette Fabray, Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, Larry Gelbart, and Neil and Danny Simon, were at the head of their class. "We did everything," Caesar notes at one point, and the proof is on these discs: domestic sketches ("Life Begins at 7:45"), game show parodies ("Break Your Brains"), spoofs of foreign films ("U-Bet-U"), opera ("Gallipacci"), and classical music (and a pantomime of "the 1812 Overture"). It is a testament to the knowledge, technique, and taste of those who created the show that these 50-year-old sketches hold up as well as they do. This was the golden age of live television, when anything could happen, and the cast would have to go with it. In "Gallipacci," Caesar's make-up pencil breaks when his character, a heartbroken clown, is applying make-up to his face. Without missing a beat, Caesar rises to the potentially disastrous occasion with one of the most inspired ad-libs in television history.

In between the sketches, the cast members and writers, a virtual Who's Who of comedy, affectionately recall working with each other, and creating these classic sketches. Each DVD includes bonus sketches. Caesar also provides illuminating commentary on selected sketches. More than a television time capsule that vividly re-creates a bygone era, this priceless collection is also a master class for aspiring comedy writers and performers. It is not a coincidence that one of Caesar's signature characters was called "the Professor." --Donald Liebenson

Customer Reviews

THIS WAS LIVE TV!
GREAT!SUPERB! A PLEASURE TO REVISIT THESE ABOSLUTLY FUNNY SKITS.
THERE HAS NEVER BEEN ANYTHING LIKE SINCE.
SATURDAY NIGHT LIVE TRIES BUT MISSES THE CHARM.
BUY THIS DVD TODAY.
YOU WILL LAUGH UNTIL YOU CRY.

Re-packaging of previous box set ASIN: B00005Q65F
This is GREAT LIVE TV. But beware, it is a re-packaged, re-issue of the previous "Sid Caesar Fan Favorites" box set by a different distributor ASIN: B00005Q65F.

If you already have that older Out-Of-Print box set there is no need to buy this one. BUT if you missed out on that one, then this is a MUST BUY DVD set!

Sid Caesar collection-Fan Favourites
Even with the kinescope(?) reproduction, the quality of the collection given its early age, is quite satisfactory, and just as funny as it was when I first watched its original TV production.