"Why Were All The Writers On The Sid Caesar Show Young Jews?"
01/29/2009
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Larry Gelbart, creator of MASH and the Broadway musical City of Angels, was asked why he and all his fellow writers on Sid Caesar's Show of Shows in the 1950s (including Woody Allen, Neil Simon, Carl Reiner, and Mel Brooks—see the movie "My Favorite Year" for a fictionalized version of this famous confluence of talent) were young Jews. He responded:

 
That reminds me of the George Carlin joke:
"I’d like to mention something about language, there are a couple of terms being used a lot these days by guilty white liberals. The first is ”Happens to be” ”He happens to be black’ ”I have a friend, who happens to be black” like it’s a #%!@in accident ya know. Happens to be black? Yes, he happens to be black. He has two black parents? Oh yes, yes he did. And they #%!@ed? Oh indeed they did. So where does the surprise part come in? I’d think it’d be more unusual if he just happened to be Scandinavian."
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