# Favorite Mel Brooks Moments **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [August 7, 2002, 10:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mel-brooks-moments/122740 "2002-08-07T10:11:40Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Swampwolf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/8edcca/32.png) [@Swampwolf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Swampwolf)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 3:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mel-brooks-moments/122740/41 "2002-08-08T15:06:43Z")
Young Frankenstein, Iin the train station when Froderi–er, Frederick blows a kiss to Madeline Kahn…and she dodges. Subtle, yet satisfying. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 3:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mel-brooks-moments/122740/42 "2002-08-08T15:59:19Z")
It’s Spaceball One! They’ve gone to plaid! > [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Paul in Saudi \* > **Count de Monet, > Say it MON ay > MON ay** It works better this way but for some reason it’s spelled “Monee” in the credits. I have no idea what Mel was thinking. > [@](#): > > _Originally posted by Knowed Out_\*\* > > > [@](#): > > > > _Originally posted by Sanscour_ > > Also for those who don’t know, in Young Frankenstein, Bleuker, or however it’s spelled, is German for glue. LOL > > Actually, I asked a German friend if that was the case, and he said Blueker didn’t mean glue. It didn’t mean anything. It was just a name, like “Jones”.\*\* > [@](#): > > [Snopes](http://www.snopes.com/movies/films/blucher.htm) > The only in-joke connected with this gag is that so many people have missed its real humor and instead been taken in by a leg-pull. “Blucher” is not the German word for “glue,” nor does it sound remotely like any German word for “glue” – standard, slang, archaic, or otherwise. Blucher (or Blücher) is simply an ordinary Germanic surname. The joke employed in the film is a take-off on the hoary melodramatic film device of inserting an ominous organ riff or clap of thunder and having actors react with visible fright whenever the villain appears on-screen or a character refers to something evil or threatening. According to [Babelfish](http://babelfish.altavista.com/), “glue” in German is “kleber”. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 4:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mel-brooks-moments/122740/43 "2002-08-08T16:02:37Z")
OK, I have no idea what I was thinking. Of course, it’s spelled “Monet” in the credits but “Monee” (or Monée) makes more sense. ---
**Author:** ![knarf](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/53a042/32.png) [@knarf](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/knarf)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 4:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mel-brooks-moments/122740/44 "2002-08-08T16:43:26Z")
“An incredibly large mute” “Abby someone” "What a filthy job. " "Could be worse. " "How? " "Could be raining. " ---
**Author:** ![RiverRunner](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/977dab/32.png) [@RiverRunner](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RiverRunner)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 6:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mel-brooks-moments/122740/45 "2002-08-08T18:37:48Z")
Most of mine are taken, but here are a couple of others: **High Anxiety** – the bellhop guy taking the acrophobic Brooks up to his hotel room: “Well, here we are, way up high! The top, the very tippy top way up here!” (Or words to that effect.) Same movie – the newspaper “stabbing” scene in the shower, complete with a torn shower curtain and newsprint going down the drain **Blazing Saddles** : “Mongo! Santa Maria!” I didn’t know that was even a joke until I found out that Mongo Santamaria is a person (a jazz drummer, I think). The “defective” paddle ball sets. **Young Frankenstein** : “What can we throw in now?” Also, the graverobbing scene. “I ain’t got no body . . .” “Hump? What hump?” Also, at the very beginning, after Wictor has stabbed himself in the thigh with the scalpel, listen to the sound it makes when he pulls it out: yuk. **Spaceballs** – the scene at the end where the alien bursts from the guy’s chest and does the “Michigan J. Frog” thing. I ended up on the floor the first time I saw that. Ah, memories. RR ---
