Sid Caesar built the writers’ room that taught Mel Brooks, Neil Simon, Carl Reiner, and Woody Allen how to be funny

John Lahr, writing in the London Review of Books, offers the sharpest piece I’ve read on Sid Caesar — ostensibly a review of David Margolick’s new biography When Caesar Was King, but really a psychological autopsy of American comedy’s first TV star and the culture he shaped. Caesar’s Your Show of Shows reached 50 to 60 million viewers per episode betwee…