I was in the hospital when this aired. I had a bronchial infection, but they insisted on my coughing up a wad of phlegm so they could analyze it and prescribe an antibiotic based on the bug. I had a dry, unproductive cough, and could feel myself getting progressively weaker. This came on, and I laughed so hard (“A lion... is eating... my foot off!”) that I hawked up the required specimen. This show may have saved my life.
My wife and I got married in 1975. We spent our honeymoon in a lake cabin on Lake Wichita near Wichita Falls, Texas. I was not long out of the service and we had little money. About the 3rd night this came on TV so we watched it. We never forgot it but never saw it again. Thank you so much for posting this. She's gone now, but I'll think of her and that night while I'm watching it tonight.
That's such a sweet story, I can only imagine how many nice memories you have of your time with her. My wife and I have been married for 36 years, and the laughs we've shared together have helped us through some hard times. Here's a link to a more serious video that you might enjoy. www.jw.org/finder?srcid=share&prefer=content&applanguage=E&locale=en&item=pub-imv_4_VIDEO&docid=1011214
When I was a kid, I would rent this from the local video store every weekend to the point that I memorized the whole routine, when the store went out of business they gave it to me for free. It's still in my VHS collection.
Please thank your Mom for her work on this show. It was an all time favorite of my Mom's and mine. and the very last time we were together before she was on a ventilator, we watched The 2000 Year Old Man, and she laughed. ❤️❤️
I remember seeing this when I was a kid. I have been looking for this for 40+ years & am so glad I found it! The line "A lion, is eating my foot off!" has always stuck w/ me. God bless Mel Brooks!
"Queen Alexandra and Murray". Now that Shakespeare play, I would have gone to see. The movie: Helen Mirren and Bob Hoskins would have knocked it out of the park.
When I was a preteen, mom and I would go to the local Video Update video rental shop, back when VHS was king, but just a little before DVD started slinking in. On the shelves were such weird-ass options, many that might be considered lost media these days. And amongst them was this little gem. a 30-minute tape of this special. And surprisingly, it became a go-to for me. Mom wants to go home, so hurry it up? Can't make a decision fast enough? Eh, why not 2,000 Year Old Man? Leo Rosten wrote "The Joy of Yiddish," which my goy-ass has read several times, and in it, you realize how much Jewish humor became American humor. And these guys? Probably the best for the modern era to be built upon. I'm a little tipsy right now, so I don't mind semi-publically declaring that this special is probably the best encapsulation of Jewish-American humor, and how much it means to be. Thank you Mike Pippa for posting this. You've done your mitzvah 9 years ago, and I thank you again.
The sound quality varies from beginning to end. I think the sound track was probably cobbled together from several different performances and the animation was synced to it.
This is a funny and classic special. The only nitpick I have with it is how the announcer said the plane landed four days ago and the 2000 year old man spent the last 6 days in the mayo clinic.
Two different locations. What you’ve never heard of a hospital with more than one campus? Numerology, pulmonary , cardiology, and oncology are here. On the other campus is the ER.
They took the material from the first and second albums and combined and rearranged them. Also, the music is from a well-known album, "Switched-On Bach," by Walter Carlos, who played Bach on a Moog synthesizer. Walter, by the way, had a little work done, and thereafter was WENDY Carlos.
It's actually from one of the followup albums. This special is actually made up of material from two or three different albums involving the 2000 Year Old Man character.
the whole thing was ad libbed. that's why Carl Reiner says the plane came from the middle east 4 days ago but the 2000 year old man spent 6 days in the Mayo clinic.
Thank you for this! I'm just a little too young to remember this on TV. But did they do an animated commercial talking about kolaches or something? I remember it distinctly, and I'm not even Jewish. It may not have been about pastry, it may have been about a code of civility or generosity or something. Does anyone recall?
I’m not sure - I’m too young as well, and I’m not Jewish either - but kolache aren’t so much Jewish as they are Czech. Source - my great-grandma was Czech-born and kolache were one of her specialties.
I love Mel Brooks, but there are plenty of things I don't get about his act. This is one of them. Along with The Critic, I've never laughed at either. Which is strange, since The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein are along my favorite movies ever.
