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♪ Here I am, I'm Melvin Brooks ♪
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♪ I've come to stop the show ♪
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(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
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♪ Just a ham who's minus looks ♪
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♪ But in your hearts
I'll grow! ♪
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♪ I'll tell you gags
I'll sing you songs ♪
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♪ Happy little snappy tunes
That roll along ♪
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♪ I'm out of my mind
So, won't you be kind ♪
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♪ And please love... ♪
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♪ Melvin Brooks ♪
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All right.
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This is your home.
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You have a giant Buddha.
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-MEL BROOKS: Mm-hmm.
-Why the Buddha?
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-Just for luck.
-Just for luck.
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MEL: A house needs a Buddha,
that's-- I can tell you that.
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JUDD APATOW:
Every house needs a Buddha.
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How'd this get decorated?
Who picked this?
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MEL: My late great wife,
Anne Bancroft.
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She had good taste
in everything except husbands.
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-(CHUCKLES)
-♪ (GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
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JUDD: Is it important to you
that people know your story?
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You care about the legacy.
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No, not so much about me,
but about little, short,
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funny-looking Jews who are...
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trepidatious about entering
show business.
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JUDD: Yeah.
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I said, if I can do it,
you can do it.
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♪ (THRILLING MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
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Will you raise it up?
Thank you, Phil.
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Mel Brooks.
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So, tell me,
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do you have any more questions
about your favorite Jew?
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JUDD: Part of this for me is,
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almost everything
I've done is copying you.
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-Oh, okay. Oh!
-Whoa.
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JUDD: You're on TV.
You're funny in the interviews.
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INTERVIEWER:
It's also the first time.
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-(SNORES)
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
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I'm sorry.
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JUDD: You're doing
The 2000 Year Old Man.
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You're kind of doing stand-ups.
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...is what has kept you alive
for 2,000 years?
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-An enormous fear of death.
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
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(SCREAMING)
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JUDD:
You're directing the movies,
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you're acting in the movies,
you're writing the movies.
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Work, work, work, work,
work, work, work, work, work.
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Hello, boys.
Have a good night's rest?
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I missed you.
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JUDD: To a lot of people
who went into comedy...
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It's good to be the king.
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JUDD:
...they thought, "That seems
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like the best job
in the world..."
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-MEL: Yeah.
-JUDD: "...the Mel Brooks job."
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I'm glad nobody took it.
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-No one was as good.
-MEL: Yeah.
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You couldn't be replaced,
but you could be copied.
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-I'm working for Mel Brooks.
-♪ (THRILLING MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪
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(INDISTINCT SHOUTING)
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♪ (THRILLING MUSIC CONTINUES) ♪
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Mel Brooks.
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(VOCALIZING)
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♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
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JUDD:
You've done a lot of interviews.
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How accurate
are the great stories?
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-They're inaccurate completely.
-JUDD: Yeah.
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And do you feel
like you've had to create
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a public persona of Mel Brooks?
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I've done a lot--
I did a lot of interviews.
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Half of them
were just completely fake.
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JUDD: Do you think people know
who you really are?
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-No.
-(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
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Mel, why did you
become a comedian?
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-Sex.
-MICHAEL ASPEL: I see.
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(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
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I thought I'd get some
if I got into show business.
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And I danced my way
into the hearts of many women.
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(GUEST CHUCKLING)
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A lot of them
had to go to the hospital.
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You don't dance your way
into a human heart.
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There's a lot of surgery
that has to be...
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(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
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MEL: The name I was born with
was Melvin Kaminsky.
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JUDD: You grew up in Brooklyn.
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MEL: 365 South Third Street.
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MICHAEL: It is true,
is it not, that you were
from humble surroundings?
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Yes, yes.
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You lost your father
at an early age, didn't you?
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No, no.
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(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
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My father died.
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(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
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(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
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Michael, if we'd lost him,
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we would have sent people out
to find him.
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(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
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-JUDD: And who is this lady?
-MEL: That's Kitty Kaminsky.
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She lost her husband
when he was only 34, my father.
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Tuberculosis swept
through New York
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and he was taken.
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Terrible. And so she...
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She took care of four boys
by herself.
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JUDD: She looks tough.
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MEL: She was.
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But she was good-natured,
and she sang a lot.
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I remember when, in the winter,
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she dressed me under the covers
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so when I popped out of bed,
I'd be warm.
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JUDD: Yeah. (CHUCKLES)
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So, she dressed me
under the covers.
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I was about five years old,
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ready to go to kindergarten,
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and Bing Crosby was on
from 8:00 to 8:15 on the radio.
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She'd sing along.
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-♪ She was selling china ♪
-♪ (BING CROSBY SINGING
IN BACKGROUND) ♪
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MEL:
♪ And when she caught my eye
I kept buying china ♪
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♪ Until the crowd got... ♪
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BING CROSBY:
♪ I kept buying china... ♪
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JUDD: And that put the love
of that kind of music in you.
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-Right?
-MEL: Oh, yeah.
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She filled me with music
right from the beginning.
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She raised our spirits with her
ever-positive outlook on life.
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♪ ("I FOUND A MILLION DOLLAR
BABY" BY BING CROSBY PLAYING) ♪
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JUDD: And so, raising four kids
in the Depression,
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how did your family
just survive?
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MEL: Survive? Aunt Sadie.
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Aunt Sadie, God bless her.
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Sadie not only gave
her part of her salary, but...
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helped my mother earn something
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like 12 or 15 dollars a week.
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And I don't know
how she could do that,
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get to sleep,
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wake up before her four boys,
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and prepare breakfast, you know?
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And we had a real breakfast.
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I remember we never had bacon
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because my grandmother
lived next door.
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JUDD: Yeah. (CHUCKLES)
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And if she ever walked in
and saw bacon,
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we'd all be arrested, you know?
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-♪ ...and ten cent store ♪
-♪ (SONG CONCLUDES) ♪
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♪ (PLAYFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
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MEL: The movies to me
were the great escape.
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The smell of the lamp
from the screen,
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the candy.
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CONAN O'BRIEN:
Who were you watching?
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Who was funny to you
when you were a kid?
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MEL: Buster Keaton.
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Charlie Chaplin.
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CONAN:
Did you like the Marx Brothers?
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How do you like that?
I haven't been on the job
five minutes
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and already
she's making advances to me.
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MEL: I love them.
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Not that I care,
but where is your husband?
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Why, he's dead.
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I'll bet he's just using
that as an excuse.
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CONAN: There's something
about what they're doing
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that always has felt evocative
to me about you, which is...
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Anarchy.
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Oh, I get it!
The old mortgage on the farm.
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♪ (SINGING INDISTINCTLY) ♪
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MEL:
I also liked the Ritz Brothers.
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They were sensational.
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They danced in unison.
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They sang.
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When you watch Jerry Lewis
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or countless
great physical comics,
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they're doing...
(IMITATES SOUND EFFECTS)
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They're doing, "Harry..."
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"I'll tell you the truth."
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(IMITATES SQUEAK,
BLOWS RASPBERRY)
It's Harry Ritz.
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Here you are, sir.
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BEN STILER: Growing up
in that generation in the 1930s,
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{\an8}I know on my dad's side
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{\an8}how much fighting
there was about
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{\an8}you know, just paying the bills
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and just surviving.
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So, you know,
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the comedy instinct
to get away from all that pain,
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I think, is a very strong thing.
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And they both
came out of a background
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where nobody
was probably saying to them,
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"Hey, go be a movie star
and make movies."
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I know my dad's dad was saying,
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you should be a stagehand.
He told him that.
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Um... 'cause that was like,
it's like saying like,
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"Go and..." you know,
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"Go fly to the moon."
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You know, it was that realistic.
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Everybody's gone on
about you being
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this short Jewish chap
from poor tenement.
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-Right?
-Right, right.
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MAVIS NICHOLSON:
And so from that,
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it could be that you didn't have
a superiority complex,
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or even just an ability
to see yourself as you are.
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-But you did.
-I did.
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I was able to make
all the guys on the block laugh.
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I was able to tell the stories.
I was the commentator on life.
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I was the Jiminy Cricket
to their Pinocchio.
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I was the comic conscience
of my neighborhood.
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And I always felt adored.
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And I think that given a lot
of love as a child,
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it was the need to continue it.
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So, I never really
did feel inferior,
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though I had every right to,
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looking at myself in the mirror.
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But I never did,
I never felt inferior.
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-(HORN BLARING)
-♪ (UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
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MEL: 365 South Third Street
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had 22 apartments.
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Every single apartment
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contributed one or two members
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to the Garment Center.
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My friend Moshy Brown once said,
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"So, what do you think
you'll be?
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You think you'll be a comic?"
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I said, "No,
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I think I'm doomed."
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"I think we're all...
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heading... for Seventh Avenue,"
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which was the Garment Center.
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JUDD: So, what was the big break
that got you into comedy?
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I actually got
into show business
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because there was a guy
in my neighborhood
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by the name of Don Appell.
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{\an8}He started in the Borscht Belt,
which is,
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{\an8}for those of you
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of some exotic persuasion,
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like Catholic...
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(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
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...the Borscht Belt is a place
in the Jewish Catskills,
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right outside of New York City.
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♪ We're gonna hitchhike
Up to the Catskills ♪
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MEL: The Borscht Belt
was a starting point
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for the careers
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-of a lot of Jewish comics.
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
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MEL: So, in the summer of 1941,
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Don used his influence
to get me a job
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at the Butler Lodge.
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I was sent there as a busboy
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with... a caveat
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that if an actor broke a leg
or something,
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I could take his place.
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You're an understudy busboy.
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Understudy busboy.
247
00:09:27,984 --> 00:09:29,902
Tonight is as appropriate
as any.
248
00:09:29,986 --> 00:09:32,738
MEL: And I loved all the comics
in the mountains, you know?
249
00:09:32,822 --> 00:09:34,657
People like Myron Cohen.
250
00:09:34,740 --> 00:09:36,993
For example, this adorable
little eight-year-old girl...
251
00:09:37,034 --> 00:09:38,202
That was my dream.
252
00:09:38,286 --> 00:09:41,163
...walked into a bakery shop
and said to the baker,
253
00:09:41,205 --> 00:09:44,375
"My mommy found a fly
in the raisin bread."
254
00:09:44,458 --> 00:09:45,501
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
255
00:09:45,585 --> 00:09:48,337
He says, "So bring back the fly,
I'll give you a raisin."
256
00:09:48,379 --> 00:09:50,548
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
257
00:09:50,631 --> 00:09:52,383
JUDD:
But not every kid sees that
258
00:09:52,466 --> 00:09:54,093
and says,
"I want to be like them."
259
00:09:54,176 --> 00:09:56,387
Well, it was the response of it.
260
00:09:56,470 --> 00:09:58,389
The audience clapping
and laughing
261
00:09:58,472 --> 00:09:59,932
and joy in their face.
262
00:10:00,016 --> 00:10:03,185
I said, "Could there be
a better job than this?"
263
00:10:03,728 --> 00:10:06,522
Anyway, I got my dream.
264
00:10:07,857 --> 00:10:09,692
Life. Life is...
265
00:10:10,484 --> 00:10:11,986
can turn on you in a second.
266
00:10:12,945 --> 00:10:14,155
One of the actors
267
00:10:14,196 --> 00:10:16,449
in a play called Uncle Harry.
268
00:10:16,532 --> 00:10:18,659
Uncle Harry. He fell in a hole.
269
00:10:18,701 --> 00:10:20,411
That is the truth.
He was walking.
270
00:10:20,494 --> 00:10:21,954
He didn't see the hole.
He fell in the...
271
00:10:22,038 --> 00:10:23,205
Nobody really falls into a hole.
272
00:10:23,247 --> 00:10:24,915
Yeah, he fell in a hole.
(CHUCKLES) Nobody--
273
00:10:24,999 --> 00:10:26,792
And he fell in a hole.
He banged himself up,
274
00:10:26,876 --> 00:10:28,628
and he couldn't do the show
that night.
275
00:10:28,711 --> 00:10:29,879
So, they called me.
276
00:10:29,962 --> 00:10:30,880
I knew his lines.
277
00:10:30,963 --> 00:10:32,590
"There, there, Harry.
278
00:10:32,673 --> 00:10:34,175
Have a seat. Relax."
279
00:10:34,216 --> 00:10:35,593
(GASPS) "He knows the words!"
280
00:10:35,676 --> 00:10:37,720
I knew the words
of everybody in the cast.
281
00:10:37,803 --> 00:10:40,056
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
-I wanted to be an actor.
282
00:10:40,139 --> 00:10:41,474
MEL: So, they made me up.
283
00:10:41,557 --> 00:10:44,602
They gave me a big wig,
gave me a beard.
284
00:10:44,685 --> 00:10:46,187
Play's going on.
285
00:10:46,228 --> 00:10:49,732
Curtain is up in scene two.
I'm at my desk.
286
00:10:49,774 --> 00:10:51,067
"There, there, Harry."
287
00:10:51,108 --> 00:10:52,234
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
288
00:10:52,318 --> 00:10:53,778
"Don't be nervous."
289
00:10:53,861 --> 00:10:55,112
"Have some water
290
00:10:55,196 --> 00:10:57,615
and tell me
in your own--" Crash!
291
00:10:57,698 --> 00:10:59,241
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
-(CHUCKLES)
292
00:10:59,283 --> 00:11:01,118
I dropped that glass of water.
293
00:11:01,202 --> 00:11:02,995
-(CHUCKLES)
-MEL: I mean..
294
00:11:03,079 --> 00:11:05,581
I walked down to the footlights.
295
00:11:05,665 --> 00:11:09,251
I take my hump out.
I take my wig off.
296
00:11:09,335 --> 00:11:12,588
Take my beard. I said,
"I'm 14. I've never done this."
297
00:11:12,630 --> 00:11:14,632
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
298
00:11:14,715 --> 00:11:17,301
I knew then, "Okay, that's it."
299
00:11:17,385 --> 00:11:20,012
You got that laugh,
and that's a chemical reaction.
300
00:11:20,096 --> 00:11:21,430
MEL: That's it. It said...
301
00:11:21,514 --> 00:11:24,600
(IMITATES MYSTICAL VOICE)
"You were meant
not for the Garment Center,
302
00:11:24,642 --> 00:11:26,602
but to make people laugh.
303
00:11:26,644 --> 00:11:29,689
Go forth from this place,
Melvin,
304
00:11:29,772 --> 00:11:31,524
and make people happy.
305
00:11:31,607 --> 00:11:32,942
Make them laugh,
306
00:11:33,025 --> 00:11:35,945
and you'll get a lot more money
than the Garment Center."
307
00:11:36,028 --> 00:11:37,279
(LAUGHS)
308
00:11:38,531 --> 00:11:41,575
♪ (LIVELY MUSIC PLAYING
OVER SPEAKER) ♪
309
00:11:45,079 --> 00:11:46,747
Always keep the beat.
310
00:11:46,789 --> 00:11:48,708
I'm always
in the center of the beat.
311
00:11:50,876 --> 00:11:52,586
MEL: (OVER RECORDING)
I was a drummer.
312
00:11:52,628 --> 00:11:55,631
A tidbit of information,
only a few blocks away,
313
00:11:55,673 --> 00:11:57,675
Buddy Rich,
the famous swing drummer,
314
00:11:57,758 --> 00:12:00,720
did teach me some rudimentary
paradiddles, etcetera.
315
00:12:00,803 --> 00:12:03,055
Never wrong. Born to do it.
316
00:12:03,139 --> 00:12:04,557
INTERVIEWER:
When did you start drumming?
317
00:12:04,640 --> 00:12:06,058
MEL: When I was about 14 years.
318
00:12:06,142 --> 00:12:07,309
What I'm doing now is really
319
00:12:07,393 --> 00:12:08,811
the most important thing
a drummer can do.
320
00:12:08,853 --> 00:12:11,313
Not show off, just... drive.
321
00:12:11,397 --> 00:12:14,650
MEL: I played weddings,
bar mitzvahs, subway platforms,
322
00:12:14,734 --> 00:12:16,902
any place that would get
a couple of bucks.
323
00:12:20,740 --> 00:12:22,366
TOM SNYDER:
How did you get from the drums
324
00:12:22,450 --> 00:12:23,993
to standing up
and doing the jokes?
325
00:12:24,034 --> 00:12:25,870
And don't tell me
the comedian got sick one night
326
00:12:25,953 --> 00:12:26,996
and they called on you.
327
00:12:27,037 --> 00:12:28,831
One night the comedian got sick
and they called on me.
328
00:12:28,873 --> 00:12:30,082
-(TOM LAUGHS)
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
329
00:12:30,166 --> 00:12:32,334
MEL: "Melvin the comic is sick
and going..."
330
00:12:32,418 --> 00:12:34,378
When the comic fell ill,
331
00:12:34,462 --> 00:12:35,629
I, the drummer,
332
00:12:35,671 --> 00:12:39,008
knew all that bad material
and jumped to the stage,
333
00:12:39,049 --> 00:12:41,051
and I did these kinds of jokes.
334
00:12:41,135 --> 00:12:43,220
Good evening, ladies and germs.
335
00:12:43,304 --> 00:12:44,847
Welcome to a bang-up
variety show presented by
336
00:12:44,930 --> 00:12:47,183
and for the boys here
at the Good Luck Inn.
337
00:12:47,266 --> 00:12:49,685
We have a swell lineup
for tonight, loads of talent,
338
00:12:49,769 --> 00:12:51,437
lots of girls
will be out in a minute.
339
00:12:51,520 --> 00:12:52,688
Girls will be coming out.
340
00:12:52,772 --> 00:12:54,690
-Wait, wait, give me a break.
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
341
00:12:54,774 --> 00:12:58,194
And I'm gonna be your MC,
that's short for "mental case."
342
00:12:58,235 --> 00:12:59,653
I just flew in from Chicago
and...
343
00:12:59,695 --> 00:13:01,530
"Boy, are my arms tired."
344
00:13:01,614 --> 00:13:04,742
"I met a girl in Chicago
that was so skinny..."
345
00:13:04,825 --> 00:13:06,035
So skinny,
346
00:13:06,076 --> 00:13:08,287
that I took her to a restaurant
and the waiter said,
347
00:13:08,370 --> 00:13:09,538
"Check their umbrella."
348
00:13:09,580 --> 00:13:12,875
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
-That's all. Lousy jokes, lousy.
349
00:13:12,958 --> 00:13:15,211
But I loved it. It was all junk,
350
00:13:15,961 --> 00:13:18,172
terrible stuff, but I loved it.
351
00:13:19,131 --> 00:13:20,674
ALAN YENTOB:
Was there something special
352
00:13:20,716 --> 00:13:22,593
about being Jewish in Brooklyn
at that time?
353
00:13:22,676 --> 00:13:23,886
No, everybody was.
354
00:13:23,928 --> 00:13:24,970
(ALAN CHUCKLING)
355
00:13:25,054 --> 00:13:26,388
Every single human being
in Brooklyn
356
00:13:26,430 --> 00:13:27,598
was a Jew at that point,
357
00:13:27,681 --> 00:13:29,099
so there was nothing special
about it.
358
00:13:29,183 --> 00:13:32,686
It was quite ordinary.
It was a pedestrian thing to be.
359
00:13:32,728 --> 00:13:35,606
I mean, I went to Manhattan,
and I met all these Gentiles,
360
00:13:35,689 --> 00:13:37,066
and it was a little frightening.
361
00:13:37,149 --> 00:13:38,734
That was frightening.
I said, "My God,
362
00:13:38,818 --> 00:13:40,736
you mean there are other people
besides Jews in the world?"
363
00:13:40,820 --> 00:13:41,862
I mean...
364
00:13:41,904 --> 00:13:45,324
So, we never felt
any-- any, uh, anti-Semitism
365
00:13:45,407 --> 00:13:47,701
or any strangeness.
366
00:13:47,743 --> 00:13:50,371
Had we been transported
to Nebraska or Kansas
367
00:13:50,412 --> 00:13:51,914
or Abilene, Texas,
368
00:13:51,956 --> 00:13:54,333
yes, we would have felt.
They would have said,
369
00:13:54,416 --> 00:13:56,919
(WITH SOUTHERN ACCENT)
"What the hell
are that thing there talking in?
370
00:13:57,002 --> 00:13:58,420
In that Jew talk.
371
00:13:58,462 --> 00:14:00,840
And little. What the hell,
so little itty-bitty people.
372
00:14:00,923 --> 00:14:04,051
They're so short, so funny.
And they can count."
373
00:14:05,344 --> 00:14:06,971
"I got myself a Jew.
374
00:14:07,054 --> 00:14:10,432
I wanted an Airedale,
but I got myself a Jew instead.
375
00:14:11,100 --> 00:14:13,102
And, uh, it do everything.
376
00:14:13,143 --> 00:14:14,603
It... It...
377
00:14:14,687 --> 00:14:16,355
Ostensibly, it's my accountant,
378
00:14:16,438 --> 00:14:18,148
but it's cuter
than an accountant.
379
00:14:18,232 --> 00:14:20,609
It can count.
It don't even need a pencil.
380
00:14:20,693 --> 00:14:22,695
It can count. You just...
381
00:14:22,778 --> 00:14:25,114
All you-- Every night,
you just take a little matzos.
382
00:14:25,197 --> 00:14:27,533
That's what they eat,
unleavened bread.
383
00:14:27,616 --> 00:14:30,119
You put that in their dish
in a little water to soften up
384
00:14:30,202 --> 00:14:31,620
because they'll cut their gums.
385
00:14:31,704 --> 00:14:35,332
You don't want a little Jew
bleeding all over your carpet.
386
00:14:35,416 --> 00:14:38,002
You give them the matzos,
and the little Jews,
387
00:14:38,085 --> 00:14:39,378
and they love you for it.
388
00:14:39,461 --> 00:14:41,881
They love you for it.
They're wonderful people."
389
00:14:41,964 --> 00:14:43,215
(FILM REEL WHIRRING)
390
00:14:43,299 --> 00:14:45,467
(AIRPLANE ENGINES ROARING)
391
00:14:45,551 --> 00:14:48,554
MEL: I knew I wanted to go
into show business,
392
00:14:48,637 --> 00:14:50,848
but Hitler had started a war.
393
00:14:50,931 --> 00:14:53,684
-♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-MEL: I was 17 years old,
394
00:14:53,767 --> 00:14:55,603
and in my senior year,
395
00:14:55,644 --> 00:14:59,815
when I joined
the Army Reserve trainees.
396
00:14:59,899 --> 00:15:02,484
JUDD: Everyone goes off to war.
Did all your brothers go?
397
00:15:02,568 --> 00:15:06,363
Four blue stars on a flag
in the window.
398
00:15:06,447 --> 00:15:07,823
-JUDD: Wow.
-Can you believe that?
399
00:15:07,865 --> 00:15:09,617
-JUDD: And your mom
is suddenly alone.
-And...
400
00:15:09,658 --> 00:15:11,869
Suddenly she's alone
and she's...
401
00:15:11,952 --> 00:15:14,330
praying every night
for her boys...
402
00:15:14,413 --> 00:15:16,332
-JUDD: Wow.
-...to survive the war.
403
00:15:18,167 --> 00:15:22,463
My brother Lenny was a hero,
literally.
404
00:15:22,504 --> 00:15:26,050
He was a waist gunner
in a B-17 bomber.
405
00:15:26,133 --> 00:15:29,345
He was shot down and he was
a prisoner of war for 18 months.
406
00:15:29,428 --> 00:15:30,846
-JUDD: Wow.
-It was difficult.
407
00:15:32,348 --> 00:15:34,850
I enlisted.
That was the last good war.
408
00:15:34,892 --> 00:15:36,936
And I was going
to kill all the Nazis.
409
00:15:37,019 --> 00:15:39,188
And I was sent
by the army to VMI,
410
00:15:39,271 --> 00:15:42,066
the West Point of the South,
Virginia Military Institute.
411
00:15:42,149 --> 00:15:43,817
And I was the only Jew
412
00:15:43,859 --> 00:15:46,195
that ever rode a horse
and flashed a saber.
413
00:15:46,278 --> 00:15:48,447
INTERVIEWER: You're acutely
aware of being Jewish.
414
00:15:48,530 --> 00:15:49,531
MEL: Yes, I am.
415
00:15:49,573 --> 00:15:52,242
And I was very aware of
being different.
416
00:15:52,326 --> 00:15:54,870
I was very aware of
our being treated differently.
417
00:15:54,954 --> 00:15:55,913
It was shocking
418
00:15:55,996 --> 00:15:57,539
because I didn't think
we were different.
419
00:15:57,581 --> 00:15:59,249
INTERVIEWER: How were you
treated differently?
420
00:15:59,333 --> 00:16:02,127
MEL: "You Jew bastard!"
How's that for being treated?
421
00:16:02,211 --> 00:16:03,379
And a punch in the eye
422
00:16:03,462 --> 00:16:05,130
from a kid
that I extended my hand to,
423
00:16:05,214 --> 00:16:06,799
I was gonna shake hands with.
424
00:16:06,882 --> 00:16:08,676
But I didn't flee
and I didn't cry.
425
00:16:09,385 --> 00:16:10,636
I grabbed him
426
00:16:11,220 --> 00:16:12,596
and I hit him.
427
00:16:12,680 --> 00:16:16,058
I beat him so badly
that no one ever,
428
00:16:16,100 --> 00:16:18,060
ever again in that school
429
00:16:18,143 --> 00:16:20,020
went near me
in a negative manner.
430
00:16:21,397 --> 00:16:26,068
I was sent from a provincial
tenement in Brooklyn
431
00:16:26,110 --> 00:16:27,403
to France.
432
00:16:27,444 --> 00:16:31,407
1104th Engineer Combat
Battalion.
433
00:16:31,448 --> 00:16:33,492
JUDD: And the Germans
had just left France?
434
00:16:33,575 --> 00:16:34,576
MEL: Yeah.
435
00:16:34,660 --> 00:16:36,328
JUDD:
And so your job was to make sure
436
00:16:36,412 --> 00:16:38,580
-they didn't leave behind
booby traps?
-MEL: Right.
437
00:16:38,664 --> 00:16:41,250
Forty-five degree angle
with your bayonet,
438
00:16:41,291 --> 00:16:42,960
go through the soil,
439
00:16:43,043 --> 00:16:45,587
find, find, find. Dink, dink.
440
00:16:45,671 --> 00:16:46,922
Uh-oh.
441
00:16:47,006 --> 00:16:49,133
The first thing we learned,
442
00:16:49,216 --> 00:16:52,094
if you go to the bathroom,
never pull the chain.
443
00:16:52,177 --> 00:16:53,971
-(JUDD CHUCKLES)
-'Cause...
444
00:16:54,054 --> 00:16:56,265
that's one way ticket to death.
445
00:16:56,306 --> 00:17:01,186
They put dynamite attached to,
you know, in the water closet.
446
00:17:01,270 --> 00:17:04,064
-JUDD: Yeah.
-You pull that, boom.
447
00:17:04,106 --> 00:17:07,401
Had I been born
six months earlier,
448
00:17:07,443 --> 00:17:10,446
I would have been
in the Battle of the Bulge.
449
00:17:10,487 --> 00:17:12,614
So, we're very, very lucky.
450
00:17:13,157 --> 00:17:14,116
JUDD: And were you aware
451
00:17:14,199 --> 00:17:16,160
what was happening
with the Holocaust?
452
00:17:16,243 --> 00:17:17,786
MEL: I heard rumors, but...
453
00:17:17,828 --> 00:17:20,330
no, not at all.
454
00:17:20,414 --> 00:17:22,958
♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
455
00:17:23,000 --> 00:17:25,627
JUDD: Now, you're in the paper
during the war.
456
00:17:25,711 --> 00:17:27,296
It says, "A Star is Born."
457
00:17:27,379 --> 00:17:30,591
I left the engineers
and went into show business,
458
00:17:30,632 --> 00:17:32,801
you know, army show business.
459
00:17:32,885 --> 00:17:34,136
JUDD:
Head of the entertainment crew
460
00:17:34,219 --> 00:17:36,555
-for special services.
-Exactly.
461
00:17:36,638 --> 00:17:38,974
JUDD: So, you recreated
the Borscht Belt in Germany.
462
00:17:39,058 --> 00:17:41,769
MEL: I surrounded myself
with German entertainers.
463
00:17:41,810 --> 00:17:43,062
JUDD: Were they upset with you
464
00:17:43,145 --> 00:17:44,521
'cause the city
had been bombed,
465
00:17:44,605 --> 00:17:47,024
or were they happy
to be freed from Hitler?
