[ Video call ringing ] -[ Sighs ] -President Skroob.

-He was born Melvin Kaminsky.

-Yes?

Yes.

What is it?

-[ Laughs ] He's still messing it up, Mel.

-Good, good.

-Mel, I'm trying to say something nice about you, man.

[ Laughter ] Please don't upstage me.

[ Laughter ] -Ah.

[ Laughter ] -Or as Mel Brooks explains it, "Look at Jewish history.

Unrelieved lamenting would be intolerable.

So every 10 Jews, God designed one to be crazy and amuse the others."

[ Laughter ] [ Applause ] -This is the highest award you can get as an American citizen.

That's the highest award.

But for me, and I appreciate it because I am an American, this is one of my favorite awards, 'cause it's very hard.

This is the Writers Guild, the Laurel Award for Screenwriting.

An achievement in screenwriting.

This is very... [ Speaks French ] [ "Also sprach Zarathustra" plays ] ♪♪ [ Apes hoot ] -And the apes stood and became man.

♪♪ -I'm glad this is a comedy for talking comedy.

[ Laughs ] [ Upbeat rendition of "Also sprach Zarathustra" plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Speaks French ] 365 S. Third Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, tenement -- mainly tenements in Williamsburg, Brooklyn in 19-- in the '30s, in the early '30s.

My Uncle Joe Brookman -- That's where I get the name Brooks -- Uncle Joe -- Brook -- my mother's name, maiden name was Brookman.

She was married to Kaminsky.

I was Melvin Kaminsky -- can't make a living.

Mel Brooks -- [ Speaks French] -Melvin Kaminsky likes to remind people that he was born in 1926, at the same time as the first sound feature films.

He grew up during the aftermath of the crash of 1929, and the Kaminsky family from Ukraine lived in poverty.

-Oh, I miss Russia.

-Judaism and laughter go together, or there wouldn't be so many comics and writers and so forth, who happen to be Jewish and are writing comedy.

You know, maybe that's the secret -- living with pain and finding the comedy there.

-New York Jewish comedy was very much influential on the theater, film, television, everything.

But I hadn't thought about the fact that some of these people specifically grew up in Brooklyn.

Partly, they probably couldn't --- the families couldn't afford living in Manhattan.

Yeah, the fact that they were outsiders, not privileged upbringings certainly had something to do with the irreverent sense of humor that they showed and willing to thumb their nose at the establishment.

-The Williamsburg neighborhood of Brooklyn was already predominantly Jewish.

-Brooklyn was a happy place.

It was poor, but when you were a little kid, you don't know you're poor.

We would take newspapers, fold them together, put rubber bands over them and make a football.

We're all in these tenements, and everybody is destined to go to 7th Avenue and work in the garment center.

Everybody in Williamsburg worked in the garment center.

They were either stitching, or they were salesmen, or they were like me, shipping in the shipping department, you know?

-Downtown Brooklyn, where darkness never falls for the lights of Brooklyn never go out.

Brooklyn, the city of progress and achievement.

A proud city and a proud people.

-One night, it is 1935, it's the opening of Cole Porter's "Anything Goes."

Uncle Joe has two seats in the second balcony because he's a cab driver.

He used to take the doorman from the theaters who lived in Brooklyn.

He used to take them home and they'd give him tickets.

So he says, "How would you like to go to--" I'm nine years old.

I said, "Sure, Joe."

I hear this music all through the night, "Anything Goes."

You're the top...

I see William Gaxton, Victor Moore, and Ethel Merman.

When that show was over, tears in my eyes, I said, "Uncle Joe, I'm not going into the garment center.

I'm not gonna go to 7th Avenue and make clothing.

I'm gonna be on that stage."

-It was the time of the great stage musicals and his whole life, Mel Brooks remained deeply attached to music.

-♪ Anything, anything goes ♪ ♪ Brava!

Anything goes ♪ ♪♪ [ Applause ] ♪♪ -Hiya, folks!

Hiya, folks!

Don't let these conservative duds fool you.

It's still real.

-Music is a gift.

Where did music come from?

You're born with it.

You can't learn it.

You could learn techniques, you could learn arranging, you could learn to chord, you could learn aspects of music.

But melody -- What Tchaikovsky does, what Shostakovich does, you can't learn.

It's in you and you have to tap it.

You have to find out where the release points are for it to come out.

Buddy Rich -- he lived in Brighton Beach, and we were there for two years.

Mickey Rich was his brother and went to Lincoln High School.

I was the second or third drummer in the Lincoln band.

