# Happy 100th Mel Brooks. Funny, I thought he was already over 2000 when I was a kid **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [June 28, 2026, 8:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-mel-brooks-funny-i-thought-he-was-already-over-2000-when-i-was-a-kid/1031242 "2026-06-28T08:29:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![saucywench](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/85e7bf/32.png) [@saucywench](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/saucywench)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2026, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-mel-brooks-funny-i-thought-he-was-already-over-2000-when-i-was-a-kid/1031242/41 "2026-06-29T17:45:02Z")
Absolutely! ---
**Author:** ![wolfpup](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wolfpup/32/10618_2.png) [@wolfpup](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wolfpup)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2026, 5:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-mel-brooks-funny-i-thought-he-was-already-over-2000-when-i-was-a-kid/1031242/42 "2026-06-29T17:50:48Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > 1974 was Brooks’ _annus miribilis_: both _Blazing Saddles_ and _Young Frankenstein_ were released that year Wow, I didn’t realize they were both released the same year. IMHO, they were absolute masterpieces and probably the two best films he ever made. What a creative time that must have been for him! ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2026, 5:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-mel-brooks-funny-i-thought-he-was-already-over-2000-when-i-was-a-kid/1031242/43 "2026-06-29T17:51:41Z")
The McGilligan biography reveals that the years between _The Producers_ and _Blazing Saddles_ were bleak for Brooks. Critics were at best mixed - Brooks could never stand a negative review - and nobody outside NYC saw his work. By Hollywood standards he was almost broke as well. He decided that _Producers_ and _The Twelve Chairs_ were too personal as projects. His two breakthrough movies both came from others: _Blazing Saddles_ from Richard Pryor and _Young Frankenstein_ from Gene Wilder. (In fact, _Get Smart_ wasn’t his concept either. The studio had developed it and called Brooks in to flesh it out.) For all his acclaim, every movie after that was a commercial bomb. At a quick glance, all his later movies combined barely made more than the two 1975 movies combined. He went back to be a cult artist. As I said, one of the oddest careers. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2026, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-mel-brooks-funny-i-thought-he-was-already-over-2000-when-i-was-a-kid/1031242/44 "2026-06-29T17:57:23Z")
History of the World: Part I, Spaceballs & Robin Hood: Men in Tights were all successful, they just weren’t big money makers like the 1974 pair. Even Producers made money, mainly as the budget was so low. However, in 1974 his 2 films made over $200 million on a combined budget of $5.38 million. Amazing super-successes. Silent Movies probably made a nice profit also, some reports are it cost $4 million to make and returned $36.1 million. High anxiety had similar numbers. * * * * * * Bonus, I think he put up much of the money for My Favorite Year and it cost $7.9 and made $20.1 Million. He also helped develop it and worked on the writing. It was after all _mostly_ about his time on the Show of Shows. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2026, 6:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-mel-brooks-funny-i-thought-he-was-already-over-2000-when-i-was-a-kid/1031242/45 "2026-06-29T18:01:53Z")
Part of the “issue,” I suppose, is that, in the years immediately after _Blazing Saddles_ and _Young Frankenstein_, Hollywood suddenly was taken over by the blockbuster movie, starting with _Jaws_ (1975), then _Star Wars_ and _Close Encounters of the Third Kind_ (1977). Success in the movie industry became defined differently. ---
**Author:** ![Railer13](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/railer13/32/9742_2.png) [@Railer13](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Railer13)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2026, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-mel-brooks-funny-i-thought-he-was-already-over-2000-when-i-was-a-kid/1031242/46 "2026-06-29T18:02:51Z")
> [@kenobi\_65](#): > > 1974 was Brooks’ _annus miribilis_: both _Blazing Saddles_ and _Young Frankenstein_ were released that year Gene Wilder was also a busy man that year. ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2026, 10:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-mel-brooks-funny-i-thought-he-was-already-over-2000-when-i-was-a-kid/1031242/47 "2026-06-29T22:09:50Z")
