The History of Mel Brooks: Parts I-X
Mel Brooks has been making me laugh my whole damn life.
One of the first R-rated movies I ever saw was Blazing Saddles—the relentless flatulence of the beans-around-the-campfire scene reduced me to tears. In Spaceballs, Black Stormtroopers combing the desert with an afro pick (“Man, we ain’t found shit!”) destroyed me, as did the hilariously violent space diner dance number, though I hadn’t yet seen Alien. I’m not usually a fan of musicals, but I also adored the Rockettes-inspired sequence in Men in Tights, and all the dumb puns (“’Ey Blinken!” “Did you say ‘Abe Lincoln’?”). I am usually a fan of dumb puns, and there’s no shortage of them in Brooks’s new Hulu show, History of the World: Part II, the long-awaited-but-never-planned sequel to his 1981 film, History of the World: Part I. With the Mel Brooks Cinematic Universe (MBCU) expanding for perhaps the last time, I revisited Brooks’s bouncy 2021 memoir, All About Me!. In doing so, I realized that a) I’d only seen half his movies, and b) I didn’t actually know all that much about him. I didn’t even know that he’d been born Melvin Kaminsky, though it’s right there at the top of his Wikipedia page. (Brooks rebranded himself as a 14-year-old musician, swiping his mother’s maiden name, Brookman, then shortening it because it wouldn’t fit on his bass drum.) The shame!
To spare you the same indignity, I’ve collected some of the most memorable revelations about the diminutive icon who is probably the most prolific and successful comedy writer to ever live. (Ed. note: Evan wrote 15 revelations, but heI hope that learning or remembering the absurd scope of Brooks’s career will inspire you not only to pick up his book—which is a joy to read—but to (re)watch all his films, as I’ve been doing.