466
00:17:47,107 --> 00:17:48,484
MEL: They were happy to be freed
467
00:17:48,525 --> 00:17:49,818
from not having to send
468
00:17:49,860 --> 00:17:52,404
another boy to his grave.
469
00:17:52,488 --> 00:17:53,739
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
470
00:17:53,822 --> 00:17:54,823
The war changed me.
471
00:17:54,865 --> 00:17:58,160
Little by little,
I would see where people lived,
472
00:17:58,202 --> 00:18:01,455
and I'd hear stories
where families...
473
00:18:01,497 --> 00:18:03,916
were decimated, you know,
the whole family.
474
00:18:04,500 --> 00:18:06,502
It wasn't good.
475
00:18:06,585 --> 00:18:09,171
JUDD: And how does that affect
your sense of humor,
476
00:18:09,254 --> 00:18:10,881
to see so much tragedy?
477
00:18:11,965 --> 00:18:15,260
I don't know.
Maybe I just tried to, uh...
478
00:18:16,553 --> 00:18:18,972
tried to... stuff it somewhere,
479
00:18:19,014 --> 00:18:20,182
you know?
480
00:18:21,308 --> 00:18:23,602
Finally, at 20,
I was discharged.
481
00:18:24,353 --> 00:18:26,980
I missed my brothers, my mother.
482
00:18:27,022 --> 00:18:29,942
Twenty, you're still a baby boy.
You're just a kid, you know?
483
00:18:30,025 --> 00:18:31,777
JUDD:
That's a lot of life before 20.
484
00:18:31,860 --> 00:18:33,904
MEL:
Yeah, it's a lot of life, right.
485
00:18:35,864 --> 00:18:37,282
NICHOLAS BROOKS:
I remember my dad
486
00:18:37,366 --> 00:18:40,494
in my Grandma Kitty's apartment.
487
00:18:40,536 --> 00:18:44,039
{\an8}There was a little box
of his war memorabilia,
488
00:18:44,081 --> 00:18:46,875
{\an8}and I remember
he tried to put on his jacket
489
00:18:46,959 --> 00:18:48,752
that he had worn as a corporal.
490
00:18:48,836 --> 00:18:50,212
Didn't quite fit him.
491
00:18:50,254 --> 00:18:53,215
There was things
he was able to share with me.
492
00:18:53,257 --> 00:18:56,051
For years after he, um--
493
00:18:56,093 --> 00:18:58,720
he got back from Europe,
494
00:18:58,762 --> 00:19:01,557
when there was
like a truck backfire,
495
00:19:01,598 --> 00:19:05,644
he would just have to fight
not to hit the ground, you know?
496
00:19:06,562 --> 00:19:09,982
There was
a little bit of that PTSD.
497
00:19:10,065 --> 00:19:12,442
I think that was
part of his journey.
498
00:19:15,612 --> 00:19:17,990
MEL: (OVER RECORDING)
My name is Melvin Kaminsky,
499
00:19:18,073 --> 00:19:21,243
and today is February 24th,
1947...
500
00:19:21,326 --> 00:19:22,911
MEL: If you don't get killed
in the army,
501
00:19:22,995 --> 00:19:24,496
you can learn a lot.
502
00:19:24,580 --> 00:19:27,249
I reconnected with Don Appell.
503
00:19:27,291 --> 00:19:30,335
One of his discoveries
when he was a social director,
504
00:19:30,419 --> 00:19:33,088
Sid Caesar was opening
505
00:19:33,172 --> 00:19:36,675
at the Copacabana
as the leading comic.
506
00:19:36,758 --> 00:19:39,094
We bonded immediately.
507
00:19:39,178 --> 00:19:41,180
And if there was no Sid Caesar,
508
00:19:41,263 --> 00:19:43,807
there would never have been
a Mel Brooks.
509
00:19:43,891 --> 00:19:45,100
Why don't you answer the phone?
510
00:19:45,142 --> 00:19:47,227
{\an8}What are you guys,
a bunch of mice?
511
00:19:47,269 --> 00:19:49,146
{\an8}I'll answer the phone.
512
00:19:49,229 --> 00:19:50,772
{\an8}MEL: One day, Sid called me.
513
00:19:50,856 --> 00:19:52,024
"Mel, they want me
514
00:19:52,107 --> 00:19:53,817
to do this thing
called television."
515
00:19:53,901 --> 00:19:55,068
Oh.
516
00:19:55,110 --> 00:19:56,945
Well, look, honey, we're right
in the middle of a poker game.
517
00:19:56,987 --> 00:19:58,488
-That's right.
-FRIEND 1: That's telling her.
518
00:19:58,572 --> 00:20:00,532
-FRIEND 2: Atta boy, Charlie.
-FRIEND 3: That's telling her.
519
00:20:00,616 --> 00:20:02,576
Now, look,
I can't do anything about that.
520
00:20:02,618 --> 00:20:04,786
Now, look, I...
No, I'm sorry. Look.
521
00:20:04,828 --> 00:20:06,663
Look, we're in the middle
of a poker game.
522
00:20:06,747 --> 00:20:08,123
Will you understand that?
523
00:20:08,165 --> 00:20:10,542
-FRIEND 1: That's telling her!
-FRIEND 2: Tell her
you're gonna be...
524
00:20:10,626 --> 00:20:13,378
Now, look. Look, once in a mile,
525
00:20:13,462 --> 00:20:16,506
a guy's got a right
to a night to play poker, right?
526
00:20:16,590 --> 00:20:18,508
Now, look.
Now, just don't call up again.
527
00:20:18,592 --> 00:20:19,760
Goodbye.
528
00:20:19,801 --> 00:20:23,222
Atta boy, Charlie. (CHUCKLES)
You told her, Charlie boy, huh?
529
00:20:23,305 --> 00:20:24,514
Yes, sir.
530
00:20:25,724 --> 00:20:26,975
That was your wife, Danny.
531
00:20:27,017 --> 00:20:29,853
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
532
00:20:29,937 --> 00:20:32,105
CONAN: As televisions
are making their way
533
00:20:32,147 --> 00:20:34,149
across the United States...
534
00:20:34,233 --> 00:20:35,651
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
535
00:20:35,692 --> 00:20:38,403
...people are figuring out
what the format is.
536
00:20:38,487 --> 00:20:40,489
{\an8}These guys know
the stuff they loved,
537
00:20:40,530 --> 00:20:42,366
{\an8}which is Marx Brothers,
Ritz Brothers,
538
00:20:42,449 --> 00:20:43,617
{\an8}Borscht Belt.
539
00:20:43,659 --> 00:20:45,327
{\an8}There is a tradition.
540
00:20:45,410 --> 00:20:47,329
There's a tradition
that's been around.
541
00:20:47,412 --> 00:20:49,706
It's just now
there's a new technology.
542
00:20:49,790 --> 00:20:50,832
(CLATTER)
543
00:20:50,874 --> 00:20:52,793
No one will notice that.
It'll come right out in editing.
544
00:20:52,834 --> 00:20:54,836
Look, boy.
545
00:20:54,920 --> 00:20:56,755
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
-We don't like your boy.
546
00:20:56,838 --> 00:20:59,508
CONAN: If you are Jewish
547
00:20:59,591 --> 00:21:01,218
and it's the late '40s,
548
00:21:01,802 --> 00:21:02,886
and you wanna make it,
549
00:21:02,970 --> 00:21:04,513
and you've got
some comedy talent,
550
00:21:04,554 --> 00:21:05,681
there's a lot of things
551
00:21:05,722 --> 00:21:07,724
that probably
aren't open to you.
552
00:21:07,808 --> 00:21:09,935
But this is the way
553
00:21:10,018 --> 00:21:11,812
for a Mel Brooks to make it.
554
00:21:11,853 --> 00:21:13,689
Now hear this!
555
00:21:13,730 --> 00:21:14,773
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
556
00:21:14,856 --> 00:21:17,776
{\an8}Mel Brooks was not on camera
on Your Show of Shows.
557
00:21:17,859 --> 00:21:20,195
{\an8}He was behind the scenes.
He was in the writer's room.
558
00:21:21,196 --> 00:21:22,823
And he was staying
out of the view
559
00:21:22,864 --> 00:21:25,033
{\an8}of producer Max Liebman
560
00:21:25,075 --> 00:21:27,828
{\an8}'cause he technically
wasn't supposed to be there.
561
00:21:27,869 --> 00:21:31,581
He was being paid
under the table by Sid Caesar.
562
00:21:32,791 --> 00:21:34,835
-MEL: I belonged to Sid.
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
563
00:21:34,876 --> 00:21:36,044
I didn't belong to the show,
564
00:21:36,128 --> 00:21:37,546
I didn't belong
to Max Liebman...
565
00:21:37,587 --> 00:21:39,298
-SID CAESAR: That's right.
-...I belonged to Sid.
566
00:21:39,381 --> 00:21:41,216
Max wouldn't pay him
the 40 dollars a week,
567
00:21:41,258 --> 00:21:42,718
so I paid him
the 40 dollars a week.
568
00:21:42,801 --> 00:21:46,013
{\an8}And then Mel pleaded with me,
said he needed 45 to live.
569
00:21:46,054 --> 00:21:47,597
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
570
00:21:47,681 --> 00:21:49,683
And Max didn't care
if you lived or not.
571
00:21:49,725 --> 00:21:50,851
And Max said no.
572
00:21:50,892 --> 00:21:55,439
Max Liebman
was not exactly thrilled
573
00:21:56,023 --> 00:21:57,482
to have me around.
574
00:21:57,566 --> 00:21:59,234
When he saw me...
575
00:21:59,318 --> 00:22:03,405
he assessed my character
and personality immediately.
576
00:22:03,488 --> 00:22:05,282
-He was absolutely right.
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
577
00:22:05,365 --> 00:22:06,491
You know?
578
00:22:06,575 --> 00:22:08,577
He saw a very... an arrogant,
579
00:22:08,660 --> 00:22:10,579
obnoxious little shithead...
580
00:22:10,662 --> 00:22:11,747
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
581
00:22:11,830 --> 00:22:13,248
...who thought
he knew everything
582
00:22:13,332 --> 00:22:17,669
and had patience for nothing
but his own thoughts.
583
00:22:17,753 --> 00:22:19,338
We had terrible fights,
584
00:22:19,421 --> 00:22:21,423
and he said, "You're nothing.
585
00:22:21,506 --> 00:22:24,301
You got a big mouth,
but you're nothing.
586
00:22:24,384 --> 00:22:27,095
You talk a lot,
but you're nothing.
587
00:22:27,137 --> 00:22:30,223
Make a lot of noise,
but you're nothing."
588
00:22:31,058 --> 00:22:32,392
And I said,
"And you're the boss,
589
00:22:32,434 --> 00:22:34,061
and you're the boss
over nothing!"
590
00:22:34,102 --> 00:22:36,521
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
591
00:22:36,605 --> 00:22:38,273
MEL: Max hated me.
592
00:22:38,357 --> 00:22:41,651
He said, "Mel Brooks
is a living interruption."
593
00:22:41,735 --> 00:22:44,196
Sometimes I would interrupt,
you know,
594
00:22:44,279 --> 00:22:46,531
Jimmy Starbuck,
our choreographer,
595
00:22:46,615 --> 00:22:48,116
would get them all lined up
596
00:22:48,158 --> 00:22:51,495
and give them a step
that they could do together.
597
00:22:51,578 --> 00:22:53,914
And suddenly,
I appeared from nowhere
598
00:22:53,955 --> 00:22:56,958
because
I could not resist the shiny,
599
00:22:57,000 --> 00:23:00,003
beautiful wooden floors.
600
00:23:00,087 --> 00:23:01,797
I would run in,
601
00:23:01,838 --> 00:23:04,716
slide all the way
across the dance floor,
602
00:23:04,800 --> 00:23:07,761
hit the opposite wall and shout,
"Safe."
603
00:23:07,803 --> 00:23:10,263
LARRY GELBART: I remember
when I went to work for Sid,
604
00:23:10,305 --> 00:23:12,474
{\an8}most everybody here was there
605
00:23:12,516 --> 00:23:13,850
{\an8}a little younger at the time.
606
00:23:13,934 --> 00:23:14,893
{\an8}(GUESTS CHUCKLING)
607
00:23:14,976 --> 00:23:16,812
The late Selma Diamond
was there.
608
00:23:16,853 --> 00:23:19,022
The late Mel Brooks was there.
Mel was always late.
609
00:23:19,106 --> 00:23:20,816
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
610
00:23:20,857 --> 00:23:22,025
Always, yeah.
611
00:23:22,567 --> 00:23:23,777
{\an8}And the door would open,
612
00:23:23,819 --> 00:23:26,238
{\an8}and Mel would come in
with a straw hat
613
00:23:26,321 --> 00:23:27,739
{\an8}and he'd fling it
across the room,
614
00:23:27,823 --> 00:23:29,241
and he said, "Lindy made it!"
615
00:23:29,324 --> 00:23:30,867
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
616
00:23:30,951 --> 00:23:33,829
-♪ (UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-MEL: The writing staff.
Listen to this staff.
617
00:23:33,912 --> 00:23:35,664
Larry Gelbart,
who wrote M.A.S.H.,
618
00:23:36,289 --> 00:23:37,499
there was Neil Simon,
619
00:23:37,582 --> 00:23:40,001
Mel Tolkin, Lucille Kallen,
620
00:23:40,085 --> 00:23:42,254
and later,
there was Woody Allen.
621
00:23:42,337 --> 00:23:44,172
This is your roving reporter,
Carl Reiner,
622
00:23:44,256 --> 00:23:47,717
-here at LaGuardia Airport...
-MEL: And then
we discovered Carl Reiner.
623
00:23:47,801 --> 00:23:49,928
He was my best friend
in the world,
624
00:23:50,554 --> 00:23:51,805
and I loved him.
625
00:23:51,847 --> 00:23:53,432
♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
626
00:23:53,515 --> 00:23:57,185
{\an8}Mel has some kind of problem
with getting up.
627
00:23:57,269 --> 00:23:59,354
{\an8}Low blood sugar, we don't know.
628
00:23:59,396 --> 00:24:01,189
He couldn't get up till twelve,
one o'clock,
629
00:24:01,273 --> 00:24:03,567
and he would call
the Carnegie Delicatessen
630
00:24:03,650 --> 00:24:07,028
and have his bagel
and coffee preceded him.
631
00:24:07,070 --> 00:24:08,613
When the bagel and coffee came,
632
00:24:08,697 --> 00:24:10,699
we knew Mel
would be soon behind.
633
00:24:10,740 --> 00:24:13,410
I usually came
about 45 minutes late.
634
00:24:13,493 --> 00:24:15,996
-SHELDON KELLER:
One o'clock in the afternoon.
-No, no, no, no.
635
00:24:16,037 --> 00:24:18,039
-Everybody got in, what?
-10:00.
636
00:24:18,081 --> 00:24:19,332
-10:00.
-About 10:00. And I would--
637
00:24:19,374 --> 00:24:21,751
-SID: Not about 10:00, 10:00!
-They-- Hold on.
638
00:24:21,835 --> 00:24:22,878
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
639
00:24:22,961 --> 00:24:24,421
MEL: I had trouble--
640
00:24:24,504 --> 00:24:26,715
I had insomnia,
I had trouble sleeping.
641
00:24:26,756 --> 00:24:29,718
I was a World War II
combat veteran.
642
00:24:29,801 --> 00:24:30,802
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
643
00:24:30,886 --> 00:24:34,931
Sid was in the Coast Guard.
He went to Coney Island.
644
00:24:35,015 --> 00:24:36,766
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
-(GUESTS LAUGHING)
645
00:24:36,850 --> 00:24:38,518
MEL: But one day, I go to Sid.
646
00:24:38,560 --> 00:24:40,228
I said,
"Thank you for paying, Sid."
647
00:24:40,312 --> 00:24:41,897
And I give him two dollars.
He said...
648
00:24:42,814 --> 00:24:44,357
"No, no, no.
It's a little more than that."
649
00:24:44,399 --> 00:24:45,650
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
650
00:24:45,734 --> 00:24:46,902
I said, "How much?"
651
00:24:46,985 --> 00:24:49,321
He said, "I gave the guy
a 25-dollar tip."
652
00:24:49,404 --> 00:24:52,407
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
653
00:24:52,491 --> 00:24:53,575
Well, he did.
654
00:24:53,617 --> 00:24:55,660
He did.
He gave the guy a 25-dollar tip
655
00:24:55,744 --> 00:24:57,704
to teach me a lesson
not to come late.
656
00:24:58,371 --> 00:25:00,332
And the coffee was cold.
657
00:25:00,415 --> 00:25:02,834
-(GUEST LAUGHING)
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
658
00:25:02,918 --> 00:25:04,503
Two German planes go down.
659
00:25:04,586 --> 00:25:06,838
(IMITATES PLANE ENGINES
SPUTTERING)
660
00:25:06,922 --> 00:25:08,423
But still the Germans come on.
661
00:25:08,465 --> 00:25:09,508
(IMITATES HEAVY GUNFIRE)
662
00:25:09,591 --> 00:25:10,675
And the American...
663
00:25:10,759 --> 00:25:12,844
-(VOCALIZES)
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
664
00:25:12,928 --> 00:25:14,763
JUDD: All of your compatriots
665
00:25:15,222 --> 00:25:16,473
always say
666
00:25:16,556 --> 00:25:18,975
he was the funniest performer
of everybody.
667
00:25:19,059 --> 00:25:20,602
Two more German planes go down.
668
00:25:20,644 --> 00:25:21,853
(IMITATES PLANE ENGINES ROARING)
669
00:25:21,937 --> 00:25:25,190
-(IMITATES ENGINES SPUTTERING)
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
670
00:25:25,273 --> 00:25:28,944
(BLOWING RASPBERRY)
671
00:25:30,862 --> 00:25:31,863
He's in trouble.
672
00:25:31,947 --> 00:25:33,448
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
673
00:25:34,115 --> 00:25:36,243
Sid never came on as funny.
674
00:25:36,284 --> 00:25:38,662
Funny was always
a bit of a surprise.
675
00:25:38,745 --> 00:25:42,999
He came on
as being sincere and earnest.
676
00:25:43,083 --> 00:25:44,709
And then he'd say things
677
00:25:44,793 --> 00:25:48,547
that nobody who was sincere
or earnest would ever say.
678
00:25:48,630 --> 00:25:50,799
(SPEAKING GERMAN)
679
00:25:50,882 --> 00:25:51,967
Nose crooked...
680
00:25:52,008 --> 00:25:53,134
(INDISTINCT SHOUTING)
681
00:25:53,218 --> 00:25:56,179
MEL: He was
a very crazy combination
682
00:25:56,263 --> 00:25:57,806
-(SOBS)
-MEL: ...of poetry...
683
00:25:57,889 --> 00:25:58,890
(SPEAKING GIBBERISH)
684
00:25:58,974 --> 00:26:00,058
Food... (SPEAKS GIBBERISH)
685
00:26:00,141 --> 00:26:01,393
MEL: And caveman.
686
00:26:01,476 --> 00:26:03,061
...knife and fork...
687
00:26:03,144 --> 00:26:04,396
(SPEAKING GIBBERISH)
688
00:26:04,479 --> 00:26:06,022
Knife and fork, get in my eye.
689
00:26:06,106 --> 00:26:08,316
I would have been
a comic ten years earlier,
690
00:26:08,358 --> 00:26:10,986
but he was such a great vehicle
for my passion.
691
00:26:11,069 --> 00:26:13,280
He could do anything.
He mimicked people.
692
00:26:13,321 --> 00:26:15,073
I mean, he didn't do Bogart,
he didn't do Cagney,
693
00:26:15,156 --> 00:26:17,409
he just did people,
recognizable types.
694
00:26:17,492 --> 00:26:19,536
He really was
incredibly talented.
695
00:26:19,619 --> 00:26:22,163
(SPEAKING GIBBERISH
WITH ITALIAN ACCENT)
696
00:26:22,205 --> 00:26:24,291
(SPEAKING ITALIAN)
697
00:26:24,332 --> 00:26:30,505
(BOTH SPEAKING GIBBERISH)
698
00:26:30,547 --> 00:26:31,840
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
699
00:26:31,881 --> 00:26:38,013
(SPEAKING GIBBERISH
WITH FRENCH ACCENT)
700
00:26:38,096 --> 00:26:41,558
(SPEAKING GIBBERISH
WITH FRENCH ACCENT)
701
00:26:41,641 --> 00:26:45,353
(BOTH SPEAKING GIBBERISH
WITH FRENCH ACCENT)
702
00:26:45,437 --> 00:26:47,188
(BOTH SPEAKING GIBBERISH
WITH FRENCH ACCENT)
703
00:26:47,230 --> 00:26:52,193
(BOTH SPEAKING GIBBERISH
WITH FRENCH ACCENT)
704
00:26:54,362 --> 00:26:55,530
-En garde!
-En garde!
705
00:26:55,614 --> 00:26:56,698
(GUNSHOT)
706
00:26:56,740 --> 00:27:00,368
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
707
00:27:00,410 --> 00:27:04,039
Sid was also
the strongest human being.
708
00:27:04,080 --> 00:27:05,540
-The strongest--
-JOHNNY CARSON: Physically?
709
00:27:05,624 --> 00:27:07,292
Physically, the golden boy.
710
00:27:07,375 --> 00:27:09,753
He didn't like a joke,
he lifted the metal desk
and the typewriter.
711
00:27:09,836 --> 00:27:11,421
"I don't like it!" he said.
"Okay."
712
00:27:11,504 --> 00:27:12,922
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
713
00:27:13,006 --> 00:27:15,884
"No-- Don't have to be in.
Don't have to be in." Right?
714
00:27:15,925 --> 00:27:19,220
He took out a joke of mine
from a sketch
715
00:27:19,262 --> 00:27:21,264
and I got very angry.
716
00:27:21,348 --> 00:27:23,266
Mel fought for this joke
for a week.
717
00:27:23,350 --> 00:27:24,851
I said,
"I want you to do that joke.
718
00:27:24,893 --> 00:27:25,852
You're an idiot!
719
00:27:25,894 --> 00:27:27,520
You've got to do that joke
because it's funny."
720
00:27:27,562 --> 00:27:28,980
"You do the joke."
721
00:27:29,064 --> 00:27:31,650
And I punched him in the face,
knocked him against the car.
722
00:27:31,733 --> 00:27:35,028
I realized slowly...
"What have I done?"
723
00:27:35,070 --> 00:27:37,197
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
724
00:27:37,238 --> 00:27:39,199
He could have done this
and sent me to Chicago.
725
00:27:39,240 --> 00:27:41,242
-(GUESTS LAUGHING)
-He looked at me and said,
726
00:27:41,326 --> 00:27:43,328
"Well, if you feel that strong
about it, let's try it."
727
00:27:43,411 --> 00:27:44,579
(GUESTS LAUGHING)
728
00:27:44,621 --> 00:27:47,582
Very early on,
when we did the Show of Shows,
729
00:27:47,666 --> 00:27:49,167
we went to Chicago.
730
00:27:49,250 --> 00:27:51,211
And I was writing for Sid.
731
00:27:51,252 --> 00:27:52,545
We played the Palmer House,
732
00:27:52,587 --> 00:27:54,005
the Empire Room
at the Palmer House.
733
00:27:54,089 --> 00:27:56,424
And Sid rented a car,
and we were driving in the car.
734
00:27:56,508 --> 00:27:57,592
Cab cut us off.
735
00:27:57,634 --> 00:27:59,803
Cab driver said things
you cannot say on television.
736
00:27:59,886 --> 00:28:02,764
Sid said,
"Moment, moment, sir, moment."
737
00:28:02,806 --> 00:28:04,391
Got out of the car,
went to the cab driver.
738
00:28:04,432 --> 00:28:07,560
Cab driver wearing a yellow hat
and a little leather bow tie.
739
00:28:08,228 --> 00:28:09,729
He's... And the cab driver
740
00:28:09,771 --> 00:28:11,648
was looking through
this little clipper window.
741
00:28:11,731 --> 00:28:12,941
Remember those?
It had a little clip--
742
00:28:12,982 --> 00:28:16,361
And he says to Sid,
more invectives, more,
743
00:28:16,444 --> 00:28:18,780
you know, very bad cursing.
744
00:28:18,863 --> 00:28:21,533
And Sid just said to him,
"Do you remember birth?
745
00:28:21,616 --> 00:28:22,909
JOHNNY: "Do you remember birth?"
746
00:28:22,951 --> 00:28:24,953
Birth. He said, "What?"
"Do you remember being born?"
747
00:28:25,036 --> 00:28:26,621
"Do you remember birth,
your birth?"
748
00:28:26,705 --> 00:28:27,789
He said, "No. What?"
749
00:28:27,872 --> 00:28:29,165
He said,
"We're going to reenact it."
750
00:28:29,249 --> 00:28:31,960
He grabbed him
by the leather bow tie,
751
00:28:32,043 --> 00:28:33,211
and began pulling him.
752
00:28:33,294 --> 00:28:36,673
-(SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
-(JOHNNY AND AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
753
00:28:36,756 --> 00:28:42,637
-(LAUGHING)
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING, APPLAUDING)
754
00:28:42,721 --> 00:28:43,847
It was so...
755
00:28:45,390 --> 00:28:48,017
Pulling him
through the little window?
756
00:28:48,101 --> 00:28:50,603
And I promise you
Sid could have got him through,
757
00:28:50,645 --> 00:28:51,730
but I bit his hand.
758
00:28:51,813 --> 00:28:53,481
-(INAUDIBLE)
-(JOHNNY LAUGHING)
759
00:28:53,523 --> 00:28:55,817
JOHNNY: Somewhere there's
a very long cab driver
760
00:28:55,859 --> 00:28:58,153
back in Chicago, to this day.
761
00:28:58,194 --> 00:29:00,488
INTERVIEWER: Your showbiz dream
is coming true,
762
00:29:00,572 --> 00:29:02,824
but there's so much pressure
doing this weekly show
763
00:29:02,907 --> 00:29:04,993
that you started
getting anxiety attacks.
764
00:29:05,034 --> 00:29:07,829
MEL: I started to get nervous,
765
00:29:07,871 --> 00:29:10,248
and I thought
I wasn't holding my end up.
766
00:29:10,331 --> 00:29:14,043
So, I began
getting very anxious,
767
00:29:14,127 --> 00:29:16,171
acutely depressed, nervous.
768
00:29:16,212 --> 00:29:18,423
And I remember saying
to Mel Tolkin,
769
00:29:18,506 --> 00:29:21,426
"Mel, I'm vomiting
between parked cars.
770
00:29:21,509 --> 00:29:23,511
I can't do this. I can't sleep.
771
00:29:24,012 --> 00:29:25,305
It's impossible."
772
00:29:25,346 --> 00:29:28,516
He said, "Relax.
You're an animal.
773
00:29:28,600 --> 00:29:30,101
You're not a person yet.
774
00:29:30,185 --> 00:29:34,272
But you have the makings
of a very bright human being."
775
00:29:34,355 --> 00:29:37,400
And he got me
into psychoanalysis.
776
00:29:38,526 --> 00:29:41,362
I had a dream about being
at the wheel of a car
777
00:29:41,446 --> 00:29:43,156
and the car was out of control.
778
00:29:43,948 --> 00:29:45,742
"They're going to find me out.
779
00:29:45,825 --> 00:29:49,329
I'm not a genius.
I'm not smart. I'm not funny.
780
00:29:49,370 --> 00:29:50,413
I don't deserve it.
781
00:29:50,497 --> 00:29:51,956
They're going to find me out
and fire me."
782
00:29:52,040 --> 00:29:53,082
He said to me,
783
00:29:53,166 --> 00:29:54,584
"So they're going
to find you out.
784
00:29:55,877 --> 00:30:00,048
They're liable to find out
that you're really who you are,
785
00:30:00,089 --> 00:30:04,135
that you're really talented,
that you really had a big hand
786
00:30:04,219 --> 00:30:07,931
in making the show
successful and popular.
787
00:30:08,014 --> 00:30:10,683
Tomorrow, when you go into work,
788
00:30:10,725 --> 00:30:12,977
you're going to ask for a raise
789
00:30:13,061 --> 00:30:14,229
because you think
790
00:30:14,896 --> 00:30:15,939
you deserve it."
791
00:30:16,815 --> 00:30:18,566
The next morning,
792
00:30:18,608 --> 00:30:21,945
I went
into Max Liebman's office.
793
00:30:22,028 --> 00:30:24,906
Max said,
"Absolutely not. Get out."
