All about Me!: My Remarkable Life in Show Business

by Mel Brooks

but I know what Peter did. He was so enamored with the movie that he personally paid for a big industry ad in Variety that read:

Look magazine’s review came out. It was by Gene Shalit. I’ll never forget his review. He wrote, “The Producers—No one will be seated during the last 88 minutes…they’ll all be on the floor, laughing!”

there was never a subject I thought was off-limits or untouchable. If we thought of something, if it even entered our minds, no matter how bizarre or how crazy or dirty or wild or savage or not socially acceptable…we would still do it. Because if it came into our minds, it was worth exploring.

I would tell them crazy comedy alone doesn’t work. If you want a comedy to last, there’s a secret you must follow: You have to have an engine driving

big scary brute. No one in Hollywood fit the part, so we looked to professional football, and we were lucky to get Alex Karras, who had played for the Detroit Lions. He wasn’t really an actor, but he fit the part like a glove.

hadn’t realized if you can find a funny actor who can be serious, then you’ve got heaven.

“If you’re gonna step up to the bell—ring it!” And boy did I ring it. The air was filled with the unmistakable sounds of nonstop flatulence. It was the greatest farting scene in cinematic history.

It was the first time I really broke the fourth wall.

Gene said I taught him the most important lesson he ever learned about screenwriting: “The first draft is just concepts. Then you take a sledgehammer and knock the pillars of the story line as hard as you can.

On the way out, I turned back and said, “Oh, by the way, we’re going to make it in black and white.” Then I closed the door. A thundering herd of studio executives chased us down the hall from the meeting room. They

“We’re making a riotous comedy here but you don’t know it. At times it’s gotta be touching and at other times really scary. And it’s got to be very real—no heightened acting. When it’s funny, your character doesn’t know it’s funny. You’re just doing your job. The audience knows when it’s funny. But you don’t. So don’t you ever play funny.”

you feel like laughing, don’t! Stick this handkerchief in your mouth.” I turned around once in the middle of shooting a scene and saw a sea of white handkerchiefs in everybody’s mouths.

He’s so in charge. So smart. He tiptoes in and when the monster wakes up and growls at him, he goes from this commanding doctor into a terrified frightened little child. From self-assurance and perfect command to a scared kid banging on the door and screaming, “Let me out.

Our huge, magnificent Young Frankenstein poster painted on the side of the Playboy Building on Sunset Boulevard.

old-fashioned silent movie studio that was in danger of going bankrupt and being taken over by “Engulf and Devour,” a huge monolithic commercial company and a sly (or not so sly) reference to Gulf + Western.

cast the movie with big stars that would guarantee box office by gathering a huge audience. It was a great idea; we could write brilliant comic cameos tailored to their screen profiles.

Pongo lived with us for a long, long time—almost fifteen years. And I still miss him.

I proposed a few things, but he cut me off and said, “Why don’t I play myself? A big egotistical movie star!”

Shooting the Paul Newman wheelchair chase scene was one of the happiest on-set movie experiences of my life. We actually sped flat out doing our best to catch him in his chair, but we never could. Really! He was too damn good. Every once in a while, I would hear a crash of wheelchairs followed by Marty Feldman’s cockney-accented voice shouting, “I’m all right, love!”

From the doorway exits Harry Ritz, doing his famous Ritz Brothers crazy walk and

My last stroke of genius was actually getting the world-famous mime Marcel Marceau to utter the only word we would hear in Silent Movie.

I even directed the film with a megaphone to my mouth like they really did in silent movies. I’d shout, “Wave your arms! Bigger gestures! C’mon! We’re in a close-up, widen your eyes! Bernadette, show us you’re really in love! Give us more!”

Burt Reynolds was rated sixth that year. He had to put up with picking up the phone at his home and hearing me announce, “Hello, Six. This is Five speaking.’’

Which leads to one of the most important scenes in the movie. Shot by shot I begin to re-create Hitchcock’s famous shower scene from Psycho.

He only broke up once. When the birds let go and plastered me with their droppings, then I could see his shoulders shaking.

Here is the note that Alfred Hitchcock sent me, along with that beautiful case of wine.

Many years later in 2013, when I was awarded the American Film Institute’s prestigious Life Achievement Award, among the celebrated filmmakers that honored me that night was David Lynch.

were moments in the Roman Empire that tickle me to this day. One of them is Bea Arthur as the unemployment office clerk. We

I truly believe that when you’re with the right person, they love you not in spite of your flaws, but because of them.

door. As I entered the room I broke into tears. Alan asked me what was wrong, and I explained. “Could we switch rooms? Because this is the very same room that Anne and I stayed in so many years ago.”

He cost me a lot of money because I ruined so many takes he was in by helplessly breaking into loud laughter. He brilliantly improvised one of his most famous scenes in the movie, the one in which he gets caught playing with little action-figure versions of Lone Starr, Princess Vespa, and himself.

In Rob’s magical picture The Princess Bride (1987) I found my perfect Robin Hood: Cary Elwes. He had the look, the voice, and the charm. I thought he could possibly be the next Errol Flynn!

when I saw Leslie Nielsen in the Naked Gun series and was tickled by his deadpan portrayal of his character in the midst of comedy chaos.

Susan Stroman won two Tonys that night—one for Best Choreography and the other for Best Direction.

It happened just after I lost Anne. She had struggled with cancer for several years, but in 2005 she lost her battle. For a long time, I was inconsolable. It was hard to wake up and live through the day.

It was my happiest professional experience because I felt that I was truly paid for my creative work. But I’m not talking about the money. It’s a different kind of payment. It’s emotional currency. It’s audiences laughing their heads off, applauding, and at the end of the show giving you a standing ovation. My god! This is what I was always meant to do.

When he was finished and it was my turn, I interrupted him with an ad-lib about Brubeck. I said, “He never understood 4/4 time.” That got a big laugh, especially from Brubeck. And Obama retorted with, “Mel, I’m trying to say something nice about you, now. Please don’t upstage me!”

And by illuminating uncomfortable truths—about racism and sexism and anti-Semitism—he’s been called ‘our jester, asking us to see ourselves as we really are, determined

Ben Stiller took the stage to salute Robert De Niro. He looked up at the balcony where we were seated and decided to have some fun with the other honorees. He called me, “A pioneer. A trailblazer. He’s like the Barack Obama for short funny Jews.”

each possess a gift for this kind of creative empathy—a gift that allows us to exchange a sense of what’s most important and most profound in us, and to identify with our collective experience as Americans.”

They were all great, but one was particularly funny, stinging, and equally extravagant with praise and insults. That was Larry David. I had done a season of his very funny show Curb Your Enthusiasm and made a lot of jokes at his expense.

Telling a joke is one thing, making it part of a cohesive whole is something else again.

Even at an age where many people are retired I am always looking for new projects to exercise my mind and engage my creativity. Because in my experience if you’re not working, you’re not really alive.

I turned it into a special that premiered on HBO with a new title: Mel Brooks and Dick Cavett Together Again.

Boy, that really landed. I still think that the best thing in the world is saying something funny, and then having an audience explode with laughter. I will never grow tired of that. It’s magical.

comedy has the most to say about the human condition. Because if you can laugh, you can get by. You can survive when things are bad if you have a sense of humor.