**Author:** ![plnnr](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/7ea924/32.png) [@plnnr](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/plnnr)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 6:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mel-brooks-moments/122740/46 "2002-08-08T18:57:39Z")
The goodbye scene between Gene Wilder and M. Kahn gets thrown around alot at my house: He goes to hug her: “The dress! Tafeta, darling.” “Watch the hair!” “No tongues” They finally just touch elbows. “Ah, sweet mystery of life at last I’ve found you!” “And we’ve got a new hamper in the bathroom for poo-poo undies.” “Yes…I…was…his…GIRLFRIEND!” The charade scene where Marty Feldman and Terri Gar are trying to figure out what Gene Wilder is attempting to communicate while the monster strangles him. “Give him the sedaGIVE?” “Footschteps.” “What?” “Footschteps.” “Foot what?” “Schteps! Schteps!” From Blazing Saddles" "What in the Wide Wide World of Sports is agoing on here?’ ---
**Author:** ![Doubting\_Robert](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/e495f1/32.png) [@Doubting\_Robert](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Doubting_Robert)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mel-brooks-moments/122740/47 "2002-08-08T20:38:39Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by plnnr \* > \*\*“Ah, sweet mystery of life at last I’ve found you!” > > \*\* It’s great the first time, and even funnier the second time. [sub]The line, that is, not . . . never mind.[/sub] ---
**Author:** ![zeldarae](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/f14d63/32.png) [@zeldarae](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zeldarae)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 8:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mel-brooks-moments/122740/48 "2002-08-08T20:58:43Z")
-We are so poor we cannot even afford our own language. All we have are these stupid accents. We named our Keeshond pup Max Von Froedrick, but called him Froge (soft g) for short. At the time our cat was named Riff Raff. My family needs to spend a little less time memorizing movies. ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 9:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mel-brooks-moments/122740/49 "2002-08-08T21:46:21Z")
Am I the only one?? **The Twelve Chairs** > [@](#): > > A VERY young Frank Langella: By the by, have you happen to have a spare bed for the night? > Mel Brooks: No, Mr. “Bye Du Bye”, I have’t got a spare bed. There isn’t a spare bed in all of RUSSIA !!! People are sleeping between themselves !!! Also from **The Twelve Chairs** , the scene when Frank Langella goes to find the paperwork on the chairs. He walks down the hallway, passing doors. " Bureau of Dressers…Bureau of Bureaus…Bureau of Chairs". He goes in and looks around. The camera does a slow panning point of view shot. There are piles of paper, 5 and 6 feet tall, everywhere. Eventually, the camera rests on a HUGE sign on one wall that says, **" DON’T WASTE PAPER !"**. > [@](#): > > Father Fyodor !!! How COULD you??? > [@](#): > > In with the good air, out with the bad air, in with the good air, out with the bad air, in with the bad air, out with the good air ~~ Frank Langella giving " manual resucitation to a gorgeous woman in the opening scene of **The Twelve Chairs**. \*\* Young Frankenstein\*\* : …some varm milkk perhaps?\>…No, no thank you…Hot Cocoa?..No, I’m fine thank you…OVALTINE???.. **NO** , thank you so much !!! Upon picking up the violin on the desk in the hidden study, > [@](#): > > …It’s still warm ! > [@](#): > > Mr. Hilltop,will you RAISE your left knee please? . This sequence always has me in tears, not only does Mr. Hilltop take one to the groin for the sake of science, but it has Bud Cort as a highly annoying student… > [@](#): > > Dr. Frankenstein…— No, that’s Fronkensteen ! . > [@](#): > > MY GRANDFATHER’S WORK WAS DOO-DOO ! **The Twelve Chairs** ( again ) Opening song: Hope for the best, expect the worst Hope for the best, expect the worst, No way of knowing which way it’s going, Hope for the best, expect the worst Ron Moody, as he’s yelling at Frank Langella and spitting food nonstop in the process, [quote] YOU’RE NOT WORTH…SPITTING ON !!! ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mel-brooks-moments/122740/50 "2002-08-08T21:48:31Z")
