In an exchange between the comedy legends as themselves, recorded in 2009, Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner recall the genesis of their friendship and the development of the classic comedy routine that began as a way for the two best friends to entertain friends at dinner parties. In the 2000 Year Old Man sketches, Brooks plays the oldest man in the world, interviewed by Reiner. The program highlights some of the best performances of Brooks and Reiner's often improvised exchanges as originally seen live on The New Steve Allen Show, The Andy Williams Show, The Ed Sullivan Show, The Timex All-Star Comedy Hour, and in a 1975 cartoon special, but also digs deeper into this classic comedic cornerstone as a single source of inspiration for some of today's biggest names in comedy, a primer on how to do comedy, and one of the specific roots of Jewish humor's impact on American culture. Comedians Bob Newhart, Paul Reiser, Garry Shandling and Richard Lewis; Leonard Stern, executive producer of Brooks' television creation Get Smart; and Rabbi David Wolpe of Sinai Temple in Los Angeles, celebrate the magical chemistry of the Grammy Award-winning comedic interactions of these two men and what it has meant to the larger culture.
