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https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/mel-brooks-the-99-year-old-man-hbo-documentary-tv-review-2026>
"My few but uproarious interviews with Mel Brooks disproved the adage about
never meeting your heroes. He was the Mel a fan would want him to be—always
“on,” eager to please and promote (and that’s only the p’s), and a fount of
great show-business stories.
Judd Apatow and co-director Michael Bonfiglio’s superb two-part documentary
“Mel Brooks: The 99-Year-Old Man!” contains definitive versions of several
classic Brooks anecdotes, but as with his docs “George Carlin’s American Dream”
and “The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling,” Apatow is most interested in learning
who the artist really is.
Apatow, a self-professed “comedy nerd,” had his work cut out for him with
Brooks, who confesses to him that in past interviews, he had been, shall we
say, “inaccurate,” or used jokes to create a “public persona of Mel Brooks,”
which might be summed up as, in his words, “Your favorite Jew.”
“Do you think people know who you really are?” Apatow asks. “No,” Mel replies.
After almost four hours, they will at least have a better sense of him. Apatow
etches an indelible portrait that reveals what makes Mel Brooks run. A
recurring theme throughout is Brooks’ anything for a laugh ethos and craving
for an audience’s approval. In the opening clip, Brooks recreates the telling
song that served to introduce himself to Catskills resort audiences when he was
just starting out following his service in World War II:
“Here I am, I’m Melvin Brooks
I’ve come to stop the show.
I’m just a ham who’s minus looks
But in your heart I’ll grow…
Out of my mind,
Won’t you be kind?
And please love Melvin Brooks.”
Notes Larry Gelbart, with Brooks one of the legendary dream team of writers on
“Your Show of Shows,” “[When he was born] Mel thought that when he got slapped
in the ass that it was applause and he has not stopped performing since.”
Brooks himself tells Apatow that, as a teenager, he became a drummer (taught by
the Brooklynite contemporary Buddy Rich) because it was a way to draw attention
to himself."
Via Joyce Donahue, who wrote "I loved this. Two thumbs up!".
Share and enjoy,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
