SID CAESAR: The Russian Arthur Godfrey (YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS - VERY rare sketch)

[@zekelucente9702]

The greatest comedy ensemble of all time. They did 90 minutes of live TV brilliance every week.

[@rangers199487]

I nearly lost it when he did the part on Tchaikovsky's Instant Borcht, which was a parody of Godfrey's commercials.

[@vincentconti3633]

I did lose it!!

[@daniellack3559]

I think its important to note how generous a performer/star Sid was...He knew Carl Reiner had huge talent himself, and he wasn't afraid to let Carl do his thing, even if it might on occasion he outshine his own....for instance in this sketch, Carl (who did foreign language doubletalk as well as Sid did) was allowed to do his thing along with Sid

[@cheryldylan9506]

Hello 👋🏻 nice to meet you Daniel, hope you’re safe and well?

[@cateclism316]

Loved the balalaika!

[@cheryldylan9506]

Hello 👋🏻 nice to meet you Chris, hope you’re safe and well?

[@Gypsyqueen-lt7tq]

Very cute sketch. It's an interesting time capsule, in part, because all the players had Russian ancestry, which they were simultaneously spoofing while also thanking God for being American. Thanks so much for posting.

[@magnificentfailure2390]

Oh my gosh.Tchaikovsky Instant Borscht! I died.

[@Brace67]

It was pointed out by the late Andy Rooney that as famous and popular as Arthur Godfrey was in his day, he has been practically forgotten. Rooney, who once wrote for Godfrey said that he had the most amazing talent of ad-libbing with nothing scripted in front of him. At the time of this Sid Caesar spoof, Godfrey was extremely popular and everyone watching knew exactly who he was and the talent show he hosted.

[@cheryldylan9506]

Hello 👋🏻 nice to meet you, hope you’re safe and well?

[@PorkChopJones]

Outstanding , fall down laughing!

[@cheryldylan9506]

Hello 👋🏻 nice to meet you John, hope you’re safe and well?

[@margicates553]

the mugging, the double talk, the rhythm, the YIDDISH! unparelled performer.

[@cheryldylan9506]

Hello 👋🏻 nice to meet you Margi, hope you’re safe and well?

[@deanouellette1868]

A comic genius.

[@vincentconti3633]

The best!

[@daniellack3559]

Tremendous sketch!...Young folks (and by that I mean most people under 45 or so) today, likely have never heard the name Arthur Godfrey, and yet in his heyday (40s and 50s) he was a completely dominant force in both radio and tv...and at the same time!...he had a number of different shows running at the same time, drawing huge audiences....and yet today he is virtually forgotten except for us somewhat advanced seniors...he was not a very nice man, lets leave it that...this clip by Sid and Carl (which I have never had the pleasure of seeing before) really takes it to him, and deservedly so!

[@sidcaesaryourshowofshowsca2250]

Yes, I love Sid's devastating take on Godfrey's annoying "hehhehheh" chuckle and how, like any good musician, he gives the cut-off sign to it. This is from early October of 1953, right before Godfrey's firing of Julius LaRosa--it would have been interesting to see what they might have done with *that* had the sketch aired after it! --kjh

[@jerryalper8712]

Sid Caesar: Your Show of Shows / Caesar's Hour / Admiral Broadway Revu

[@epsteinisms1483]

The song sung and strummed at the beginning is "Seems Like Old Times". My memory couldn't particularly associate the song with Arthur Godfrey, so I did a Wikipedia search of the song...... sure enough, Godfrey used it as his theme on his radio programs! One further note.... I can now die a happy man having heard the Russian Lionel Barrymore interpreted by Carl Reiner! Just unbelievable!

[@sidcaesaryourshowofshowsca2250]

If you've ever been "fortunate" enough to have seen Godfrey's show, it makes the sketch doubly funny! Carl's impressions and Sid's Godfrey laugh crack me up every time.

[@epsteinisms1483]

Oh, I can remember Godfrey's shows vividly. And I know that whatever product he hawked on his programs sold big-time. Somehow I can't bring myself to believe that Sid enjoyed similar success trying to sell Tschaikovsky's Instant Borscht!

[@daniellack3559]

I know Godfrey hawked many products on both his multiple radio and tv programs over the years, but if memory serves me right, the most famous might have been the Lipton Tea commercials he did for such a long time?

[@priscianusjr]

Yes! I was a young kid at the time, but that tune is indelibly linked with Arthur Godfrey in my memory. As Godfrey's theme song it was a muted trumpet solo. I didn't even know what the song was called until years later. And yes, fantastic how Sid translates that fake nasal laugh of Godfrey into "Russian." I recall the show on both radio AND television. Everybody remembers when he fired Julius La Rosa on the air, but I personally remember a little incident when the show was being broadcast from some resort spot like Florida or California and Godfrey and "The Little Godfreys" were at a pool; La Rosa (who not only had a great voice but looked very good in a bathing suit) took a nice dive from a diving board, but just as he was climbing up to the board, Godfrey referred to him as "Mr. Spaghetti" ("La Rosa" is a brand of macaroni). If you know Godfrey, you know that was an ethnic slur ... just par for the course. www.tvworthwatching.com/post/THISDAYINTVHISTORY20121019.aspx

[@shawnmulligan2894]

Although the This is Your Story sketch is very funny, this sketch gets my vote for the funniest sketch on YSOS!

