TV, movie and theater writer Larry Gelbart died today at age 81. The war comedy M*A*S*H was not the sum total of his career—he also wrote for Sid Caesar, wrote the movie Tootsie and the Broadway comedy A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum—but it’s what I’ll remember him for. Because, of course, it was a landmark comedy; it showed that TV comedy could be hilarious and yet serious, that a sitcom could matter, that a work of pop culture could be very dark and very entertaining. (He wrote 97 episodes over the show’s first four seasons, probably its best.) His work challenged genres and inspired many of the best writers in the medium afterward.

All true. But honestly, I’ll especially remember watching it with my Dad.