2000 Year Old Man

The 2000 Year Old Man is a comedy sketch. It was first created by Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks in the 1950s. It was then first performed public in the 1960s. Brooks plays a 2000-year-old man. He is interviewed by Reiner in a series of comedy routines that were turned into a collection of records and also performed on television.

History
The main story for the sketches were laid during the making of Your Show of Shows. Here, Reiner was an actor and Brooks was a writer. Reiner explains the first sketch:

It was originally a joke between the two that was then shared at parties. Reiner started bringing a tape recorder to the parties because of this. Lots of people such as George Burns said to the two that they should their sketches on an album. Only Steve Allen, however, wasa able to convince them to record it in his studio.

Recordings and performances
Their first television appearances while doing the sketch were on The Ed Sullivan Show in February 1961. It was then seen on The Steve Allen Show 8 months later.

Reiner and Brooks released five comedy albums. The 2000 Year Old Man character was shown on one track for each of the first three albums and was always shown in the last two.

 2000 Years with Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks (1960) This album was originally released in 1960 as World-Pacific #1401. It was reissued as Capitol #1529 in 1961.  See, Carl Reiner & Mel Brooks The Complete 2000 Year Old Man (Los Angeles, CA: Rhino Records), 1994, p. 32.
 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 with Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks (Warner Bros. Records, 1973)
 The 2000 Year Old Man in the Year 2000 (1997)

It won the 1998 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Comedy Album.

References

Category:Works about old age