Had I realized that Dick Van Dyke was going to turn 99 the other day, I would have timed this better. Alas! I truly hope I can revisit this properly next year when we’ll be celebrating his centenary. The man is truly a treasure.
Here are two clips: one from The Dick Van Dyke Show from years ago (I have no idea what the context here is, other than it’s a Christmas episode because Santa is there–or rather, a guy playing Santa is there–but you can watch the entire episode here!) and a more recent number pairing Mr. Van Dyke with Jane Lynch, who I never expected to turn out to be this awesome when I first saw her doing good work in a supporting role in 1993’s The Fugitive.
There was a question on FB about what TV show could one best give a lecture about if one couldn’t do research or rewatch. the answer for me is CLEARLY the DVDS. So I remembr, without rewatching, that segment you linked to. Mar Evanier has linked to a lot of DVDS show stuff. Mark Evanier has a LOT on Dick Van Dyke a lot of it on December 13 of various years. https://www.newsfromme.com/?s=dick+van+dyke&submit=Search
BTW, the top piece is from Season 3, Episode 13 (12/18/1963) – The Alan Brady Show Presents https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jAQ8KHxb-e0. You should at least watch it at 22:00, I Am A Fine Musician, followed by Alan Brady on a sleigh, folowed by everyone doing the Dick Van Dyke theme. I suspect it was rerun in ’64 and ’65. “when (Bill) Persey and (Sam) Denoff pitched the idea the of the holiday episode, Carl Reiner said he was initially cool to the notion, worrying if the episode would have little value at the summer rerun. However, he reconsidered when it dawned on him that he could in the holiday episode once each year for the remainder of the show’s run. Owing to the large number of costume and set changes, the show would be filmed over a course of two days without a studio audience in attendance. The episode’s format was inspired by Persky and Denoff’s days as writers on the Andy Griffith Show, whose star frequently turned his own staff and their families for his annual holiday installment.” -from the official Dick Van Dyke show book by Vince Waldron
I am honestly not sure if I have ever seen an episode of TDVDS. I’ll add that to my list of “Stuff I should do….”