My Anecdotal Life: A Memoir
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In this funny and engaging memoir, one of the best raconteurs on the planet recalls his life in show business in short comic takes. Reiner tells of how, after answering an ad for free acting classes on his brother Charlie's advice, he forsakes a budding career as a machinist for an acting career. In "Sidney Bechet and His Jazz Band Meet Franz Kafka," he captivates the legendary jazz man and his band with an unusual reading of The Metamorphosis, during a thunderstorm at a Catskills resort in 1942.
Reiner also recalls the highlights of the succeeding decades: his first sweaty audition, impersonating a dog impersonating movie stars; his forays into the theater; his work on Your Show of Shows and The Dick Van Dyke Show during TV's golden days; and his long friendship and collaboration with Mel Brooks which gave birth to the Two Thousand Year Old Man.
In "A Recipe to Remember," he recites a recipe for cream cheese cookies to a star-studded audience that includes Paul Newman, Leonard Bernstein, and Barbra Streisand. In "The Gourmet Eating Club," he gives an insider's take on the now-legendary group that included Mario Puzo, Joseph Heller, Zero Mostel, and other luminaries.
Mary Tyler Moore, Sid Caesar, Mickey Rooney, Johnny Carson, Cary Grant, Dinah Shore, Ann Bancroft, Jean Renoir – the list goes on and on – also appear in what Reiner calls the "literary variety show" that captures the highs and lows of his extraordinary life. Through it all, Reiner displays the wit and warmth that have made him one of the most beloved figures in the entertainment business. This charming memoir will delight anyone who wants a behind-the-scenes look at five decades of Hollywood and television history.
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Carl Reiner (1922-2020) was an actor and writer who created and costarred in the classic sitcom The Dick Van Dyke Show, inspired by his time as a cast member and writer (along with Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, and Woody Allen among others) for Sid Caesar’s sketch comedy programs Your Show of Shows and Caesar’s Hour from 1950-1957. He later directed major film comedies, including The Jerk, Oh, God!, Where’s Poppa?, The Man with Two Brains, Dead Men Don’t Wear Plaid, and All of Me.
He appeared in such films as It’s a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, The Russians Are Coming, The Russians Are Coming, and the Ocean’s 11 film series, and on the television shows Two and a Half Men and Hot in Cleveland. He also voiced characters in Toy Story 4, Family Guy, and Bob’s Burgers.
Winner of twelve Emmy Awards, Reiner was inducted into the Television Academy Hall of Fame and received the Kennedy Center Mark Twain Prize for Humor. His comedy album The 2000 Year Old Man in the Year 2000, one of five he recorded with Mel Brooks between 1960 and 1997, won a Grammy Award.
The father of director and actor Rob Reiner, he wrote several books, including My Anecdotal Life: A Memoir, What I Forgot to Remember, Enter Laughing, and one Broadway play.
