Over the last few years Shout! Factory has come out with boxsets that have elevated the profiles of early TV comics Ernie Kovacs and Mel Brooks. Now Sid Caesar is having the essential elements of his TV career brought together in Sid Caesar: The Works. The material will include his pioneering work in the early days of television when you could name everyone who owned a set in New York City. There’s a sampling from his Your Show of Shows which featured the equally talented Imogene Coca. This is great for those who only remember Sid from playing Coach Calhoun in Grease. Here’s the press release from Shout! Factory:
SID CAESAR: THE WORKS
5-DVD SET CELEBRATING THE COMIC LEGEND
AVAILABLE FROM SHOUT! FACTORY
AUGUST 14, 2018
Los Angeles, CA – The influential comic trailblazer Sid Caesar will be commemorated with an in-depth 5-DVD set, Sid Caesar: The Works, to be released by Shout! Factory on August 14, 2018. Spanning 1950 to 2014, the set contains over 11 hours of fan favorites and previously unreleased material, as well as a 20-page book of history, rare photos, and notes, and many interviews and extras, including the 2014 Paley Center for Media Tribute Program with Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner and Billy Crystal.
Customers ordering the set from ShoutFactory.com will also receive Sid Caesar: Extra Portion, a single-disc with over two hours of additional sketches.
Without Sid Caesar, comedy would have been a lot less funny. In 1949, television was an infant technology. No one knew how long or whether it was going to last at all. A 27-year-old Broadway star, along with a team of writers and performers who would become legendary, including Imogene Coca, Nanette Fabray, Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, Larry Gelbart, Neil Simon, and Woody Allen, revolutionized sketch comedy by telling stories rooted in the human condition. They redefined television sketch comedy, and paved the way for generations to follow, his influence reverberating throughout Saturday Night Live (Caesar hosted the show in 1983 and was named an honorary cast member), as Reiner’s inspiration for The Dick Van Dyke Show, Brooksfilms’ My Favorite Year and Simon’s Broadway hit Laughter on the 23rd Floor, to name a few examples.
Sid Caesar: The Works is a comprehensive collection of the best work of Caesar and his team beginning with The Admiral Broadway Review, through Your Shows of Shows and Caesar’s Hour. It contains previously unreleased material, including the first-time DVD release of the feature film Ten From Your Show of Shows, the Emmy-winning 1967 CBS Reunion Special, the Chevy Show and a rare 1983 episode of A&E’s Nightcap, featuring Studs Terkel and Calvin Trillin in conversation with Sid Caesar, Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner.
