( CNN ) -- Sid Caesar , who died Wednesday at 91 , did n't saunter , glide , bounce or skip into your living room the way other comedy TV stars did . He came at you like a football lineman , charging , roaring , enveloping your senses and tickling them relentlessly with sounds and expressions you either did n't expect or had never heard before . It 's hard to believe that someone who was so mercurial and explosive a physical presence could become so beloved and influential an icon of the `` cool '' medium of television in its early years . And yet , at the peak of his fame in the early and mid-1950s , Caesar 's audience was broad enough to encompass both working and thinking classes . Imagine what could happen if a great silent-film comedian had passed a crash course in Borscht-belt patter with flying colors , slinging words as he executed pratfalls . Then again , do n't imagine . Watch any vintage black-and-white video excerpt from `` Your Show of Shows '' ( 1951-1954 ) or `` Caesar 's Hour '' ( 1954-1957 ) . You 'll see Caesar in sketches where his characters speak a faux-foreign dialect that , though it 's gibberish in at least two languages , makes hilarious sense throughout . You 'll see his big fleshy face in tight close-up forcing tears out of his eyes as the fiscally challenged suburban husband whose wife just charged a mink coat to his account . Watch the contortions he puts himself through as he plays a frantically reluctant featured guest on a spoof of the `` This is Your Life '' TV show . The words and comedy of Sid Caesar . You say you 're not old enough to remember that vintage TV show ? Does n't matter . It may help to know something about the wretched excesses of 1950s pre-rock ' n ' roll pop music to recognize what 's being satirized by `` The Three Haircuts , '' a trio of pompous , pompadoured vocalists played by Caesar and sidekicks Carl Reiner and Howard Morris . But if you do n't , it wo n't keep you from laughing yourself stupid at the routine . By the same token , you do n't need to have seen the 1953 Oscar-winning movie `` From Here to Eternity '' to appreciate the beautifully timed expression on Caesar 's face at the climax of the parody version when he realizes -- never mind . Just watch it . Great comedy is evergreen , no matter what color it 's shot in . Though the razzmatazz culture of post-war America inspired Caesar 's all-star teams of writers , it was those same writers -- including Reiner , Mel Brooks , Neil Simon , Woody Allen , Larry Gelbart and Mel Tolkin -- who went on to establish and inspire American comedic standards for the remaining decades of the 20th century and into the next one . `` Your Show of Shows , '' after all , aired live on NBC on Saturday nights just as `` Saturday Night Live '' has for almost 40 years . When you watch a classy contemporary sitcom , whether it 's ABC 's `` Modern Family '' or HBO 's `` Veep , '' the character-driven , sophisticated slapstick has its precedents in many of the domestic sketches and satiric skits of the Caesar shows . Caesar 's roughneck persona seemed an unlikely vessel for such versatile , urbane humor . But along with his slam-bang agility , he displayed the instincts and timing of a classically trained musician . Much like the leader of a jazz ensemble , Caesar had a cultivated ear , willing to listen carefully and generously to both his writers and his fellow ensemble members Reiner , Morris , Imogene Coca and Nanette Fabray , who became as invaluable to the success of those classic shows as Caesar himself . He was also moody and temperamental . To the end of his life , he regaled interviewers with the story of how , one night in Chicago , he became so enraged at Mel Brooks that he dangled him from an 18th-story window . Brooks , apparently , did n't resent him for it , and cast Caesar in his 1976 `` Silent Movie , '' which showcased the great man 's genius for wordless wit . The years between the last `` Caesar 's Hour '' in 1957 and `` Silent Movie '' were erratic and not always happy ones for Caesar . He subdued addictions to alcohol and pills , but never caught another wave like the one he rode in the Eisenhower years . Still , he lived long enough to savor the resounding impact he and his work would have on several generations of comics , most of whom , talented as they were , could n't explode the way Sid Caesar could . The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Gene Seymour .
Gene Seymour : Sid Caesar was explosive , hilarious comic , very popular in TV 's early days . He says in the '50s , Caesar 's TV shows appealed to both working and thinking classes . His writers included Carl Reiner , Mel Brooks , Woody Allen , Neil Simon ; he was hugely influential . Seymour : He was impulsive , conquered addictions , lived long to see impact of his work .