2000 and Thirteen

Album Review

In 1960, Carl Reiner first got the chance to interview a man who claimed to be 2,000 years old, and for the next three years a series of interviews was released on record so that the rest of us could hear the insights and observations of a man who'd lived through much of history as we knew it. Of course, the 2,000-year-old man was actually Reiner's partner, Mel Brooks, who, through the ages, has made no secret of his love for skewering history. The duo retired the characters in 1963, but they were lured into creating another chapter in this series by the president of Warner Bros. The result was this interview with a 2,013-year-old man, in which he talks about the advantages of an all-water diet, tells listeners about the supreme being, Phil, explains how his pal Murray invented fire, and talks about the futility of war (especially after mishearing a Churchill speech). A short section about "f*gs" kinda spoils the fun a bit, and a bit about Al Jolson is a bit iffy, but otherwise it's pretty funny throughout.