SID CAESAR: From Here to Obscurity (YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS, Mar 5, 1954)

One of the most famous, and most hilarious, sketches Sid Caesar ever did, the spoof of ""From Here To Eternity"". With Imogene Coca (of *course*), Carl Reiner, and Howard Morris.
[NOTE: While this sketch has been uploaded by another channel before, the audio/video goes out of synch in that version-- usually I try to avoid duplications unless there's a good reason.]
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[@amberola1b]

This is so hilarious. And to think this was all done on live tv with no re-takes, so whatever happened over the air got broadcast and filmed on the kinescope.

[@zekelucente9702]

This ensemble was so good that almost 70 years later nothing has been better. Early SNL had a good run, but still nothing like YSOS and Caesar’s Hour.

[@poetcomic1]

After years of 'best of SNL' people forget how many skits even in their golden age bombed out.

[@susantunbridge4612]

There would be no Carol Burnett without Imogen, or Lucille Ball.

[@Wendellignatin]

😂in​@@poetcomic1

[@lindadann9202]

Pure classic genius! Just the titles alone!

[@chriswehner7172]

Priceless material and acting !!!! Thank you for sharing !! I miss these type of shows.

[@brianphillips1374]

That's almost twenty minutes! With costume changes and music...and they had to do it again next week. For THIRTY-SIX WEEKS!

[@luisreyes1963]

This was the best of the movie spoofs done by the Your Show Of Shows cast.

[@Lampshade51]

"Kinda rough tonight, ain't it?" Hilarious! Poor Imogene had to turn away from the camera to hide her breaking up and Sid is squinting hard trying to keep a straight face. Comedy gold!

[@sidcaesaryourshowofshowsca2250]

In all the YSOS sketches I've seen (and by this point, I've seen a lot!), I've only ever seen Sid come close to laughing or even smiling exactly 3 times--this is one of them. If you watch the Bus Station sketch, he smiles and has to turn away when he glances at Howie Morris, after he and Imogene have just totally dismantled him. Sid hated to break character (no matter how ridiculous the character!). kjh

[@sfgooner70]

Yeah, it's kind of weird that he hated it. I mean it worked on the Carol Burnett show. To be fair though it's just as funny to see them trying to contain it. Fabray's face in the Shadow Waltz sketch after Sid puts his mustache on upside down was pretty hilarious.

[@lisah670]

@@sidcaesaryourshowofshowsca2250 OMG, I remember reading this post a while back and couldn't remember the other sketch you mentioned. It was driving me crazy and I just now ran into this comment again, yay!

[@musicformonsters]

Grew up on Show of Shows..no one was better than Sid Caesar and this whole ensemble...

[@louissilvani1389]

Clean comedy it’s gotten so rare 🤔

[@Moluccan56]

The energy out of these people…

[@sexymama1966]

Nice to see Howard Morris aka Jughead Jones from the Archies.

[@TheBilllD]

Ernest T Bass ! Too

[@jvblhc]

I remember seeing Sid Caesar in an episode of Whose Line Is It Anyway (the episode was from 2001), and even though he obviously couldn't do anything too physical, he was still verbally as sharp as a tack.

[@sidcaesaryourshowofshowsca2250]

Really! I had no idea Sid was ever on "Whose Line"-- now I want to see it!

[@inkyguy]

Imogene Coca could have played a very convincing Wallis Simpson.

[@GhostOfBugsy]

Holy shit - that's Aunt Edna from the movie "Vacation". Wow.

[@walterpalmer2749]

America laughs far less these days. Classic Americana..... So many greats gone.

[@SB-hc1nt]

Hilarious spoof of "From Here To Eternity" you don't see smart, fast, witty skits like this anymore. Yes, there are some funny glimpses of certain shows. Every time I see Sid Caesar I see him holding a 20 year old Mel Brooks by his feet out of a window in Chicago for being smart towards him.

[@inkyguy]

S B, you didn’t see them much after this, period. One reason the show went off the air is because as the cost went down and more and more Americans got television sets this comedy was too intellectual and “high brow” for the tastes of the growing television audience demographic.

[@maynardsmoreland]

All time classic!

[@inkyguy]

Howard Morris was pretty cute when he was young and had hair, especially in profile.

[@chrisn7259]

Inky guy. I was thinking the same about Sid.