I met Mickey, and I said, "Where do you live?"

He said, "10th Street," I said, "We're 6th Street," He said, "Come home.

I want to show you something.

You're a drummer, right?"

"Yeah."

He showed me a drum.

And on the top in the little shield -- BR.

I said "Mickey.

That's Buddy Rich.

Who are you, Mickey?

That's your brother?

And AS, that's Artie Shaw.

I knew that Buddy was playing for Artie Shaw.

So I said, "Can I sit at the drums?"

He said, "Sure."

I had Buddy sticks, I'm playing a little bit, and I'm hitting it.

And, uh...

I hear from the doorway, "Not bad, not good."

And it's Buddy.

And he says, "First of all, you're not in the Army.

You don't hold the sticks like that.

You lay it across."

Every Saturday, he would teach me how to play... [ Imitates cymbals ] ...the hi-hat, you know?

He was a good guy.

He was interested in young people playing the drums.

[ Drumbeat ] I played the drums because it was the noisiest of -- I wanted to make a lot of noise.

[ Rhythmic tapping ] I was a drummer, and then I went to the Borscht Belt.

-The Borscht Belt and its hotels welcome vacations from the petite bourgeoisie and proletarians from New York and its surroundings for affordable prices.

For entertainment, for lack of being able to work with well-known stars, they hired young unknowns at the time, such as Danny Kaye, John Garfield, even Jerry Lewis and Tony Curtis.

And of course, on the eve of the war, Mel Brooks.

-I was doing comedy, and Max Liebman the producer saw me, and they were looking for somebody to play straight for Sid Caesar.

And so he invited me to come over to the office, and that's how I started my career with Sid.

Five years on the show, shows in two years with Sid on "Caesar's Hour."

And it was the best years of our lives.

[ Laughter ] [ Inaudible speaking ] [ Laughter ] -After the war, Mel was hired to write and act in "Your Show of Shows," a program that would revolutionize television entertainment.

His duo with Carl Reiner was soon to become famous.

[ Laughter ] -But we were [Speaks French] live.

They taped theirs earlier and then show it.

We were -- If his fly was open, if he coughed, whatever.

If he forgot a line, that -- you know, it was live.

It was really live.

-I met him first day I came to the "Show of Shows."

he was there as a friend of Sid's.

He wasn't working with the show.

Sid gave him $35 a week to write jokes.

And I heard him...

I walked in, I didn't know who this guy was, he was doing a Jewish pirate, a pirate with a Jewish accent.

[ Laughter ] -Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks, ladies and gentlemen.

[ Applause ] -Ladies and gentlemen, this gentleman here is one of the phenomena of the world.

He looks no older than Mr. Shawn, and yet he is 2,000 years old.

Is that true, sir?

-Yes, you want to see my driver's license?

-No, no.

[ Laughter ] In the origin of words, for instance, a simple word like "cheese."

Where did that come from?

-Cheese is a lovely story, how we get the right cheese in our vernacular.

In the year 28 dash, there was an old farmer, and gentleman came to his land and said, "I'm so thirsty.

May I have a little dipper milk?"

And he said, "Certainly, go over to the barrel."

He not knowing that the barrel of milk had soured, see?

So this poor beggar man came to the barrel and opened up from the top and looked in and looked down and went, "Cheese!"

-The 2000 Year Old Man, it started -- Carl came over to me when we were writing the "Show of Shows" way back in 1959, '60.

He said -- He came in the writer's room with a tape recorder, maybe the first tape recorder in the world, and, il m'a dit, he said to me... "You know you're 2000 years old, right?"

I said, "Yeah.

About, about."

And he said... -"Sir, did you know Christ?"

-I said, "Yeah, I had a candy store.

He used to come in the store.

He had 12 guys with him all the time, with the sandals.

They came in the candy store, they never bought anything.

They just asked for water.

I gave them water."

And then there was a very important comedy character in America who had "The Tonight Show," Steve Allen.

-And it was Steve Allen, one of our talk show hosts who said, "Fellas, I have a recording studio, World Pacific Jazz.

Take it over.

Invite whoever you want and wail."

And we did.

He didn't want to be a partner.

He just wanted to get it out.

And we invited 300 people, and for 2 hours, we kidded around.

And the 2000 year old man was born.

It hit pretty fast and pretty well, and we made five albums after that.

The interesting thing was four years after the war, and the Jewish accent was persona non grata, and they'd make parties.

People would make dinners for us to do that.

At one of these dinners, Edward G. Robinson, the wonderful actress said, "Make that thousand year old man for Broadway.