794
00:30:24,989 --> 00:30:28,618
Ten minutes later,
after I told my story to Sid,
795
00:30:28,701 --> 00:30:30,578
-Sid marched into Max's.
-Yeah.
796
00:30:31,329 --> 00:30:32,413
"He gets it.
797
00:30:33,748 --> 00:30:34,916
He's good.
798
00:30:35,625 --> 00:30:36,835
He's earned it.
799
00:30:38,336 --> 00:30:41,381
Give it to him.
If you don't, I will.
800
00:30:41,422 --> 00:30:43,800
And if I have to,
I'll be very angry at you."
801
00:30:44,551 --> 00:30:45,552
And I got it.
802
00:30:46,636 --> 00:30:48,596
{\an8}JUDD:
And did that help your insomnia?
803
00:30:48,680 --> 00:30:49,764
{\an8}MEL: Absolutely.
804
00:30:49,806 --> 00:30:51,432
JUDD: So, your insomnia
got a little better?
805
00:30:51,474 --> 00:30:53,101
MEL: A little better,
a little better.
806
00:30:53,184 --> 00:30:54,435
JUDD: 'Cause you're still
a night owl.
807
00:30:54,477 --> 00:30:55,812
Yeah.
808
00:30:55,895 --> 00:30:58,565
JUDD: What are your hours
that you keep now?
809
00:30:58,606 --> 00:31:01,651
I don't go to sleep until 4:00
or 5:00 in the morning.
810
00:31:01,734 --> 00:31:02,777
JUDD: What are you doing?
811
00:31:02,819 --> 00:31:04,445
What's happening at 3:30
in this house?
812
00:31:04,487 --> 00:31:06,281
-I'm shaking.
-(JUDD LAUGHS)
813
00:31:06,364 --> 00:31:09,742
♪ (GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
814
00:31:19,127 --> 00:31:21,588
{\an8}JUDD: At this time,
is that when you got married
for the first time
815
00:31:21,629 --> 00:31:22,964
{\an8}during Your Show of Shows?
816
00:31:23,006 --> 00:31:24,132
{\an8}MEL: Yeah.
817
00:31:28,177 --> 00:31:32,140
She was a dancer
on the Show of Shows.
818
00:31:32,223 --> 00:31:35,143
I got to meet her.
I got to like her very much.
819
00:31:35,226 --> 00:31:36,603
And she got to like me.
820
00:31:36,644 --> 00:31:40,773
And... when I was 23 or 24,
we got married.
821
00:31:40,815 --> 00:31:41,983
JUDD: That's so young.
822
00:31:43,610 --> 00:31:45,653
(INAUDIBLE)
823
00:31:47,572 --> 00:31:50,825
NICHOLAS:
My mom at one point was...
824
00:31:50,909 --> 00:31:53,661
{\an8}dancing
for the Colgate Comedy Hour.
825
00:31:53,703 --> 00:31:55,413
{\an8}That was Martin and Lewis.
826
00:31:55,496 --> 00:31:56,497
{\an8}And Dean Martin
827
00:31:56,581 --> 00:31:59,375
had such a case
of the hots for her,
828
00:31:59,459 --> 00:32:00,501
just loved her.
829
00:32:00,585 --> 00:32:02,962
She was a beautiful woman.
830
00:32:03,004 --> 00:32:06,215
And he used to go up to her
and try to woo her.
831
00:32:06,299 --> 00:32:08,217
And one of the things
he used to say to her was,
832
00:32:08,301 --> 00:32:09,761
you know,
"Why are you hanging out
833
00:32:09,844 --> 00:32:13,514
with that schleppy little,"
you know, "Jewish guy?"
834
00:32:13,556 --> 00:32:15,016
You know, "You can have me.
835
00:32:15,725 --> 00:32:17,602
He's a dead-ender," you know?
836
00:32:17,685 --> 00:32:19,312
And my mom said,
837
00:32:19,354 --> 00:32:21,606
"I'm sorry,
but I really like him."
838
00:32:21,689 --> 00:32:22,732
"I really dig him."
839
00:32:22,815 --> 00:32:24,776
So she took a pass.
840
00:32:28,363 --> 00:32:32,742
JUDD: And you had three kids
in pretty quick succession.
841
00:32:33,952 --> 00:32:35,370
And did she want a big family?
842
00:32:35,870 --> 00:32:36,871
Not particularly.
843
00:32:36,913 --> 00:32:38,665
It was thrust upon her
844
00:32:39,624 --> 00:32:42,669
by her ever-loving husband.
845
00:32:43,878 --> 00:32:45,380
I married her
out of show business
846
00:32:45,421 --> 00:32:47,674
because I kept
getting her pregnant.
847
00:32:48,174 --> 00:32:49,467
And that meant
848
00:32:49,550 --> 00:32:52,178
that she could not
pursue her career.
849
00:32:53,179 --> 00:32:54,389
But I could pursue mine.
850
00:32:54,430 --> 00:32:56,808
♪ (GENTLE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
851
00:33:03,147 --> 00:33:05,650
{\an8}STEFANIE BROOKS: My father
made my mother stop working
852
00:33:06,359 --> 00:33:07,902
{\an8}because she was his wife.
853
00:33:09,237 --> 00:33:11,072
{\an8}It was a dynamic
854
00:33:11,114 --> 00:33:14,200
{\an8}that was very common
at the time.
855
00:33:16,828 --> 00:33:20,915
But he was much more fun
than my mother was.
856
00:33:23,918 --> 00:33:27,714
They both really wanted
to be nurtured,
857
00:33:28,339 --> 00:33:30,216
and neither of them
858
00:33:30,258 --> 00:33:33,261
was... very nurturing.
859
00:33:36,305 --> 00:33:37,932
♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
860
00:33:38,016 --> 00:33:39,475
STEPHANIE:
He used to say,
861
00:33:40,685 --> 00:33:42,687
"I'm known in the industry.
862
00:33:43,521 --> 00:33:44,564
I'm not famous,
863
00:33:44,605 --> 00:33:46,691
but they know me
in the business,"
864
00:33:47,316 --> 00:33:48,526
he would say.
865
00:33:51,863 --> 00:33:53,406
JUDD: What was your vision
for your career?
866
00:33:53,448 --> 00:33:54,991
MEL: Movies.
867
00:33:55,074 --> 00:33:57,368
-JUDD: "I'm gonna write movies."
-MEL: "I'm gonna write movies."
868
00:33:57,452 --> 00:33:59,287
JUDD: And you tried to get Sid
to make movies with you?
869
00:33:59,370 --> 00:34:00,913
MEL: Yeah, I said, "Sid...
870
00:34:02,457 --> 00:34:05,960
you do a show on Saturday night,
871
00:34:06,002 --> 00:34:07,670
and by Monday...
872
00:34:08,671 --> 00:34:10,590
it's forgotten."
873
00:34:10,631 --> 00:34:16,888
You can't just do television
'cause television evaporates.
874
00:34:17,930 --> 00:34:20,975
And I pitched this idea.
875
00:34:23,019 --> 00:34:24,479
"I quit, you quit.
876
00:34:24,520 --> 00:34:27,273
We don't do the third year
of the Show of Shows.
877
00:34:28,107 --> 00:34:30,568
We do the first year
878
00:34:30,651 --> 00:34:34,489
of a picture
starring Sid Caesar,
879
00:34:34,572 --> 00:34:37,366
a never-to-be-forgotten comedy
880
00:34:37,450 --> 00:34:40,828
by that incredible comedy writer
Mel Brooks."
881
00:34:41,537 --> 00:34:43,664
And I convinced him.
882
00:34:43,706 --> 00:34:45,083
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
883
00:34:45,166 --> 00:34:46,918
MEL: A month goes by.
884
00:34:47,001 --> 00:34:49,670
He said, "I got bad news.
885
00:34:49,754 --> 00:34:52,673
They offered me something
I couldn't refuse.
886
00:34:52,715 --> 00:34:55,760
A million dollars a season.
887
00:34:55,843 --> 00:35:00,598
I'm big, but I'm not that big
that I can say no to that."
888
00:35:01,307 --> 00:35:03,309
He said,
"I can get you a raise."
889
00:35:04,727 --> 00:35:08,356
I said, "I don't want a raise.
I want movies."
890
00:35:08,439 --> 00:35:10,358
JUDD:
So, your escape did not work.
891
00:35:10,858 --> 00:35:12,193
MEL: No, no escape.
892
00:35:12,235 --> 00:35:14,237
(INAUDIBLE)
893
00:35:14,320 --> 00:35:16,239
MEL: The Show of Shows
was good for me for three years
894
00:35:16,322 --> 00:35:17,907
and good for Sid Caesar
for three years.
895
00:35:17,990 --> 00:35:20,618
And we were funny and brave
and outrageous.
896
00:35:20,701 --> 00:35:22,912
But we went on,
we did that show for nine years
897
00:35:22,995 --> 00:35:24,372
until we were no longer welcome
898
00:35:24,455 --> 00:35:26,541
and we no longer
really had any enthusiasm
899
00:35:26,582 --> 00:35:27,667
for the material.
900
00:35:28,626 --> 00:35:31,045
If you get stuck
in any kind of a hit,
901
00:35:31,087 --> 00:35:32,672
that in itself is a trap.
902
00:35:33,631 --> 00:35:35,383
You must have the courage
903
00:35:36,008 --> 00:35:37,385
to break out
904
00:35:37,468 --> 00:35:38,970
and really discover
905
00:35:39,053 --> 00:35:42,098
the parameters
of your own creativity,
906
00:35:42,181 --> 00:35:43,349
your own talent.
907
00:35:44,308 --> 00:35:46,644
Sid Caesar was a genius.
He really was.
908
00:35:46,727 --> 00:35:50,857
The harder you work,
the more fierce the flame,
909
00:35:50,898 --> 00:35:53,067
and the more quickly
you are consumed
910
00:35:53,109 --> 00:35:54,235
by that very flame.
911
00:35:54,277 --> 00:35:57,405
So it's a very difficult thing
to, uh...
912
00:35:57,989 --> 00:35:59,699
He... he was used up.
913
00:36:01,242 --> 00:36:02,493
JUDD: So, the show ended.
914
00:36:02,577 --> 00:36:05,079
How much money were you making
when the show ended?
915
00:36:05,121 --> 00:36:07,165
-Five thousand.
-JUDD: Wow.
916
00:36:07,248 --> 00:36:09,041
-Five thousand a show.
-JUDD: That's real money.
917
00:36:09,083 --> 00:36:11,210
That was real money.
918
00:36:11,919 --> 00:36:13,129
And then I wasn't working.
919
00:36:13,212 --> 00:36:15,214
JUDD: And your salary went
from 5,000 dollars
920
00:36:15,256 --> 00:36:16,591
to 85 dollars a week.
921
00:36:16,674 --> 00:36:17,758
MEL: Yep.
922
00:36:17,800 --> 00:36:19,802
JUDD: I heard
you had to stop your analysis
923
00:36:19,886 --> 00:36:21,304
because you couldn't afford it
anymore.
924
00:36:21,387 --> 00:36:23,472
And then the car
went out of control again.
925
00:36:23,556 --> 00:36:25,057
-(BOTH LAUGH)
-♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
926
00:36:25,099 --> 00:36:26,100
ALAN: As a writer,
927
00:36:26,184 --> 00:36:27,643
you found success
with Show of Shows.
928
00:36:27,727 --> 00:36:28,895
I mean, great success.
929
00:36:28,936 --> 00:36:32,690
And yet then... that all went.
I mean, how did that affect you?
930
00:36:33,399 --> 00:36:34,483
Um...
931
00:36:36,319 --> 00:36:37,445
I cried.
932
00:36:38,613 --> 00:36:40,656
I cried.
I mean, I cried for two years.
933
00:36:41,407 --> 00:36:43,284
Thanks, Lee. All I did was cry.
934
00:36:43,367 --> 00:36:45,036
For two years,
I did nothing but sob.
935
00:36:45,119 --> 00:36:46,370
I mean, I was broke.
936
00:36:47,455 --> 00:36:48,789
I mean, I didn't have a nickel.
937
00:36:50,082 --> 00:36:53,419
NICHOLAS: My dad
was very hungry for stardom.
938
00:36:53,461 --> 00:36:58,132
He really wanted desperately
to be a somebody,
939
00:36:58,174 --> 00:37:01,302
not just to be
a kind of industry success
940
00:37:01,344 --> 00:37:04,180
in some, you know, abstract way,
941
00:37:04,263 --> 00:37:09,352
but to be recognized and noticed
and appreciated.
942
00:37:09,435 --> 00:37:13,981
And my dad tended
to express anxiety,
943
00:37:14,065 --> 00:37:17,109
stress, uh, through anger.
944
00:37:17,151 --> 00:37:20,404
And he became
a very angry person,
945
00:37:20,488 --> 00:37:23,366
very volatile mood-wise.
946
00:37:23,449 --> 00:37:26,410
And it was difficult for my mom,
you know,
947
00:37:26,494 --> 00:37:28,788
trying to raise these babies.
948
00:37:28,829 --> 00:37:31,916
And I think
it just reached a point
949
00:37:31,999 --> 00:37:35,169
where my dad was just,
950
00:37:35,253 --> 00:37:39,090
frankly,
so difficult to live with.
951
00:37:40,383 --> 00:37:42,385
It was just intolerable.
952
00:37:42,468 --> 00:37:45,346
♪ (MELANCHOLIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
953
00:37:45,388 --> 00:37:47,598
MEL: The marriage suffered
because...
954
00:37:47,682 --> 00:37:49,600
I was very difficult
to live with.
955
00:37:50,851 --> 00:37:53,980
'Cause
I was just disgusted of...
956
00:37:54,021 --> 00:37:56,649
a dead end to my creativity.
957
00:37:59,360 --> 00:38:02,446
And I don't blame her
for divorcing me and...
958
00:38:03,114 --> 00:38:04,198
It was just...
959
00:38:04,991 --> 00:38:06,200
hell living with me.
960
00:38:06,242 --> 00:38:07,868
-I wasn't happy.
-JUDD: You were just unhappy.
961
00:38:07,910 --> 00:38:09,203
MEL: Very unhappy.
962
00:38:12,248 --> 00:38:14,500
JUDD: What would she ask of you?
963
00:38:14,542 --> 00:38:16,752
Like when she said,
"Can you just do this?"
964
00:38:16,836 --> 00:38:17,962
What would it be?
965
00:38:18,796 --> 00:38:21,215
"All right, get home."
Certainly get...
966
00:38:21,299 --> 00:38:23,718
you know, "Don't stop
for a drink anywhere."
967
00:38:23,759 --> 00:38:25,428
-JUDD: Yeah.
-"Get home."
968
00:38:25,511 --> 00:38:27,388
-JUDD: Yeah.
-Have dinner--
969
00:38:27,972 --> 00:38:29,348
You know, six o'clock,
970
00:38:29,390 --> 00:38:31,392
sit down with the kids
and have dinner.
971
00:38:31,475 --> 00:38:32,601
JUDD: Yeah.
972
00:38:32,685 --> 00:38:34,478
And most of the time
I could do that,
973
00:38:34,562 --> 00:38:35,730
and sometimes I couldn't.
974
00:38:37,398 --> 00:38:39,108
♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
975
00:38:39,191 --> 00:38:42,111
-Carl, are you there?
-HOST: Oh, yeah, he's there.
976
00:38:42,194 --> 00:38:44,155
Where is--
You got a mic near, Carl?
977
00:38:44,238 --> 00:38:45,573
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
978
00:38:45,614 --> 00:38:47,116
Carl, tell us how it all began,
979
00:38:47,199 --> 00:38:49,910
because it wasn't my fault
at all.
980
00:38:49,952 --> 00:38:51,245
It was all his doing.
981
00:38:51,329 --> 00:38:53,247
-HOST: No kidding.
-He was-- really.
982
00:38:53,289 --> 00:38:54,415
CARL REINER: Are we interested
983
00:38:54,457 --> 00:38:56,625
in the genesis
of The 2000 Year Old Man?
984
00:38:56,709 --> 00:38:58,252
-Yes.
-CARL: Okay.
985
00:38:58,336 --> 00:38:59,962
There was a show called
We the People Speak
986
00:39:00,046 --> 00:39:01,172
with Dan Seymour.
987
00:39:01,255 --> 00:39:02,423
"We the People Speak."
988
00:39:02,506 --> 00:39:06,427
They recreated the news,
and I heard it one Sunday.
989
00:39:06,510 --> 00:39:08,804
"Here's a man
who was actually
in Stalin's toilet,
990
00:39:08,888 --> 00:39:10,264
and he heard Stalin say,
991
00:39:10,348 --> 00:39:12,600
'Going to blow up the world
Thursday.'"
992
00:39:12,641 --> 00:39:15,269
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
-I said, "Oh, what a good idea
for a sketch."
993
00:39:15,311 --> 00:39:18,606
I came and presented it
to Max Liebman and Sid.
994
00:39:18,647 --> 00:39:20,066
And they thought
it was all right,
995
00:39:20,107 --> 00:39:21,108
but they didn't do it.
996
00:39:21,192 --> 00:39:23,444
And I was so sure
it was a great idea.
997
00:39:23,527 --> 00:39:25,696
Mel was sitting just
as we're sitting,
998
00:39:25,780 --> 00:39:28,324
you're sitting on a couch.
999
00:39:28,407 --> 00:39:30,284
I was sitting on his left
and I said,
1000
00:39:30,368 --> 00:39:32,244
"Here's a man who was actually
1001
00:39:32,286 --> 00:39:34,288
at the scene of the crucifixion,
1002
00:39:34,330 --> 00:39:36,290
2,000 years ago.
1003
00:39:36,374 --> 00:39:38,209
Is that not true, sir?"
1004
00:39:38,292 --> 00:39:39,418
And he said...
1005
00:39:40,211 --> 00:39:42,088
"Oh, boy," that's all he said.
1006
00:39:42,129 --> 00:39:43,464
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
1007
00:39:43,547 --> 00:39:45,299
CARL: (OVER RECORDING)
Those were the first words.
1008
00:39:45,341 --> 00:39:46,384
And I said,
1009
00:39:46,467 --> 00:39:48,302
"You were actually at the scene
of the crucifixion."
1010
00:39:48,344 --> 00:39:50,304
MEL:
Oh, what yelling, what yelling.
1011
00:39:50,388 --> 00:39:51,389
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
1012
00:39:51,472 --> 00:39:53,724
At parties
for the next ten years,
1013
00:39:53,808 --> 00:39:56,394
I had a little tape recorder,
wire recorder.
1014
00:39:56,477 --> 00:39:57,812
I didn't want
to lose these gems.
1015
00:39:57,853 --> 00:40:00,981
I wanted
to be able to tell people,
"Look what he said."
1016
00:40:01,065 --> 00:40:03,234
CARL: (OVER RECORDING)
One, two, three, four. One, two.
1017
00:40:04,110 --> 00:40:05,444
Now, sir, are you telling us
1018
00:40:05,486 --> 00:40:08,155
that you actually knew
Jesus Christ?
1019
00:40:08,197 --> 00:40:10,825
MEL: Yes, yes. Thin, nervous.
1020
00:40:10,866 --> 00:40:12,660
Used to come in the store
for water.
1021
00:40:12,743 --> 00:40:13,744
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
1022
00:40:13,828 --> 00:40:15,996
-CARL: You had a store then?
-MEL: Yeah, sure.
1023
00:40:16,080 --> 00:40:20,000
CARL: But remember, 1950
was five years after the war.
1024
00:40:20,084 --> 00:40:22,002
The Jews
are pretty well maligned,
1025
00:40:22,086 --> 00:40:24,505
and he's doing
a middle European Jewish accent.
1026
00:40:24,588 --> 00:40:26,298
CARL: (OVER RECORDING)
Did you like him personally?
1027
00:40:26,340 --> 00:40:27,675
MEL:
Lovely lad, nice, well-mannered.
1028
00:40:27,758 --> 00:40:28,759
I'd never know
1029
00:40:28,843 --> 00:40:30,344
if we figured he'd be a hit.
Never.
1030
00:40:30,386 --> 00:40:31,554
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
1031
00:40:31,637 --> 00:40:33,722
And we figured
that The 2000 Year Old Man
1032
00:40:33,806 --> 00:40:37,351
was only for Jews
and non-antisemitic Gentiles.
1033
00:40:37,435 --> 00:40:38,561
Like you, sir.
1034
00:40:38,644 --> 00:40:41,522
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
1035
00:40:41,564 --> 00:40:43,858
{\an8}They did it for friends.
They would do it at a party.
1036
00:40:43,899 --> 00:40:45,359
{\an8}"Come on,
do The 2000 Year Old Man."
1037
00:40:45,401 --> 00:40:48,070
{\an8}And they'd just do schtick,
and they'd record it sometimes.
1038
00:40:48,154 --> 00:40:49,238
It would be on tape recording,
1039
00:40:49,321 --> 00:40:50,865
but they just did it
for themselves.
1040
00:40:50,948 --> 00:40:52,158
And at one party,
1041
00:40:52,199 --> 00:40:54,034
Steve Allen was there,
1042
00:40:54,118 --> 00:40:55,453
and he said,
"You know, you guys,
1043
00:40:55,536 --> 00:40:57,371
you gotta put this on record.
Put it on record."
1044
00:40:57,455 --> 00:40:59,540
Let's have a nice hand
for Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks.
1045
00:40:59,582 --> 00:41:00,624
Here they are.
1046
00:41:00,708 --> 00:41:03,043
{\an8}ROB REINER: And that was
the first 2000 Year Old Man.
1047
00:41:03,085 --> 00:41:05,463
{\an8}(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
1048
00:41:06,172 --> 00:41:07,214
Thank you.
1049
00:41:08,549 --> 00:41:11,385
Ladies and gentlemen,
I feel indeed fortunate
1050
00:41:11,427 --> 00:41:14,388
to be able to discuss
with a man tonight
1051
00:41:14,972 --> 00:41:16,557
his history.
1052
00:41:16,599 --> 00:41:18,809
And it is fortunate
because this man
1053
00:41:18,893 --> 00:41:22,897
is actually 2,001 years old.
1054
00:41:22,938 --> 00:41:25,983
He came to us a year ago
from the Middle East.
1055
00:41:26,066 --> 00:41:27,485
He went to the Mayo Clinic.
1056
00:41:27,568 --> 00:41:29,278
They tested him
and it was proved
1057
00:41:29,361 --> 00:41:32,740
that he has lived
for 2,000 years.
1058
00:41:32,781 --> 00:41:34,575
He is 2,001 now,
1059
00:41:34,658 --> 00:41:36,744
and I'd like for him
to say hello to you
1060
00:41:36,827 --> 00:41:40,080
and tell us about the world
as he has seen it.
1061
00:41:40,122 --> 00:41:41,790
The 2000 Year Old Man.
1062
00:41:41,874 --> 00:41:48,797
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
1063
00:41:49,423 --> 00:41:51,383
Sir, I am applauding you
1064
00:41:51,425 --> 00:41:53,302
because you have lived
this long.
1065
00:41:53,385 --> 00:41:54,428
Hello there.
1066
00:41:54,470 --> 00:41:55,596
(LAUGHS)
1067
00:41:55,638 --> 00:41:57,681
-Would you sit down, sir?
-How are you? Nice to see you.
1068
00:41:57,765 --> 00:41:59,266
-Nice to see you.
-How old are you?
1069
00:41:59,350 --> 00:42:02,144
-Well, I am just 39.
-You're a punk. All right.
1070
00:42:02,228 --> 00:42:03,354
(LAUGHS)
1071
00:42:03,437 --> 00:42:07,358
Yes. Well, sir,
you are 2,001 now, isn't it?
1072
00:42:07,441 --> 00:42:09,276
Two thousand
and one years young,
1073
00:42:09,318 --> 00:42:11,111
how we say,
not to curse ourselves.
1074
00:42:11,195 --> 00:42:13,197
CARL: Yes, you don't use
the word old, I see.
1075
00:42:13,280 --> 00:42:14,365
-Old? No...
-CARL: It frightens you.
1076
00:42:14,448 --> 00:42:16,116
...because we're
too close to end there.
1077
00:42:16,158 --> 00:42:17,952
I see.
Well, you're not an old man.
1078
00:42:18,035 --> 00:42:19,828
You don't look
like an old man to me, sir.
1079
00:42:19,912 --> 00:42:23,332
No, I keep myself young,
and I keep it by exercise.
1080
00:42:23,415 --> 00:42:25,960
-Exercising.
-Yes, that's the key to my door.
1081
00:42:26,377 --> 00:42:27,419
(LAUGHS)
1082
00:42:27,461 --> 00:42:29,129
The key to your door to health,
you're trying to say.
1083
00:42:29,213 --> 00:42:30,256
-To health, yes.
-I see.
1084
00:42:30,297 --> 00:42:32,007
Thanks for the ending of that.
Yes.
1085
00:42:32,091 --> 00:42:33,217
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
1086
00:42:33,300 --> 00:42:37,012
I met Mel when I was,
I think, four or five.
1087
00:42:37,096 --> 00:42:39,181
That was the first time
I ever met Mel.
1088
00:42:39,265 --> 00:42:41,809
Yeah, Mel was gonna come visit.
1089
00:42:41,850 --> 00:42:43,686
You know, at night,
he was coming in,
1090
00:42:43,769 --> 00:42:46,021
and he was gonna visit
for the weekend.
1091
00:42:46,105 --> 00:42:48,232
And the night before,
my dad says to me...
1092
00:42:48,315 --> 00:42:50,568
-"There's gonna be a man..."
-"There's a man..."
1093
00:42:50,651 --> 00:42:52,570
"...seated
in that little alcove,
1094
00:42:52,653 --> 00:42:54,154
so, don't be frightened."
1095
00:42:54,238 --> 00:42:55,489
"And just don't get nervous."
1096
00:42:55,531 --> 00:42:58,075
"The man is a friend,
so, in the morning,
1097
00:42:58,158 --> 00:42:59,827
don't wake him up
if you see him."
1098
00:42:59,868 --> 00:43:03,664
About 6:00 in the morning
or 7:00 or 8:00, I heard...
1099
00:43:03,706 --> 00:43:05,165
"Is that the man?"
1100
00:43:05,207 --> 00:43:07,167
-"That's the man."
-"That the man?"
1101
00:43:07,209 --> 00:43:08,711
"That's the man.
That's the man."
1102
00:43:08,794 --> 00:43:09,920
"I think that's the man."
1103
00:43:10,004 --> 00:43:12,047
"Mom said
don't wake up the man."
1104
00:43:12,131 --> 00:43:13,173
And Mel's eyes open,
1105
00:43:13,257 --> 00:43:14,717
and he sees
these two little kids.
1106
00:43:14,800 --> 00:43:16,510
"Are you the man?
You're the man, right?"
1107
00:43:16,552 --> 00:43:19,555
And then he went
to poke a finger in his eye.
1108
00:43:19,638 --> 00:43:22,641
He goes, "I'm up. I'm the man.
I'm the man. I'm up. I'm up."
1109
00:43:22,683 --> 00:43:24,226
(CHUCKLES) That's...
1110
00:43:24,310 --> 00:43:26,353
So, to me, that's who Mel was.
1111
00:43:26,437 --> 00:43:29,106
He was the man.
He was the man at age four.
1112
00:43:29,189 --> 00:43:30,691
-CARL: Sir Isaac Newton.
-MEL: I knew him.
1113
00:43:30,774 --> 00:43:32,109
-CARL: You knew him?
-MEL: Oh, sure.
1114
00:43:32,192 --> 00:43:34,361
ROB: My father was
like a second banana.
1115
00:43:34,403 --> 00:43:37,698
He never felt
he needed to be the star.
1116
00:43:37,781 --> 00:43:39,116
Mel is the star.
1117
00:43:39,199 --> 00:43:40,868
Of all the discoveries
of all time...
1118
00:43:40,951 --> 00:43:42,953
ROB:
My dad felt very comfortable
1119
00:43:43,037 --> 00:43:44,788
feeding the star.
1120
00:43:44,872 --> 00:43:47,541
-...fire?
-Fire, fire, far and away fire.
1121
00:43:47,625 --> 00:43:49,084
Fire was
the hottest thing going.
1122
00:43:49,168 --> 00:43:50,878
-Fire, you can't beat fire.
-Really?
1123
00:43:50,961 --> 00:43:53,213
Fire used to warm us
and light up our caves,
1124
00:43:53,297 --> 00:43:54,673
so we wouldn't walk into a wall,
1125
00:43:54,715 --> 00:43:56,300
so we wouldn't marry
our brother Bernie.