Am I the only one?? **The Twelve Chairs** > [@](#): > > A VERY young Frank Langella: By the by, have you happen to have a spare bed for the night? > Mel Brooks: No, Mr. “Bye Du Bye”, I have’t got a spare bed. There isn’t a spare bed in all of RUSSIA !!! People are sleeping between themselves !!! Also from **The Twelve Chairs** , the scene when Frank Langella goes to find the paperwork on the chairs. He walks down the hallway, passing doors. " Bureau of Dressers…Bureau of Bureaus…Bureau of Chairs". He goes in and looks around. The camera does a slow panning point of view shot. There are piles of paper, 5 and 6 feet tall, everywhere. Eventually, the camera rests on a HUGE sign on one wall that says, **" DON’T WASTE PAPER !"**. > [@](#): > > Father Fyodor !!! How COULD you??? > [@](#): > > In with the good air, out with the bad air, in with the good air, out with the bad air, in with the bad air, out with the good air ~~ Frank Langella giving " manual resucitation to a gorgeous woman in the opening scene of **The Twelve Chairs**. \*\* Young Frankenstein\*\* : …some varm milkk perhaps?\>…No, no thank you…Hot Cocoa?..No, I’m fine thank you…OVALTINE???.. **NO** , thank you so much !!! Upon picking up the violin on the desk in the hidden study, > [@](#): > > …It’s still warm ! > [@](#): > > Mr. Hilltop,will you RAISE your left knee please? . This sequence always has me in tears, not only does Mr. Hilltop take one to the groin for the sake of science, but it has Bud Cort as a highly annoying student… > [@](#): > > Dr. Frankenstein…— No, that’s Fronkensteen ! . > [@](#): > > MY GRANDFATHER’S WORK WAS DOO-DOO ! **The Twelve Chairs** ( again ) Opening song: Hope for the best, expect the worst Hope for the best, expect the worst, No way of knowing which way it’s going, Hope for the best, expect the worst Ron Moody, as he’s yelling at Frank Langella and spitting food nonstop in the process, > [@](#): > > YOU’RE NOT WORTH…SPITTING ON !!! Oye, I love that film and yet oddly enough don’t OWN that film… Cartooniverse ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [August 8, 2002, 9:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mel-brooks-moments/122740/51 "2002-08-08T21:50:54Z")
Oh, that is so lame. I’m not sure how that happened, but doubtless some sympathetic Mod will come along and make that first partial post go the way of the Do-Do Bird… :rolleyes: Sorry about that. ---
**Author:** ![Chief\_Crunch](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/e8c25b/32.png) [@Chief\_Crunch](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chief_Crunch)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mel-brooks-moments/122740/52 "2002-08-09T02:42:56Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by RiverRunner \* > **Spaceballs – the scene at the end where the alien bursts from the guy’s chest and does the “Michigan J. Frog” thing. I ended up on the floor the first time I saw that.** I laughed my ass off too, not even having had seen the movie **Alien** first. Years later when viewing the latter and the stomach bursting scene came on I finally got the full joke and was laughing so hard I woke everyone up in the house. ---
**Author:** ![lurkernomore](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/d6d6ee/32.png) [@lurkernomore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lurkernomore)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 3:23am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mel-brooks-moments/122740/53 "2002-08-09T03:23:32Z")
the sexiest woman in the world- Lily Von Schtupp…and the table rises… ---
**Author:** ![Zap\_Rowsdower](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/3da27b/32.png) [@Zap\_Rowsdower](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Zap_Rowsdower)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 3:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mel-brooks-moments/122740/54 "2002-08-09T03:34:28Z")
> [@](#): > > \*Originally posted by Cartooniverse \* > \*\*Am I the only one?? > > Cartooniverse \*\* Definitely not, unfortunately it has been years since I have seen it, need to check to see if it is on DVD yet. The only scene I recall is the one where Ron Moody is chasing Dom Deluise on a mountain top (I believe) for the last chair. Very funny and overlooked film. ---
**Author:** ![Babar714](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/779978/32.png) [@Babar714](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Babar714)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 7:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mel-brooks-moments/122740/55 "2002-08-09T07:49:25Z")
Nope. I’ve seen Twelve Chairs. Great flick. Oh, and lucky me, working in movie theaters for years, I happen to be the proud owner of an original Life Stinks poster. And an original Adventures of Baron Munchausen. Some of my favorite possessions. ---
