{"id":6956,"date":"2004-11-23T13:56:10","date_gmt":"2004-11-23T20:56:10","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/2004\/11\/23\/now-thats-comedy.html"},"modified":"2004-11-23T13:56:10","modified_gmt":"2004-11-23T20:56:10","slug":"now_thats_comed","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2004\/11\/23\/now_thats_comed.html","title":{"rendered":"Now that’s<\/em> comedy"},"content":{"rendered":"

I probably severly date myself by saying that I think The Dick Van Dyke Show<\/em> was pure comedy genius. That Carl Reiner was the inspiration, executive producer, occasional writer, and occasional actor (and, indeed, originally wrote the Robert Petrie role for himself) is a big part of it. That Van Dyke, Mary Tyler Moore, Rose Marie, and Morey Amsterdam were\/are geniune talents themselves is a big part of it, too.<\/p>\n

I spotted The Best of the Dick Van Dyke Show, Vol. 2<\/a><\/em> in the $5 bin at Best Buy, which should be a crying shame, except they’re now releasing full season DVD sets. The disc has four episodes, which may be short on overall minutes, but is still a steal:<\/p>\n

    \n
  1. “Where Did I Come From?” — One of the standard “flashback” episodes, as Rob and Laura tell Richie about the day of his birth. Overly-Anxious Dads is a comedy trope done to death, but even today, over forty years later (eep!), Van Dyke’s rendition is priceless. Part of it is that he’s such a physical<\/em> actor, in movement and expression. He also has a great sense of comic timing. For any guy who’s been waiting for his wife to say that it’s time to go to the hospital (or for the wife in question), this ep can only provoke grins.\n
  2. “That’s My Boy??” — Classic farce, as Rob (again in flashback) is convinced (with good reason) that the hospital has given them the wrong baby. The particular resolution to this one (pre-DNA-testing) gets some serious laughs even today.<\/p>\n
  3. “It May Look Like A Walnut” — My favorite DvD <\/em>ep of all time, as Rob has a nightmare (or does <\/em>he) based on the creepy late night horror flick he and Laura were watching. Guest stars another executive producer, Danny Thomas, and a delightfully hammy Mary Tyler Moore never looks better resting in a huge pile of walnuts spilling out of the closet.<\/p>\n
  4. “October Eve” — Laura discovers that a nude painting of her (she didn’t pose <\/em>nude, of course; it was artistic license) not only wasn’t destroyed, but now is on sale for big bucks at a large downtown NYC art gallery. Rob finds out, Carl Reiner guest stars, and embarrassed hilarity ensues.<\/ol>\n

    I would put DvD <\/em>up against any sitcom on the air today, and these episodes are, in fact, among the best. Folks may feel free to pick up any other $5 specials of this series for me for the holidays (or, heck, I’ll just add the Season Sets into my Amazon Wish List<\/a> … \ud83d\ude42 )<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    I probably severly date myself by saying that I think The Dick Van Dyke Show was pure comedy genius. That Carl Reiner was the inspiration, executive producer, occasional writer, and…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_seopress_titles_title":"","_seopress_titles_desc":"","_seopress_robots_index":"","_seopress_robots_follow":"","_seopress_robots_imageindex":"","_seopress_robots_snippet":"","_seopress_robots_primary_cat":"","_seopress_robots_breadcrumbs":"","_seopress_robots_freeze_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_custom_modified_date":"","_seopress_robots_canonical":"","_seopress_social_fb_title":"","_seopress_social_fb_desc":"","_seopress_social_fb_img":"","_seopress_social_fb_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_fb_img_height":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_title":"","_seopress_social_twitter_desc":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img":"","_seopress_social_twitter_img_attachment_id":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_width":0,"_seopress_social_twitter_img_height":0,"_seopress_redirections_value":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled":"","_seopress_redirections_enabled_regex":"","_seopress_redirections_logged_status":"","_seopress_redirections_param":"","_seopress_redirections_type":0,"_seopress_analysis_target_kw":"","_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[15],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6956","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-media"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":132648,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2017\/01\/25\/dick-van-dyke-on-mary-tyler-moore.html","url_meta":{"origin":6956,"position":0},"title":"Dick Van Dyke on Mary Tyler Moore","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 25-Jan-17 10:47pm","format":false,"excerpt":"A touching tribute.Now I really want to go back and watch the old DvD Shows, to enjoy her (and the rest of that splendid cast). Dick Van Dyke's Tribute to Mary Tyler Moore: \"She Left an Imprint on Television Comedy\" \"Just to watch her grow was such a thrill for\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":1767,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2002\/05\/01\/just_the_thing-2.html","url_meta":{"origin":6956,"position":1},"title":"Just the thing I need, how nice …","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 1-May-02 1:42pm","format":false,"excerpt":"TV Guide learned a long time ago that \"List\" issues are big sellers. The Top Ten Comedies. The Top Twenty Dramas. The Twenty-Five Best TV Actors. 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Rose Marie, co-star of 'The Dick Van Dyke Show,' dies at 94 Rose Marie, an actress, singer and comedian best known for portraying the wise-cracking Sally Rogers on the popular 1960s sitcom \"The Dick Van Dyke Show,\" died\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "~PlusPosts"","block_context":{"text":"~PlusPosts","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/blogging\/plusposts"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/wp\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/12\/rose-marie.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":12608,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2008\/03\/12\/the_mind_of_tommy_westpha.html","url_meta":{"origin":6956,"position":3},"title":"The Mind of Tommy Westphall","author":"***Dave","date":"Wed 12-Mar-08 9:36am","format":false,"excerpt":"According to this site, an amazing amount of the TV universe -- including everything from Firefly to the Dick Van Dyke Show to Lost to I Love Lucy to...","rel":"","context":"In "Doctor Who"","block_context":{"text":"Doctor Who","link":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/category\/media\/franchises\/media-tv-doctor-who"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/www.hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/images\/tv-philco-predicta.jpg?resize=350%2C200&ssl=1","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":9839,"url":"https:\/\/hill-kleerup.org\/blog\/2006\/10\/23\/dick_van_dyke_computer_gr.html","url_meta":{"origin":6956,"position":4},"title":"Dick Van Dyke — Computer Graphics Artist?","author":"***Dave","date":"Mon 23-Oct-06 1:28pm","format":false,"excerpt":"Evidently. 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