1126
00:43:56,383 --> 00:43:57,384
Fire.
1127
00:43:57,468 --> 00:43:59,219
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
-(OVERLAPPING CHATTER)
1128
00:43:59,303 --> 00:44:00,929
And cooking.
Oh, fire. You can't beat fire.
1129
00:44:01,013 --> 00:44:02,765
When did they first learn
to cook with fire?
1130
00:44:02,848 --> 00:44:04,058
-It was an accident.
-Really?
1131
00:44:04,141 --> 00:44:05,351
-That was an accident.
-It was?
1132
00:44:05,392 --> 00:44:07,478
A chicken. Chicken walked
into the fire by mistake and...
1133
00:44:07,561 --> 00:44:08,896
(SPUTTERS, BLOWS RASPBERRY)
And over.
1134
00:44:08,979 --> 00:44:10,064
Burnt. Burnt up.
1135
00:44:10,147 --> 00:44:12,232
-What, a pet chicken?
-Yes. We didn't use them.
1136
00:44:12,316 --> 00:44:13,901
We kept them around the cave
as pets.
1137
00:44:13,984 --> 00:44:15,903
We loved to hear...
(IMITATES CHICKEN)
...We loved that.
1138
00:44:15,944 --> 00:44:16,987
(CHUCKLES)
Okay, ladies and gents.
1139
00:44:17,071 --> 00:44:19,323
So, we took it out
to give it a funeral,
1140
00:44:19,406 --> 00:44:21,742
you know, and bury it
'cause it was a pet.
1141
00:44:21,784 --> 00:44:24,370
And we all went... (SNIFFS)
"Hey, that smells good."
1142
00:44:25,037 --> 00:44:26,246
So, we ate him up,
1143
00:44:26,330 --> 00:44:27,748
and since then
we've been eating chickens.
1144
00:44:27,790 --> 00:44:30,167
You know, I've heard this story,
but I've heard that the animal
1145
00:44:30,250 --> 00:44:32,252
that wandered
into the fire accidentally
1146
00:44:32,336 --> 00:44:33,420
was a pig.
1147
00:44:33,837 --> 00:44:35,172
Not in my cave.
1148
00:44:35,255 --> 00:44:37,132
-(SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY)
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
1149
00:44:37,216 --> 00:44:39,259
He would push Mel into a corner,
1150
00:44:39,301 --> 00:44:42,680
and that would make Mel...
1151
00:44:42,763 --> 00:44:45,265
explode with creativity
and humor.
1152
00:44:45,349 --> 00:44:46,308
Two thousand years ago,
1153
00:44:46,392 --> 00:44:47,976
what was the main
means of transportation?
1154
00:44:48,060 --> 00:44:49,103
-ROB: He talks about...
-Fear.
1155
00:44:49,186 --> 00:44:50,145
ROB: ...fear.
1156
00:44:50,229 --> 00:44:51,188
-Fear.
-Fear?
1157
00:44:51,271 --> 00:44:52,898
An animal would growl
and give your leg a bite,
1158
00:44:52,940 --> 00:44:54,942
-you'd run a mile in a minute.
-So, fear transports you?
1159
00:44:54,983 --> 00:44:56,985
-Fear kept you moving, Charlie.
-I see.
1160
00:44:57,069 --> 00:45:00,989
That fear is the main motivator
for what he does.
1161
00:45:01,073 --> 00:45:02,700
The fear of not being funny,
1162
00:45:02,783 --> 00:45:04,785
the fear of not being liked,
whatever the fear is.
1163
00:45:04,868 --> 00:45:08,664
And because of that,
he becomes a lovable person.
1164
00:45:08,747 --> 00:45:10,290
INTERVIEWER: The Jewish timing
1165
00:45:10,374 --> 00:45:12,626
dictated most of modern comedy.
1166
00:45:12,668 --> 00:45:15,129
MEL: Yeah, you know,
it has to do with fear.
1167
00:45:15,170 --> 00:45:16,880
-INTERVIEWER: Yeah.
-MEL: There's a great energy
1168
00:45:16,964 --> 00:45:19,216
that fear can create.
1169
00:45:19,299 --> 00:45:20,551
Is that guy coming for me?
1170
00:45:20,634 --> 00:45:23,303
Is that...
Is that a fucking swastika?
1171
00:45:23,345 --> 00:45:24,805
You know, the-- like fear.
1172
00:45:24,847 --> 00:45:26,640
It's always lurking.
1173
00:45:26,682 --> 00:45:29,601
-INTERVIEWER: Yeah, yeah.
-MEL: So, I mean, and it creates
an energy, you know.
1174
00:45:29,643 --> 00:45:32,146
Fight or flight
is right there for every Jew.
1175
00:45:32,229 --> 00:45:33,355
Yeah, how about an anthem?
1176
00:45:33,439 --> 00:45:35,149
-We had a national anthem.
-What was the anthem?
1177
00:45:35,232 --> 00:45:37,317
Well, you see,
it was very fragmented.
1178
00:45:37,359 --> 00:45:39,153
-Yes. Yes.
-But it wasn't nations.
1179
00:45:39,236 --> 00:45:41,655
It was caves.
Each cave had a national anthem.
1180
00:45:41,697 --> 00:45:43,157
INTERVIEWER:
Yes. Well, do you remember
1181
00:45:43,198 --> 00:45:46,034
{\an8}the national anthem
of your cave?
1182
00:45:46,118 --> 00:45:51,331
{\an8}♪ Let them all go to hell
Except Cave 76 ♪
1183
00:45:51,373 --> 00:45:52,916
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
1184
00:45:53,000 --> 00:45:55,419
{\an8}I had 2000 Year Old Man.
I had that.
1185
00:45:55,502 --> 00:45:57,838
{\an8}I listened to it all the time
as a kid.
1186
00:45:57,921 --> 00:45:59,173
That voice he had was
1187
00:45:59,256 --> 00:46:01,842
100 percent
like every uncle I had
1188
00:46:01,925 --> 00:46:04,094
in Fort Lauderdale
when I would swim in the pool.
1189
00:46:04,178 --> 00:46:06,722
There were like 40 Mel voices
coming at you
1190
00:46:06,805 --> 00:46:08,682
from every one
of my father's friends.
1191
00:46:08,766 --> 00:46:11,727
{\an8}I had the box set
in my car in high school
1192
00:46:11,810 --> 00:46:17,441
{\an8}and that patter and that rhythm
really got in deep for me.
1193
00:46:17,524 --> 00:46:20,527
And eventually when we did
Oh, Hello...
1194
00:46:20,611 --> 00:46:22,362
{\an8}You got the chills?
Are you sick?
1195
00:46:22,446 --> 00:46:23,614
{\an8}No, I got the chills
1196
00:46:23,697 --> 00:46:25,741
{\an8}from your
magnificent performance.
1197
00:46:25,824 --> 00:46:27,910
NICK KROLL: So much of it
is based on Carl Reiner,
1198
00:46:27,993 --> 00:46:29,369
Mel Brooks.
1199
00:46:29,453 --> 00:46:31,288
You know, I have mesothelioma.
1200
00:46:31,371 --> 00:46:33,540
-How did you get it?
-From a commercial.
1201
00:46:33,624 --> 00:46:34,750
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
1202
00:46:34,833 --> 00:46:36,627
Did you practice polygamy
in those days?
1203
00:46:36,710 --> 00:46:39,379
I never practiced it.
I was perfect at it.
1204
00:46:39,421 --> 00:46:40,547
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
1205
00:46:40,589 --> 00:46:43,217
NICK:
You watch two people so in sync
1206
00:46:43,300 --> 00:46:46,303
to the absolute pinnacle
of what they could be,
1207
00:46:46,386 --> 00:46:48,889
and you feel the spark
of improvisation in there.
1208
00:46:48,972 --> 00:46:51,767
It was absolutely
the worst thing
that ever happened to me.
1209
00:46:51,850 --> 00:46:53,519
-Why?
-I used to come home from work
1210
00:46:53,560 --> 00:46:55,270
and I'd open
that door and I'd hear,
1211
00:46:55,354 --> 00:46:58,190
"You're late for supper, supper,
supper, supper, supper."
1212
00:46:59,149 --> 00:47:02,319
{\an8}I was obsessed and mystified
1213
00:47:02,402 --> 00:47:05,405
{\an8}by how did they do that?
1214
00:47:05,447 --> 00:47:07,407
How did-- He just talks.
1215
00:47:07,491 --> 00:47:10,327
Carl Reiner just interviews him
as this character,
1216
00:47:10,410 --> 00:47:12,246
and he has
all these funny things to say.
1217
00:47:12,287 --> 00:47:13,288
We didn't--
1218
00:47:13,372 --> 00:47:16,458
We were trying to figure out
where funny came from.
1219
00:47:16,542 --> 00:47:17,960
Robin Hood, did he exist?
1220
00:47:18,043 --> 00:47:19,336
-A real person.
-Really?
1221
00:47:19,419 --> 00:47:22,256
A real person with long hair
and a green sunsuit,
1222
00:47:22,297 --> 00:47:25,592
and he ran around in the forest
with a band of merry gentlemen.
1223
00:47:25,634 --> 00:47:27,427
JERRY SEINFELD: Here's
what we didn't understand...
1224
00:47:27,469 --> 00:47:29,429
So, had he lived today,
1225
00:47:29,513 --> 00:47:31,765
he would have been
a dress designer.
1226
00:47:31,849 --> 00:47:33,767
JERRY:
When two very funny people...
1227
00:47:33,851 --> 00:47:35,060
Genghis Khan.
1228
00:47:35,102 --> 00:47:36,645
Genghis Cohen was his real name.
1229
00:47:36,728 --> 00:47:38,355
JERRY: ...look into
each other's eyes...
1230
00:47:38,438 --> 00:47:40,357
-For what reason?
-Business purposes.
1231
00:47:40,440 --> 00:47:44,403
JERRY: ...it's like
a third universe is created
1232
00:47:44,444 --> 00:47:46,613
just because they're together
1233
00:47:46,655 --> 00:47:49,700
and they're so happy
to be together.
1234
00:47:49,783 --> 00:47:51,243
How long have you had that cane?
1235
00:47:51,285 --> 00:47:52,953
I've had this cane
for three years.
1236
00:47:53,036 --> 00:47:54,663
-Who gave it to you?
-I went to the opera
1237
00:47:54,746 --> 00:47:56,123
and I came home with it.
1238
00:47:56,206 --> 00:47:58,041
Are you trying to say you stole?
1239
00:47:58,125 --> 00:48:00,961
JUDD: Is that the first time
the public saw you perform?
1240
00:48:01,044 --> 00:48:02,963
Just wipe it off just like that.
That's wonderful.
1241
00:48:03,005 --> 00:48:04,256
MEL: No. The first appearance...
1242
00:48:04,298 --> 00:48:05,549
You missed a fingerprint
over there.
1243
00:48:05,632 --> 00:48:06,800
Thank you so much, kid.
That's fine.
1244
00:48:06,842 --> 00:48:09,636
MEL: ...it was on
The Milton Berle Show.
It was crazy.
1245
00:48:09,678 --> 00:48:12,848
And it was years
before I got on to TV again.
1246
00:48:12,931 --> 00:48:14,474
And I don't know
why I was on TV again.
1247
00:48:14,558 --> 00:48:15,893
Maybe because of Carl.
1248
00:48:15,976 --> 00:48:17,352
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
1249
00:48:17,436 --> 00:48:19,229
That's an antisocial act.
1250
00:48:19,313 --> 00:48:20,814
-Well, that's me.
-(LAUGHS)
1251
00:48:20,856 --> 00:48:22,190
Antisocial act.
1252
00:48:22,274 --> 00:48:26,194
MEL: Carl was a natural
straight man in the world.
1253
00:48:26,278 --> 00:48:29,948
He had opportunities to score.
He never did.
1254
00:48:29,990 --> 00:48:32,659
He always
threw the big punchlines,
1255
00:48:32,743 --> 00:48:34,745
the big jokes to me. Always...
1256
00:48:34,828 --> 00:48:36,997
-He was so kind.
-JUDD: Why was he so kind?
1257
00:48:37,080 --> 00:48:38,081
I don't know.
1258
00:48:38,165 --> 00:48:40,083
It was just a fault
of his nature. You know...
1259
00:48:40,918 --> 00:48:42,669
JUDD:
It's a thing you do at parties.
1260
00:48:42,753 --> 00:48:44,796
You put out the record
without expectation.
1261
00:48:44,838 --> 00:48:45,797
MEL: Right.
1262
00:48:45,839 --> 00:48:47,215
JUDD: And was it something
that was like
1263
00:48:47,299 --> 00:48:49,301
saving your ass in some way
that this party--
1264
00:48:49,343 --> 00:48:50,844
No, no saving any.
1265
00:48:50,886 --> 00:48:53,263
We just... joy,
the joy of doing it.
1266
00:48:53,347 --> 00:48:55,349
-JUDD: Yeah.
-And having people
1267
00:48:55,432 --> 00:48:57,017
grab their stomachs,
tumble over,
1268
00:48:57,059 --> 00:48:58,435
and fall on the ground.
1269
00:48:58,518 --> 00:49:00,354
-JUDD: Yeah.
-That was worth everything.
1270
00:49:00,437 --> 00:49:02,856
-JUDD: Yeah.
-Carl, I used to knock Carl down
1271
00:49:02,940 --> 00:49:04,024
-once in a while.
-JUDD: Yep.
1272
00:49:04,066 --> 00:49:06,068
By the way, how long
have you been wearing this suit?
1273
00:49:06,151 --> 00:49:07,611
This is not a suit
from 2,000 years ago.
1274
00:49:07,694 --> 00:49:09,363
-No, no.
-This is a modern suit. Yes.
1275
00:49:09,404 --> 00:49:11,531
This is a new suit.
Yes, I had this 100 years.
1276
00:49:11,615 --> 00:49:12,699
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
1277
00:49:12,783 --> 00:49:15,911
-Yeah, about 100 years.
-It looks rather well, sir.
1278
00:49:15,994 --> 00:49:17,204
-Is it really a--
-What's this year?
1279
00:49:17,287 --> 00:49:18,872
This year is 18-- 1961.
1280
00:49:18,914 --> 00:49:20,248
-Get out of there.
-Yes.
1281
00:49:20,332 --> 00:49:21,458
-It is?
-It is.
1282
00:49:21,541 --> 00:49:22,668
I bought this suit
1283
00:49:22,709 --> 00:49:25,128
in the beginning
of the Civil War in 1861.
1284
00:49:25,212 --> 00:49:27,130
I bought canned goods
and this suit
1285
00:49:27,214 --> 00:49:29,132
to get through the war,
I knew I'd have something.
1286
00:49:29,216 --> 00:49:32,052
Yes. Well, I don't like
to doubt you, sir, because...
1287
00:49:32,135 --> 00:49:33,679
-That's all right.
-...the Mayo Clinic has said
1288
00:49:33,720 --> 00:49:35,806
-that you are 2,000--
-Yes, they've authenticated me.
1289
00:49:35,889 --> 00:49:37,057
-Yes.
-Yes.
1290
00:49:37,140 --> 00:49:38,684
But how can we
authenticate the suit?
1291
00:49:38,725 --> 00:49:40,852
Take a look at the tag.
1292
00:49:40,894 --> 00:49:42,729
Read the tag.
Read it to the people.
1293
00:49:42,771 --> 00:49:45,232
-"This suit is 100 years old."
-That's what it is.
1294
00:49:45,315 --> 00:49:48,902
-(LAUGHING)
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
1295
00:49:48,944 --> 00:49:50,696
Well, who put that tag
in there, sir?
1296
00:49:50,737 --> 00:49:51,738
When I bought it, I did,
1297
00:49:51,822 --> 00:49:54,074
because I knew
I would get these questions.
1298
00:49:54,116 --> 00:49:55,617
Well, if you put that tag
in there,
1299
00:49:55,701 --> 00:49:57,119
you knew it would last
a hundred years.
1300
00:49:57,202 --> 00:49:58,578
JUDD:
Did it strike you at the time,
1301
00:49:58,620 --> 00:50:00,747
like, how weird
that this is the thing,
1302
00:50:00,831 --> 00:50:02,582
The 2000 Year Old Man,
1303
00:50:02,624 --> 00:50:04,918
that broke
the whole thing through?
1304
00:50:04,960 --> 00:50:06,461
Did it seem surprising?
1305
00:50:06,545 --> 00:50:08,171
Yeah, well,
it was surprising to me.
1306
00:50:08,255 --> 00:50:09,756
I said, "Funny that,
1307
00:50:09,798 --> 00:50:12,926
you know, that this strange
little Jewish character
1308
00:50:12,968 --> 00:50:14,678
would be my way
1309
00:50:15,470 --> 00:50:16,555
to comedy fame.
1310
00:50:16,596 --> 00:50:18,140
INTERVIEWER: Now to our story
with Mel Brook,
1311
00:50:18,223 --> 00:50:19,766
whose-- Mel Brooks,
1312
00:50:19,850 --> 00:50:23,520
whose new hit funny record
is 2000 Years with Carl Reiner.
1313
00:50:23,603 --> 00:50:24,604
MEL: Here, this one.
1314
00:50:24,688 --> 00:50:26,023
INTERVIEWER: Just how and when
1315
00:50:26,106 --> 00:50:28,150
did the desire
to be a funny man hit you?
1316
00:50:28,233 --> 00:50:29,776
MEL: You're not interested
in the psychodynamics
1317
00:50:29,860 --> 00:50:31,445
-of why somebody becomes funny.
-INTERVIEWER: Yeah.
1318
00:50:31,528 --> 00:50:34,031
-MEL: I just tell you, funny.
-INTERVIEWER: You could've been
a shoe salesman.
1319
00:50:34,114 --> 00:50:36,158
-MEL: I could've been.
-INTERVIEWER: You could've
been a dentist.
1320
00:50:36,241 --> 00:50:38,493
You could've been
all kinds of things.
You decided to be a funny man.
1321
00:50:38,577 --> 00:50:40,454
-You wanted people
to laugh at you.
-MEL: I decided... Yes.
1322
00:50:40,537 --> 00:50:41,455
INTERVIEWER: Why?
1323
00:50:41,538 --> 00:50:42,789
MEL: Because I was little
and I thought
1324
00:50:42,831 --> 00:50:44,291
that the--
that I could overcompensate
1325
00:50:44,374 --> 00:50:45,834
by getting love this way,
1326
00:50:45,917 --> 00:50:47,502
because I wasn't
tall and blonde,
1327
00:50:47,586 --> 00:50:49,129
because I was short and ugly,
1328
00:50:49,171 --> 00:50:50,797
and I thought I'd get my love
that way.
1329
00:50:50,881 --> 00:50:52,466
INTERVIEWER: Your family
loved you, didn't they?
1330
00:50:52,507 --> 00:50:54,801
MEL: Well, what does that mean
to me? My family is nothing.
1331
00:50:54,843 --> 00:50:56,136
INTERVIEWER: You wanted--
1332
00:50:56,178 --> 00:50:57,888
MEL: I wanted
the love of strangers,
if you know what I mean.
1333
00:50:57,971 --> 00:50:59,639
-Would you like to hear a cat?
-INTERVIEWER: Uh-huh.
1334
00:50:59,681 --> 00:51:01,016
MEL: (IMITATES CAT SHRIEKING)
That's a cat.
1335
00:51:01,099 --> 00:51:03,143
-INTERVIEWER: How about a dog?
-MEL: A dog? Ruff.
1336
00:51:03,185 --> 00:51:05,979
He is the original
2000 Year Old Man.
1337
00:51:06,063 --> 00:51:07,814
Ladies and gentlemen,
welcome my co-host,
1338
00:51:07,856 --> 00:51:08,940
Mr. Mel Brooks.
1339
00:51:08,982 --> 00:51:10,150
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
1340
00:51:10,233 --> 00:51:12,235
MEL: But this was
not a great time for me
1341
00:51:12,319 --> 00:51:14,362
as far as making money
was concerned.
1342
00:51:14,988 --> 00:51:16,573
My only income
1343
00:51:16,656 --> 00:51:19,242
was from the 2000 Year Old Man
record
1344
00:51:19,326 --> 00:51:21,328
and a couple of TV appearances.
1345
00:51:21,411 --> 00:51:23,997
MEL: I was with the 1104th
Engineer Combat Battalion.
1346
00:51:24,081 --> 00:51:25,457
JOHNNY CARSON:
I'm surprised we won the war
1347
00:51:25,499 --> 00:51:26,666
with you over there.
1348
00:51:26,750 --> 00:51:28,668
MEL: I was on the very first
Tonight Show,
1349
00:51:28,752 --> 00:51:30,045
starring Johnny Carson.
1350
00:51:30,128 --> 00:51:33,173
MEL: Did the shoot open
or are you just short
all the time?
1351
00:51:33,215 --> 00:51:35,258
You cannot write a love letter
with a ballpoint.
1352
00:51:35,342 --> 00:51:36,968
MEL: I took almost
any job I could get.
1353
00:51:37,010 --> 00:51:39,179
MEL: (AS ANNOUNCER)
If you must express
yourself, get a Bic Banana.
1354
00:51:39,221 --> 00:51:42,099
MEL: Even doing the voiceover
for a commercial.
1355
00:51:42,724 --> 00:51:44,851
CAMERA ASSISTANT: Take 27.
1356
00:51:44,935 --> 00:51:46,853
MEL:
And a Ballantine Beer commercial
1357
00:51:46,937 --> 00:51:48,105
with Dick Cavett.
1358
00:51:48,188 --> 00:51:50,065
DICK CAVETT: (OVER RECORDING)
We're here at the beer festival,
1359
00:51:50,148 --> 00:51:52,067
and the 2,500 year old
brew master
1360
00:51:52,150 --> 00:51:53,568
has tasted all the beers.
1361
00:51:53,652 --> 00:51:55,695
Can you tell us, sir,
which one tasted best?
1362
00:51:55,779 --> 00:51:57,280
MEL: (WITH GERMAN ACCENT)
Well, unfortunately,
1363
00:51:57,364 --> 00:51:59,533
just before
I came to the beer festival,
1364
00:51:59,574 --> 00:52:01,701
I was at the garlic festival,
1365
00:52:01,743 --> 00:52:04,955
and I can't tell the difference
between beer and coffee.
1366
00:52:05,038 --> 00:52:06,706
(DICK LAUGHS)
1367
00:52:06,790 --> 00:52:09,376
{\an8}MEL: (WITH NORMAL ACCENT)
You can use some of that, right?
1368
00:52:09,459 --> 00:52:12,796
{\an8}It's possible
that I first met him
1369
00:52:12,879 --> 00:52:15,841
{\an8}when we did
the Ballantine Beer commercials.
1370
00:52:17,134 --> 00:52:18,635
Yeah, that had to be it
1371
00:52:18,718 --> 00:52:20,804
because I remember
where there was a studio
1372
00:52:20,887 --> 00:52:25,559
and he pronounced me
to be spectacularly gentile.
1373
00:52:25,642 --> 00:52:27,310
DICK: Here's a Neanderthal man
right here
1374
00:52:27,394 --> 00:52:29,479
wearing some typical
caveman clothes.
1375
00:52:29,563 --> 00:52:31,898
MEL: Yes, you'll notice
the two darts in the side.
1376
00:52:31,982 --> 00:52:35,277
Those darts were hurled at me
by Murray the Maniac.
1377
00:52:35,360 --> 00:52:36,653
He lives in the next cave.
1378
00:52:36,736 --> 00:52:37,904
DICK:
Could it be something you said?
1379
00:52:37,988 --> 00:52:40,073
MEL: Well, I did call him
a son of a bitch.
1380
00:52:40,115 --> 00:52:41,783
(MEL AND DICK LAUGH)
1381
00:52:41,867 --> 00:52:44,619
JUDD: You were
rewriting Ladies' Man
1382
00:52:44,703 --> 00:52:45,912
for Jerry Lewis.
1383
00:52:45,996 --> 00:52:47,956
MEL: Yeah. I was warned.
1384
00:52:48,039 --> 00:52:49,416
They said he's a tough guy
to work for.
1385
00:52:49,499 --> 00:52:50,625
He's very demanding.
1386
00:52:50,709 --> 00:52:52,627
I said, "I can...
I work with Sid Caesar.
1387
00:52:52,711 --> 00:52:54,045
I can handle anybody."
1388
00:52:55,213 --> 00:52:56,756
But I really
couldn't handle Jerry.
1389
00:52:56,798 --> 00:52:58,133
-He was--
-JUDD: Frustrating work.
1390
00:52:58,216 --> 00:53:01,094
It was very frustrating
because...
1391
00:53:02,470 --> 00:53:05,682
I'd say, "Jerry, that's...
that's a good joke.
1392
00:53:05,765 --> 00:53:07,726
I know jokes. It's my life.
1393
00:53:07,767 --> 00:53:10,187
I know what works.
I know what gets laughs."
1394
00:53:11,313 --> 00:53:13,607
And...
But I couldn't do it anymore.
1395
00:53:13,690 --> 00:53:14,733
JUDD: Yeah.
1396
00:53:15,567 --> 00:53:17,569
MEL:
I couldn't take "No" anymore.
1397
00:53:20,488 --> 00:53:22,407
I came out to Hollywood
to write a movie.
1398
00:53:22,449 --> 00:53:24,326
I was at Universal Studios.
1399
00:53:24,409 --> 00:53:26,286
There was another bungalow.
We were working in a bungalow.
1400
00:53:26,328 --> 00:53:28,121
And on the top of the bungalow,
it said, "Grant Art."
1401
00:53:28,163 --> 00:53:30,373
I said, "What does that mean?
What the hell is Grant Art?"
1402
00:53:30,457 --> 00:53:32,334
He said, "Well,
that's Cary Grant's company.
1403
00:53:32,417 --> 00:53:34,586
Grant Art, Grant Art."
1404
00:53:34,628 --> 00:53:38,215
I said, "Does Cary Grant
ever come to that bungalow?"
1405
00:53:38,298 --> 00:53:39,633
He said, "Yeah, sure."
1406
00:53:39,716 --> 00:53:40,967
I'm walking down the steps,
and I hear,
1407
00:53:41,009 --> 00:53:42,677
(IMITATES CARY GRANT)
"Well, I don't believe it.
1408
00:53:42,761 --> 00:53:45,305
It's Mel Brooks.
Mel Brooks, is that you?"
1409
00:53:45,388 --> 00:53:49,059
I said, "Oh my God.
Oh my God. It's Cary Grant.
1410
00:53:49,142 --> 00:53:51,061
He's talking to me.
I heard my name."
1411
00:53:51,144 --> 00:53:52,312
He said,
1412
00:53:52,354 --> 00:53:55,649
"I've spent a thousand dollars
yesterday buying your record.
1413
00:53:55,690 --> 00:53:57,859
I've sent your records
to all my friends.
1414
00:53:57,943 --> 00:54:00,153
It's the funniest damn record
I've ever heard in my life.
1415
00:54:00,195 --> 00:54:01,196
I can't-- (SPEAKS GIBBERISH)"
1416
00:54:01,279 --> 00:54:02,864
And he said,
"Come on, what are you doing?"
1417
00:54:02,948 --> 00:54:04,991
I said, "Well, I'm going
into the lunchroom there."
1418
00:54:05,075 --> 00:54:06,451
He said,
"Oh, the commissary, yeah,
1419
00:54:06,493 --> 00:54:07,911
come with me, bud,
I'll buy you lunch."
1420
00:54:07,994 --> 00:54:09,913
"Oh my God, Cary Grant
is going to buy me lunch."
1421
00:54:09,996 --> 00:54:10,914
(EXCLAIMS)
1422
00:54:10,997 --> 00:54:12,624
So, we go to the commissary
together.
1423
00:54:12,666 --> 00:54:15,043
I walked past the guy,
my friend Murray.
1424
00:54:15,126 --> 00:54:17,545
I said, "Murray,
me and Cary are going to lunch."
1425
00:54:17,629 --> 00:54:18,755
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
1426
00:54:18,838 --> 00:54:20,966
We left together and he said,
walking down the path,
1427
00:54:21,007 --> 00:54:22,175
he said,
"What's your favorite color?"
1428
00:54:22,259 --> 00:54:23,343
I said, "Blue."
He said, "Yellow."
1429
00:54:23,385 --> 00:54:25,220
I said,
"Yellow is yours, blue is mine."
1430
00:54:25,303 --> 00:54:27,430
"What's your favorite car?"
I said, "A Buick."
1431
00:54:27,514 --> 00:54:29,266
He said, "A Rolls Royce."
