RIP Carl Reiner

What a legend. 98 years old.

RIP, I remember seeing him in an episode or two of Parks and Rec a few years ago.

We can only hope to live so long, and accomplish so much.

He was tweeting as recently as a day or two ago. And over the weekend, Mel Brooks celebrated his 94th birthday with dinner with Carl and family, and he and Carl had their pictures taken wearing Black Lives Matter t-shirts.

Legend.

:(

What an amazing man. RIP Carl. As a kid, every time we had to drive, I would play Carl & Mel’s 2000 year old man audio tapes. Wore them right out. So much joy.

Oh, and Carl’s turn as the millionaire backer of the Opti-Grab in The Jerk…

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Legendary comedic presence. RIP.

Inevitable, but so so painful.

RIP. A true legend, and a man of many accomplishments. The greatest, though, was creating and producing The Dick van Dyke show, which ended up being one of the most influential sitcoms of all time.

Not only did the show make stars out of van Dyke and Mary Tyler Moore, over time it transformed its genre. Unapologetically smart (a rarity at the time), one of its innovations was to be a workplace comedy with a well-developed cast of characters who you could empathize with and who had enough meat on their dramatic bones that they could each take a turn in the spotlight - even Alan Brady, the egotistical tyrant boss (played by Reiner, naturally) got a chance to look human in the episode about his toupee.

While the show split its time between Rob Petrie’s home and office life, it was the office section that was especially influential. When Mary Tyler Moore created her own workplace comedy, it used the office part of Reiner’s show as a template - and when MTM’s show (and its many spinoffs) became a massive hit, that style of workplace comedy became the template for decades of sitcoms to come, in things like Taxi and Cheers, and later Parks and Rec and the American version of The Office. (You could say that the American Office was the result of cutting the British Office with a large measure of Dick van Dyke Show/Mary Tyler Moore Show.)

And that’s just one of Reiner’s achievements.

Amazing run and a well spent life. RIP

Yeah, the Dick Van Dyke show essentially figured out how to do ensemble comedy sitcoms, and even then was figuring out that you could do an A story and then a lesser B story to keep the ensemble in the mix for the entire show.

98? He had to have been at least in his 2060s at this point.

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Somebody better be checking on Mel. 2020 can’t have him too.

You monster, keep your damn mouth shut! You’ll give the simulation ideas.

This is Carl and Mel on Saturday, celebrating Mel’s birthday with Carl’s daughter Anne.

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National treasures, the both of them.

RIP genius funnyman.

The Man With Two Brains is one of the most underrated comedies of all time. OF ALL TIME!

Indeed.

RIP.

I always enjoyed watching Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner every time they were together reminiscing.