Sid Caesar’s recent passing encouraged me to walk down Memory Lane— it was 20 years ago that we brought Sid to Saratoga Springs to honor him with the National Humor Treasure Award at The HUMOR Project’s international conference on “The Positive Power of Humor and Creativity.” Before the conference, I had the good fortune to interview Sid at his home in Beverly Hills for our LAUGHING MATTERS magazine.
His connection with Saratoga Springs preceded his appearance at our 1992 conference — he remembered fondly his mother coming to our city for the healing waters… and he was pleased to visit the city renowned for Health-History-Horses-Humor.
Sid was one of television’s most important pioneers whose comedy is both universal and timeless — because he found his comedy in the human condition. Inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame, he won seven Emmy Awards for Your Show of Shows (1950-54) and Caesar’s Hour (1954-58). His repertoire of zany characters enthralled American audiences and inspired a new generation of comedians. Considered to be “the greatest comedy genius in America” at the time, Sid had an extraordinary gift for seeing the humor in the ordinary. We were delighted to have him share this gift at our 1992 conference.
Here are some of Sid’s words of wit and wisdom from my interview with him:
“Laughter is an important part of life. It’s a law… like gravity. If you forget about laughter, a tremendous part of your life is gone. Why do people get well when they laugh… or laugh when they get well? Laughter turns the attitude around. Pain flows mainly from the veins of the brain. Everybody goes through the pains of life. There’s no shortcut. Life does not come with a menu— “I’ll take a splinter and an earache. And that’s it.” Laughter doesn’t cost anything— it’s free. You should look for it every day… even a little thing to make you chuckle or laugh at yourself.
“Einstein has been my hero all my life. I discover the universe about three or four times a week. I was really touched that Einstein did know about me. Einstein’s colleague Oppenheimer told me, “Albert wanted to see you. He figured out the physical equation. He wanted to talk to you about the human equation.” Just the fact that he knew I was alive was enough for me.
“My other heroes were Chaplin, W.C. Fields, Buster Keaton, Laurel and Hardy. I learned from them… the timing of Laurel and Hardy was incredible. In one film, Laurel was in a Veteran’s Hospital and Hardy came to see him. Laurel was sitting on a bench with his foot folded under him and wearing an overcoat. Hardy comes up and sees that he only has one leg. So he sits down next to Laurel, talks, and then asks him if he’d like some coffee. Then Hardy picks him up and carries him all the way to the cafeteria. They sit down and eat and then he carries him back. They sit down and then Laurel stands up and walks away. It still makes me laugh today.
“What a collection of talent in our Your Show of Shows! Show business has not seen the like of it before or since. Sitting in that room with me, tossing ideas around like paper airplanes were such geniuses as Neil Simon, Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks, Woody Allen and Larry Gelbart. Enormous creativity and fresh humor constantly bubbled in that room. Working with a roomful of geniuses day after day was the most exhilarating time of my life.
“Those writers’ meetings were wild affairs. The writers battled and screamed over nearly every sentence that went into every script. Chunks of plaster were knocked out of the walls; the draperies were ripped to shreds. Mel Brooks exasperated them all because he would sit around, coolly reading The Wall Street Journal, and then come in with the one punch line we all were searching for. Mel’s childhood nickname was Mibbie, so we had a Mibbie doll, which frequently was hanged in effigy.
“Life is not a dress rehearsal— this is it… enjoy it… appreciate it. Life is very very precious.”
Dr. Joel Goodman is the Founder and Director of The HUMOR Project, Inc. Visit The HUMOR Project’s Web site at www.HumorProject.com.
