Comedy Legend Mel Brooks

Fresh Air

NPR

Tv & Film, Arts, Society & Culture, Books

4.4 • 34.4K Ratings

🗓️ 23 November 2022

⏱️ 45 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Brooks wrote countless edgy jokes over the years, but he doesn't regret any of them. In fact, his only regret is the jokes he didn't tell. Brooks calls comedy his "delicious refuge" from the world. His memoir is All About Me! is now out in paperback.

David Bianculli reviews Wednesday, the new Addams Family spin-off.

Transcript

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0:00.0	This is fresh air, I'm Terry Gross.
0:03.1	My guest Mel Brooks wrote and directed such hilarious film comedies as blazing saddles,
0:08.7	a spoof of westerns, high anxiety, his comic homage to Alfred Hitchcock, young Frankenstein,
0:15.1	his version of a classic horror film, and history of the world part one, his send up of Hollywood
0:20.6	spectacles.
0:21.8	His film The Producers was adapted into a Broadway musical mega-hit that won a record-breaking
0:27.4	12 Tonies, including Best Musical.
0:30.7	His latest project is his new memoir All About Me.
0:34.7	Brooks is one of the few egotts, meaning he's received an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony.
0:40.0	To top it off, he was a Kennedy Center honoree, received a Lifetime Achievement Award from
0:44.7	the American Film Institute, and a National Medal of Arts, presented by President Obama.
0:50.4	I love his work, and I love talking to him, and I'm grateful his memoir provided another
0:55.6	opportunity to have him on our show.
0:58.2	We recorded the interview last week, and one of the things we talked about is what his life
1:02.5	is like now at age 95.
1:05.2	Let's start with his most hilarious and intentionally tasteless song, Springtime for Hitler.
1:10.9	It's from The Producers, which is about two theater producers who figure out a scheme
1:15.0	to make more money from a flop than they could make from a hit.
1:19.2	They stage a musical called Springtime for Hitler, which is in such bad taste it's bound
1:24.4	to be the flop their scheme requires.
1:27.6	The title song is a big production number featuring singing and dancing Nazis.
1:32.6	Here's the version from the 1967 film.
	...

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