Funny, funny man. I’ve seen him live several times, and he kept the audience in solid laughter the whole time. I find his movie output to be erratic. I hated Spaceballs, Robin Hood:MIT, and just about everything after those films. Mainly because Brooks has totally lost his eye for casting and he telegraphs his jokes like it’s still vaudeville. But for The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein he should be revered. ---
**Author:** ![hogarth](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hogarth/32/1773_2.png) [@hogarth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/hogarth)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2026, 10:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-mel-brooks-funny-i-thought-he-was-already-over-2000-when-i-was-a-kid/1031242/48 "2026-06-29T22:42:01Z")
Today I learned that he has refused the Mark Twain Prize (at least) three times. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [June 29, 2026, 10:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-mel-brooks-funny-i-thought-he-was-already-over-2000-when-i-was-a-kid/1031242/49 "2026-06-29T22:43:24Z")
Interesting, did he say why? ---
**Author:** ![MrAtoz](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@MrAtoz](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MrAtoz)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2026, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-mel-brooks-funny-i-thought-he-was-already-over-2000-when-i-was-a-kid/1031242/50 "2026-06-30T00:26:20Z")
> [@Exapno\_Mapcase](#): > > (In fact, _Get Smart_ wasn’t his concept either. The studio had developed it and called Brooks in to flesh it out.) Despite being credited as co-creator, Brooks’s involvement with _Get Smart_ was fairly limited. While he did help shape the concept and co-wrote the pilot episode with Buck Henry, he left the show soon after that. After the pilot, he has writing credits on only two more first season episodes. The series is much more Buck Henry’s than Mel’s. That writers’ room from _Your Show of Shows_ was the basis of _The Dick Van Dyke Show_; it’s generally understood that the Buddy Sorrell character was based on Brooks. As a horror movie fan, I loved _Young Frankenstein_. It’s one of the great horror parodies. _High Anxiety_, his Hitchcock parody, doesn’t get as much attention, but I enjoy it as well. I’m less fond of _Dracula: Dead and Loving It_, although Peter MacNicol is a surprisingly good Renfield, and Harvey Korman gets to trot out his Nigel Bruce impression one last time. ---
**Author:** ![ricepad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b38774/32.png) [@ricepad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ricepad)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2026, 5:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-mel-brooks-funny-i-thought-he-was-already-over-2000-when-i-was-a-kid/1031242/51 "2026-06-30T17:46:43Z")
Maybe because he feels he’s not done yet. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2026, 5:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-mel-brooks-funny-i-thought-he-was-already-over-2000-when-i-was-a-kid/1031242/52 "2026-06-30T17:57:17Z")
One Mel Brooks film that I don’t think was mentioned here is _[84 Charing Cross Road](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/84_Charing_Cross_Road_(film))_. He didn’t write, direct or star in it. Instead he just produced it for his wife Anne Bancroft to star in. I heard somewhere that she was a big fan of the [book on which it was based](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/84,_Charing_Cross_Road), so he bought the movie rights and produced the film, which is great. By all accounts, he and Anne were happily married until she passed in 2005. ---
