Half a century ago, a curtain parted and out stepped Sid Caesar. Over the next nine years, with the help of writers such as Neil Simon, Woody Allen and Mel Brooks, Ceasar created the template for the TV skit shows and domestic comedies the world still loves.
Today, Caesar, 77, steps out to meet D.L. Hughley, 37, star of his own sitcom, The Hughleys, based on his family's move from the city to the suburbs. But check out what these stand-up comedians stand up in: Caesar in cowboy boots, Hughley in square-toed Pradas. Or get a look at the jewelry. Caesar's wearing a golf-ball-size gold ring, Hughley a diamond ear stud. The two couldn't be more different. Caesar, a Jewish, Yonkers-born comic, was groomed in the Catskills. Hughley, a high school dropout and former gang member, had his skills sharpened on the streets of Compton, Calif.
"I have a sciatica with an extra X," apologizes Caesar, easing himself into a chair in his art-lined living room. Hughley looks deep into Caesar's eyes and cracks up: "I keep wanting to sing 'Ebony and Ivory.'" He's not being disrespectful. "I'm in awe. Sid is a legend. He didn't have anybody to steal from or show him the way. He was just funny."
Caesar - whose collection of digitally restored episodes from Your Show of Shows and Caesar's Hour will be available in April at sidvid.com - is hardly in awe of today's comedy. "There's a whole different language now," he says. "We couldn't say damn. Pregnant was a dirty word. Our humor was self-deprecating: Look what an idiot I am for doing this to my wife. Today's humor is in your face. And the words they use! What do they say when they're mad?"
Hughley says that's precisely the point: "When you're a young black man, no one listens to you. Comedy is a way to talk about your feelings. And when you get a chance to get people's attention, it's intoxicating."
