I never saw a TV set until I was 8, and we didn’t have one until 1958 when I was 11, so I never had the joy of seeing Mel Brooks’ genius at work on Sid Caesar’s YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS until they came out in reruns. But I was definitely there in 1961 when Brooks and Carl Reiner performed THE 2.000 YEAR-OLD MAN on THE STEVE ALLEN SHOW. It’s an absolute masterpiece that is still as fresh and funny as it was 64 years ago, probably because it was—and remains—an example improv genius.

If THE PRODUCERS wasn’t enough to solidify Mel Brooks  as a Hollywood legend it was certainly cast in cement a Grauman’s Chinese Theater with the campfire fart scene in BLAZING SADDLES.

But Mel Brooks had already become my all-time favorite in 1963 when I sat in a movie theater waiting for the feature to start and watching the customary animated cartoon. (Back in the previous century movies usually began with a cartoon instead of a commercial) This one wasn’t BUGS BUNNY or THE ROADRUNNER, it was something called THE CRITIC.  The screen lit up with a jumble of crazy shapes crawling and bouncing across the screen set to weird music. At the exact moment I thought to myself, ”What the hell is this?” I heard my own thoughts projected from the screen: “What the hell is this?”. 

Only in Mel Brooks’ voice.  

Google it—you’ll thank me later.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, MEL BROOKS! Only 1,901 more to go!

–Mike Grell   (Class Clown ’65)