[@poetcomic1]

At 9:50 Imogene Coca's line "Take it easy boys, there's enough for everybody!". Poor little flat chested Immy was never cuter.

[@poetcomic1]

At 16:15 Imogene has to hide her head laughing cause Sid broke her up.

[@HeavenWithouttheE]

Howard Morris was 1st SGT over Carl Reiners unit during WW2

[@Birdlives247]

That's as good a sketch as I've ever seen. (What is pictured in that painting in the background of the last scene?)

[@janiegolden5338]

I was hoping for fish flying out in the beach but real funny anyway.

[@jessicarinaldi7742]

Perfect soldier Coming from there the sentence "Avoir un ticket" ?

[@BigBand1942]

@1:52 Private Nuthin' ......

[@jessicallewellyn3819]

Good 😅laugh

[@johnonorgan]

even if it was a live audience they used to put up signs that said applaud Etc

[@bobbyfrancis8957]

Did anyone see it,when it was on the air? I read about it in a book, in the 1980s, they did a parody of the movie "Shane", calling Sid Caesar Shame. Carl Reiner was the villain, and Imogene played Joe Stark Jr. ( or was it Start)? It showed a couple of still photos. Sid is standing near a bar, instead of a soda pop bottle, he's holding a fairly big lollipop. The text read, Carl: "I'm calling you a lily- livered, lemon and lime, lollipop-licking sodbuster"... Sid: "Now you've done it! You made me cry, I've never done that before!" I'm sure there's more to it than that, but I can't really remember the rest, but a little more - Imogene is saying " Shame! Shame! " Sid is yelling, "Shut up, kid!" As he's leaving... I read that about 30 years ago, couldn't they save the video? Or was it on film?

[@Fernwald84]

They don't make 'em like they used to. The gun, I mean. lol

[@vincentanguoni8938]

Look how thin everyone is!

[@Gypsyqueen-lt7tq]

Actually, Sid got even skinnier later in life (after he quit drinking). He looks perfect here, IMHO . . thin, but still imposing (as befits one named Caesar). Imogene and Howard Morris are both elfin and altogether adorable here. And it's a real treat seeing Carl Reiner looking so svelte and handsome (he did gain considerable weight later in life . . . like the majority of us). So happy to have found this wonderful post!

[@susantunbridge4612]

Sid Caesar (who was funnier than Jerry Lewis could ever dream of being), made several appearances on Dean Martin's show in the 60s. Funny as always, just a bit toned down. I really think that Lewis ripped off Show of Shows, and ripped off Caesar's style, but he was never as good. He was a bully and a narcissist, and lately women who were sexually assaulted/raped by him have spoken up in Vanity Fair. Always loved Dean Martin though, along with everyone else. Too bad he hadn't left the unfunny Lewis sooner, but he had finally had enough, left in a rage. They did one more show by contract, and Martin said at the end "and now, a few words from the village idiot", which about sums it up.

[@robertadebruler8408]

B

[@alg11297]

I guess this was the "sophisticated" "adult' comedy that I missed as a kid. We did better skits in h.s.

[@mmjhcb]

Too bad we weren't privileged to view them. You wouldn't have any on tape ready to upload would you? The world is being deprived otherwise. How very sad!

[@TJGornik61]

As a kid, seems you missed learning the "sophisticated" "adult' lessons of modesty and humility.

[@inkyguy]

TJGornik61, well, if those are the lessons to be learned then of all the people who were truant or unable to learn was Sid Caesar. He wasn’t at all known for either modesty or humility, and in fact, the overbearing egomaniac Alan Brady character on “The Dick Van Dyke Show” was entirely based on him.

[@sneakertoes1]

inkyguy I met him. He was both modest and humble.

[@Gypsyqueen-lt7tq]

I'd be curious to know Sid's own impressions of the classic DVD Show. I've watched a ton of interviews with him over the years, but can't recall him ever being asked about the show he supposedly "inspired." Just glad Mr. Van dyke himself (and Mel brooks) are still with us.

[@johnonorgan]

the laugh track ruined this great show

[@davidleedutton]

There's no laugh track. It was performed live with an audience in the Center Theater in Manhattan.

[@inkyguy]

john darmiento, they said the same thing about “Cheers,” even though it too was filmed with a live studio audience - and even included an announcement saying that before every episode.