Brooks and Reiner give their blessing to a stage first

Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner have given permission for their classic 2000 Year Old Man sketches to be performed on stage for the first time.

The pair created the character in 1961 and it appeared on five albums until 1997, with Brooks’ ancient man being interviewed by Reiner. Jerry Seinfeld called it: ‘One of the greatest bits in 2,000 years of comedy history.’

Now Chris Neil, a semi-regular on Radio 4’s Just A Minute, and Kerry Shale are to revive the characters in London next year.

Each performance will feature an exact recreation of the original timing – with the pair wearing earphones to listen to the recordings as they perform.

The 2,000 Year Old Man will he performed at JW3 in Hampstead, North London, from March 5 to 22 next year.

Here is an original sketch from 1967:

Published: 17 Nov 2014