Product Details

• Actors: Sid Caesar, Mel Brooks, Sid Caesar, Nanette Fabray, Larry Gelbart
• Producers: Peter Jaysen, Rich Tackenberg, Scott Zakarin
• Format: Black & White, Color, NTSC
• Rated: NR (Not Rated)
• Number of tapes: 1
• Studio: Creative Light
• VHS Release Date: June 20, 2000
• Run Time: 72 minutes
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• ASIN: B00004TJU3
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #260,076 in Movies & TV (See Top 100 in Movies & TV)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Why Caesar Ruled, June 23, 2001

By A Customer

This review is from: Sid Caesar Collection - Creating the Comedy [VHS] (VHS Tape)

"Creating The Comedy" from the Sid Caesar Collection is a must see video for fans of TV or comedy. It's an excellent introduction to the early days of TV for younger genertions. This video takes one through a week of creating a 1 1/2 hour live TV program. It's just not done like this anymore. For older generations, this video is a great reminder of how good TV could really be. Caesar's comedy and programs were literate, inventive, funny, and just great fun. In the "Fur Coat" sketch one had the opportunity to see a remarkable bit of live TV with a three minute closeup of Sid's face as he listens to his wife and furiously blinks his eyes in horror and cries. By the end of the bit real tears and sweat are coursing down his face. You'll not likely see that again. The "Beethoven" (sic) skit is awesomely clever and inventive. A classic you'll never see duplicated in today's dumbed-down world. And for movie fans, there is a great parody of "From Here To Eternity" with its romantic beach scene, except Sid is Burt Lancaster and Imogene Coca is Deborah Kerr, and instead of gentle Pacific waves, buckets of water are being tossed at the beached lovers. In addition to the wonderful comedy, the video contains priceless comments from the writers of this material. Neil Simon, Woody Allen, Carl Reiner and a host of other writers detail how a script was developed over the course of a week, and how specific bits were added to the final creation. This video is both a joy to watch and to listen.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The original Saturday Night Live . . ., June 27, 2007

By 

Ronald Scheer "rockysquirrel" (Los Angeles) - See all my reviews
(TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Sid Caesar Collection - Creating the Comedy (DVD)

The previous reviewer is on the money. This is a very entertaining, well-made account of the Sid Caesar comedy shows during the "Golden Age" of live TV. The sketches included and discussed are as funny as anyting on TV today, and given the writers, often clever and literate. The interviews (40-50 years later) describing the "typical" work week for the writers and performers of the show are entertaining and illuminating.

The DVD has a brief interview in which Woody Allen describes a work session in which he refused to "write comedy in the nude." There's an additional sketch with Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca that's a parody of an early silent movie short. You can also read the original script of the sketch for "Progress Hornsby" showing all the cuts and additions. Wonderful.