Customer Reviews

2000 Years With Carl Reiner & Mel Brooks

5 star:		(3)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

One of the funniest comedy albums that ever came from the 60's. The ad-libbing by Brooks is so sharp and witty that you'll laugh each time you hear them, no matter how many times you listen to this disc. Reiner is the perfect straitman for this type of comedy,trying to be professional in the midst of Brooks' madness.

It's hard to believe, but Mel Brooks' career starting taking off when he teamed up with Carl Reiner to do comedy albums. Long before YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN or THE PRODUCERS or BLAZING SADDLES, Brooks was a kind of stand-up comic who worked best doing ad-lib with a partner and Reiner was the perfect partner. I first heard about this album from my Dad and he told me it was a great piece of comedy. Though some of the material on the album might not seem as fresh to young audiences today, it's still classic comedy. The perfect timing between Brooks and Reiner is unbelivable. Reiner had the hardest job, having to keep playing the straight man to whatever Brooks threw out, but he never lost his beat. Younger audiences might not be able to fully appreciate the genius of the classical comedy album, but for those who have an appreciation for true comedy and haven't been warped by the "era of irony", 2000 YEARS WITH CARL REINER AND MEL BROOKS is worth listening to.

The album is only 37 minutes, which is the first disappointing thing about it, but not the only. Unfortunately, a lot of the humor seems timely, as in: it wasn't funny to me because this isn't the sixties. I think a lot of the references and humor are based around issues of that time or characters of that time. Our concepts of folk singers, of artists, of actors have all changed--perhaps not terribly much, but the cultural landmarks have shifted since this album. The 2000-year-old man is pretty good, but not even that was as hilarious as I had been led to believe. I'm going to give the album to my dad, as he knows the times (and the material) first-hand and I'm sure would appreciate it much more than I.

I looked all over for this album and was so happy that Amazon had it. I loved this when I first had it years ago and still laugh at it now. VERY funny

Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks created this most classic of comedy albums - and each and every one in the collection falls into the category of "must have."

I was a kid when I heard them originally, found them again (on tape) 20 years ago when my own kids listened and laughed along with me.

I was delighted a couple of years ago to finmd them on CD -the tapes had long ago disintegrated.

The humor remains the same. Absolutely laugh out loud, irreverent, clean, topical.

If you love Mel Broioks' movies (who doesn't?) you'll find ample precedent in these albums. (My least favorite, "History of the World", seems to have been "inspired" by these albums, but doesn't come close.)

Some, no most, comedy albums get stale and tired after a listen or two; not these. I pull them out every 6 months or so, and laugh again. Caution: Do NOT play these in a moving vehicle; the laughter and tears in your eyes might cause an accident.

This was not at all what I thought it was. I thought "Hey Mel Brooks, I could use a good laugh." But it wasn't that funny. The lesbian line being the exception. If you're looking for classic Mel Brooks then go see History of the World Part 1