WHEN CAESAR WAS KING How Sid Caesar Reinvented American Comedy

With understated naturalism, Rob Shapiro introduces listeners to Sid Caesar, the first comic superstar of television. From 1949 to 1957, as many as 60 million viewers tuned in weekly to Caesar's inspired improvisational sketch comedy juggernauts, "Your Show of Shows" and "Caesar's Hour." Caesar's writers' room of protégés such as Mel Brooks, Carl Reiner, and Neil Simon went on to influence the entertainment world for close to 70 years. Shapiro's delivery reflects the author's emphatic, almost argumentative, opinion that even with his volatile temper, self-doubt, addictions, and professional burnout, Caesar should be fondly remembered. Who's forgetting? The rags-to-riches story of a Jewish boy from Yonkers practically inventing television comedy is the stuff of legend. [Published: JANUARY 2026]