I want to play that thousand--" I said, "It's 2000," he said "I can play any age."

I never forget that.

-Around that time in 1951, Mel married Florence Baum, a Broadway showgirl, and together, they had three children.

They divorced in 1962.

-I think there is a specific New York East Coast humor that came out of the world of Woody Allen, Mel Brooks, a lot of these other people.

Definitely, the jokes had the intonations of sort of the Borscht Belt and the New York stand up comedy scene.

-I'm going fast, whether you get it or not.

Sid Caesar's show, it was "Caesar's Hour."

It was the "Show of Shows" from '49, '50-'55.

[Speaks French ] '55, '59.

[ Screamin' Jay Hawkins "Nitty Gritty" plays ] -♪ Nitty gritty ♪ -♪ Nitty nitty gritty gritty ♪ -The end of the "Show of Shows" starring the great comic Sid Caesar led Mel Brooks to try his luck in Hollywood.

And so he landed in Los Angeles in 1960.

There, he met Anne Bancroft who had just won an Oscar for Arthur Penn's "Miracle," in Alabama.

It was love at first sight.

[ Dramatic music plays ] ♪♪ [ "Nitty Gritty" plays ] ♪♪ -She was in "Miracle Worker," I was out of work after the "Show of Shows."

She was making money.

Anne was making money.

We were going together, we were not married yet.

We were eating mostly in Chinese restaurants.

I insisted because it was the cheapest.

And she would actually give me money under the table.

She'd slipped me money, you know, dollars to pay the check.

Check was never expensive.

Chinese food, you know, in 1961, '62.

So one night, we had dinner at this restaurant and, I don't know, the bill came to 10 or $11 for both of us, you know?

And I, you know, I had the money, and I just without thinking, you know -- big shot, generous -- so I put $15 on the table.

We got outside, she slapped me.

She said, "You make such a big tip with my money!"

-"Get Smart" was created in 1965 for television.

The show won the Emmy Award.

But Mel was already heading towards a career in cinema instead.

Indeed, in 1963, he and Ernest Pintoff won the Oscar for the animated short film, "The Critic."

[ Jazzy piano plays ] ♪♪ -I don't know much about psych analysis, but I'd say this is a dirty picture.

♪♪ What the hell is this?

♪♪ Must be a cartoon.

-Shh!

-Ah.

-Must be birth.

This looks like birth.

I remember when I was a boy in Russia, it was biology.

It was birth.

Oh, it's born.

Whatever it is, it's born.

Look out!

Too late.

It's dead already.

I've got a few hundred awards.

So, uh...

It, uh...

It's nice, and I appreciate it.

I appreciate their appreciation of me.

But, you know what I'm happy about?

I never just did a message movie.

I always tried to bury the message in a real riotous comedy, where people laughed and maybe later, you know, maybe later... [ Speaks French ] ...they would think.

[ Giggling ] -Strengthened by these early successes, Mel got into directing with "The Producers," the story of a duo betting on the failure of their musical comedy project to swindle gullible old ladies.

-Ta-ta!

-Ta-ta!

Don't forget the checky.

Can't produce plays without checkys.

-You can count on me, you dirty young man.

Oh!

Oh.

Goodbye.

-Bye-bye!

Goodbye.

Bye.

[ Humming ] "Hold me, touch me."

Ah!

"Hold me, touch me."

-Finders keepers.

-I know she's in here.

I wonder where she's hiding.

Where are you?

-[ Giggles ] -Where are you, devil woman?

-[ Giggles ] -Zero Mostel was a devil and an angel.

He could drive you crazy, he could have a different opinion on the dialogue of the scene, or he could refuse to work 'cause he was not in the mood, or he could take your character and your dialogue and bring it to heaven.

Bigger and better than you even thought.

[ "Springtime for Hitler" plays ] -♪ Springtime for Hitler ♪ ♪ And Germany ♪ ♪ Are sailing once more ♪ -Well, talk about bad taste.

-♪ Springtime for Hitler ♪ ♪ And Germany ♪ ♪ We'll be going to war ♪ -In "The Producers," having a song called "Springtime for Hitler," which is the kind of high point of that movie just because it was such an outrageous idea to have a musical number celebrating the rise of Hitler.

[ Laughter ] -Hey, man.

I'll leave you.

I'll leave you, baby.

I'll leave you.

Now leave me alone.

[ Laughter ] -This is funny.

-The best is the stage.

Live and music.

Musical comedy.

"The Producers" was a great movie with Zero Mostel and Gene Wilder, better experience on the stage as musical.