**Author:** ![SolGrundy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/bbce88/32.png) [@SolGrundy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SolGrundy)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 8:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mel-brooks-moments/122740/56 "2002-08-09T08:25:39Z")
From _Young Frankenstein_, I always crack up at: “It’s a violin!” “And it’s still warm!” Which in retrospect, may not supposed to be funny. And I also crack up at Gene Hackman’s delivery of: “Cigars!” ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 1:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mel-brooks-moments/122740/57 "2002-08-09T13:18:45Z")
That entire scene is blisteringly funny. Hackman doesn’t get to do a lot of comedy but clearly he’s got his chops down in that area. The moments when they meet in his hovel doorway bring me to tears… Hackman: What was your name again? Boyle: HHHMMMMMMMMM Hackman: Oh, I’m sorry, I didn’t realize. Life’s little jokes, here I’m blind and you’re a mute. ( Reaches out to touch him, and finds his belly)…an incredibly big mute. You musta been the tallest one in your class !!! ---
**Author:** ![Cartooniverse](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cartooniverse/32/3084_2.png) [@Cartooniverse](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cartooniverse)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 1:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mel-brooks-moments/122740/58 "2002-08-09T13:20:26Z")
[minor hijack] The laboratory equipment used in **Young Frankenstein** was owned by a man named Kenneth Strickfaden. He owned the entire set-full of props used in the original **Frankenstein** film, and most of that set was used in Mel Brooks’ production. If you ever wondered why it looked so “authentic”, that’s why. [/minor hijack] ---
**Author:** ![lawoot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/35a633/32.png) [@lawoot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/lawoot)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mel-brooks-moments/122740/59 "2002-08-09T18:20:35Z")
**Twelve Chairs** : Father Fyodor is on the train - and the conductor announces that they have arrived in “Irkutsk - Siberia”. The Good Father literally dumps EVERYTHING in to his suitcase, then goes to look out the window, which unfortunately is iced over. So, after trying unsuccessfully to wipe it off, he throws open the window - only to find a huge sheet of ice blocking his view. **Life Stinks** : Sorry, I can’t think of anything in this movie that was funny enough to rate. I DO remember that it closed after only a couple of days. **Robin Hood : Men in Tights** : **Man in church** : Hey Abbot! **Abbot** : I hate that guy! **Prince John** : And why would the people listen to you? **Robin of Locksley** : Because, unlike some other Robin Hoods, I can speak with an English accent. ---
**Author:** ![NicePete](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/ee7513/32.png) [@NicePete](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/NicePete)\ **Post date:** [August 9, 2002, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mel-brooks-moments/122740/60 "2002-08-09T18:39:36Z")
Igor: It’s times like this that I remember what my old dad used to say. Dr. Friedrich von Frankenstein: What was that? Igor: “What the hell are you doing in the bathroom all day and night? Why don’t you get out of there and give someone else a chance?” Roll, Roll, Roll in ze hay! Bart nails Taggart in the head with a shovel… Taggart: OW! Lyle: Send wire, main office, tell them I said ow, gotcha! Taggart: Someone’s gotta go back for a shit-load of dimes! Taggart: I got it! I got it! Lamarr: You do? Taggart: We’ll work up a “Number 6” on ‘em. Lamarr: “Number 6”? I’m afraid I’m not familiar with that one… Taggart: Well, that’s where we go a-ridin’ into town, a whampin’ and whompin’ every livin’ thing that moves within an inch of its life. Except the women folks, of course. Lamarr: You spare the women? Taggart: NAW! We rape the shit out of them at the Number 6 Dance later on! Lamarr: Marvelous! [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mel-brooks-moments/122740.md?page=2) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/favorite-mel-brooks-moments/122740.md?page=4)