Carl Reiner, the funnyman behind TV classics like “The Dick Van Dyke Show” and movies like “The Jerk,” died on June 29, 2020 at the young age of 98. In this interview with ”Sunday Morning” correspondent Tracy Smith originally broadcast on March 8, 2015, the writer-director-actor proved that he had never stopped cracking us up.
Carl Reiner was an American comedian, actor, director, screenwriter, and publisher whose career spanned seven decades. During the early years of television comedy from 1950 to 1957, he co-wrote and acted on Caesar’s Hour and Your Show of Shows, starring Sid Caesar.
The narrative engine of Hill Street Blues, lessons in brevity from writing for advertising, and structural differences between Law & Order and Law & Order: SVU arise in this conversation between executive producer/writer Dick Wolf and Carsey-Wolf Center director Patrice Petro. In this video, Wolf describes his first experiences in a TV writing room and the foundations of the record-breaking run of Law & Order: SVU. Recorded on 02/06/2020.
“I don’t have this precious career as an actor that I had to preserve. I’m an older guy, I’ve had a career, and the most personal thing I’ve ever done was Mr. Show, so, in a way I’ve said my piece, so I just don’t have all that much to lose really compared to somebody who’s an actor for a living and dreaming of their own show. My daughter asked me this question. This was a kid who grew up in Hollywood. She said, “If it’s bad, how bad would it be?” And I thought, Well, it’s Vince Gilligan and Peter Gould. The worst thing it would be, would be an experiment that just didn’t pan out, but an interesting one at the very least.”
Has comedy evolved since you started? I think a lot more is allowed. When I was first starting out and was on “Laugh-In,” around ’71, I was trying to keep a low profile when I’d be working on something new.
Boomers Daily 