the straight man to mel brooks. >> you are afraid to fly in an airplane? why? to fly, he would have given him tickets. >> you paint him into a corner. mel had to come up with something brilliant do get out of it. he loved getting those things out of people. >> "the dick van dyke" show. >> creating of "the dick van dyke show," about a young sitcom writer but loosely based on reiner's life. >> would you like these? what do you suggest i do with these? >> there must be some needy bald people. >> i think of him sitting at his desk the first five years of my life writing "the dick van dyke show". >> you saw that spirit there. that humor. >> reporter: father to one of the stars of perhaps one of the greatest sitcoms ever. >> you are mr. bunker? >> you figured that out, huh? >> reporter: husband to the woman who delivered one of film's all-time great one l liners. >> i'll have what she's having. >> reporter: mentor to the likes of steve martin, lily tomlin and bette midler. >> he got 12 emmys, the mark twain prize. he never thought about those things. the greatest gift

decades later mel brooks made the same point by the way in the producers. with their famous play within a film of springtime for hitler and by the way the play within a film format is one of the things that are you can find in commonly in chaplain's own work. but comedy is more than just making fun of the people who seem to have it better than you do. it's also at its core an expression of optimism the conviction that the future can be brighter than the past. that the optimism of chaplain's work. the happy endings or even the not so happy endings at least the happy surviving. of being able to fight another day being able to wake up with a new opportunity tomorrow. that's something the world really needed to hear during the depression and during world war two. it's something that people needed to hear during the financial panics that marked the early 20th century. now i've written a book about late night comedy and how television has made fun of political figures and if you look here and there you can see examples of the mockery in the imitations the larger

even the manic comedic energy of mel brooks and jim carrey. but there are other impacts as well. chaplin was a compelling composure, and his smile arrangement, the theme that played in the backyard of the final scenes of modern times, became a hit record single decades later for nat king cole. and there have been some first rate interpretations of the song produced originally by chaplain, now made famous by nat king cole, judy garland, barbara streisand. this was also michael jackson's favorite song and you can even look, if you look closely, at some of michael jackson's dance moves, they recall the tramp as well. chaplin was such an inspiration to michael jackson that, on one of his trips to london, michael jackson insisted on touring the neighborhood where chaplin grew up. the work house where he lived for a while. he even dressed up as the tramp for a promotional photo shoot. he had planned to produce a smile album of his own but he was taken from us too soon. as a whole, chaplin's work is particularly oriented towards political humanism, a concern for all humanity, particular

i do want to mention this mel brooks thing.a hulu series called "the history of the world part 2." and nick kroll, wanda sykes, a big, huge cast of really great comedy stars. you're part of this. >> and me. >> jimmy: and you. you've done many things yourself. who do you play? >> i play howard cosell. >> jimmy: howard cosell. >> you remember howard cosell? >> jimmy: i hope they do. yeah. do you do the whole wig, the whole deal? >> i had the wig. i look like walter matthau. i didn't know i did a howard cosell necessarily until i got there. >> jimmy: everybody kind of does a howard cosell. >> exactly. of our generation, if i may say. >> jimmy: yes, right. i know what you're saying. a lot of people don't know who howard cosell. but he is a great character to play. did you practice? did you review old tapes of howard? >> i did a little bit. and then i was actual -- i actually was able to talk to his grandson collin cosell, who i then cast in a movie i directed "bucky fing dent." i did the full thing there. >> jimmy: collin is the pa

lin-manuel miranda, questlove, mel brooks, and jamie foxx. >> jimmy: so it's not a cakewalk category.they're all great. listen, they could throw me a bone. >> jimmy: you are nominated for your audiobook. >> yeah. >> jimmy: i have your book right here. this is your book. you read the book, you got nominated, a grammy for reading "finding me." you had a very tough childhood, exceptionally tough childhood. >> yeah. >> jimmy: but there's also a lot of funny things that happened in your childhood. >> yes. >> jimmy: your family was superstitious. >> yes, they were. i come from a black family, black people have some superstitions. so we had -- whatever i put in that book, you can add about 10,000 more on top of it. >> jimmy: is that true? >> like, you couldn't bring an umbrella in the house. >> jimmy: uh-huh? >> and an umbrella that was up. >> jimmy: right, yeah. >> which is like, why would you do that? you couldn't walk by a gravestone without crossing yourself. >> jimmy: uh-huh? >> so i did that once, and then my sister diane was like, "aahhhhh!" and i said, "what did i do?" "you walked ov

mel mops even more disgracefully. some of the women in parliament for simply standing for women's rights . standing for women's rights. yeah that was an absolute disgraceful moment in the house of commons . adam brooks, i'm going to surprise few people because i'm not his biggest fan. but it's rishi sunak for blocking the gender reform bill of nicholas sturgeon common sense is finally prevailing , and hopefully he'll prevailing, and hopefully he'll use a bit more common sense going forward and start cutting taxes . i see, james, your taxes. i see, james, your nominee while i'm not going to win this done, but i want to show support for the public sector workers and the unions in their fight to help people get a fair and decent wage which will obviously also protect our education and health care systems it can be fit for purpose . okay. well, i'm purpose. okay. well, i'm actually going to go with rosie duffield as, the greatest person, because i think is person, because i think she is one bravest employees in one of the bravest employees in her in the house was her treatment in the house was completely yesterday completely despicable yesterday . dawn neesom your union so many. i'm going to for the met

mel mops even more disgracefully. some of the women in parliament for simply standing for women's rights . standing for women's rights. yeah that was an absolute disgraceful moment in the house of commons . adam brookso surprise few people because i'm not his biggest fan. but it's rishi sunak for blocking the gender reform bill of nicholas sturgeon common sense is finally prevailing , and hopefully he'll prevailing, and hopefully he'll use a bit more common sense going forward and start cutting taxes . i see, james, your taxes. i see, james, your nominee while i'm not going to win this done, but i want to show support for the public sector workers and the unions in their fight to help people get a fair and decent wage which will obviously also protect our education and health care systems it can be fit for purpose . okay. well, i'm purpose. okay. well, i'm actually going to go with rosie duffield as, the greatest person, because i think is person, because i think she is one bravest employees in one of the bravest employees in her in the house was her treatment in the house was completely yesterday completely despicable yesterday . dawn neesom your union so many. i'm going to for the metropolitan not