I said, "That's nice."
1432
00:54:29,349 --> 00:54:31,434
And we talked like that,
you know.
1433
00:54:31,518 --> 00:54:34,020
He goes to Grant Art,
I go to Schwartz.
1434
00:54:34,104 --> 00:54:35,981
Go into the bungalow.
Everything is gone.
1435
00:54:36,022 --> 00:54:37,899
Next day. Ring.
1436
00:54:37,983 --> 00:54:39,609
"Is Mel Brooks there?"
"Yeah, he's there."
1437
00:54:39,693 --> 00:54:40,777
"It's Cary Grant."
1438
00:54:40,860 --> 00:54:43,405
"It's Cary Grant for me."
"Right. We, uh, going to lunch?"
1439
00:54:43,488 --> 00:54:45,407
"Yes, Cary.
I'll meet you just outside."
1440
00:54:45,490 --> 00:54:46,866
"Okay, buddy." "Okay, pal."
1441
00:54:46,950 --> 00:54:48,118
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
1442
00:54:48,201 --> 00:54:50,870
"We going to lunch?" Cary Grant
walking around. "How you doing?"
1443
00:54:50,954 --> 00:54:52,330
"What do you like,
double-breasted?
1444
00:54:52,372 --> 00:54:53,456
I like single-breasted, yeah."
1445
00:54:53,540 --> 00:54:55,083
"I like a red tie,
you like a blue tie.
1446
00:54:55,166 --> 00:54:56,167
Isn't that great?
1447
00:54:56,209 --> 00:54:57,460
I love your hair.
You like my hair?
1448
00:54:57,544 --> 00:54:58,670
Great, okay."
1449
00:54:58,712 --> 00:55:00,797
We go in, he has a boiled egg.
I have a tuna fish sandwich.
1450
00:55:00,880 --> 00:55:01,881
We finish lunch.
1451
00:55:01,923 --> 00:55:04,217
Next day. Ring. "Mel, Car!"
1452
00:55:04,301 --> 00:55:07,387
Now, this time,
by this time, we meet outside.
1453
00:55:07,470 --> 00:55:09,097
We're skipping to the lunchroom.
1454
00:55:09,180 --> 00:55:12,976
-(SPEAKS INDISTINCTLY)
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
1455
00:55:13,059 --> 00:55:14,477
Me and Cary Grant,
1456
00:55:14,561 --> 00:55:17,147
Mel Brooks and Cary Grant,
we're holding hands.
1457
00:55:17,230 --> 00:55:19,149
We-- We don't know
what to do for each other.
1458
00:55:19,232 --> 00:55:21,776
We don't know
what to say to each other.
1459
00:55:21,860 --> 00:55:23,945
Anyway,
let me tell you the punchline.
1460
00:55:24,029 --> 00:55:28,616
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
1461
00:55:28,700 --> 00:55:30,118
Comes Friday.
1462
00:55:30,702 --> 00:55:31,703
The phone rings.
1463
00:55:31,745 --> 00:55:33,580
It's Cary Grant.
I said, "I'm not in."
1464
00:55:33,663 --> 00:55:40,503
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING, APPLAUDING)
1465
00:55:44,090 --> 00:55:46,426
Doctor, how do you know
you've met the right one?
1466
00:55:46,509 --> 00:55:49,429
Well, you know
when somebody's old enough,
if you don't have to say,
1467
00:55:49,512 --> 00:55:52,307
"George, put your rattle down,
we're eating now."
1468
00:55:52,390 --> 00:55:54,851
Seriously, how do you know
you've met the right one?
1469
00:55:54,934 --> 00:55:56,061
You don't, um,
1470
00:55:56,102 --> 00:55:57,604
and that's why
it's so difficult.
1471
00:55:57,687 --> 00:55:59,356
Theodore Reich said--
Excuse me. Theodore Reich said
1472
00:55:59,439 --> 00:56:01,107
that we marry each other
1473
00:56:01,191 --> 00:56:05,820
because we envy those traits
in our partners and wish to,
1474
00:56:05,904 --> 00:56:07,447
you know, actually make them
1475
00:56:07,489 --> 00:56:09,032
part of our
own character makeup.
1476
00:56:09,115 --> 00:56:10,367
And, so, we marry,
1477
00:56:10,450 --> 00:56:11,951
hoping to inculcate
1478
00:56:12,535 --> 00:56:14,871
their strange profile.
1479
00:56:14,954 --> 00:56:16,790
Marriage is really...
1480
00:56:16,831 --> 00:56:18,291
a good marriage should be
1481
00:56:18,333 --> 00:56:21,044
a good blend of the concavities
and convexities
1482
00:56:21,127 --> 00:56:23,129
of our different
emotional profiles
1483
00:56:23,213 --> 00:56:24,839
and our different
character traits.
1484
00:56:24,923 --> 00:56:26,299
I'll tell you later at home,
folks.
1485
00:56:26,383 --> 00:56:27,634
I don't want to get in the way.
1486
00:56:27,717 --> 00:56:29,052
Let's get back to the subject,
shall we?
1487
00:56:29,135 --> 00:56:30,303
People get married...
1488
00:56:30,345 --> 00:56:31,638
-We love it.
-Stop that!
1489
00:56:31,679 --> 00:56:33,306
People get married
to keep them out of jail.
1490
00:56:33,348 --> 00:56:35,141
HOST: Oh, I see.
1491
00:56:35,183 --> 00:56:37,894
Because you're aroused
and you get a little crazy,
1492
00:56:37,977 --> 00:56:39,396
you get married and it's legal.
1493
00:56:39,479 --> 00:56:42,065
-Now, seriously, I find that--
-(HOST LAUGHS LOUDLY)
1494
00:56:42,148 --> 00:56:43,566
Seriously, folks.
1495
00:56:43,650 --> 00:56:46,444
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
1496
00:56:46,486 --> 00:56:48,238
Dr. Brothers,
the age-old question,
1497
00:56:48,321 --> 00:56:50,615
how do you know
when you're in love?
1498
00:56:50,657 --> 00:56:51,866
-Uh, we...
-MEL: I know.
1499
00:56:51,950 --> 00:56:53,326
Can I answer that?
1500
00:56:53,410 --> 00:56:54,911
Just that. Just that.
1501
00:56:55,662 --> 00:56:57,038
You know when you know?
1502
00:56:57,122 --> 00:56:58,665
I'll tell you when you know
when you're in love.
1503
00:56:58,748 --> 00:57:01,501
When your knees turn to jelly,
and you begin to tremble,
1504
00:57:01,543 --> 00:57:03,002
and there's cotton
in your mouth,
1505
00:57:03,086 --> 00:57:04,712
and you begin to shake
and you begin to vibrate...
1506
00:57:04,796 --> 00:57:07,257
-HOST: You're over 65 then.
-...and you begin to throb.
1507
00:57:07,340 --> 00:57:09,008
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
-MEL: You're right.
1508
00:57:09,050 --> 00:57:11,886
I think I was describing
Parkinson's disease.
1509
00:57:11,970 --> 00:57:13,680
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
1510
00:57:13,763 --> 00:57:16,683
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
1511
00:57:21,688 --> 00:57:24,232
What do you feel constitutes
a good marriage?
1512
00:57:25,024 --> 00:57:26,109
Love.
1513
00:57:27,068 --> 00:57:28,528
-I'm serious.
-Yeah. Okay.
1514
00:57:28,611 --> 00:57:29,863
-That's absolutely true.
-Yes.
1515
00:57:29,946 --> 00:57:31,739
-I really think you have to--
-Like is important, too.
1516
00:57:31,823 --> 00:57:33,408
Oh, like is very important,
but I mean,
1517
00:57:33,491 --> 00:57:35,535
I really feel that
when you love someone,
1518
00:57:35,618 --> 00:57:37,036
like is an ingredient of love.
1519
00:57:37,120 --> 00:57:39,372
Exactly. And I...
1520
00:57:39,456 --> 00:57:41,708
-(CHUCKLES)
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
1521
00:57:41,791 --> 00:57:44,335
-HOST: You did that so well.
-(CHUCKLES)
1522
00:57:44,377 --> 00:57:46,254
HOST: Well, where did you
and Mel first meet?
1523
00:57:46,337 --> 00:57:47,297
Um...
1524
00:57:47,380 --> 00:57:49,966
I was working with a guy
called Charles Strouse
1525
00:57:50,049 --> 00:57:51,301
and Lee Adams,
1526
00:57:51,384 --> 00:57:53,887
and we were doing
a show on Broadway
1527
00:57:53,970 --> 00:57:55,388
that didn't really make it.
1528
00:57:55,472 --> 00:57:56,556
It wasn't so bad.
1529
00:57:57,223 --> 00:57:58,558
{\an8}It wasn't so good.
1530
00:57:58,600 --> 00:57:59,726
{\an8}(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
1531
00:57:59,809 --> 00:58:02,145
{\an8}MEL: It was called All American,
starring Ray Bolger.
1532
00:58:04,439 --> 00:58:06,232
Charles Strouse said,
"Come with me,
1533
00:58:06,274 --> 00:58:08,318
I have to go
to a Perry Como rehearsal."
1534
00:58:09,277 --> 00:58:11,571
And there on stage,
in a white dress,
1535
00:58:11,613 --> 00:58:12,739
is Anne Bancroft.
1536
00:58:12,822 --> 00:58:15,116
-♪ (SOFT MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-♪ It's not my cup of tea ♪
1537
00:58:15,200 --> 00:58:18,077
♪ They won't throw rice at me ♪
1538
00:58:18,161 --> 00:58:19,621
♪ For a while yet ♪
1539
00:58:23,124 --> 00:58:25,543
♪ I have no plan to wed ♪
1540
00:58:26,294 --> 00:58:28,588
♪ Be resolutely led ♪
1541
00:58:29,255 --> 00:58:31,049
♪ Down the aisle yet ♪
1542
00:58:31,674 --> 00:58:33,551
♪ With a smile yet ♪
1543
00:58:34,886 --> 00:58:39,224
{\an8}♪ When the organ plays
Oh, promise me ♪
1544
00:58:39,265 --> 00:58:43,978
♪ I will be an absentee ♪
1545
00:58:44,062 --> 00:58:49,108
♪ For the months
I choose to be fancy free ♪
1546
00:58:49,150 --> 00:58:52,111
♪ They can throw old shoes ♪
1547
00:58:52,195 --> 00:58:53,947
♪ But they won't ♪
1548
00:58:53,988 --> 00:58:55,281
♪ (MUSIC TURNS UPBEAT) ♪
1549
00:58:55,365 --> 00:58:56,783
♪ Hit ♪
1550
00:58:57,450 --> 00:58:58,618
♪ Me ♪
1551
00:58:58,701 --> 00:59:01,704
ANNE BANCROFT: I was singing
"Married I Could Always Get."
1552
00:59:01,788 --> 00:59:05,291
♪ I live the life
That I'm used to ♪
1553
00:59:05,375 --> 00:59:07,794
He was in the audience,
and I was singing that,
1554
00:59:07,835 --> 00:59:11,047
and then he stood up
and he said,
1555
00:59:11,130 --> 00:59:14,634
"Anne Bancroft? I'm Mel Brooks."
1556
00:59:14,676 --> 00:59:16,678
And I think she said,
"Who gives a shit?"
1557
00:59:16,761 --> 00:59:19,847
I don't know,
I'm not sure how she responded.
1558
00:59:19,931 --> 00:59:21,849
♪ Married, I can always... ♪
1559
00:59:21,933 --> 00:59:24,185
And then he followed me
everywhere I went
1560
00:59:24,269 --> 00:59:25,520
for the next five days.
1561
00:59:25,603 --> 00:59:26,938
Where does she eat?
Where does she go?
1562
00:59:26,980 --> 00:59:27,981
Where does she...?
1563
00:59:28,064 --> 00:59:29,357
Every night that week,
1564
00:59:29,440 --> 00:59:30,900
I checked on where she would be.
1565
00:59:30,984 --> 00:59:32,819
"Anne,
I'm there at the Village--"
1566
00:59:32,902 --> 00:59:34,821
I'd show up
at a restaurant she was at,
1567
00:59:34,862 --> 00:59:35,989
or a nightclub.
1568
00:59:36,030 --> 00:59:37,657
"Anne, every night--"
1569
00:59:37,699 --> 00:59:38,992
What the hell is going...
1570
00:59:39,033 --> 00:59:40,743
(HESITATES) I would
end up everywhere she was.
1571
00:59:40,827 --> 00:59:41,911
I said, "It's kismet."
1572
00:59:41,995 --> 00:59:43,621
She said, "You're following me,
it's not kismet.
1573
00:59:43,663 --> 00:59:44,998
You're following me.
1574
00:59:45,081 --> 00:59:46,249
No kismet here."
1575
00:59:46,332 --> 00:59:47,333
♪ (UPLIFTING MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
1576
00:59:47,417 --> 00:59:49,335
ANNE: No matter
where I said I was going,
1577
00:59:49,377 --> 00:59:51,045
he said he was going there.
1578
00:59:51,129 --> 00:59:52,589
It just went on and on.
1579
00:59:52,672 --> 00:59:55,383
The man never left me alone.
Thank God.
1580
00:59:56,050 --> 00:59:57,218
♪ Married ♪
1581
00:59:58,761 --> 01:00:04,350
♪ Give me the single life ♪
1582
01:00:07,687 --> 01:00:10,732
-♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
-(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
1583
01:00:14,110 --> 01:00:16,195
JUDD: Right away, you thought,
"I've met my match."
1584
01:00:16,279 --> 01:00:17,405
Yeah.
1585
01:00:18,823 --> 01:00:20,700
JUDD: And it's like
where someone just gets you?
1586
01:00:20,742 --> 01:00:22,285
Yeah, she got... Exactly.
1587
01:00:22,368 --> 01:00:23,620
Eee...
1588
01:00:23,703 --> 01:00:25,371
-You said it.
-JUDD: Yeah.
1589
01:00:25,413 --> 01:00:26,539
You said it.
1590
01:00:26,623 --> 01:00:28,708
-JUDD: Was she as funny as you?
-She got me, she gets me.
1591
01:00:28,791 --> 01:00:30,460
JUDD: It seems
like she was crazy funny.
1592
01:00:30,543 --> 01:00:31,878
She was crazy funny.
1593
01:00:31,919 --> 01:00:32,962
JUDD: Yeah.
1594
01:00:33,755 --> 01:00:35,381
(SIGHS)
1595
01:00:35,423 --> 01:00:39,010
-♪ (PIANO MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-♪ Hey, hey, hey
Time after time ♪
1596
01:00:40,219 --> 01:00:45,224
♪ I tell myself
That I am lucky ♪
1597
01:00:45,308 --> 01:00:48,895
♪ To be loving you ♪
1598
01:00:48,978 --> 01:00:50,730
Don't be afraid,
I don't fool around.
1599
01:00:50,772 --> 01:00:52,398
CARL:
Remember Annie, remember Annie.
1600
01:00:52,482 --> 01:00:53,816
I had a tennis tournament,
1601
01:00:53,900 --> 01:00:56,444
and there was a guy
named Don Meredith
1602
01:00:56,527 --> 01:00:57,695
in the audience,
1603
01:00:57,737 --> 01:00:59,280
and Mel Brooks
got up to perform,
1604
01:00:59,364 --> 01:01:01,324
and Anne Bancroft
was in the audience.
1605
01:01:03,409 --> 01:01:05,578
Don said it for all people.
1606
01:01:05,662 --> 01:01:07,997
He looked at Mel,
he looked at Anne,
1607
01:01:08,581 --> 01:01:09,624
and he just said...
1608
01:01:11,668 --> 01:01:12,877
"I don't get that deal."
1609
01:01:14,045 --> 01:01:16,297
And most people
just didn't get that deal.
1610
01:01:17,674 --> 01:01:20,385
But Mel and Anne, when they met,
1611
01:01:20,426 --> 01:01:21,969
it was just the opposite.
1612
01:01:22,053 --> 01:01:24,097
MEL: ♪ Time after time ♪.
1613
01:01:24,180 --> 01:01:26,766
♪ I tell myself that I... ♪
1614
01:01:26,808 --> 01:01:28,768
She came from the Bronx.
I came from Brooklyn.
1615
01:01:28,810 --> 01:01:30,937
We both like scrambled eggs.
Everything was terrific.
1616
01:01:30,978 --> 01:01:33,898
When were you aware that he,
as he claims,
1617
01:01:33,940 --> 01:01:36,651
was in love with you instantly?
1618
01:01:36,734 --> 01:01:39,112
When was I aware that he
was in love with me instantly?
1619
01:01:39,153 --> 01:01:40,613
INTERVIEWER: Yeah,
that he had fallen in love--
1620
01:01:40,697 --> 01:01:42,365
This moment. I had no idea
1621
01:01:42,448 --> 01:01:44,158
that he was in love with me
instantly.
1622
01:01:44,242 --> 01:01:45,910
INTERVIEWER: No,
that's what he said, that he--
1623
01:01:45,952 --> 01:01:48,162
Oh, no, I was in love with him
instantly.
1624
01:01:48,246 --> 01:01:50,039
-Really? Well, then both-- Yeah.
-Instantly.
1625
01:01:50,123 --> 01:01:52,458
Because, you see,
he looked like my father,
1626
01:01:52,542 --> 01:01:54,293
and he acted like my mother.
1627
01:01:54,377 --> 01:01:57,380
♪ So lucky to be loving ♪
1628
01:01:57,463 --> 01:01:59,465
Higher, higher.
1629
01:01:59,507 --> 01:02:01,926
(IN HIGH-PITCHED VOICE)
♪ Time after time ♪
1630
01:02:01,968 --> 01:02:03,970
♪ It's always you ♪
1631
01:02:04,011 --> 01:02:09,225
(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
1632
01:02:09,308 --> 01:02:12,812
I knew the moment that I saw him
that I was going to marry him.
1633
01:02:12,895 --> 01:02:13,980
I was madly in love
1634
01:02:14,063 --> 01:02:15,690
and I was going
to marry that man.
1635
01:02:15,773 --> 01:02:17,567
But the thing about Mel is
1636
01:02:17,650 --> 01:02:21,654
that Mel is so funny
and he knows all the answers,
1637
01:02:21,738 --> 01:02:22,989
but he's so vulnerable.
1638
01:02:23,030 --> 01:02:24,824
He's like a child
every once in a while.
1639
01:02:24,907 --> 01:02:28,161
No, don't cry.
Promise me you won't cry.
1640
01:02:28,244 --> 01:02:30,580
-That's true. Yes. Yes. Yes.
-INTERVIEWER: But it's true.
1641
01:02:30,663 --> 01:02:31,831
And you think Mel Brooks,
1642
01:02:31,873 --> 01:02:33,583
when you're with somebody
as witty
1643
01:02:33,666 --> 01:02:35,376
and as bright and sharp as Mel,
1644
01:02:35,460 --> 01:02:37,336
it's a little frightening
every once in a while.
1645
01:02:37,378 --> 01:02:38,546
And you sit down with him.
1646
01:02:38,629 --> 01:02:40,673
I've never known anybody
that's more interested
1647
01:02:40,715 --> 01:02:42,508
or more caring
about other people than him.
1648
01:02:42,550 --> 01:02:45,011
Yeah.
He's a very, very sweet man.
1649
01:02:47,013 --> 01:02:50,016
NICHOLAS: When my dad met Anne,
1650
01:02:50,516 --> 01:02:52,185
I did see my dad.
1651
01:02:52,226 --> 01:02:54,270
You know, to my mom's credit,
1652
01:02:54,353 --> 01:02:57,523
she never shut him
out of our lives.
1653
01:02:57,607 --> 01:03:01,319
So, he would come to visit two,
three, four times a week.
1654
01:03:01,360 --> 01:03:05,907
He would take us, you know,
to the park or the movies
1655
01:03:05,990 --> 01:03:08,701
and, uh, spend time with us.
1656
01:03:08,743 --> 01:03:13,414
{\an8}But my parents separated
when I was like, six months old.
1657
01:03:13,498 --> 01:03:16,542
{\an8}-♪ (SOMBER MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-So, when I was, like, three...
1658
01:03:17,543 --> 01:03:20,171
and my mother remarried,
1659
01:03:20,213 --> 01:03:22,048
I had this stepfather, Ed,
right?
1660
01:03:22,965 --> 01:03:23,966
Uh...
1661
01:03:24,050 --> 01:03:25,384
I thought he was my dad,
1662
01:03:26,093 --> 01:03:27,053
you know?
1663
01:03:27,136 --> 01:03:28,805
Now, there was this other guy
1664
01:03:28,888 --> 01:03:33,226
that came
to take Steffie and Nicky out.
1665
01:03:33,267 --> 01:03:35,228
And I knew
that was their father,
1666
01:03:36,062 --> 01:03:38,606
but... my father was Ed.
1667
01:03:39,899 --> 01:03:42,485
And then my mother sat me down
and said...
1668
01:03:43,653 --> 01:03:45,112
"Oh, Ed's not your father.
1669
01:03:45,905 --> 01:03:47,240
Mel's your father."
1670
01:03:48,199 --> 01:03:49,784
I was like,
"You mean the twitchy guy?"
1671
01:03:49,867 --> 01:03:50,952
You know?
1672
01:03:52,078 --> 01:03:54,831
MAX BROOKS:
And when my mother met him,
1673
01:03:54,914 --> 01:03:58,584
{\an8}she understood
that he comes with three kids.
1674
01:03:59,252 --> 01:04:00,670
So, when he left work,
1675
01:04:00,753 --> 01:04:03,297
there was going to be
a couple hour delay
1676
01:04:03,381 --> 01:04:04,465
before he got home
1677
01:04:04,549 --> 01:04:06,259
because he always
stopped to see those kids
1678
01:04:06,342 --> 01:04:07,969
before he came home.
1679
01:04:08,678 --> 01:04:10,137
But when they moved in together,
1680
01:04:10,680 --> 01:04:12,098
he was on his ass.
1681
01:04:12,139 --> 01:04:13,099
He had nothing.
1682
01:04:13,140 --> 01:04:14,600
My father
didn't have a pot to piss in
1683
01:04:14,684 --> 01:04:15,768
when my mother met him.
1684
01:04:15,810 --> 01:04:17,520
He talks about how one time
1685
01:04:17,603 --> 01:04:19,272
they were
at a Chinese restaurant,
1686
01:04:19,313 --> 01:04:21,774
and she'd slip him money
under the table to pay,
1687
01:04:21,858 --> 01:04:23,442
so he could still be the man.
1688
01:04:23,484 --> 01:04:24,485
And he tipped,
1689
01:04:24,569 --> 01:04:26,112
and he tipped
a little bit too much.
1690
01:04:26,153 --> 01:04:27,780
And she kicked him
under the table and said,
1691
01:04:27,822 --> 01:04:29,490
"Oh, you're really generous
with my money."
1692
01:04:30,157 --> 01:04:31,200
And...
1693
01:04:32,243 --> 01:04:34,787
my mother tells the story
that...
1694
01:04:35,788 --> 01:04:37,915
when she started dating him,
1695
01:04:37,957 --> 01:04:40,084
someone else
from the Show of Shows,
1696
01:04:40,626 --> 01:04:42,128
who resented my dad,
1697
01:04:42,169 --> 01:04:44,255
said, "Oh, I understand
you're dating Mel.
1698
01:04:44,297 --> 01:04:46,716
You know he's over.
Never going to work again."
1699
01:04:47,300 --> 01:04:49,051
Which everybody felt.
1700
01:04:49,135 --> 01:04:50,970
So, he was done.
1701
01:04:51,012 --> 01:04:52,638
And my mother
saw something in him
1702
01:04:53,598 --> 01:04:54,974
and took care of him.
1703
01:04:58,394 --> 01:04:59,937
INTERVIEWER:
When you were struggling,
1704
01:04:59,979 --> 01:05:01,480
really, not so successful,
1705
01:05:01,522 --> 01:05:02,732
at that time,
1706
01:05:02,815 --> 01:05:04,358
a lot of men
really don't like it
1707
01:05:04,442 --> 01:05:06,319
if the woman
is making more money than them,
1708
01:05:06,360 --> 01:05:07,987
if the woman
is more successful than them.
1709
01:05:08,029 --> 01:05:09,530
How did you cope? Did you cope?
1710
01:05:09,614 --> 01:05:11,407
I didn't like it.
I'm going to tell you the truth.
1711
01:05:11,490 --> 01:05:12,491
I didn't like it.
1712
01:05:12,533 --> 01:05:14,201
I didn't like
her being the breadwinner.
1713
01:05:14,285 --> 01:05:17,663
I wanted to be the breadwinner.
And it bothered me.
1714
01:05:17,705 --> 01:05:19,498
It bothered me financially,
not artistically,
1715
01:05:19,540 --> 01:05:21,042
because she was a great artist,
1716
01:05:21,125 --> 01:05:23,628
and I didn't think, really,
that her...
1717
01:05:25,004 --> 01:05:27,798
her great art should be, um..
1718
01:05:28,758 --> 01:05:30,092
hidden under a bushel,
1719
01:05:30,176 --> 01:05:32,386
or I should
deprive the world of that.
1720
01:05:32,470 --> 01:05:34,347
But the money bothered me.
1721
01:05:34,430 --> 01:05:37,224
We would often go out to dinner
when I was broke.
1722
01:05:37,308 --> 01:05:39,268
I didn't have a penny,
a sou, mind you,
1723
01:05:39,352 --> 01:05:41,187
and she'd have to pay.
1724
01:05:41,228 --> 01:05:42,772
Even The 2000 Year Old Man,
1725
01:05:42,855 --> 01:05:44,607
the records I made
with Carl Reiner,
1726
01:05:44,690 --> 01:05:46,609
didn't really make
a lot of money for a while
1727
01:05:46,692 --> 01:05:47,944
until they caught on.
1728
01:05:48,027 --> 01:05:49,862
And so,
I was penniless for a while,
1729
01:05:49,904 --> 01:05:51,238
and Anne kept me going.
1730
01:05:52,323 --> 01:05:55,117
Those were pretty rough days,
very rough for me.
1731
01:05:55,201 --> 01:05:58,454
It was heartbreaking that,
you know, but...
1732
01:05:58,537 --> 01:06:01,874
Finally, Get Smart happened
with Don Adams.
1733
01:06:01,916 --> 01:06:03,209
I began to make some money.
1734
01:06:03,250 --> 01:06:05,127
{\an8}Maxwell Smart, Agent 86.
1735
01:06:05,211 --> 01:06:06,837
{\an8}86, report to headquarters
immediately.
1736
01:06:06,879 --> 01:06:08,756
{\an8}Just a minute. Who is this?
1737
01:06:08,839 --> 01:06:09,882
Get in here, Max,
1738
01:06:09,966 --> 01:06:12,134
or I'll personally
tear you apart.
1739
01:06:12,218 --> 01:06:13,928
That's good enough for me,
Chief.
1740
01:06:14,011 --> 01:06:15,096
I'll be right over.
1741
01:06:15,179 --> 01:06:17,223
How did Get Smart come about?
1742
01:06:17,306 --> 01:06:19,642
Well, we wanted to do,
Buck Henry and I,
1743
01:06:19,725 --> 01:06:21,060
who's the co-creator
of Get Smart...
1744
01:06:21,102 --> 01:06:22,895
This is 86
reporting into control.
1745
01:06:22,937 --> 01:06:24,355
MEL: We wanted
to do something about...
1746
01:06:24,397 --> 01:06:25,439
Allow me, Princess.
1747
01:06:26,482 --> 01:06:28,109
MEL: ...the James Bond thing.
1748
01:06:28,192 --> 01:06:29,986
But we wanted
to have an inept agent.
1749
01:06:30,069 --> 01:06:31,570
A stumblebum agent.
1750
01:06:31,654 --> 01:06:32,655
-99?
-Yes, 86?
1751
01:06:32,738 --> 01:06:34,573
Put plan 49K into effect
immediately.
1752
01:06:34,615 --> 01:06:35,741
That's 49K.
1753
01:06:35,783 --> 01:06:37,368
Somebody who would
screw a silencer in
1754
01:06:37,410 --> 01:06:38,995
and make a louder sound.
1755
01:06:39,078 --> 01:06:41,414
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
1756
01:06:41,497 --> 01:06:42,790
MEL:
We got Don Adams and it's...
1757
01:06:42,873 --> 01:06:44,166
Actually, Chief, I don't think
1758
01:06:44,250 --> 01:06:46,210
I'll be needing
the smoke pellet.
1759
01:06:46,252 --> 01:06:47,545
Would you believe it's a hit?
