#annemeara

Jerry Stiller (1927-2020) (with his son Ben in 1978) #jerrystiller #comedian #actor #author #stillerandmeara #annemeara #benstiller #seinfeld #jerryseinfeld #larrydavid #thekingofqueens #brooklyn #newyork #voiceactor #father #nyc #sitcom #cinema https://www.instagram.com/p/CACxwKwnzNZ/?igshid=x7zxg5n9kykb

[repeats/preempted, returning next week: The UnXplained (HIST), The Proof is Out There (HIST) ]

It made me laugh every time Jerry Stiller opened his mouth on "Seinfeld." It was, in part, the shock of what happened. Stiller, who died at the age of 92 on Monday, was not thinking so much as erupting. Instantly his bristling bass changed the energy in the scene, adding ludicrous tension and anger that came off like deliriously stupid. Then there was his masterly comic pace, a rat-a-tat of old school that got straight to the point. What really resonated, however, was more intimate. I did not know any New York stand-ups like Jerry Seinfeld as a kid watching this classic sitcom, crazy copy editors like Elaine Benes or whoever the hell Cosmo Kramer was. But Frank Costanza, of Stiller, was incredibly familiar, with an immediately identifiable strength and fashion sense from my family's Florida contingent. They did not remind me of a single parent so much as they all screamed at one another at the same time, over chopped liver. Stiller had, it has to be said, an enormous career which included helping to invent improve comedy with the Compass Players in Chicago; a hit double act with his wife, Anne Meara; and memorable parental roles in everything from the movie "Hairspray" to the sitcom "The King of Queens." Yet, as often happens in memories like this, journalists prefer to concentrate on his most famous role. Just as it annoyed me that the headlines about Brian Dennehy's death focused on "Tommy Boy" and "First Blood," as opposed to his landmark leading performances in Arthur Miller's and Eugene O'Neill's plays, you might be irritated that this essay celebrates one supporting role towards the end of his career. Bellowing "Serenity now! "There is no tablespoon of Zen in it as a device for calming on his doctor's orders. Stiller was not a renter of one-trick, either. He could also find laughs in a soft tone, even taking advantage of juxtapositions. Hear him repeat: "You want a piece of me? "To Julia Louis-Dreyfus in one of the great outtakes in comedy history, making her break character. It is his quiet volume that startles, setting the roar up at first. Frank Costanza was written, more or less by mistake, as an Italian, not a Jewish. Still we Jewish people knew better. Or Jerry Stiller, at least, made sure that we did. He had been the show is Jewish head. "Seinfeld" was not an overt reference to his Jewishness but offered ample clues. Perhaps the greatest episode of Stiller is the one we hear from his mortified friend, George, played by Jason Alexander, that he created a holiday as an alternative to Christmas called Festivus. If Jewish children have a growing outsider experience, it is the peculiar isolation felt during the holidays in December when they are trapped without Christmas trees and stockings. And while Festivus has entered the popular lexicon, the episode that sounded like so many Passover Seders features a peculiar tone set by Stiller. "The Festivus tradition," he declared, "begins with the outpouring of complaints." Stiller is a master at complaint, much like so many great Jewish comics. Jeff Ross turned to him at the roast of Stiller's New York Friars Club, and said, "His Hebrew name is Yech!” There is a glorious ritual of making fun of their parents and grandparents by Jewish comics, especially the generation that immigrated to the United States. Woody Allen, Elaine May and Larry David have done it all, turning these people into caricatures shouting, neurosis givers of guilt and nabobs. From the viewpoint of young people like me, who saw something strange about these beloved family members, these jokes emerged. They had heavy accents, visions of the old world and funny sounding work. I had a grandfather selling eggs (he looked more like Seinfeld’s father than as Frank Costanza). And yet we always knew it was harder for those elders than we did. All these elements had been in the portrait of Jerry Stiller. He was silly but also proud, nervous about the dumb stuff and excited about them. His sparring with his wife, performed beautifully by Estelle Harris, with equal intensity and a far higher voice, were aggressive yet friendly battles. Father's rage can be horrific. And sitcoms have a cheap way of sanding off the surfaces. But Stiller has a consistently endearing comic rage: plucky, ineffective with hint of fire. That was absolutely critical. The younger people on the show did not cower at his temper as much as they roll their eyes. Do not forget leaving your valuable comment on this piece of writing and sharing with your near and dear ones. To keep yourself up-to-date with Information Palace, put your email in the space given below and Subscribe. Furthermore, if you yearn to know about the messages sent to Ian Wright, view our construct, ‘Ian Wright 'fighting' after Racist Messages sent to him on Social Media’. Read the full article

Just sign up now and get our bitcoin wallet, which is a place where you can send and receive bitcoins..