[@daniellack3559]

Sid and Co did so many wonderful sketches, and of course everyone has their own favorites, but the This Is Your Story one is so legendary by now, (including of course the opening shots of Sid (as Al Dunfy) racing up and down the Theatre ailes to avoid going on stage, and the incomparable Howie Morris as Uncle Goopy crawling all over Sids legs) that it seems to standout as the fans true favorite...

[@Lynda-oo7ey]

Sid Caesar was very talented!

[@gilbertgiles]

Bravo

[@sidcaesaryourshowofshowsca2250]

Glad you enjoyed it. Somehow, I suspect Godfrey didn't.

[@shawnmulligan2894]

Well, who cares what Godfrey thought? he was a loser anyway

[@daniellack3559]

And an anti-Semite to boot...He stayed at and had part ownership of the famous Kenilworth Hotel in Miami Beach in the late 40s-50s, which restricted Jews from staying there...please google it if any doubt...

[@Hank13665]

That's Howard Morris (Ernest T. Bass/Andy Griffith Show) with the mustache.

[@cheryldylan9506]

Hello 👋🏻 nice to meet you hank, hope you’re safe and well?

[@Hank13665]

@@cheryldylan9506 Hi Cheryl--so nice to meet you too! I think I'm as safe as I can be lol! Hope you are also. You might like this--Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner, and Howard Morris in a This is Your Life parody--really funny: kzbin.info/www/bejne/eIKlnXikqN6ff5I

[@cheryldylan9506]

@@Hank13665 thanks,pleasure connecting with you on here, I’m from New Jersey 🇺🇸.

[@Hank13665]

@@cheryldylan9506 Top o' the morning to you, Cheryl--always a pleasure. I'm originally from the Bronx; lived in New Jersey in the 90s. I'm in Ohio now.

[@cheryldylan9506]

@@Hank13665 Oh really,Well I’ve been in Hot spring, Arkansas most of my life but in New Jersey now. Love it in Washington though. Have you always been in Ohio?

[@12artman]

When comedy's purpose was to make you laugh and not tell you how to think.

[@marymarysmarket3508]

DAVID BADGLEY amen

[@TyrSkyFatherOfTheGods]

This sounds more like the Yiddish Arthur Godfrey! LOL! :)

[@cheryldylan9506]

Hello 👋🏻 nice to meet you, hope you’re safe and well?

[@grawakendream8980]

the second guy is impersonating georgia

[@randiekay4994]

Someone get Life of Boris on this

[@cheryldylan9506]

Hello 👋🏻 nice to meet you Miranda, hope you’re safe and well?

[@churochkin]

вероятно, смешно, но непонятно нихуя

[@TheBlueyedblond]

It's supposed to be incomprehensible. That's why it's funny.

[@priscianusjr]

"It is not difficult to find the immediate reasons for the inability of the current administration in Washington to make any political capital out of the death of Stalin. It is an administration with a Congress that is heavily weighted with the worst of know-nothing traditions. Eisenhower himself is a symbol of intellectual vacuity in American politics and his cabinet and advisors, so heavily loaded with prosperous car-dealers and others recruited from the Babbitt business world, are singularly unable to cope with the dynamic political phenomenon of Stalinism. The Secretary of Defense, Charles E. Wilson, had no inhibitions in declaring that one of his choices for a leading post on American psychological warfare division was Arthur Godfrey because 'he knows the mass mind'!" -Julius Falk, "The Russian Empire After Stalin" (March 1953).

[@priscianusjr]

GODFREY, LEMAY CONCLUDE TOUR. UPI (February 18, 1953): "Radio and television personality Arthur Godfrey returned today from a tour of European and African air bases with Gen. Curtis E. Lemay, chief of the Strategic Air Command. ... Air Force officials were steeling themselves against a possible new outcropping of rumors that Godfrey is in line for a big job in the Defense Department. .... It was heightened no doubt by his friendship with Defense Secretary Charles E. Wilson who earlier was reported to be favoring Godfrey for a psychological warfare post. ...."

[@priscianusjr]

Michael Pollak, "Eerie, Creepy Look at Cold War Culture," www.nytimes.com/1999/09/23/technology/screen-grab-eerie-creepy-look-at-cold-war-culture.html

[@1VaDude]

Politically incorrect.

[@jeffgoesrandom4217]

Very rare sketch means... very bad quality film and... very not funny sketch...