1760
01:06:49,755 --> 01:06:52,925
MEL: Get Smart freed me
from the tyranny
1761
01:06:52,967 --> 01:06:56,012
of having to do
like the Victor Borge special.
1762
01:06:56,095 --> 01:06:58,639
And I didn't want my agent
to call me and say,
1763
01:06:58,723 --> 01:07:01,100
"Mitzi Gaynor needs a big joke,"
you know?
1764
01:07:01,142 --> 01:07:02,810
(INTERVIEWER LAUGHS)
1765
01:07:02,893 --> 01:07:04,812
Because she just
wasn't Sid Caesar.
1766
01:07:04,895 --> 01:07:06,105
Let's face it.
1767
01:07:06,188 --> 01:07:09,150
♪ (UPBEAT JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
1768
01:07:23,664 --> 01:07:26,959
MEL: So, Get Smart came along,
paid the rent for a while.
1769
01:07:27,001 --> 01:07:29,003
{\an8}I was able to marry Anne.
1770
01:07:29,086 --> 01:07:31,297
{\an8}I was able
to write The Producers
1771
01:07:31,380 --> 01:07:32,548
on the side.
1772
01:07:36,469 --> 01:07:38,971
The Producers was called
"Springtime for Hitler."
1773
01:07:39,055 --> 01:07:41,515
That was its original title.
1774
01:07:41,599 --> 01:07:43,476
JUDD: And in that period
after the war,
1775
01:07:43,517 --> 01:07:45,186
before Your Show of Shows,
1776
01:07:45,269 --> 01:07:47,563
didn't you work for a producer
at that time?
1777
01:07:47,646 --> 01:07:49,356
I worked for Benjamin Kutcher.
1778
01:07:50,608 --> 01:07:52,693
{\an8}JUDD: Is that
what The Producers is based on?
1779
01:07:52,777 --> 01:07:54,320
{\an8}MEL: Based on that guy.
1780
01:07:54,653 --> 01:07:55,821
(MOANING)
1781
01:07:55,905 --> 01:07:58,157
-Mr. Bialystock? Mr. Bialystock?
-MEL: I knocked at the door
1782
01:07:58,240 --> 01:08:01,202
-and I entered.
-Oh, how do you do? Oh my God.
1783
01:08:01,285 --> 01:08:02,828
He said, "What are you doing?
1784
01:08:02,870 --> 01:08:03,996
We're busy here."
1785
01:08:04,080 --> 01:08:06,582
Don't you just say oops
and get out.
1786
01:08:06,665 --> 01:08:07,708
(HESITATES)
1787
01:08:07,792 --> 01:08:09,293
MEL: Wait for "Enter"
1788
01:08:09,335 --> 01:08:13,089
before you stumble in
and destroy everything.
1789
01:08:13,172 --> 01:08:14,673
-(DOOR SLAMS)
-(GIGGLES)
1790
01:08:14,715 --> 01:08:17,259
-MEL: And then Mr. Kutcher,
he says...
-Oops.
1791
01:08:17,343 --> 01:08:18,969
Who are you? What do you want?
1792
01:08:19,011 --> 01:08:20,805
Why are you loitering
in my hallway?
1793
01:08:21,347 --> 01:08:22,389
Speak, dummy, speak!
1794
01:08:22,473 --> 01:08:25,476
"Tell me, what did you see
when you first came in?"
1795
01:08:26,977 --> 01:08:29,105
"What did I see? Nothing.
1796
01:08:29,188 --> 01:08:31,941
I saw nothing.
I didn't see a thing."
1797
01:08:32,024 --> 01:08:34,819
Come in, Mr. Tech.
1798
01:08:34,860 --> 01:08:37,863
MEL: So, I took from life
and threw it right in.
1799
01:08:38,447 --> 01:08:39,490
JUDD: Was he shady?
1800
01:08:39,532 --> 01:08:40,699
Oh, yeah, oh.
1801
01:08:41,826 --> 01:08:43,911
He was Mr. Shady.
1802
01:08:43,994 --> 01:08:45,287
Don't forget the checky.
1803
01:08:45,371 --> 01:08:47,289
Can't produce plays
without checky.
1804
01:08:47,373 --> 01:08:49,083
You can count on me.
1805
01:08:49,750 --> 01:08:50,918
MEL: Every day,
1806
01:08:51,001 --> 01:08:52,545
there'd be three or four
little old ladies
1807
01:08:52,628 --> 01:08:55,214
who could just about manage
to get up the steps.
1808
01:08:55,798 --> 01:08:57,258
He would invariably
1809
01:08:57,341 --> 01:09:00,219
make love to them
on a cracked leather couch.
1810
01:09:00,302 --> 01:09:02,012
And they'd always write out
1811
01:09:02,054 --> 01:09:03,722
a check
to his current production,
1812
01:09:03,806 --> 01:09:06,016
which was always named "Cash."
1813
01:09:06,058 --> 01:09:07,893
That was the name
of his current play,
1814
01:09:07,977 --> 01:09:09,895
-"Cash." They'd come with--
-HOST: Cash the Musical.
1815
01:09:09,979 --> 01:09:11,897
Cash the Musical,
Cash the Drama,
1816
01:09:11,981 --> 01:09:13,482
Cash the Comedy.
It was always "Cash."
1817
01:09:13,566 --> 01:09:15,484
Is it all right?
I made it out to "Cash."
1818
01:09:15,568 --> 01:09:17,069
You didn't tell me
the name of the play.
1819
01:09:17,153 --> 01:09:20,072
Fine. Fine. Good. Good.
1820
01:09:20,114 --> 01:09:22,241
MEL: And he was the character
that was in my mind.
1821
01:09:22,283 --> 01:09:23,409
Call me Max.
1822
01:09:23,450 --> 01:09:25,369
You know, I don't let everybody
call me Max.
1823
01:09:25,411 --> 01:09:27,163
It's only those people I like.
1824
01:09:27,246 --> 01:09:29,415
MEL: And I was the Leo Bloom,
the little caterpillar.
1825
01:09:29,498 --> 01:09:32,001
-And you can call me Leo.
-I already have.
1826
01:09:32,084 --> 01:09:33,586
MEL: Then I began to write it
as that.
1827
01:09:33,669 --> 01:09:36,005
LEO: I want everything
I've ever seen in the movies!
1828
01:09:36,088 --> 01:09:38,924
MEL: And the movie
is the result of a dream
that came true.
1829
01:09:39,008 --> 01:09:40,217
LEO: I'll do it!
1830
01:09:41,427 --> 01:09:43,304
By God, I'll do it!
1831
01:09:43,387 --> 01:09:46,390
He'll do it! He'll do it!
1832
01:09:47,641 --> 01:09:49,643
♪ (LIVELY MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
1833
01:09:53,022 --> 01:09:55,149
Now, you're a writer
and you're a director.
1834
01:09:55,232 --> 01:09:58,194
Yes, I've written and directed
a new motion flick
1835
01:09:58,277 --> 01:09:59,820
called The Producers,
1836
01:09:59,904 --> 01:10:03,490
starring Zero Mostel
and introducing Gene Wilder.
1837
01:10:03,574 --> 01:10:06,118
-Gene Wilder?
-Yes, I liked him immediately.
1838
01:10:06,202 --> 01:10:08,454
He was talented and he worked
for a dollar-eighty.
1839
01:10:08,537 --> 01:10:10,664
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
1840
01:10:10,748 --> 01:10:12,082
INTERVIEWER:
I would have thought
1841
01:10:12,124 --> 01:10:13,292
a watershed in your career came
1842
01:10:13,334 --> 01:10:15,336
when you met Mel Brooks.
1843
01:10:15,920 --> 01:10:16,962
Did you see it
1844
01:10:17,004 --> 01:10:18,380
as an important meeting
right away?
1845
01:10:18,797 --> 01:10:20,049
(LAUGHS)
1846
01:10:21,258 --> 01:10:22,426
INTERVIEWER: What's so funny?
1847
01:10:22,468 --> 01:10:25,471
-(LAUGHS)
-(INTERVIEWER LAUGHS)
1848
01:10:25,554 --> 01:10:28,807
When God spoke to Moses
the first time, if you ask him,
1849
01:10:28,891 --> 01:10:30,726
"Was that significant
in your life?"
1850
01:10:30,809 --> 01:10:32,686
(LAUGHS)
1851
01:10:32,770 --> 01:10:33,938
INTERVIEWER:
It was like that, was it?
1852
01:10:33,979 --> 01:10:36,190
Yes, when the bush
actually went on fire.
1853
01:10:36,273 --> 01:10:37,650
(LAUGHS)
1854
01:10:37,733 --> 01:10:40,152
I would say it had
some minor importance, yes.
1855
01:10:40,236 --> 01:10:41,195
(INTERVIEWER LAUGHS)
1856
01:10:41,278 --> 01:10:42,696
It's absolutely amazing.
1857
01:10:43,739 --> 01:10:45,074
But under
the right circumstances,
1858
01:10:45,157 --> 01:10:46,825
a producer could
make more money with a flop
1859
01:10:46,867 --> 01:10:48,118
than he could with a hit.
1860
01:10:49,119 --> 01:10:50,621
The Producers is a story about
1861
01:10:50,663 --> 01:10:52,539
a producer and an accountant.
1862
01:10:52,623 --> 01:10:53,707
Yes.
1863
01:10:53,791 --> 01:10:55,584
MEL: And they devise a scheme,
1864
01:10:55,668 --> 01:10:57,670
and their scheme
is to produce a flop.
1865
01:10:57,711 --> 01:10:59,838
A-ha! So, in order
for this scheme to work,
1866
01:10:59,922 --> 01:11:02,174
we'd have to find
a surefire flop.
1867
01:11:02,258 --> 01:11:03,342
What scheme?
1868
01:11:03,384 --> 01:11:06,845
So, they're looking
for the worst play in the world.
1869
01:11:06,929 --> 01:11:09,431
How do you make the worst play
in the world?
1870
01:11:09,515 --> 01:11:12,017
First, you gotta get
the worst script in the world.
1871
01:11:12,059 --> 01:11:14,353
"Springtime for Hitler."
1872
01:11:14,436 --> 01:11:18,274
"A gay romp with Adolf and Eva
at Berchtesgaden."
1873
01:11:19,233 --> 01:11:21,026
-Wow.
-Wow.
1874
01:11:21,068 --> 01:11:24,071
MEL: I loved the idea.
I loved the idea.
1875
01:11:24,154 --> 01:11:25,739
Hello, boys.
1876
01:11:25,823 --> 01:11:30,202
Can make more money with a flop
than you can with a hit. Boom.
1877
01:11:30,244 --> 01:11:31,370
What do you want?
1878
01:11:31,453 --> 01:11:34,373
Relax, relax, Mr. Liebkind.
We're not from the government.
1879
01:11:34,415 --> 01:11:36,041
We came here
to talk about your play.
1880
01:11:36,125 --> 01:11:37,710
My play?
1881
01:11:37,793 --> 01:11:40,879
You mean Springtime for...
you know who?
1882
01:11:40,921 --> 01:11:42,381
-MAX: Yes.
-What about it?
1883
01:11:42,423 --> 01:11:44,383
DANA GOULD: When they
were getting ready
to make The Producers...
1884
01:11:44,466 --> 01:11:45,718
We love it.
We think it's a masterpiece.
1885
01:11:45,759 --> 01:11:46,802
That's why we're here.
1886
01:11:46,885 --> 01:11:48,554
We wish to produce it
on Broadway.
1887
01:11:48,595 --> 01:11:52,224
{\an8}...Dustin Hoffman was signed
to play the playwright.
1888
01:11:52,308 --> 01:11:54,893
(EXCLAIMS) Oh, joy of joys.
1889
01:11:54,935 --> 01:11:57,563
-DANA: And Mel told me...
-Oh, dream of dreams.
1890
01:11:57,604 --> 01:12:01,525
I'm in my apartment and I hear,
"Mel! Mel!"
1891
01:12:01,567 --> 01:12:04,028
And I look down
onto Bleecker Street,
1892
01:12:04,069 --> 01:12:05,738
and there's Dustin Hoffman.
1893
01:12:05,779 --> 01:12:07,781
I open the window. I go,
"Hey, what's going on?"
1894
01:12:08,240 --> 01:12:09,241
And he goes,
1895
01:12:09,283 --> 01:12:11,577
"I might have a problem
with The Producers."
1896
01:12:11,618 --> 01:12:13,078
And I go,
"Why? What's the problem?"
1897
01:12:13,120 --> 01:12:15,873
He goes, "Well, they're flying
me out to the coast,
1898
01:12:15,914 --> 01:12:18,792
and I'm going to audition
for a Mike Nichols movie."
1899
01:12:19,501 --> 01:12:21,253
And I go, "The one Anne's in?"
1900
01:12:21,754 --> 01:12:23,255
He goes, "Yeah."
1901
01:12:23,297 --> 01:12:25,090
I go, "What-- What role?"
1902
01:12:25,632 --> 01:12:27,760
He goes, "The lead."
1903
01:12:27,801 --> 01:12:31,764
And I think, "Oh, well,
just let me know. Good luck."
1904
01:12:31,847 --> 01:12:33,474
And I closed the window
and I thought,
1905
01:12:33,557 --> 01:12:34,475
"I'm not worried."
1906
01:12:34,558 --> 01:12:36,769
{\an8}Mrs. Robinson,
you're trying to seduce me.
1907
01:12:36,852 --> 01:12:38,103
{\an8}(LAUGHS)
1908
01:12:39,355 --> 01:12:40,439
Aren't you?
1909
01:12:40,481 --> 01:12:43,108
But we got Kenny Mars.
(LAUGHS)
1910
01:12:43,192 --> 01:12:45,444
♪ (UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
1911
01:12:46,945 --> 01:12:48,614
JUDD: How'd you study up
to even know
1912
01:12:48,697 --> 01:12:49,948
how to be a director?
1913
01:12:49,990 --> 01:12:52,159
MEL: I didn't.
I didn't do a thing.
1914
01:12:52,242 --> 01:12:53,577
I just said,
1915
01:12:53,619 --> 01:12:57,373
"I'm going to say... 'Action'
and see what happens."
1916
01:12:58,957 --> 01:13:01,460
I only need one word. Courage.
1917
01:13:02,294 --> 01:13:03,629
The courage to do it.
1918
01:13:05,047 --> 01:13:06,382
I was just a traffic cop.
1919
01:13:06,465 --> 01:13:08,175
I mean,
I did very little directing.
1920
01:13:08,258 --> 01:13:12,012
With Gene,
I did very soft and quiet lying
1921
01:13:12,096 --> 01:13:13,806
and told him
that he was a genius
1922
01:13:13,889 --> 01:13:16,058
and that we were so fortunate
to have him.
1923
01:13:16,141 --> 01:13:18,602
And then I would go to Zero
and I would scream,
1924
01:13:18,644 --> 01:13:20,354
"Without you, we're finished!"
1925
01:13:20,437 --> 01:13:22,189
(SCREAMS, GASPS) My--
1926
01:13:22,272 --> 01:13:24,775
My blanket, my blue blanket!
Give me my blue blanket!
1927
01:13:24,817 --> 01:13:25,859
(BABBLING)
1928
01:13:25,943 --> 01:13:27,778
MATTHEW BRODERICK:
Gene was, aside from being
1929
01:13:27,820 --> 01:13:29,571
just the greatest at everything,
1930
01:13:29,655 --> 01:13:32,950
he was particularly good at
any kind of hysterics.
1931
01:13:32,991 --> 01:13:36,286
(WHINGING)
1932
01:13:36,328 --> 01:13:37,413
{\an8}Nobody can do that.
1933
01:13:37,496 --> 01:13:39,039
{\an8}I mean,
you can't really touch it.
1934
01:13:39,123 --> 01:13:42,668
{\an8}-At least I can't, you know?
-And famously, they were filming
1935
01:13:42,751 --> 01:13:45,546
that scene,
the blue blanket scene...
1936
01:13:46,880 --> 01:13:48,048
I'm wet.
1937
01:13:48,674 --> 01:13:49,716
I'm wet.
1938
01:13:50,426 --> 01:13:52,136
I'm hysterical and I'm wet.
1939
01:13:53,470 --> 01:13:56,515
I'm in pain and I'm wet.
1940
01:13:56,598 --> 01:13:58,642
Mel decided, you know,
1941
01:13:58,684 --> 01:14:01,395
it was just a little
small budget film and they--
1942
01:14:01,478 --> 01:14:04,565
you know, and he said,
at the end of the day,
1943
01:14:04,648 --> 01:14:06,358
they had been filming all day,
he said,
1944
01:14:06,400 --> 01:14:09,611
"We're gonna try to do the scene
in the office."
1945
01:14:09,695 --> 01:14:11,029
And Gene was like,
1946
01:14:11,071 --> 01:14:14,032
"Oh, Mel, can we wait and do it
in the morning when I'm fresh?
1947
01:14:14,074 --> 01:14:17,536
I'm so tired. I don't think
I have the energy to do that."
1948
01:14:17,578 --> 01:14:19,997
And he sent out for candy bars.
1949
01:14:20,038 --> 01:14:22,583
He gave him
a lot of coffee and candy bars,
1950
01:14:22,666 --> 01:14:24,042
and then they shot that scene.
1951
01:14:24,126 --> 01:14:26,795
I'm an honest man.
You don't understand.
1952
01:14:26,879 --> 01:14:29,047
No, Bloom, you don't understand.
This is fate!
1953
01:14:29,131 --> 01:14:31,258
This is destiny! This is kismet!
1954
01:14:31,341 --> 01:14:32,593
There's no avoiding it.
1955
01:14:32,676 --> 01:14:34,636
Mr. Bialystock, not more
than five minutes ago,
1956
01:14:34,720 --> 01:14:35,762
I doctored your books.
1957
01:14:35,846 --> 01:14:37,431
MEL: It wasn't in the script
originally,
1958
01:14:37,514 --> 01:14:39,933
but when Gene fell,
I yelled down at him.
1959
01:14:40,017 --> 01:14:42,060
(YELLING) Oh!
1960
01:14:42,102 --> 01:14:43,937
I want that money!
1961
01:14:44,021 --> 01:14:46,899
-MEL: Say...
-Ooh, I fell on my keys.
1962
01:14:46,982 --> 01:14:49,693
It's nonsense.
It doesn't help the movie.
1963
01:14:49,735 --> 01:14:51,904
-But it's so unique.
-(JUDD CHUCKLES)
1964
01:14:51,945 --> 01:14:54,698
And so... Why would he confer?
1965
01:14:54,740 --> 01:14:56,200
Why would he tell us?
1966
01:14:56,241 --> 01:15:00,245
So, I decided to split
the difference between
1967
01:15:00,287 --> 01:15:02,748
smart comedy and cheap comedy.
1968
01:15:02,831 --> 01:15:05,042
-JUDD: Yeah.
-And cheap always won.
1969
01:15:05,083 --> 01:15:10,172
(INDISTINCT CLAMOR)
1970
01:15:14,051 --> 01:15:16,178
This is bedlam. Bedlam!
1971
01:15:17,304 --> 01:15:19,056
We must have some order!
1972
01:15:21,058 --> 01:15:24,144
-(INDISTINCT CLAMOR)
-(ROGER DE BRIS YELLING)
1973
01:15:24,228 --> 01:15:27,773
Will the dancing Hitlers
please wait in the wings?
1974
01:15:27,856 --> 01:15:30,108
We are only seeing
singing Hitlers.
1975
01:15:30,192 --> 01:15:32,277
(GROUP GROANING)
1976
01:15:32,361 --> 01:15:34,279
INTERVIEWER:
Well, you're a famous writer,
1977
01:15:34,363 --> 01:15:36,615
and you're
a great composer, too.
1978
01:15:36,698 --> 01:15:38,325
Oh. (CHUCKLES)
1979
01:15:38,408 --> 01:15:41,161
It's nothing,
but I mean it's nothing.
1980
01:15:41,245 --> 01:15:44,122
INTERVIEWER: No, you wrote
that Vinerian masterpiece,
1981
01:15:44,206 --> 01:15:46,625
which is called
"Springtime for Hitler."
1982
01:15:46,667 --> 01:15:47,960
Yes, it's... (LAUGHS)
1983
01:15:48,043 --> 01:15:50,587
INTERVIEWER:
Maybe you could sing it
for the French TV viewers, no?
1984
01:15:51,380 --> 01:15:53,674
(MUTTERING INDISTINCTLY)
1985
01:15:53,757 --> 01:15:55,300
♪ Germany was having trouble ♪
1986
01:15:55,384 --> 01:15:56,552
Yeah, that's it.
1987
01:15:56,635 --> 01:15:58,637
♪ (SINGING IN FRENCH) ♪
Okay, Germany.
1988
01:15:58,679 --> 01:16:01,515
♪ Germany was having trouble
What a sad, sad story ♪
1989
01:16:01,598 --> 01:16:04,601
♪ Needed a new leader
To restore its former glory ♪
1990
01:16:04,643 --> 01:16:08,146
♪ Where or where was he?
Where could that man be? ♪
1991
01:16:08,230 --> 01:16:10,816
♪ We looked around
Until we found ♪
1992
01:16:10,857 --> 01:16:13,819
♪ The man for you and me ♪
1993
01:16:13,860 --> 01:16:16,655
♪ And now it's... ♪
1994
01:16:16,738 --> 01:16:19,825
♪ Springtime for Hitler ♪
1995
01:16:19,908 --> 01:16:22,828
♪ And Germany ♪
1996
01:16:23,704 --> 01:16:29,626
♪ Deutschland is happy and gay ♪
1997
01:16:30,544 --> 01:16:35,799
♪ We're marching
To a faster pace ♪
1998
01:16:37,384 --> 01:16:42,848
♪ Look out
Here comes the master race ♪
1999
01:16:42,931 --> 01:16:45,058
MEL:
What makes The Producers work
2000
01:16:45,142 --> 01:16:46,268
is humanity.
2001
01:16:47,352 --> 01:16:49,021
Bloom is a caterpillar,
2002
01:16:49,104 --> 01:16:51,398
afraid to become a butterfly.
2003
01:16:51,481 --> 01:16:53,692
He's scared,
like a lot of people are scared.
2004
01:16:53,775 --> 01:16:56,069
He's the hidden ego.
2005
01:16:56,153 --> 01:16:57,946
And then you got
this other character,
2006
01:16:58,030 --> 01:16:59,281
who's a monster,
2007
01:16:59,823 --> 01:17:01,366
but he's beloved.
2008
01:17:01,408 --> 01:17:03,243
He's the id, he's the animal.
2009
01:17:03,327 --> 01:17:05,537
And that's Max Bialystock.
2010
01:17:05,579 --> 01:17:07,372
And they need each other,
they're symbiotic,
2011
01:17:07,414 --> 01:17:08,749
they help each other.
2012
01:17:08,832 --> 01:17:11,126
And that's really
the love story.
2013
01:17:11,209 --> 01:17:13,795
♪ ("SPRINGTIME FOR HITLER"
BY MEL BROOKS PLAYING) ♪
2014
01:17:13,879 --> 01:17:15,380
♪ I was born in Dusseldorf ♪
2015
01:17:15,464 --> 01:17:17,299
♪ And that is why
They call me Rolf ♪
2016
01:17:19,468 --> 01:17:23,555
♪ Don't be stupid, be a smarty
Come and join the Nazi party ♪
2017
01:17:23,597 --> 01:17:24,723
MEL: And then, of course,
2018
01:17:24,806 --> 01:17:27,559
you add a brushstroke of Hitler
to anything.
2019
01:17:27,601 --> 01:17:28,894
It's magic.
2020
01:17:28,935 --> 01:17:34,358
♪ Springtime for Hitler
And Germany ♪
2021
01:17:36,193 --> 01:17:39,946
♪ U-boats are sailing
Once more ♪
2022
01:17:40,030 --> 01:17:43,575
Well! Talk about bad taste.
2023
01:17:43,617 --> 01:17:47,079
♪ Springtime for Hitler ♪
2024
01:17:47,120 --> 01:17:51,124
♪ And Germany ♪
2025
01:17:51,208 --> 01:17:54,544
♪ Means that soon
We'll be going ♪
2026
01:17:54,586 --> 01:17:57,422
♪ We've got to be going ♪
2027
01:17:57,464 --> 01:18:00,842
♪ You know we'll be going ♪
2028
01:18:00,926 --> 01:18:06,932
♪ To war ♪
2029
01:18:06,973 --> 01:18:08,600
♪ (MUSIC CONCLDUES) ♪
2030
01:18:15,524 --> 01:18:20,028
-(CHEERRING)
-(ANGRY CHATTER)
2031
01:18:20,112 --> 01:18:22,531
JUDD: After World War II,
2032
01:18:22,614 --> 01:18:25,826
did people make fun of Hitler
in that way?
2033
01:18:25,909 --> 01:18:27,369
No.
2034
01:18:27,452 --> 01:18:29,496
I think I was the only one
doing it.
2035
01:18:30,622 --> 01:18:31,665
You know?
2036
01:18:31,748 --> 01:18:34,334
I don't know
why I should be proud,
2037
01:18:34,418 --> 01:18:36,336
but I have a feeling of pride
2038
01:18:36,420 --> 01:18:39,506
when I say I was the only one
doing Hitler jokes.
2039
01:18:39,589 --> 01:18:42,551
Did the importance of it
come up later?
2040
01:18:42,634 --> 01:18:45,887
The significance of making fun
of fascism and Nazis?
2041
01:18:45,971 --> 01:18:46,930
MEL: No.
2042
01:18:46,972 --> 01:18:48,432
Or did you know
the whole time, like,
2043
01:18:48,473 --> 01:18:50,517
this is significant to do this?
2044
01:18:50,600 --> 01:18:53,770
It's significant to do it
because it got a lot of laughs.
2045
01:18:54,396 --> 01:18:55,647
I made a comedy
2046
01:18:56,440 --> 01:18:57,607
and they're laughing.
2047
01:18:57,649 --> 01:18:59,526
-JUDD: Mm-hmm.
-Therefore,
2048
01:19:00,152 --> 01:19:02,654
maybe I can continue
2049
01:19:03,488 --> 01:19:05,407
to make comedies.
2050
01:19:05,490 --> 01:19:06,742
That's what I wanted to do.
2051
01:19:07,951 --> 01:19:09,995
MEL: (OVER RECORDING)
I really do want to be a writer.
2052
01:19:10,078 --> 01:19:12,748
I feel that I have made
some minor contributions
2053
01:19:12,831 --> 01:19:14,124
in that direction.
2054
01:19:14,791 --> 01:19:15,834
Before I die,
2055
01:19:15,917 --> 01:19:17,377
I would like
to make a lot of noise.
2056
01:19:17,461 --> 01:19:19,087
And you really can't make noise
2057
01:19:19,171 --> 01:19:20,756
if you fit
into prescribed grooves.
2058
01:19:20,839 --> 01:19:22,466
You really have to be
a little dangerous.
2059
01:19:22,507 --> 01:19:24,509
So hence,
"Springtime for Hitler."
2060
01:19:24,593 --> 01:19:26,178
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
2061
01:19:26,261 --> 01:19:29,806
NICHOLAS: The Producers
premiered in early 1968,
2062
01:19:29,848 --> 01:19:31,099
in Philadelphia.
2063
01:19:31,808 --> 01:19:34,019
And it was a big movie house.
2064
01:19:34,102 --> 01:19:38,023
And, um, we were it.
2065
01:19:38,815 --> 01:19:41,359
There were only two people,
2066
01:19:41,443 --> 01:19:43,653
two other humans in the theater
2067
01:19:43,695 --> 01:19:45,530
when we saw The Producers.
2068
01:19:45,572 --> 01:19:49,576
One was a tall old man
in a raincoat,
2069
01:19:49,659 --> 01:19:51,244
and the other was a woman
2070
01:19:51,328 --> 01:19:53,205
surrounded by a kind of phalanx,
2071
01:19:53,288 --> 01:19:55,749
a fortress of shopping bags.
2072
01:19:56,416 --> 01:19:58,960
And when the lights came on...
2073
01:20:00,337 --> 01:20:02,839
the old man was asleep
2074
01:20:02,881 --> 01:20:04,466
and the old lady
with the shopping bags
2075
01:20:04,549 --> 01:20:05,550
was gone.
2076
01:20:06,885 --> 01:20:08,845
And I said to myself
at the time,
2077
01:20:09,471 --> 01:20:10,764
"Oh, my God,
2078
01:20:10,847 --> 01:20:13,892
this is not just a flop,
2079
01:20:13,934 --> 01:20:17,729
but... a kind of epic failure."