**Author:** ![Sherrerd](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/sherrerd/32/8_2.png) [@Sherrerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sherrerd)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2026, 7:51pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-mel-brooks-funny-i-thought-he-was-already-over-2000-when-i-was-a-kid/1031242/53 "2026-06-30T19:51:40Z")
> [@Dewey\_Finn](#): > > One Mel Brooks film that I don’t think was mentioned here is _[84 Charing Cross Road](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/84_Charing_Cross_Road_(film))_. He didn’t write, direct or star in it. Instead he just produced it for his wife Anne Bancroft to star in. Similarly for the 1980 film _The Elephant Man_. A nice large role for Anne Bancroft. According to wikipedia Mel didn’t put his name on the actual credits for fear of audiences expecting comedy, but he was the executive producer nonetheless. Yes, their marriage was reportedly happy and close. > [@What\_Exit](#): > > Interesting, did he say why? I’m curious about that, too. Wikipedia is silent on the issue (though it notes he did accept a Kennedy Center Honor, during Obama’s first term). ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [June 30, 2026, 7:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-mel-brooks-funny-i-thought-he-was-already-over-2000-when-i-was-a-kid/1031242/54 "2026-06-30T19:54:47Z")
He also produced The Fly and My Favorite Year. See [this list](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Brooksfilms_productions) of Brooksfilms productions. It’s a record to be proud of. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2026, 5:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-mel-brooks-funny-i-thought-he-was-already-over-2000-when-i-was-a-kid/1031242/55 "2026-07-01T17:14:43Z")
Here’s a gift link to the Times’ article on 100 reasons to love Mel Brooks. > **[Happy 100th Birthday, Mel Brooks!](https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/06/26/movies/mel-brooks-100th-birthday.html?unlocked_article_code=1.uVA.L0jz.Q6_vfdRLwN1j&smid=url-share)** > > Here are 100 reasons to love the comedy writer, director and star who’s celebrating a milestone on Sunday and who’s changed our culture in surprising ways. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2026, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-mel-brooks-funny-i-thought-he-was-already-over-2000-when-i-was-a-kid/1031242/56 "2026-07-01T17:32:54Z")
Great article, thank you. ---
**Author:** ![Miller](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/miller/32/481_2.png) [@Miller](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Miller)\ **Post date:** [July 1, 2026, 6:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-mel-brooks-funny-i-thought-he-was-already-over-2000-when-i-was-a-kid/1031242/57 "2026-07-01T18:13:35Z")
Mel Brooks has been alive for 40% of the history of the United States of America. ---
**Author:** ![Exapno\_Mapcase](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/exapno_mapcase/32/1051_2.png) [@Exapno\_Mapcase](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Exapno_Mapcase)\ **Post date:** [July 10, 2026, 6:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-mel-brooks-funny-i-thought-he-was-already-over-2000-when-i-was-a-kid/1031242/58 "2026-07-10T18:46:30Z")
Mel is still active at 100. He contributed the Foreward to a brand-new book,[Funny Stuff: How Comedy Shaped American History](https://www.amazon.com/Funny-Stuff-Comedy-American-History/dp/1978837968?crid=19BIO0RFX3B47&dib=eyJ2IjoiMSJ9.S7NUc5J7pt2B-HoejliZlDGRSTTo5IxNvzgQxCv46U_SV2ykjCzCRJbuoYBcOaiWykOXCnnTQuWM3a9N0a1Vq0CZxUakz8fCxU-RC75foEM4JUT7OIgbq8Vt9lGqdoRSsGUz8gH5nFW0nu67w2GQHUCbICHe2wsCgNvAkB8dc14lK1Hfqq835nILNhgDI_qw81zMcL3YUzNI0RyctyDprqOI83_J3bftO8--L9WwE9U.J6UOeeKmQbAJDfrG9BSw3EZ6WXSvwTszAPArszd4whc&dib_tag=se&keywords=national+comedy+center&qid=1783708369&s=books&sprefix=national+comedy+center%2Cstripbooks%2C263&sr=1-6#averageCustomerReviewsAnchor), jointly created by staff from the National Comedy Center and the Smithsonian Institution and published by Rutgers University Press. Don’t turn pale; it’s not in any way academic. Dozens of short pieces on comedy history, various comedians including Mel, and illustrated by dozens of pictures. Oversized, gorgeous, and not much more expensive than an ordinary novel. I’ve only had a chance to flip through it since it arrived today, but I like what I see, Smithsonian books have always been great, and the National Comedy Center is the best little museum in America. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 13, 2026, 5:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-mel-brooks-funny-i-thought-he-was-already-over-2000-when-i-was-a-kid/1031242/59 "2026-07-13T05:21:31Z")
I was told there would be no math. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/happy-100th-mel-brooks-funny-i-thought-he-was-already-over-2000-when-i-was-a-kid/1031242.md?page=2)