“Who was the person who discovered the female?” the interviewer asks pointedly. “Bernie,” answers the 2000-Year-Old Man.
Just one example of the brilliant humor found in Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks’ legendary act, “The 2000-Year-Old Man,” in which Brooks plays the title character, who provides hysterical spins on history while being interviewed by Reiner.
The two close friends came up with the idea while working on the classic 1950s TV series Your Show of Shows. They then performed the sketch on other shows, such as Ed Sullivan, and eventually released some wildly popular comedy albums, the first of which debuted in 1960.
Fifty years ago this month, The 2000-Year-Old Man got animated when it was translated into a prime-time special for CBS, directed by Leo Salkin.
As the special opens, we see a crowd waiting for a plane to land, and we hear from a reporter (Reiner’s voice) that the 2,000-year-old Man (Brooks) is on the plane. The interviewer is waiting to ask questions of the Man who has witnessed so much of history.
What follows in the 2000-Year-Old Man special isn’t a clear-cut plot but more of a back-and-forth, impromptu interview. This makes sense as the dialogue for the special was taken from Reiner and Brooks’ many live performances of the act.
It’s no surprise that the results are hysterical, thanks to the two comedians’ creativity and improvisation. The interviewer asks, “There were no buses in your time. What was the means of transportation then?” “Mostly fear,” answers the 2000-Year-Old Man. “Fear transported you?” the interviewer follows up. “You would see an animal growl,” responds the 2000-Year-Old Man,” “And you would go two miles a minute.”
The title character also reveals the truth about some famous historical figures he has known, letting us know that Robin Hood didn’t steal from the rich and give it to the poor, he stole it all and kept everything. “He had a fella, Marty. Marty, the press agent,” notes the 2000-Year-Old Man, discussing how Robin Hood gained his reputation as a good guy.
Director Salkin and his animators use the medium perfectly in scenes such as this, opening up the stand-up act and comedy in the special, not only presenting Robin Hood riding through a castle and keeping everything but also showing Marty writing his press release and posting them on scrolls throughout Sherwood Forrest.
Animation is also used cleverly, such as when the Man talks about how singing came about when people shouted while being attacked by an animal. We get a “flashback” of the 2000-year-old Man trying to escape from a lion and singing, “A lion is eating my foot off! Somebody call a cop!”
The two main characters in the special are also well designed. The interviewer is essentially a caricature of Reiner, but the 2000-Year-Old Man looks nothing like Brooks, and instead is short, with an overgrown beard, and a large nose, atop which glasses sit, while he wears a saggy robe and sandals with socks. This and the stylistically designed background characters add a nice cartoony touch to the proceedings.
When The 2000-Year-Old Man aired, Director Leo Salkin had already had an extensive career in animation that began after he graduated high school in 1932, with his first job as a cel washer with Walter Lantz. He would also work at Columbia Screen Gems and the Disney Studio through the years. Read more about Salkin’s career in this 2016 Cartoon Research article by Harvey Deneroff.
Originally airing on January 11, 1975, The 2000 Year-Old-Man is a nice remembrance of the era of animated specials and how effective animation can be when aimed at a different audience.
It also provides us with funny yet wise-in-its-way philosophy. An example is when The 2000-Year-Old Man notes, “Keep a smile on your face and stay out of a Ferrari, or any small, Italian car!”