2080
01:20:17,813 --> 01:20:20,982
INTERVIEWER: The Producers
is now regarded by most people
as a classic,
2081
01:20:21,066 --> 01:20:22,359
but when it was first released,
2082
01:20:22,400 --> 01:20:23,902
the critics weren't
so nice to it, right?
2083
01:20:23,985 --> 01:20:26,571
MEL: Yes. One bad review.
2084
01:20:27,405 --> 01:20:28,907
You never forget it.
2085
01:20:28,949 --> 01:20:29,908
You always do.
2086
01:20:29,950 --> 01:20:31,618
In your heart of hearts,
you always agree
2087
01:20:31,701 --> 01:20:34,329
with the most negative reviews
because you know you're a fake.
2088
01:20:34,412 --> 01:20:36,164
You know you're a fraud.
You know you're no good.
2089
01:20:36,248 --> 01:20:38,458
You know what I mean?
And they just point that out
and you say,
2090
01:20:38,542 --> 01:20:40,919
"Right, you caught me,
you son of a bitch."
2091
01:20:41,002 --> 01:20:42,462
-(INTERVIEWER LAUGHS)
-You know?
2092
01:20:42,546 --> 01:20:44,506
And it's true.
I mean, you never...
2093
01:20:44,589 --> 01:20:46,091
One part of you is arrogant,
2094
01:20:46,132 --> 01:20:48,426
but then there is
the other pendulum swing
2095
01:20:48,510 --> 01:20:50,053
that brings you, you know,
2096
01:20:50,095 --> 01:20:52,597
down to your worst
paranoid fears,
2097
01:20:52,639 --> 01:20:54,432
that you really
were never meant to do it,
2098
01:20:54,474 --> 01:20:55,892
that you're not gifted,
2099
01:20:55,934 --> 01:20:58,270
that you have no talent,
you know.
2100
01:21:00,272 --> 01:21:03,066
The night The Times came out,
2101
01:21:03,108 --> 01:21:05,527
my wife, Anne, and I
were sitting...
2102
01:21:05,610 --> 01:21:06,695
♪ (MUSIC CONCLUES) ♪
2103
01:21:06,778 --> 01:21:07,988
...and crying,
2104
01:21:08,071 --> 01:21:09,823
holding each other's hands.
2105
01:21:10,323 --> 01:21:11,283
I said, "Look,
2106
01:21:11,366 --> 01:21:14,411
I was a hit writer
in television."
2107
01:21:14,452 --> 01:21:15,996
"I can always
go back to television,"
2108
01:21:16,079 --> 01:21:16,997
you know?
2109
01:21:17,080 --> 01:21:18,123
Yeah.
2110
01:21:18,999 --> 01:21:20,917
She slapped me
and she said, "Don't.
2111
01:21:21,710 --> 01:21:23,128
That's a great movie.
2112
01:21:23,962 --> 01:21:26,631
And you created
great characters,
2113
01:21:26,673 --> 01:21:29,342
Bialystok and Bloom,
they'll live forever.
2114
01:21:30,218 --> 01:21:33,513
Now you just keep making
those movies.
2115
01:21:33,597 --> 01:21:36,057
You stop making the movies,
I drop you like a stone."
2116
01:21:36,141 --> 01:21:37,976
{\an8}♪ (UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
2117
01:21:38,059 --> 01:21:42,606
{\an8}MEL: Somehow,
Peter Sellers took out a review.
2118
01:21:42,647 --> 01:21:45,358
{\an8}He said, "This is
the greatest comedy ever..."
2119
01:21:45,442 --> 01:21:47,694
{\an8}He went on and on about it.
2120
01:21:47,777 --> 01:21:50,780
Two full pages,
it cost him a lot of money.
2121
01:21:50,822 --> 01:21:54,034
And then the word of mouth
jumped right in.
2122
01:21:54,117 --> 01:21:55,702
-Word of mouth was great.
-(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
2123
01:21:55,785 --> 01:21:57,537
FRANK SINATRA: For the best
story and screenplay
2124
01:21:57,621 --> 01:21:59,623
written directly
for the screen,
2125
01:21:59,664 --> 01:22:01,583
the winner is Mel Brooks
for The Producers.
2126
01:22:04,044 --> 01:22:05,253
♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
2127
01:22:05,337 --> 01:22:06,922
I didn't trust myself
in case I won,
2128
01:22:07,005 --> 01:22:10,050
so I wrote
a couple of things here.
2129
01:22:10,133 --> 01:22:12,010
I want to thank
the Academy of Arts,
2130
01:22:12,052 --> 01:22:13,970
Sciences, and Money
2131
01:22:14,012 --> 01:22:16,389
-for this wonderful award.
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
2132
01:22:17,474 --> 01:22:20,352
Um... Well, I'll just say
what's in my heart.
2133
01:22:21,394 --> 01:22:24,856
Ba-bump, ba-bump,
ba-bump, ba-bump.
2134
01:22:24,898 --> 01:22:26,691
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING, APPLAUDING)
2135
01:22:26,733 --> 01:22:30,028
{\an8}♪ (THEME MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
2136
01:22:30,070 --> 01:22:33,531
Tonight our show is called,
"How to Be a Jewish Son,"
2137
01:22:33,615 --> 01:22:35,492
or "My Son the Success."
2138
01:22:35,992 --> 01:22:37,077
Um...
2139
01:22:37,160 --> 01:22:41,247
It should be an evening of fun.
Now, about Jewish mothers.
2140
01:22:41,331 --> 01:22:43,875
Forget about Jewish mothers,
let's talk about sharks.
2141
01:22:43,917 --> 01:22:44,960
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
2142
01:22:45,043 --> 01:22:46,419
DAVID SUSSKIND: Sharks?
2143
01:22:46,503 --> 01:22:47,963
MEL: Let me tell you
about my mother.
2144
01:22:48,046 --> 01:22:49,089
I like my mother.
2145
01:22:49,631 --> 01:22:51,424
I love my mother.
2146
01:22:51,508 --> 01:22:53,385
If I could...
2147
01:22:53,426 --> 01:22:55,136
I would go skinny dipping
with my mother.
2148
01:22:55,220 --> 01:22:57,097
(GUESTS LAUGHING)
2149
01:22:57,180 --> 01:22:59,391
DAVID:
But you're talking about--
What's it like being an...
2150
01:22:59,432 --> 01:23:00,934
Shut up, David. I mean...
2151
01:23:01,017 --> 01:23:02,310
(AUDIENCE AND GUEST LAUGHING)
2152
01:23:02,894 --> 01:23:03,895
Okay, go ahead.
2153
01:23:03,979 --> 01:23:06,398
When I introduced my mother
to my present wife,
2154
01:23:06,481 --> 01:23:07,649
who is not Jewish,
2155
01:23:07,732 --> 01:23:09,401
-I said...
-DAVID: Oh,. that must have been
2156
01:23:09,442 --> 01:23:11,111
-an interesting trauma...
-Yes. I said, "Mom,
2157
01:23:11,194 --> 01:23:14,406
I want you to meet Annie,"
and, um...
2158
01:23:14,489 --> 01:23:17,534
She knew that my wife
was Catholic and not Jewish.
2159
01:23:17,575 --> 01:23:19,077
And she said,
2160
01:23:19,160 --> 01:23:21,121
"Sit down,
make yourself comfortable,
2161
01:23:21,204 --> 01:23:22,247
you know,
2162
01:23:22,288 --> 01:23:23,915
take a piece of fruit and relax,
2163
01:23:23,957 --> 01:23:25,333
and I'll be in the kitchen,
2164
01:23:25,417 --> 01:23:26,584
my head'll be in the oven
2165
01:23:26,626 --> 01:23:28,253
-if you need me."
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
2166
01:23:28,336 --> 01:23:30,130
She says it quietly, you know.
2167
01:23:30,213 --> 01:23:32,298
It was... a big disaster.
2168
01:23:32,382 --> 01:23:34,092
And then
they came to know each other,
2169
01:23:34,175 --> 01:23:36,594
and my mother's head over heels
in love with Annie,
2170
01:23:36,678 --> 01:23:37,929
and they're best friends now.
2171
01:23:38,013 --> 01:23:39,764
His wife is one of...
the gracious,
2172
01:23:39,848 --> 01:23:41,683
beautiful, talented,
Anne Bancroft.
2173
01:23:41,766 --> 01:23:42,851
It was nothing.
2174
01:23:43,643 --> 01:23:45,103
-But...
-GUEST: Did she convert?
2175
01:23:45,186 --> 01:23:46,855
Did she convert?
Are you kidding?
2176
01:23:46,938 --> 01:23:48,940
She don't have to convert.
She's a star.
2177
01:23:49,024 --> 01:23:50,358
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
2178
01:23:50,442 --> 01:23:52,027
GUEST:
You changed your name, too.
2179
01:23:52,110 --> 01:23:53,319
MEL: I never changed my name.
2180
01:23:53,403 --> 01:23:56,031
-DAVID:
Were you born Mel Brooks?
-No, sir, I was not.
2181
01:23:56,114 --> 01:23:58,366
-DAVID: What were you born?
-George M. Cohan.
2182
01:23:58,450 --> 01:24:01,119
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
-(GUESTS LAUGHING)
2183
01:24:02,287 --> 01:24:03,955
There was, you know,
that cute...
2184
01:24:04,039 --> 01:24:05,665
I didn't want
to run into trouble,
2185
01:24:05,749 --> 01:24:07,167
so I changed it for Brooks.
2186
01:24:07,250 --> 01:24:09,002
Actually, my mother's
maiden name is Brookman,
2187
01:24:09,085 --> 01:24:10,170
so I took Brooks.
2188
01:24:10,253 --> 01:24:12,630
My father's name is Kaminsky,
and I was Melvin Kaminsky,
2189
01:24:12,714 --> 01:24:15,133
and I played the drums,
and I was booked on a date.
2190
01:24:15,216 --> 01:24:16,718
You remember Max Kaminsky,
the trumpet player?
2191
01:24:16,801 --> 01:24:19,471
-DAVID: Yes, very well.
-So, when I showed up,
they said,
2192
01:24:19,512 --> 01:24:21,514
"Where's your trumpet?"
I said, "I play drums."
2193
01:24:21,598 --> 01:24:22,766
And they
had booked Max Kaminsky,
2194
01:24:22,807 --> 01:24:23,850
and they got me.
2195
01:24:23,933 --> 01:24:25,310
So, I figured
Kaminsky with Kaminsky...
2196
01:24:25,393 --> 01:24:26,811
(BLOWS RASPBERRY)
...no good, right?
2197
01:24:26,895 --> 01:24:28,813
So, I was Brookman
for a while,
2198
01:24:28,855 --> 01:24:30,356
but I couldn't get it all
on a drum.
2199
01:24:30,440 --> 01:24:32,358
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
2200
01:24:32,442 --> 01:24:34,152
So, I made it Brooks,
Mel Brooks.
2201
01:24:34,194 --> 01:24:35,361
It was a dopey name.
2202
01:24:35,445 --> 01:24:37,197
Now, think of me now
as a filmmaker.
2203
01:24:37,280 --> 01:24:39,115
Thirty-three years later,
a filmmaker.
2204
01:24:39,157 --> 01:24:40,909
Ba-dum, ba-dum, Mel Brooks.
2205
01:24:40,992 --> 01:24:42,660
Now that's a dopey name
for a filmmaker.
2206
01:24:42,702 --> 01:24:44,996
Mel Brooks is good for
"Th--Th-- That's all, folks."
2207
01:24:45,080 --> 01:24:46,247
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
2208
01:24:46,331 --> 01:24:47,832
That's a good name for that.
2209
01:24:47,874 --> 01:24:48,875
But for Kaminsky,
2210
01:24:48,958 --> 01:24:50,502
if I'd stuck
to my original name...
2211
01:24:50,585 --> 01:24:52,295
(SHOUTING INDISTINCTLY)
2212
01:24:52,337 --> 01:24:55,340
(SPEAKING GERMAN)
2213
01:24:55,423 --> 01:24:57,425
Kaminsky. (MUMBLING)
2214
01:24:57,509 --> 01:24:59,177
Would've been fantastic.
2215
01:24:59,219 --> 01:25:01,054
{\an8}You look to me like a Muscovite.
2216
01:25:01,137 --> 01:25:03,681
{\an8}Listen, tell me,
who lived here in the old days?
2217
01:25:03,765 --> 01:25:07,185
Oh, in the old days
was my master.
2218
01:25:07,227 --> 01:25:10,647
Ippolit Matveyevich
Vorobyaninov.
2219
01:25:10,688 --> 01:25:13,483
He was
a marshal of the nobility.
2220
01:25:14,109 --> 01:25:15,527
I loved him.
2221
01:25:15,568 --> 01:25:17,570
He hardly ever beat us.
2222
01:25:17,654 --> 01:25:20,782
Ah. Whatever became
of your lovable master?
2223
01:25:20,865 --> 01:25:24,452
One night, about ten years ago,
was a fearful noise.
2224
01:25:24,536 --> 01:25:27,455
It was bombs and cannons
and soldiers shooting.
2225
01:25:27,539 --> 01:25:29,207
It was terrible, terrible.
2226
01:25:29,249 --> 01:25:30,208
Oh, yes.
2227
01:25:30,291 --> 01:25:31,709
I think
it was called The Revolution.
2228
01:25:31,751 --> 01:25:34,212
-That was it. The Revolution.
-♪ (SOFT GLOOMY MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
2229
01:25:34,796 --> 01:25:36,381
You're smart.
2230
01:25:36,422 --> 01:25:38,383
You're smart
and you're gorgeous.
2231
01:25:38,424 --> 01:25:39,717
You're okay.
2232
01:25:39,759 --> 01:25:40,885
Privately,
2233
01:25:40,969 --> 01:25:42,595
I'm ashamed to say this,
2234
01:25:42,679 --> 01:25:45,056
but when I saw
the final cut of...
2235
01:25:45,640 --> 01:25:47,225
The Twelve Chairs...
2236
01:25:47,267 --> 01:25:49,060
♪ (SOFT GLOOMY MUSIC
CONTINUES) ♪
2237
01:25:49,144 --> 01:25:51,604
...I said, "Mel...
2238
01:25:51,688 --> 01:25:54,232
you've created a masterpiece."
2239
01:25:54,274 --> 01:25:56,568
Why are you after my chair?
2240
01:25:56,651 --> 01:25:59,070
-It's not yours.
-Then whose is it?
2241
01:25:59,112 --> 01:26:00,905
It's nationalized property.
2242
01:26:00,947 --> 01:26:03,032
-It belongs to the workers.
-Did you say the workers?
2243
01:26:03,074 --> 01:26:05,743
MEL: The book
was from two Russian writers,
2244
01:26:05,827 --> 01:26:07,745
Ilf and Petrov.
2245
01:26:07,829 --> 01:26:11,416
I remember it was
Mel Tolkin on the Show of Shows.
2246
01:26:11,457 --> 01:26:12,584
He said to me,
2247
01:26:12,667 --> 01:26:15,170
"Somewhere in you
is a bit of genius."
2248
01:26:15,253 --> 01:26:18,214
"You get near it
and then you hide."
2249
01:26:18,256 --> 01:26:20,175
He said,
"You got to let it all out.
2250
01:26:20,258 --> 01:26:22,427
You got to be brave."
2251
01:26:22,468 --> 01:26:24,429
"But what you're missing
2252
01:26:24,512 --> 01:26:27,223
are contemporaries
of you and your mind."
2253
01:26:27,765 --> 01:26:28,892
He wanted me to read
2254
01:26:28,933 --> 01:26:32,770
a lot of Dostoevsky,
Gogol, and Chekhov.
2255
01:26:32,854 --> 01:26:35,899
These, uh--
I always called them scholars.
2256
01:26:35,940 --> 01:26:38,443
They were probably
street urchins like me,
2257
01:26:38,484 --> 01:26:40,695
but they came up with good,
2258
01:26:41,196 --> 01:26:43,031
solid comedy ideas.
2259
01:26:44,199 --> 01:26:45,325
So, it was Mel
2260
01:26:45,408 --> 01:26:49,370
who got me on the track
of reading great writing.
2261
01:26:49,454 --> 01:26:52,207
Listen, scum,
I want those chairs.
2262
01:26:52,290 --> 01:26:55,293
Do you hear me?
I want those chairs!
2263
01:26:55,376 --> 01:26:56,961
PATTON OSWALT: The first time
I saw Twelve Chairs,
2264
01:26:57,045 --> 01:26:58,713
I didn't know enough
about Russian literature.
2265
01:26:58,796 --> 01:27:01,007
-I just thought...
-Get out of here!
2266
01:27:01,090 --> 01:27:03,927
...this is a really funny movie.
DeLuise is hilarious.
2267
01:27:03,968 --> 01:27:05,929
{\an8}And then if you go and read
2268
01:27:05,970 --> 01:27:08,223
{\an8}Dostoevsky, Tolstoy, Gogol,
2269
01:27:08,306 --> 01:27:11,100
{\an8}all these deep,
dark Russian thinkers,
2270
01:27:11,142 --> 01:27:13,811
and you see Mel Brooks
is dinging riffs
2271
01:27:13,853 --> 01:27:17,065
off of some of the darkest shit
out there.
2272
01:27:18,775 --> 01:27:22,153
So, I think that movie goes
a little bit unappreciated.
2273
01:27:22,195 --> 01:27:24,530
♪ (SOFT GLOOMY MUSIC
CONTINUES) ♪
2274
01:27:28,034 --> 01:27:29,327
♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
2275
01:27:29,369 --> 01:27:30,495
What can I tell you?
2276
01:27:30,578 --> 01:27:31,955
I could use
a little gin in this,
2277
01:27:31,996 --> 01:27:32,997
I'll tell you the truth.
2278
01:27:33,081 --> 01:27:35,166
-The Twelve Chairs.
-Yeah. That smells good.
2279
01:27:35,208 --> 01:27:36,584
The Twelve Chairs.
2280
01:27:36,668 --> 01:27:37,919
Twelve Chairs was a failure.
2281
01:27:39,379 --> 01:27:41,339
The Twelve Chairs
was a failure, Tony.
2282
01:27:41,381 --> 01:27:43,549
-You wanna talk
about it or not?
-TONY BILBOW: Hmm.
2283
01:27:43,633 --> 01:27:45,510
And you're still
nodding your head.
2284
01:27:45,551 --> 01:27:47,345
Look how he don't take a hint.
2285
01:27:47,387 --> 01:27:48,721
TONY: Why was it a failure?
2286
01:27:48,805 --> 01:27:50,807
It was a failure.
It was too good.
2287
01:27:50,848 --> 01:27:52,684
Sometimes I'm terrific
and sometimes I'm rotten.
2288
01:27:52,725 --> 01:27:55,103
You sure you want
to stay with those mauve socks?
2289
01:27:55,186 --> 01:27:56,688
No offense, Tony.
2290
01:27:56,771 --> 01:27:57,855
They are mauve.
2291
01:27:57,897 --> 01:28:00,650
Either they're mauve
or they're red that's gone...
2292
01:28:00,692 --> 01:28:02,694
Little borscht socks.
Folks, I swear to God,
2293
01:28:02,735 --> 01:28:04,445
I'm not making it up.
Here it is, borscht.
2294
01:28:04,529 --> 01:28:07,532
No offense. Yes, Tony. Do go on.
2295
01:28:08,491 --> 01:28:09,450
You ever see the guys,
2296
01:28:09,534 --> 01:28:12,370
you ever have interviews
with these types? "Yes."
2297
01:28:12,412 --> 01:28:13,621
TONY: Always very intense.
2298
01:28:13,705 --> 01:28:15,581
You know,
with your kind of introspection,
2299
01:28:15,665 --> 01:28:16,666
it's very difficult
2300
01:28:16,708 --> 01:28:19,711
to get to the heart
of what really is Mel Brooks.
2301
01:28:19,752 --> 01:28:21,587
What am I really?
2302
01:28:21,671 --> 01:28:23,298
I'm a coalescence of vapor.
2303
01:28:23,381 --> 01:28:26,592
Sometimes, sometimes
I think of myself...
2304
01:28:27,593 --> 01:28:29,137
as a wraith.
2305
01:28:29,220 --> 01:28:31,931
A wraith... make that a wreath.
2306
01:28:32,015 --> 01:28:33,391
It's easy to think
'cause if there's a...
2307
01:28:33,433 --> 01:28:35,310
you can hang a wreath,
you can't hang a wraith.
2308
01:28:35,393 --> 01:28:36,394
Yes, well, it's hard.
2309
01:28:36,477 --> 01:28:38,271
I don't know what
the essence of myself is,
2310
01:28:38,354 --> 01:28:40,732
but I know that everybody
who loves me has good taste.
2311
01:28:40,773 --> 01:28:42,775
You know what I mean?
(SMACKS)
2312
01:28:42,859 --> 01:28:45,570
And those who don't like me
are tasteless bores.
2313
01:28:46,446 --> 01:28:48,573
♪ (PENSIVE MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
2314
01:28:48,656 --> 01:28:50,742
MEL: Here I was,
a movie maker, right?
2315
01:28:50,783 --> 01:28:53,703
I'd made The Producers,
I'd made The Twelve Chairs,
2316
01:28:53,745 --> 01:28:55,413
and I was starving to death
2317
01:28:55,455 --> 01:28:56,998
I mean, I was really low.
2318
01:28:57,081 --> 01:29:00,126
I was walking with my head down,
and I heard a voice say,
2319
01:29:00,209 --> 01:29:02,503
"Hi Mel, looking for change?"
2320
01:29:02,587 --> 01:29:03,838
{\an8}(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
2321
01:29:03,921 --> 01:29:05,757
{\an8}MEL: And I looked up
and it was David Begelman.
2322
01:29:05,798 --> 01:29:08,634
{\an8}He says, "What are you doing?"
I said, "Zip. How's that?
2323
01:29:08,718 --> 01:29:09,802
I don't have a job."
2324
01:29:09,886 --> 01:29:12,138
He says, "I got a job for you."
I said, "What?"
2325
01:29:12,221 --> 01:29:13,348
He says, "Andrew Bergman..."
2326
01:29:13,431 --> 01:29:17,143
{\an8}He had written this outline
for a screenplay called "Tex-Ex"
2327
01:29:17,226 --> 01:29:18,478
about a Black sheriff.
2328
01:29:18,561 --> 01:29:22,774
He said, "If you do it,
I will get you 100,000 dollars."
2329
01:29:22,815 --> 01:29:25,193
I said,
"David, I only do my own stuff.
2330
01:29:25,276 --> 01:29:27,278
I have pride.
2331
01:29:27,362 --> 01:29:28,446
I believe in my own art.
2332
01:29:28,529 --> 01:29:29,989
I'll do it."
2333
01:29:30,073 --> 01:29:31,449
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
2334
01:29:31,491 --> 01:29:35,370
Mel had done two flops
and he couldn't get arrested.
2335
01:29:35,453 --> 01:29:38,956
I was a graduate student.
I knew nothing from nothing.
2336
01:29:38,998 --> 01:29:41,876
Standard operating procedure
is you fire the original writer.
2337
01:29:41,959 --> 01:29:44,253
That's just...
that's traditional in Hollywood,
2338
01:29:44,295 --> 01:29:45,630
to get rid of that guy.
2339
01:29:45,713 --> 01:29:47,298
To Mel's credit,
2340
01:29:47,340 --> 01:29:49,634
He said,
"No, let's see what happens."
2341
01:29:49,717 --> 01:29:51,636
I said, "Let me do it like
the Show of Shows.
2342
01:29:51,719 --> 01:29:54,555
Let me get a gang of writers
that I love and respect."
2343
01:29:54,639 --> 01:29:56,182
And I got...
2344
01:29:56,265 --> 01:29:58,726
The first writer I got
was Richard Pryor.
2345
01:29:58,810 --> 01:30:01,104
INTERVIEWER:
I don't know how you feel
about the title of your album,
2346
01:30:01,145 --> 01:30:02,522
but I find it difficult to say.
2347
01:30:02,605 --> 01:30:05,608
You do? Most White people,
it's hard to say "Crazy."
2348
01:30:05,650 --> 01:30:06,818
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
2349
01:30:06,859 --> 01:30:09,153
MEL: We all had bagels and lox
for breakfast.
2350
01:30:09,237 --> 01:30:11,906
Pryor had Rémy Martin.
2351
01:30:11,989 --> 01:30:13,157
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
2352
01:30:13,199 --> 01:30:16,577
The title of the album
is That Nigger's Crazy.
2353
01:30:16,661 --> 01:30:18,246
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
2354
01:30:18,329 --> 01:30:20,957
-Don't that nigga look crazy?
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
2355
01:30:20,998 --> 01:30:22,834
See, now, you can just
say that on television.
2356
01:30:22,917 --> 01:30:25,086
-Yeah, look, it used to be...
-If I said that,
wouldn't you get mad?
2357
01:30:25,169 --> 01:30:26,295
I'd punch you out.
2358
01:30:26,337 --> 01:30:28,631
(INTERVIEW AND AUDIENCE
LAUGHING)
2359
01:30:28,673 --> 01:30:31,426
And as funny as the picture was,
that room was even funnier.
2360
01:30:31,509 --> 01:30:32,718
Richie Pryor and Mel Brooks,
2361
01:30:32,802 --> 01:30:34,554
it's like saying,
"Okay, you want to play tennis?
2362
01:30:34,637 --> 01:30:38,099
Here's McEnroe and Borg.
Why don't you hit with them
for a while?
2363
01:30:39,058 --> 01:30:41,227
{\an8}I mean,
the script was so outrageous.
2364
01:30:41,310 --> 01:30:43,104
First of all, that they were
letting it get made
2365
01:30:43,187 --> 01:30:45,690
was amazing to us every day.
2366
01:30:45,773 --> 01:30:49,026
We redefined bad taste
according to our standards.
2367
01:30:49,068 --> 01:30:51,237
{\an8}Excuse me while I whip this out.
2368
01:30:51,320 --> 01:30:53,114
{\an8}-(CROWD CLAMORING)
-(WOMAN SCREAMING)
2369
01:30:53,197 --> 01:30:54,198
{\an8}(CROWD SIGHS)
2370
01:30:54,240 --> 01:30:55,533
-(HEAVY CLANG)
-Ow!
2371
01:30:55,616 --> 01:30:58,578
Boris, I've got a special.
When can you work him in?
2372
01:30:58,661 --> 01:31:01,998
I couldn't possibly sneak him in
until Monday, sir.
2373
01:31:02,039 --> 01:31:03,332
I'm booked solid.
2374
01:31:03,374 --> 01:31:05,543
♪ (THRILLING DRAMATIC
MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
2375
01:31:05,585 --> 01:31:08,296
MEL: I said to these guys,
"This is gonna go nowhere.
2376
01:31:08,880 --> 01:31:09,797
It's a western."
2377
01:31:09,881 --> 01:31:11,424
Well, that's the end
of this suit.
2378
01:31:11,507 --> 01:31:13,593
MEL: People haven't seen
a western in 35 years,
2379
01:31:13,676 --> 01:31:16,095
they don't give a shit
about westerns.
2380
01:31:16,179 --> 01:31:18,431
They didn't give a fuck
about horses.
2381
01:31:19,640 --> 01:31:21,100
This is not gonna work.
2382
01:31:21,184 --> 01:31:23,227
-Ooh! Ow!
-♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
2383
01:31:23,269 --> 01:31:25,563
Have you ever seen such cruelty?
2384
01:31:25,646 --> 01:31:27,690
So, let's do everything
2385
01:31:27,732 --> 01:31:32,236
that we weren't allowed to do
as comedy writers, as kids.
2386
01:31:32,278 --> 01:31:34,447
Let's just, you know,
all bets are off.
2387
01:31:34,530 --> 01:31:36,782
We go nuts.
And that's the way we wrote it.
2388
01:31:36,866 --> 01:31:39,243
JUDD: Did you know you were
being that bold at the time?
2389
01:31:39,285 --> 01:31:40,328
I didn't.
2390
01:31:40,411 --> 01:31:42,330
-I was just being me.
-JUDD: Yeah.
2391
01:31:42,413 --> 01:31:44,081
But I didn't know
that I was bold.
2392
01:31:44,123 --> 01:31:45,082
JUDD: Yeah.
2393
01:31:45,124 --> 01:31:47,168
Anything that I thought
was different and funny,
2394
01:31:47,919 --> 01:31:49,420
I threw into the movie.
