The title of “Comic Genius” gets tossed around a little too freely, and dilutes the real weight of such a moniker.  A comic genius changes the landscape of comedy and breaks new ground.  A comic genius is prolific, original and creates a legacy with work that stands the test of time. Last Friday, the entertainment industry lost a true, comic genius.  Larry Gelbart passed away at 81.

He was a writer on the landmark television show, “Caeser’s Hour” with the likes of Neil Simon, Carl Reiner, Mel Brooks and Woody Allen.  He was the youngster in the room, and didn’t do too bad for himself.  His was a comedic career that spanned 50 years and along the way established himself as one of the true elite comedy writers of our time.

In order to get a good sense of his work, a simple list of his films and television shows should demonstrate just what a giant Larry Gelbart was and how there are few who have made us laugh for so many years.

He was the comedy writer who developed the TV series “M*A*S*H” and some 50-to 60 of it’s early episodes. He co-wrote the film “Tootsie” and made George Burns God in “Oh God!”

He wrote jokes for Jack Benny, Bob Hope, Danny Kaye, Judy Garland and Danny Thomas. He wrote the books for the musicals “A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum” and “City of Angels”, the latter being a huge hit on Broadway. He wrote one of the early HBO film adaptations, “Barbarians at the Gate” and as recently as 2003, wrote the satire, “And Starring Pancho Villa as Himself,  starring Antonio Banderas as the Mexican revolutionary who cuts a deal with a movie studio interested in filming his re-imagined life.

If there are skeletons in Mr. Gelbart’s closet, it would have to be his script for the terribly uncomfortable comedy about mid-life crisis, ” Blame it on Rio”; notable for the nudity of it’s two young actresses (Michelle Johnson and Demi Moore). In this movie, two fathers bring their daughters to Rio for a vacation and one of the fathers (Michael Caine) finds himself attracted to his friend’s daughter.

Gelbart apparently wrote a pilot for the sitcom, “Three’s Company”, but it didn’t sell.  With all due respect to the late John Ritter, Gelbart was better suited to the likes of Alan Alda and Loretta Swit.

He was one of the great ones.