Though it may sound like one of his cerebral comedy routines, Albert Brooks came into this world as Albert Einstein. The son of comedian Harry Einstein (better known to millions of radio fans as Parkyakarkus), Brooks briefly attended Carnegie Tech before launching a hills-and-valley career as a standup comic. Like such contemporaries as George Carlin and Robert Klein, Brooks delighted in finding humor in the inconsistencies of everyday life, and had a particular fondness for exploiting clichés that many people never realized were clichés. Two of his most fondly remembered routines involved a talking mime and a ritualistic recital of the ingredients in a carton of Cool-Whip.

After appearing as a regular on the 1969-1970 season of The Dean Martin Show (as well as its 1971 spin-off The Golddiggers), Brooks gained instant pop-culture fame for his brilliant short-subject directorial debut, The Famous Comedian's School, which was highlighted on a 1971 installment of The Great American Dream Machine…  » Read more