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Bronx-born comic genius Carl Reiner, who for 81 years entertained Americans from in front and behind the stage, screens big and small, on the printed page, in several unforgettably hilarious 2,000 yearold-man albums and even on Twitter, checked out Monday night at age 98. He leaves behind his family and a world still aching a little from laughing too hard.

Reiner credited two people who gave him his start when, as a 17-year old, a year after graduating from Evander Childs High School, he was making $8 a week working as a helper in a machinist’s shop, fixing hat machines: Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who had created the Works

Progress Administration, and his big brother Charlie.

It was Charlie who showed Carl a small article in this newspaper announcing the WPA was sponsoring free dramatic classes and urged his funny kid brother to sign up for the classes downtown. The rest, as they say, is comedy: We lost a skilled machinist and gained a legendary showman.

In a tweet last week for his short YouTube feature “Dispatches From Quarantine,” Reiner wrote, “What I am most proud of are, creating ‘The Dick Van Dyke Show’ and informing Mel Brooks that he’s 2,000 Years Old and knows everything.”

We’re most proud of you.