[ Instrumental of "Hope For The Best" plays ] ♪♪ -Despite being a brilliant film, "The Producers" failed to be a success among the general public.

♪♪ Mel Brooks then continued with "The Twelve Chairs," in which he was able to depict the Kaminsky family's origins.

During the making of that film, he met Dom DeLuise, one of his future favorite actors.

[ Seagulls squawking ] -Thank you.

Fine day for a picnic.

The others should be along any minute.

Thank you.

Thank you, and goodbye.

Good bye.

Have a nice day.

Goodbye.

Get out of here!

-But he was irreverent.

One thing that Mel Brooks did do was to puncture sacred cows and squeamishness and a political correctness over things that were considered taboo subjects.

He really was not afraid to plunge right into areas that might be controversial.

And I think this was very much in the tradition of the great comics that they were irreverent, that they mocked authority, they mocked respectable people in their society.

And, you know, he played around with racial conflicts in "Blazing Saddles."

So there was a certain social awareness that he had in a comic vein.

[ Jazz music plays ] ♪♪ -And success finally came with "Blazing Saddles."

The success was such that he even obtained from Fox for his future films the final cut.

Something very rare in Hollywood.

♪♪ With this film, he had reinvented the comedic genre.

♪♪ ♪♪ -Hey!

The sheriff is a ni-- [ Bell dings ] -What did he say?

-The sheriff is near.

[ Marching band plays ] -Hooray!

[ Band stops ] -Excuse me while I whip this out.

[ Woman screams ] [ Townspeople sigh in relief ] "By the power vested in me, by the honorable William J.

Le Pétomane..." Hold it.

[ Deep voice ] The next man makes a move, the (no audio) gets it.

-Hold it, men.

He's not bluffing-- -Enough to do it.

-Drop it, or I swear I'll blow this (no audio) head all over this town.

[ Normal voice ] Oh, Lordy Lord, he's desperate.

Do what he say.

Do what he say.

-"Blazing Saddles" was really a meshugana break through in terms of, uh... saying what had to be said in terms of... in terms of black and white, in terms of racial equality.

You know, you couldn't make it today.

I got Richard Pryor, the best stand-up comic that ever lived, and I said, "Richard, I'm hiring you to be one of the writers, not only because you're a good writer, but because the other three writers, including me, are white.

We don't have the right to throw the N word around."

-As you wish, master.

[ Messer Chups' "Super Megera" plays ] ♪♪ -He achieved complete success with "Young Frankenstein."

A perfect homage to James Whale's film he saw as a child.

-[ Groans ] -Alive, it's alive.

It's alive!

Stand back.

Hello there.

I'm going to set you free.

-[ Groans ] -You know why it had to be in black and white, not because I was such a purist, because when they do the makeup for the monster, it's whitish, greenish-blue -- blue, green, white.

If you filmed it in color, it would be bizarre.

It would look terrible.

But in black and white, it looks fierce and fabulous, you know?

-Stand.

On your feet.

-[ Whines ] -You can do it.

-You know, that's what Gene said.

He said, "We'll write it together, you'll direct it.

But you can't be in it because you're too crazy.

You'll break too many fourth walls."

I said, "Alright.

Okay."

That's the deal.

-♪ If you're blue and you don't know ♪ ♪ Where to go to ♪ ♪ Why don't you go where fashion sits?

♪ -♪ Puttin' on the Ritz ♪ -I mean, certain actors definitely got best known for their work with Mel Brooks.

And Gene Wilder is probably the prime example of that, who key roles in "The Producers" and "Young Frankenstein."

That kind of really launched his whole career in screen comedy.

And many of the other people in Brooks' ensemble like Madeline Khan and Harvey Korman.

-And of course... Marty Feldman.

-Hi!

♪ Ain't got no body ♪ ♪ And nobody cares ♪ [ Scatting ] [ Ominous music plays ] ♪♪ -The 1931 version of "Frankenstein," which meant so much to him, was a catalyst for a new career direction.

-Thank you.

-At the height of his success, Mel Brooks, held by his wife Anne Bancroft, became interested in production.

He launched the career of David Lynch with the famous film "Elephant Man."

-For your intellectual and philosophical pleasure... -Elephant man.

-He also produced "The Doctor and the Devils," a beautiful, little known film by Freddie Francis, the cinematographer of "Elephant Man."

In his choices as a producer, he worked with a recurring theme -- monstrosity, which, when it does not provoke laughter, causes panic and fear.

[ Screaming ] ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Indistinct shouting ] -We've decided.

-Until the so called monster finds his place in society.

