Sid Ceaser is one of the greatest comdiens that ever lived, that can speak in any language:lol: Had great shows straight out of the golden age of televison. Shows of Shows and later the Sid Ceaser Hour. He helped establish comdey on T.V. along with other great comdiens such as, Jackie Gleason, Lucel Ball, Redd Foxx, Milton Berle and Flip Wilson to name a few.
Sid just won a T.V. land award for his comdic geniues.:cool:

Very well deserved. I have been a fan of Sid's since the 1950s and read his
fascinating (and funny) autobiography, "CAESAR'S HOURS." If you haven't read
it, check your library or bookstore. Lots of amusing anecdotes and information about Sid. I also highly recommend the movie (available on VHS) "Ten From Your Show of Shows" (1973), a great collection of skits incl. the hilarious spoof of THIS IS YOUR LIFE with Carl Reiner and Howard Morris. It's a howl. And, of course, some more of Sid's finest moments are to be found in the star-studded 1963 movie spectacle "It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World."
Yes, he was a comic genius (and one of the few who is still with us).

...which was published in 1982 {I believe it's called "Where Have I Been?"}. Sid may have been a comic genius, but it was his inner demons (and alcohol) that almost drove him off the edge. He could be VERY rough with people and push his ego to the limit...this is why Carl Reiner partly based the character of "Alan Brady" on Sid. But make no mistake- Caesar was never as bombastic as "Alan" was on "THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW"....and he never had affairs with other women, either, as Carl softly suggested "Alan" did.

Because of his drinking, there were certain periods in Sid's life after 1957 [when "CAESAR'S HOUR" was cancelled] that he just couldn't remember.
Most of the time, he accepted movie and TV roles and played them on "automatic pilot", remembering very little of WHAT he had done during the production, and how he did it. "The Busy Body" (1967) was one of those films. By 1978, Sid finally committed himself to kick his alcohol (and by now, a prescription drug) habit...and he succeeded.

I particularly remember a passage near the end of that first book: Sid was called in to audition for a supporting role on a new TV series James L. Brooks was supposedly involved in for Paramount in early 1982. He met with two young men who were considering Sid for this particular role. He suggested some bits of business that would embellish and add to his characterization. The "writers", as Sid referred to them, told him they wanted him to play this character just the way they wrote it. As Caesar told it, this kind of insult would normally lead him into a shouting match, or worse. Instead, he stunned them by calmly thanking them for their time, said "goodbye", and walked away.


At the time the book was published, the series he turned down (he did not mention WHAT it was in the text) had just started on NBC. The two "writers" were Glen & Les Charles....and the role Sid had audtioned for was "Coach Ernie Pantusso" on "CHEERS". Because of Sid's stubbornness in not "giving in" for once, they went with their first choice for the role- Nicholas Colasanto. And Sid Caesar was never considered for another regular TV series, ever again.

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