I was reading it and about to comment when I realized that I like Mel Brooks enough, but I think the Zuckers are the funnier comedy writers. Then again this is a personal preference…So I am wondering who else is with me. (or against me.)
The Zuckers are jokesters and gag men. Brooks is a satirist and a subversive. They both may be funny on the surface, but in substance, they’re nowhere in the same league.
If I was going to watch a marathon of movies, I’d choose Brooks over Zuckers.
But if was only going to watch one, I’d pick Airplane! any day of the week.
Yup. The Zuckers are the guys who have a dozen pizzas delivered to the dean’s house. Brooks is the guy who spends all night replacing all the copies of the school newspaper with the April Fool’s edition.
I pick the Zuckers, only in part because (a) they went to the University of Wisconsin, and (b) they sat right in front of me during a sneak preview of a rough cut of “Top Secret!” (a very underrated movie) at the UW.
Brooks pioneered an old-fashioned retro comedy with dumb jokes and silliness. The Zuckers took his concept and turboed it up: more jokes per minute than anyone had done before, but similar to Brooks in style.
Ultimately, they overtook him so that Brook’s version of things seemed weak compared to the Zuckers. It was as though he never understood the changes they wrought.
The problem was that Brooks really only produced on completely satisfying comedy (Young Frankenstein, one that came close (Silent Movie(, a couple of flawed but interesting ones Blazing Saddles, The Producers (which owes a lot to Gene Wilder and Zero Mostel) and The Twelve Chairs. Everything else was really not all that funny.
The Zuckers’s scorecard was better: One classic (Airplane!), two near great ones Naked Gun and Top Secret, a couple of good ones (the other Naked Gun movies. There was also Ruthless People and Ghost (for a change of pace). Jim Abrahams, their partner, also scored with the Hot Shots! films.
So Brooks was the pioneer. The Zuckers followed in his path, but overall did more good films than Brooks did.
I’ve been watching Police Squad! and the Zuckers cram in more gags per minute than anybody, ever, and lots aren’t obvious. You have to keep both eyes on the background because that’s where the funniest and most surprising are.