Comedy has no limits. No fear. And no expiration date. For proof, look to Mel Brooks.
The King of Comedy has been pushing the boundaries of the universal genre and making people belly laugh for decades.
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Born June 28, 1926, Brooks turns 100 today. So herewith, a look back at the legendary comedian, filmmaker, producer [insert every other hyphenate here] who reshaped what satire could be—and what it could get away with.
Photo by Silver Screen Collection on Getty Images
Mel Brooks is a rare figure in the entertainment industry. Though his career stretches across more than five decades, his work still feels as sharp and relevant in modern times as it did in the 1950s. A living, walking, joke-cracking institution, he began his career in the legendary comedy circuit of the Borscht Belt resorts of the Catskills Mountains in upstate New York.
“Tragedy is when I cut my finger. Comedy is when you fall into a sewer and die.” —Mel Brooks
Following service as a combat engineer with the Army in WWII, Brooks transitioned into television, where he became a legendary screenwriting force, with Your Show of Shows(1950-1954) and GetSmart, which he co-created with Buck Henry, standing out. It’s around this time that he also met longtime collaborator Carl Reiner in the writers’ rooms. Their friendship led to a partnership that conceived 2000 Year Old Man, the comedy sketch that earned Brooks one of the Grammys in his EGOT.
As an architect of the science that is comedy, Brooks established his voice on the small screen before moving into film. Anarchic and kinetic, his signature satire benefited from rapid-fire one-liners and aggressive silliness. As a writer in television, he helped lay the foundations for the modern sketch comedy by pushing the boundaries and making audiences uncomfortable. Race, gender, Hitler—everything is on the table in a Brooks production.
“I’ll just say what’s in my heart: ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump, ba-bump.”—Mel Brooks, when he won an Oscar for The Producers in 1967
In 1964, Brooks' short film, The Critic, won an Oscar (credited to producer Ernest Pintoff), paving the way for his directorial debut, The Producers, in 1967. Unyielding and endlessly entertaining, the dark comedy was an instant cult classic, scoring him his own Oscar for Best Original Screenplay (he'd later be honored with another Oscar for his expansive body of work).
Despite its critical success, the film, which turned Nazism and the Holocaust into parody, was met with a polarizing reception.
“If you can reduce Hitler to something laughable, you win.” —Mel Brooks
The Producers’ taboo subject matter and radical departure from Hollywood norms were too much for some viewers, but that was only the beginning for Brooks on the big screen. He followed his Oscar-winning feature with classics that have gone on to shape the genre, from Blazing Saddles to Young Frankenstein, Spaceballs to Robin Hood: Men in Tights.
Today, Brooks reigns over an oeuvre of comedy that is endlessly rewatchable and continues to inspire entertainers to this day. With four Emmys, three Grammys, two Oscars, three Tonys, and a new Spaceballs movie on the way, the legend shows no signs of slowing down.
May the Schwartz be with you, Mel, and may you have a wonderful 100thbirthday.
Related: 1968 Hit From Rock’s First Supergroup Makes for One of the Greatest Classic Rock Movie Moments
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