Obligatory Shecky Greene reference

by Brian McKim & Traci Skene on March 24th, 2005

From the Everett (WA) Daily Herald review of Woody Allen‘s latest movie:

Allen’s joke-writing recalls a different era– the era of Shecky Greene and Allan King and Johnny Carson. It doesn’t really work anymore, and there are few actors who can work in that mode.

Doesn’t “the era of Shecky Greene and Allan King and Johnny Carson” span about 40 years or so? And, since Carson and King have only died within the last 14 months or so (and, since King was gigging right up until the last and was just as creative and relevant until then), might it not be argued that the era is not one that has passed? Eras can run coincidentally. We’re still in the era of Shecky Greene. Put it this way: If Woody Allen were to book himself into Steve Wynn’s new casino as a standup comic headliner, would anyone speak of him as from a bygone era? We think not.