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Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca were two of the funniest early performers on television. Their program was called “The Show of Shows” and it was a hoot from the very first minute of every one of the episodes. Years later – September 7, 1977 – the two proved they still had all their talent on this excerpt from the Johnny Carson Show. Pantomime is a lot harder than it looks. And these two were professionals. When Sid finally gives in and begins to teach his wife how to drive, the laughs come every second.
“Your Show of Shows” began in 1950 and ran live for 90 minutes every week. It was watched by at least 60 million viewers every week it aired. On early television the lights were extremely hot and it wasn’t unusual to see anyone before a live camera perspiring. Makeup artists would sometimes run on stage and powder a performer like Sid or Imogene right before the television viewers eyes.
Sid wrote nearly all of the material for each show. Mel Brooks and Woody Allen were among those who also wrote scripts for him. Sid was nominated for 11 Emmy’s and won two of them, plus many other awards throughout his years. He started his career as a professional saxophonist in nightclubs. In his two autobiographies he describes his own battle with alcohol and drugs which he finally overcame. He died in February of this year (2014) at the age of 91.
Imogene Coca began as a child acrobat in vaudeville. She starred in six television series between the late 40’s to the 90’s. She was nominated for 11 Emmys and won one, plus a lot of other awards throughout the years. Although she was blinded in one eye in a car accident, she never let that stop her. (She is blind in that eye in the skit you’re about to see.) In 1978 she began a long run on Broadway in “On The Twentieth Century”. Imogene died in 2001 at the age of 92.
Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca on the Johnny Carson Show