2395
01:31:49,504 --> 01:31:51,923
-(FARTS)
-(COWBOY BURPS)
2396
01:31:52,006 --> 01:31:53,758
(FARTS)
2397
01:31:54,675 --> 01:32:00,097
(COWBOYS FARTING)
2398
01:32:01,015 --> 01:32:03,100
(FARTS)
2399
01:32:03,142 --> 01:32:08,439
(COWBOYS BURPING AND FARTING)
2400
01:32:08,523 --> 01:32:09,732
MEL: John Kelly,
2401
01:32:09,774 --> 01:32:12,151
he was in charge of production
at Warner Bros.
2402
01:32:12,235 --> 01:32:15,196
He said, "Mel, if you're going
to go up to the bell, ring it."
2403
01:32:15,780 --> 01:32:17,031
I never forgot that.
2404
01:32:17,114 --> 01:32:19,283
♪ (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
2405
01:32:19,325 --> 01:32:21,702
MEL: Strangely enough,
Richard Pryor fell in love
with Mongo.
2406
01:32:22,286 --> 01:32:24,038
Mongo only pawn
2407
01:32:24,872 --> 01:32:26,707
in game of life.
2408
01:32:26,791 --> 01:32:29,085
Richard Pryor
was supposed to play
2409
01:32:29,126 --> 01:32:31,546
-the Cleavon Little part.
-He was gonna be, yeah.
-I always thought...
2410
01:32:31,629 --> 01:32:33,923
-CONAN:
He was gonna be the sheriff.
-He was gonna be Black Bart,
2411
01:32:33,965 --> 01:32:35,341
but they wouldn't have him.
2412
01:32:35,424 --> 01:32:37,718
-♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
-I was troublesome, I guess.
2413
01:32:37,802 --> 01:32:41,055
I don't know.
I just-- hey, it's over.
2414
01:32:41,138 --> 01:32:43,808
So... I got to work
with Mel Brooks, though.
2415
01:32:43,849 --> 01:32:44,976
You understand that?
2416
01:32:45,059 --> 01:32:47,562
I was in a room with him
for about seven weeks.
2417
01:32:47,645 --> 01:32:50,898
LARRY KING: Another old friend.
There is insanity, right?
2418
01:32:50,982 --> 01:32:53,568
That is a man who has lost it.
2419
01:32:53,651 --> 01:32:55,486
-(LAUGHS)
-(LARRY LAUGHS)
2420
01:32:55,570 --> 01:32:58,030
He is a man who has lost it.
But he's a loving man.
2421
01:32:58,114 --> 01:33:01,742
I mean, his losing it is loving.
It's about love with him.
2422
01:33:02,577 --> 01:33:03,911
Good morning, ma'am.
2423
01:33:05,079 --> 01:33:07,582
And isn't it a lovely morning?
2424
01:33:07,665 --> 01:33:09,292
Up yours, nigger.
2425
01:33:10,751 --> 01:33:13,129
{\an8}Obviously, the movie is brazen.
2426
01:33:13,170 --> 01:33:15,548
{\an8}But to me, it just felt joyful.
2427
01:33:15,631 --> 01:33:17,174
Look what I got here.
2428
01:33:19,468 --> 01:33:20,886
Hey, where are
the white women at?
2429
01:33:23,556 --> 01:33:24,890
"Where are
all the white women at?"
2430
01:33:24,974 --> 01:33:26,350
As a kid,
I understood that joke.
2431
01:33:26,392 --> 01:33:27,351
(CHUCKLES)
2432
01:33:27,435 --> 01:33:28,853
You're not supposed
to fuck with them.
2433
01:33:28,894 --> 01:33:31,230
And at that time, I don't...
2434
01:33:31,314 --> 01:33:33,190
I mean, I was growing up in D.C.
2435
01:33:33,232 --> 01:33:34,692
I don't know that I didn't know
2436
01:33:34,775 --> 01:33:37,820
you weren't supposed
to talk about these things.
2437
01:33:37,862 --> 01:33:39,905
Black people talk
about this shit all the time.
2438
01:33:40,740 --> 01:33:42,158
White people
were in denial of it.
2439
01:33:42,199 --> 01:33:44,535
So, how courageous is Mel...
2440
01:33:44,577 --> 01:33:46,412
-Governor!
-DAVE CHAPPELLE:
...to use his platform...
2441
01:33:46,495 --> 01:33:47,622
Yes?
2442
01:33:47,705 --> 01:33:49,540
-Official business, sir.
-DAVE: ...to just talk about it.
2443
01:33:49,582 --> 01:33:50,666
Is it important?
2444
01:33:50,708 --> 01:33:52,293
It's very crucial.
2445
01:33:52,376 --> 01:33:54,420
(SIGHS) Be with you in a minute.
2446
01:33:55,421 --> 01:33:57,548
Throw something on
and stay in that position.
2447
01:33:57,632 --> 01:33:59,216
-DAVE: At the time...
-Wow!
2448
01:33:59,300 --> 01:34:00,968
DAVE: I mean,
the N-word is so different
2449
01:34:01,052 --> 01:34:02,595
in the world
and the culture now.
2450
01:34:02,678 --> 01:34:03,679
Have you gone berserk?
2451
01:34:03,721 --> 01:34:07,224
Can't you see
that that man is a ni--
2452
01:34:07,308 --> 01:34:10,561
-JUDD:
Were you all talking about...
-Wrong person. Forgive me.
2453
01:34:10,603 --> 01:34:12,855
JUDD: ...the reason
to make jokes like that?
2454
01:34:13,898 --> 01:34:15,191
Have you gone berserk?
2455
01:34:15,232 --> 01:34:17,234
Can't you see
that that man is a ni--
2456
01:34:17,318 --> 01:34:20,905
Actually,
I was spurred on by Richard.
2457
01:34:20,946 --> 01:34:22,990
He said,
"You got to tell the truth."
2458
01:34:24,200 --> 01:34:25,242
He said, "It's used.
2459
01:34:25,326 --> 01:34:27,536
Sometimes it's used sweetly
by brothers.
2460
01:34:28,371 --> 01:34:30,706
And sometimes
it's just a vicious...
2461
01:34:32,249 --> 01:34:35,086
terrible curse
which breaks your heart."
2462
01:34:35,127 --> 01:34:37,046
I said, "Well, I'm going
to tell the world.
2463
01:34:37,088 --> 01:34:38,923
I'm going
to tell them the truth.
2464
01:34:39,006 --> 01:34:41,258
I'm going to tell them
that it's your fault
2465
01:34:41,300 --> 01:34:44,261
that there are so many N-words
used in this movie."
2466
01:34:44,345 --> 01:34:47,223
HOWARD JOHNSON: As chairman
of the welcoming committee,
2467
01:34:47,264 --> 01:34:48,766
it is my privilege
2468
01:34:48,849 --> 01:34:52,144
to extend a laurel
and hearty handshake
2469
01:34:52,228 --> 01:34:53,771
to our new...
2470
01:34:56,399 --> 01:34:57,441
nigger.
2471
01:34:58,693 --> 01:35:00,111
MEL:
If you want a comedy to last,
2472
01:35:00,194 --> 01:35:01,821
{\an8}you have to have
an engine driving it.
2473
01:35:04,031 --> 01:35:06,325
And in Blazing Saddles,
racial prejudice
2474
01:35:06,409 --> 01:35:08,202
is the engine
that really drives the film.
2475
01:35:08,285 --> 01:35:10,162
Hold it.
2476
01:35:10,246 --> 01:35:12,707
The next man makes a move,
the nigger gets it.
2477
01:35:12,790 --> 01:35:14,542
(CROWD MURMURING)
2478
01:35:17,628 --> 01:35:19,046
Hold it, men.
2479
01:35:19,130 --> 01:35:20,172
He's not bluffing.
2480
01:35:20,256 --> 01:35:23,592
Listen to him, men.
He's just crazy enough to do it.
2481
01:35:23,634 --> 01:35:26,804
Drop it, or I swear
I'll blow this nigger's head
2482
01:35:26,846 --> 01:35:28,514
all over this town!
2483
01:35:28,597 --> 01:35:30,683
Oh, Lordy, Lord, he's desperate!
2484
01:35:30,766 --> 01:35:33,936
Do what he say! Do what he say!
2485
01:35:38,649 --> 01:35:40,818
{\an8}It takes courage to go there.
2486
01:35:40,860 --> 01:35:42,445
{\an8}'Cause you're dealing
with dynamite.
2487
01:35:42,486 --> 01:35:44,029
{\an8}'Cause it could have
gone the wrong way
2488
01:35:44,113 --> 01:35:46,323
and the NAACP
would have picketed the film
2489
01:35:46,365 --> 01:35:48,743
and everything
would have been upside down.
2490
01:35:48,826 --> 01:35:51,162
But because he did it with love,
2491
01:35:51,245 --> 01:35:52,830
there's a healing
that comes with it.
2492
01:35:52,872 --> 01:35:56,834
If you can attack race
straight on,
2493
01:35:56,876 --> 01:35:58,544
then people kind of go like,
2494
01:35:58,627 --> 01:36:00,838
"Oh, that's really true."
2495
01:36:00,880 --> 01:36:02,381
And of course now you look at it
2496
01:36:02,465 --> 01:36:04,425
and you're like,
"Oh my god, this movie."
2497
01:36:04,508 --> 01:36:05,676
You know,
people like to say, like,
2498
01:36:05,718 --> 01:36:07,136
"Oh, you couldn't make
Tropic Thunder today."
2499
01:36:07,178 --> 01:36:10,014
Like, you really couldn't make
Blazing Saddles today.
2500
01:36:10,055 --> 01:36:11,390
Or ever, I think.
2501
01:36:11,474 --> 01:36:13,267
But what's behind it,
2502
01:36:13,350 --> 01:36:14,769
what you realize is, like,
you know,
2503
01:36:14,852 --> 01:36:17,438
he's doing this satire,
you know,
2504
01:36:17,521 --> 01:36:19,398
but he's really going for it.
2505
01:36:19,482 --> 01:36:22,026
Trying to expose the hypocrisy
2506
01:36:22,067 --> 01:36:23,569
and how screwed up our world is
2507
01:36:23,652 --> 01:36:25,571
in terms of how people
treat other people.
2508
01:36:25,654 --> 01:36:27,531
I am depressed.
2509
01:36:27,573 --> 01:36:29,742
Excuse me,
Mr. Taggart, sir, but...
2510
01:36:29,825 --> 01:36:31,535
I sure do hate
to see you like this.
2511
01:36:31,577 --> 01:36:34,371
What if me and the boys was
to shoot that nigger dead?
2512
01:36:34,455 --> 01:36:37,500
-Would that pep you up some?
-That might help.
2513
01:36:37,541 --> 01:36:39,752
Could you make Blazing Saddles
today in the same way?
2514
01:36:39,835 --> 01:36:42,296
No, but I think what's...
2515
01:36:42,880 --> 01:36:44,215
but I think you...
2516
01:36:45,508 --> 01:36:47,676
Well, let me think about this
for a second.
2517
01:36:48,761 --> 01:36:49,762
Um...
2518
01:36:51,764 --> 01:36:54,517
Nah, you couldn't make it
with them saying the N-word
2519
01:36:54,558 --> 01:36:55,935
all the time like that. (LAUGHS)
2520
01:36:56,018 --> 01:36:59,897
Man, you can do
damn near anything
2521
01:36:59,939 --> 01:37:01,565
if it's funny.
2522
01:37:01,607 --> 01:37:04,610
So no, most people can't make
that movie, ever.
2523
01:37:05,736 --> 01:37:08,572
Today or even back then,
but Mel Brooks could.
2524
01:37:08,614 --> 01:37:09,573
You gotta remember
2525
01:37:09,615 --> 01:37:11,492
that these are
just simple farmers.
2526
01:37:12,952 --> 01:37:15,120
These are people of the land.
2527
01:37:16,247 --> 01:37:19,375
The common clay of the New West.
2528
01:37:21,210 --> 01:37:22,253
You know.
2529
01:37:24,547 --> 01:37:26,298
-Morons.
-(CHUCKLES)
2530
01:37:26,382 --> 01:37:28,926
JUDD: Gene Wilder was
a last-minute replacement,
right?
2531
01:37:29,009 --> 01:37:29,969
Oh, yeah.
2532
01:37:30,052 --> 01:37:32,429
I was looking for a real,
2533
01:37:32,471 --> 01:37:35,432
deep actor
who had suffered alcoholism
2534
01:37:35,516 --> 01:37:36,934
to play the Waco Kid.
2535
01:37:37,017 --> 01:37:38,435
So, I got Gig Young,
2536
01:37:38,519 --> 01:37:41,438
who was a great actor,
and he'd won an Academy Award
2537
01:37:41,522 --> 01:37:43,190
for They Shoot Horses,
Don't They?
2538
01:37:43,274 --> 01:37:46,777
-And was a genuine alcoholic.
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
2539
01:37:46,819 --> 01:37:48,988
Look, for God's sakes,
I'm trying to help you a little.
2540
01:37:49,071 --> 01:37:50,447
MEL: In the first scene,
2541
01:37:50,489 --> 01:37:53,784
he's struggling
to gain equilibrium.
2542
01:37:53,826 --> 01:37:55,953
He's hanging over the bed
in the jailhouse.
2543
01:37:56,453 --> 01:37:57,454
"Are we awake?"
2544
01:37:57,496 --> 01:37:59,623
And Gig Young says,
"I don't know."
2545
01:37:59,665 --> 01:38:02,251
-(IMITATES RETCHING)
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
2546
01:38:02,293 --> 01:38:03,460
I said, "All right."
2547
01:38:03,502 --> 01:38:05,296
I turned to my
assistant director, and I say,
2548
01:38:05,337 --> 01:38:07,631
-"This guy is fucking great."
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
2549
01:38:08,632 --> 01:38:10,301
He started talking
2550
01:38:10,342 --> 01:38:11,760
and then tornadoing.
2551
01:38:12,386 --> 01:38:13,429
Stuff came out of him.
2552
01:38:13,470 --> 01:38:16,140
Green material spews
from his mouth.
2553
01:38:16,181 --> 01:38:17,266
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
2554
01:38:17,308 --> 01:38:20,185
It's like... It's like
I'm shooting The Exorcist here.
2555
01:38:20,269 --> 01:38:21,395
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
2556
01:38:21,478 --> 01:38:23,147
MEL: I said, "Well,
this is a little too much.
2557
01:38:23,230 --> 01:38:25,816
-Call an ambulance." (CHUCKLES)
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
2558
01:38:25,858 --> 01:38:26,984
MEL: I called Gene that night,
2559
01:38:27,067 --> 01:38:30,154
literally in tears, crying.
I said, "Gene."
2560
01:38:30,195 --> 01:38:31,655
And he said,
"I'll be out tomorrow morning."
2561
01:38:31,739 --> 01:38:33,908
I said, "What do you mean?"
He said, "I can do that."
2562
01:38:34,867 --> 01:38:38,871
"I can play that part to a T.
I will save you.
2563
01:38:38,954 --> 01:38:40,080
(GROANING)
2564
01:38:40,164 --> 01:38:42,082
MEL: I will be magnificent
2565
01:38:42,166 --> 01:38:43,709
as the Waco Kid."
2566
01:38:43,792 --> 01:38:45,294
Are we awake?
2567
01:38:49,506 --> 01:38:50,966
We're not sure.
2568
01:38:52,718 --> 01:38:55,095
Are we... Black?
2569
01:38:55,179 --> 01:38:56,639
Yes, we are.
2570
01:38:58,307 --> 01:38:59,683
Then we're awake,
2571
01:39:00,851 --> 01:39:02,853
but we're very puzzled.
2572
01:39:02,937 --> 01:39:06,231
Okay, finished the movie,
showed it to the studio.
2573
01:39:06,315 --> 01:39:07,816
-♪ (UPBEAT MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
-I tell you,
2574
01:39:07,858 --> 01:39:10,069
I don't know why my heart
is beating today.
2575
01:39:10,152 --> 01:39:11,695
Ted Ashley catches me.
2576
01:39:11,737 --> 01:39:14,531
Ted Ashley
was head of the studio.
2577
01:39:14,615 --> 01:39:16,575
He says to me,
"Farting scene out."
2578
01:39:16,659 --> 01:39:17,868
I have a little pad. I say,
2579
01:39:17,952 --> 01:39:19,495
"Farting scene is out.
You got it."
2580
01:39:19,536 --> 01:39:20,704
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
2581
01:39:20,788 --> 01:39:22,539
"Punching the horse.
Punching the horse."
2582
01:39:22,581 --> 01:39:25,042
"Punching the horse is out.
You got it."
2583
01:39:25,125 --> 01:39:27,544
He says, "The Lili Von Shtupp
with the Black sheriff
2584
01:39:27,628 --> 01:39:29,588
and the thing about
the fashten-schnugger."
2585
01:39:29,672 --> 01:39:31,548
Would you care for another
schnitzen-gruben?
2586
01:39:31,632 --> 01:39:34,051
"Absolutely. You got it.
It's out."
2587
01:39:34,134 --> 01:39:37,179
He gave about 30 or 40 notes.
2588
01:39:37,221 --> 01:39:39,515
If I listened to every note
that he gave me,
2589
01:39:39,556 --> 01:39:42,309
I would have
an 18-minute picture.
2590
01:39:42,393 --> 01:39:44,436
So after he finished,
2591
01:39:44,520 --> 01:39:46,313
John Calley was sitting
next to me.
2592
01:39:46,397 --> 01:39:48,399
I took all the notes
that I had taken down
2593
01:39:48,482 --> 01:39:50,526
diligently in front of him.
2594
01:39:50,567 --> 01:39:52,903
And after he left,
I crumpled it up
2595
01:39:53,988 --> 01:39:55,864
and threw it
in a wastepaper basket.
2596
01:39:55,906 --> 01:39:57,074
And Calley said,
2597
01:39:57,866 --> 01:39:58,951
"Three points."
2598
01:39:59,034 --> 01:40:02,162
♪ (DRAMATIC MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
2599
01:40:02,246 --> 01:40:05,416
MEL: It was just
an immediate success.
2600
01:40:05,499 --> 01:40:07,751
♪ (MUSIC TURNS THRILLING) ♪
2601
01:40:07,835 --> 01:40:09,086
(HORSE NEIGHING)
2602
01:40:10,963 --> 01:40:12,923
-Student.
-Are you kidding?
2603
01:40:15,592 --> 01:40:16,635
Pain in the ass.
2604
01:40:16,719 --> 01:40:18,721
Let's wipe them out!
2605
01:40:18,762 --> 01:40:21,849
(INDISTINCT CLAMOR)
2606
01:40:21,932 --> 01:40:24,977
(HORSES NEIGHING)
2607
01:40:25,060 --> 01:40:27,521
LARRY KARASZEWSKI: The moment
where the fight is happening...
2608
01:40:31,358 --> 01:40:33,527
and you realize
that you're in a studio lot.
2609
01:40:34,778 --> 01:40:37,281
{\an8}The effect that had
on an audience back in 1974
2610
01:40:37,364 --> 01:40:39,491
{\an8}was just jaw-dropping.
You're like, "Oh, my gosh."
2611
01:40:39,575 --> 01:40:41,035
This movie
is taking you in a place
2612
01:40:41,118 --> 01:40:42,327
that movies
hadn't taken you before.
2613
01:40:44,621 --> 01:40:49,334
-♪ (MUSIC STOPS)♪
-(INDISTINCT CLAMOR)
2614
01:40:51,086 --> 01:40:53,589
{\an8}We looked at Blazing Saddles
and said...
2615
01:40:54,298 --> 01:40:56,467
{\an8}"Those are our kind of jokes."
2616
01:40:56,508 --> 01:40:58,635
{\an8}My God, you can do a whole movie
2617
01:40:58,719 --> 01:41:02,973
that doesn't really rely
on an intricate plot,
2618
01:41:03,057 --> 01:41:06,393
and there's an audience
full of people laughing.
2619
01:41:06,477 --> 01:41:08,312
It also kind of
paved the way for,
2620
01:41:08,353 --> 01:41:09,772
"Hey, you can do anything."
2621
01:41:09,813 --> 01:41:11,148
You can break boundaries.
2622
01:41:12,191 --> 01:41:15,152
-And what always struck me...
-Cut!
2623
01:41:15,235 --> 01:41:17,696
What in the hell do you think
you're doing here?
2624
01:41:17,780 --> 01:41:19,740
-...is how fearless he was.
-This is a closed set!
2625
01:41:20,949 --> 01:41:23,660
Piss on you!
I'm working for Mel Brooks.
2626
01:41:23,744 --> 01:41:24,912
Not in the face!
2627
01:41:25,996 --> 01:41:27,581
-(CROWD GASPING)
-♪ (PLAYFUL MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
2628
01:41:27,664 --> 01:41:28,707
Thank you.
2629
01:41:28,791 --> 01:41:32,377
(INDISTINCT CLAMOR)
2630
01:41:32,461 --> 01:41:34,630
HITLER ACTOR: They lose me
right after the bunker scene.
2631
01:41:37,132 --> 01:41:38,258
What the hell was that?
2632
01:41:38,342 --> 01:41:41,345
♪ (THRILLING MUSIC PLAYING) ♪
2633
01:41:42,554 --> 01:41:45,974
(INDISTINCT CLAMOR)
2634
01:41:46,016 --> 01:41:47,184
CONAN: Mel wasn't content
2635
01:41:47,226 --> 01:41:49,353
with just breaking
the fourth wall.
2636
01:41:49,436 --> 01:41:53,524
He exploded it and hundreds
and hundreds of people
2637
01:41:53,607 --> 01:41:55,692
come running
through the movie screen.
2638
01:41:56,568 --> 01:41:57,611
Taxi!
2639
01:41:57,694 --> 01:41:59,446
CONAN: And Harvey Korman
crosses the street and says,
2640
01:41:59,530 --> 01:42:01,532
"Get me out of this picture."
2641
01:42:01,573 --> 01:42:04,827
Mel's movie can't even contain
the actors who are in it.
2642
01:42:06,203 --> 01:42:07,704
PETER FARRELLY:
We went to that movie
2643
01:42:07,788 --> 01:42:09,206
like it was a concert.
2644
01:42:09,289 --> 01:42:11,583
{\an8}It broke the mold for comedies
up to that point.
2645
01:42:11,667 --> 01:42:13,585
Come on, let's check out
the end of the flick.
2646
01:42:13,669 --> 01:42:14,795
PETER: 'Cause of that story...
2647
01:42:14,878 --> 01:42:16,547
Gee, I sure hope
there's a happy ending.
2648
01:42:16,630 --> 01:42:18,173
...and because
of the relationship
2649
01:42:18,215 --> 01:42:20,384
between Gene Wilder
and Cleavon Little,
2650
01:42:20,467 --> 01:42:22,261
-that was the heart
of that movie.
-♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
2651
01:42:22,344 --> 01:42:25,681
Sheriff, you can't go now.
We need you.
2652
01:42:25,722 --> 01:42:27,641
My work here is done.
2653
01:42:28,392 --> 01:42:30,561
I'm needed elsewhere now.
2654
01:42:30,644 --> 01:42:33,605
I'm needed
wherever outlaws rule the West.
2655
01:42:33,689 --> 01:42:35,732
Wherever innocent women
and children
2656
01:42:35,774 --> 01:42:38,235
are afraid to walk the streets.
2657
01:42:38,277 --> 01:42:41,405
Wherever a man cannot live
in simple dignity.
2658
01:42:41,446 --> 01:42:44,241
And wherever a people cry out
2659
01:42:44,324 --> 01:42:45,742
for justice.
2660
01:42:45,826 --> 01:42:47,661
CROWD: Bullshit.
2661
01:42:47,744 --> 01:42:51,415
♪ ("BLAZING SADDLES MAIN TITLE"
BY JOHN MORRIS PLAYING) ♪
2662
01:42:54,585 --> 01:42:56,795
MEL: As long as I make
crazy funny pictures,
2663
01:42:56,879 --> 01:42:58,130
I'll be all right.
2664
01:42:58,213 --> 01:43:01,258
Because I think
that I can say anything serious
2665
01:43:01,300 --> 01:43:02,634
via comedy.
2666
01:43:03,260 --> 01:43:04,303
(SCREAMS)
2667
01:43:05,220 --> 01:43:07,472
MEL: My job, my first duty,
2668
01:43:07,556 --> 01:43:10,601
is to the flag
of laughter and entertainment.
2669
01:43:11,476 --> 01:43:12,477
Pull!
2670
01:43:12,561 --> 01:43:15,147
-(GUNSHOT)
-(PEASANT YELLING)
2671
01:43:15,230 --> 01:43:16,356
Drifting to the left.
2672
01:43:16,440 --> 01:43:17,983
MEL: I do the things
2673
01:43:18,066 --> 01:43:19,776
we all dream of doing.
2674
01:43:19,818 --> 01:43:22,446
DARK HELMET: I see your schwartz
is as big as mine.
2675
01:43:22,529 --> 01:43:25,657
MEL: And that's why
I am so loved...
2676
01:43:25,741 --> 01:43:26,742
(SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY)
2677
01:43:26,783 --> 01:43:27,993
...and so hated.
2678
01:43:28,994 --> 01:43:31,163
INTERVIEWER:
Do you have everything you want?
2679
01:43:31,246 --> 01:43:32,664
MEL: No, of course I don't.
2680
01:43:32,748 --> 01:43:34,208
I want to conquer
other fields of thought.
2681
01:43:34,291 --> 01:43:36,418
I want to examine, in movies,
2682
01:43:36,460 --> 01:43:39,296
various aspects
of human endeavor.
2683
01:43:39,379 --> 01:43:41,673
All I'm doing is
what Shakespeare told me to do.
2684
01:43:41,757 --> 01:43:43,008
There's a mandate there.
2685
01:43:43,091 --> 01:43:45,260
Hold the mirror up to life,
as it were.
2686
01:43:45,302 --> 01:43:47,137
And that's what I do.
2687
01:43:47,179 --> 01:43:48,847
-♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪
-(AUDIENCE APPLAUDING)
2688
01:43:48,931 --> 01:43:51,642
Can I tell you one private thing
and you won't repeat it?
2689
01:43:51,683 --> 01:43:52,809
(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
2690
01:43:52,851 --> 01:43:54,478
This is really
between me and you
2691
01:43:54,561 --> 01:43:55,646
and nobody else.
2692
01:43:56,563 --> 01:43:58,857
I only cut one...
2693
01:43:59,983 --> 01:44:01,401
scene. I didn't cut the scene.
2694
01:44:01,485 --> 01:44:02,861
I cut the scene down.
2695
01:44:02,945 --> 01:44:04,947
It's a scene
where Madeleine Kahn
2696
01:44:04,988 --> 01:44:07,658
asks the sheriff
to come visit her
2697
01:44:07,699 --> 01:44:08,742
in her dressing room.
2698
01:44:08,825 --> 01:44:10,410
I feel refreshed.
2699
01:44:10,494 --> 01:44:12,162
MEL: And she says in the dark...
2700
01:44:12,204 --> 01:44:13,914
LILI VON SHTUPP:
Is it true what they say
2701
01:44:13,997 --> 01:44:16,541
about the way you people
are gifted?
2702
01:44:16,625 --> 01:44:18,335
"Is it true? Is it true?"
2703
01:44:18,377 --> 01:44:21,672
(IMITATES MOANING)
2704
01:44:21,713 --> 01:44:22,881
"It's true."
2705
01:44:22,965 --> 01:44:25,259
(IMITATES PANTING, MOANING)
2706
01:44:25,342 --> 01:44:29,012
"It's true. It's true.
It's true!"
2707
01:44:30,222 --> 01:44:32,224
And Cleavon says to her,
2708
01:44:32,307 --> 01:44:34,142
"I don't mean
to disillusion you,
2709
01:44:34,184 --> 01:44:35,519
Miss Von Shtupp,
2710
01:44:35,602 --> 01:44:37,229
but you're sucking on my arm."
2711
01:44:37,312 --> 01:44:39,439
-(AUDIENCE LAUGHING)
-(CHUCKLES)
2712
01:44:41,024 --> 01:44:42,943
I... It's not...
2713
01:44:43,026 --> 01:44:45,862
It's-- It's a bit too much.
2714
01:44:45,946 --> 01:44:48,407
It's a bit too much.
I took it out of the picture.
2715
01:44:48,490 --> 01:44:55,372
♪ ("BLAZING SADDLES MAIN TITLE"
BY JOHN MORRIS PLAYING) ♪
2716
01:46:03,690 --> 01:46:06,151
♪ (MUSIC CONCLUDES) ♪