Few people in my life have had a greater impact than Carl Reiner. Not only am I a writer because of him; the style in which I write is because of him. And he’s been on my mind a lot lately because the project I’ve been writing this entire pandemic is essentially an ode to Carl Reiner.
He’s been an inspiration, a mentor, and the few times I would reach out to him for help he was always there.
Most articles about him will list his many credits and praise his enormous talent. The plaudits are all well deserved. But talent like that is a gift. Being a mensch is a choice. Carl Reiner was a mensch.
He was my role model for that as much as much as his accomplishments.
I’ve tried to emulate him in many ways.
Carl was incredibly unselfish. In YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS he was happy to let Sid Caesar take center stage. With Mel Brooks on the classic 2000 YEAR OLD MAN albums, he was the straight man.
And then there’s his ultimate gesture of setting ego aside – THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW. Originally Carl wrote it to star in himself. He wrote the first 13 episodes on spec. A pilot was even filmed. It didn’t get on the air. Producer Sheldon Leonard told him the project had tremendous potential except for one thing – Carl was wrong for the part. How many actor/writers would be insulted and just junk the project?
Not Carl Reiner.
Not only did he agree to recast his part, but he even named the show after the actor who replaced him. That’s humility.
THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW was a revelation to me. It’s why I wanted to become a comedy writer. And yes, it would be great fun to BE a star of a hit TV series and get all that recognition and adulation, but I knew that just wasn’t my gift. I was more than happy wanting to become Carl Reiner not Dick Van Dyke.
THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW was also groundbreaking. TV sitcoms at the time it premiered in the early ‘60s were mainly broad and silly. Reiner chose a different path. His humor tapped into universal behavior and truths. His comedy focused on characters and real life situations. The jokes were smart, the stories clever and original. And the show was genuinely laugh-out-loud funny. That’s what I wanted to write. I loved Mel Brooks and his films are hysterical, but I never saw myself writing that. It was Carl that I studied.
I also adopted his work ethic. Carl Reiner was always working on some creative project. Books, plays, directing, producing, acting. Readers of this blog know I’m always pushing something (please check out my podcast or buy one of the books featured on the right). Always having something to challenge me creatively has been my salvation through several rough periods of my life, and I can thank Carl for that.
He lived 98 years. He produced an astonishing body of work, much of which will stand the test of time. He was sharp right up to the end. He made the world laugh for probably 96 of those years. He was gracious, supportive, accessible, and brilliant. He went through life celebrating the best of the human spirit and fighting injustice. He was pictured on Twitter just a few days ago wearing a “Black Lives Matters” T-shirt.
Time to get back to work on my homage project, although now that I think about it, everything I’ve ever written is an homage.
Bless you, Carl Reiner. And thank you.
from By Ken Levine
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