2000 Year Old Man
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The 2000 Year Old Man was a persona created by Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner starting around 1960. (The 2000 year old man's birthday is October 16th)
Mel Brooks played the oldest man in the world, interviewed by Carl Reiner in a series of comedy routines that appeared on television as well as being made into a collection of records. In a Jewish accent, Brooks would ad lib answers to topics such as the earliest known language ("basic Rock"), the creation of the Cross ("it was easier to put together than the Star of David"; "to me it seemed...simple. I didn't know then it was eloquent!"), and Joan of Arc ("Know her? I went with her, dummy, I went with her!").
The inspiration for the skit was a tape-recorded exchange between Brooks and Reiner at a party. The tape recorder was brought into the mix shortly after the opening salvos as the two comics soon had the party audience in stitches. Back in 1961, when the duo began doing the skit on television, Brooks had just undergone painful surgery for gout. Because of his after-surgery discomfort, Brooks quipped, "I feel like a 2000-year-old man," which led Reiner to begin questioning him about what it's like to be a 2000-year-old man and to describe history as Brooks saw it. Thus a classic skit was born.
Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner have released five comedy albums. The 2000 Year Old Man appeared on just one track for each of the first three albums, but took over the whole show for the last two.
- 2000 Years with Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks (1961)
- 2000 and One Years with Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks (1961)
- Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks at the Cannes Film Festival (1962)
- 2000 and Thirteen (1973)
- The 2000 Year Old Man in the Year 2000 (2000)
All five comedy albums were compiled and newly remastered on a 3-CD/1-DVD Box Set by Shout! Factory for the 50th anniversary. "The 2000 Year Old Man: The Complete History" DVD will be released on November 23, 2009 and will feature an interview with Reiner and Brooks, the 1975 animated 2000 Year Old Man TV special, and vintage clips of the two appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show and The New Steve Allen Show.[1]
Many of the jokes (especially the caveman jokes) were eventually brought to the screen in Brooks' film History of the World, Part I.
[edit] The animated special
On January 11, 1975[2][3][4], there was a half-hour animated TV special, "The 2000 Year Old Man," which incorporated some of the original recordings.[4] This special has since been released on VHS videocassette and DVD.[2] The musical introduction was Bach's Sinfonia to Cantata #29 performed on a Moog synthesizer by Mort Garson, in the style of Wendy Carlos' Switched-On Bach.
[edit] Appearances in other media
Mel Brooks appeared as the 2000 Year Old Man to help celebrate the 2000th episode of the original Jeopardy! hosted by Art Fleming (February 21, 1972), in which the three highest-scoring undefeated champions at that point returned to play an abbreviated game for charities. During his pre-game appearance he recounted how the show was done 2,000 years earlier - "It wasn't this hippy-happy-dappy game you've got here ... the moment you walked out of your cave - Jeopardy!"[5]
Mel Brooks adapted the character to create the 2500 Year Old Brewmaster for Ballantine Beer in the 1960s. Interviewed by Dick Cavett in a series of ads, the Brewmaster (in a German accent, as opposed to the 2000 Year Old Man's Jewish voice) said he was inside the original Trojan horse and "could've used a six-pack of fresh air."[6]
The 2000 Year Old Man was referenced in an episode of The Simpsons animated TV series called "Homer vs. Patty and Selma", where people refer to it incorrectly as "The 2000-Pound Man thing" and "The 2000-Dollar Man thing". When Mel Brooks is told to play the Carl Reiner part, he angrily says "Why don't you play Carl Reiner? I hate Carl Reiner!"
In an episode of Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, "The Option Period", the character of Rick Tahoe uses The 2000 Year Old Man as an example of an ideal comedy sketch.
