2000 Year Old Man
| The 2000 Year Old Man | |
|---|---|
| Genre | Animated television special |
| Written by | |
| Directed by | Leo Salkin |
| Voices of | |
| Theme music composer | Mort Garson |
| Country of origin | United States |
| Original language(s) | English |
| Production | |
| Producer(s) | Leo Salkin |
| Running time | 30 min |
| Production company(s) |
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| Distributor | CBS |
| Release | |
| Original network | CBS |
| Original release | January 11, 1975 |
The 2000 Year Old Man is a persona in a comedy skit, originally created by Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner in 1961.
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 Yiddish accent, Brooks would improvise answers to topics such as the earliest known language ("basic Rock"); manufacturing the Star of David ("I employed six men, see, each with a point. They would run together in the middle of the factory, and in the great speed, they would fuse, thus creating a star. I would make two a day, because of the many ACCidents"; manufacturing the cross ("It was simple. I didn't know then it was eloquent! Two men run together ... BANG! You got a cross! I could have fired four men!"), 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 that took place at Brooks' beachfront house in Lonelyville, on Fire Island. The tape recorder was brought into the mix shortly after the opening salvos, as the two comics soon had the party audience in stitches. In 1961, when the duo began doing the skit on television, Brooks had just undergone surgery for gout. Because of his post-surgical 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.
Brooks and Reiner have released five comedy albums. The 2000 Year Old Man character appeared on one track for each of the first three albums, and the entirety of the final two.
The last in the series won the 1998 Grammy Award for Spoken Comedy Album.
A half-hour animated television special, The 2000 Year Old Man, premiered January 11, 1975, incorporating some of the original recordings. This special has since been released on VHS videocassette and DVD. The musical introduction was Bach's Sinfonia to Cantata #29 performed on a Moog synthesizer by Mort Garson.
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 was released November 24, 2009, and features an interview with Reiner and Brooks; the 1975 animated 2000 Year Old Man television special, and clips of the two appearing on The Ed Sullivan Show and The New Steve Allen Show.
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