-We're gonna get of this.

All right?

[ Shouting continues ] [ Applause ] -Ladies and gentlemen, the whole company wishes to dedicate with all their hearts tonight's performance to Mr. John Merrick.

My very dear friend.

[ Applause ] -I have the authority to close you down, and I'm doing just that.

-He is a freak.

-I can't believe it.

[ Upbeat music plays ] ♪♪ $1 million.

-Of course, these films are also reminiscent of New York funfair rides and films of his childhood.

-Very good.

♪♪ [ Laughing ] [ Fly buzzing ] [ Ominous music plays ] ♪♪ [ Dramatic music plays ] [ Beeps ] ♪♪ ♪♪ -In 1985, he produced another important film, David Cronenberg's "The Fly," a remake of Kurt Neumann's 1958 film.

♪♪ ♪♪ -All right.

All right.

-In "The Doctor and the Devils," for example, the story of a group of body snatchers, there is a lot of crossovers with other Mel Brooks films, especially "Young Frankenstein."

-Yeah.

[ Horse neighs ] Wow.

-Doctor Rock, Doctor Rock, Doctor Rock, Doctor Rock, Doctor Rock, Doctor Rock, Doctor Rock.

-But he quickly went back to comedy.

Mel Brooks favored particularly slapstick humor with films like "The Three Stooges" or Ritz Brothers over Chaplin's sentimental and critical comedy or the dead pan physical comedy of Buster Keaton.

"Silent Movie" was made as a tribute to the original slapstick genre.

Mel Brooks reunited with Sid Caesar, his boss from the "Show of Shows."

The legend says that they had so many fits of laughter on set that they thought they would never be able to finish the film.

[ Upbeat music plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ -Oh.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Dramatic music plays ] ♪♪ [ Triumphant music plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ -Every movie has a secondary or another sub idea.

So "Silent Movie" is not just homage to silent movies and fun and laughs.

It sprung out of me because... Coca-Cola bought Columbia Pictures.

Because Transamerica bought Universal, because Charlie Bluhdorn and Gulf and Western bought Paramount.

And I said, "What the hell?

What's going on?"

These big businesses are buying the art of film.

And they may say, if they own it, yay or nay.

"No, don't make that picture, make that picture."

I said, "This is dangerous.

So I will make a funny silent movie, but I hope underneath, there might be a little beam that would stay with the people who would see the danger in capital running art.

[ Smooth upbeat music ] ♪♪ ♪♪ -With Anne by his side, Mel led a happy life in Los Angeles, and his friends were always full of surprises.

♪♪ ♪♪ -Mel Brooks, we had, a lot of years ago, a fellow who owned Caesars Palace, the hotel in Las Vegas.

I came to Mel and he said to me one day, "Norman," he said, "You know, we have a home in Palm Springs.

If you want to spend a weekend, it's available, you got one."

-Thank goodness Norman had these kind of friends.

-And I invited Carl and his wife of Estelle and Mel was married to Anne Bancroft, and Dom DeLuise and his wife, Larry Gelbart, who is the greatest of the comedy writers, and we Lears.

-Norman, the first time we were there for dinner, all of a sudden we hear violin music.

He hired 12 violinists or 16 violinists to come through the house and play violin.

They went up the stairs playing the violin, came down, and went to the bus and disappeared.

That was Norman.

Maybe the funniest weekends we've ever spent.

-The funniest, the greatest time.

Playing games like celebrity grapefruit.

-You throw grapefruit and try not to knock other people's grapefruits, you have to go below them.

-But telling a story at the same time, you had to grab the grapefruit and tell a line and then throw it to the next.

I don't know, it's insane.

-But it was really communal living.

We never stepped outside of the house for the whole weekend, just made each other laugh.

-Don't listen to Carl.

He's a liar.

-So, we call ourselves yenne velt.

and we needed a song to go with it.

Yenne velt is a Jewish word meaning the other world, Heaven.

So this was like Heaven.

We had no responsibility but having fun.

-[ Speaks French ] -♪ Oh, yenne velt, oh, yenne velt ♪ ♪ There is no velt like yenne velt ♪ -[ Speaks French ] -And then I said, "We have to seal this in wax."

And I said, "Everybody put their fingers in the other person's ears."

And there were sitting at the table with our pinkies in the other's ear singing, ♪ Oh, yenne velt, oh, yenne velt ♪ And that was it.

That was part of the ritual.

-Oh, my God, how we laughed.

-And started going to our rooms as we sang the song and went into our rooms and closed the doors as the song ended.

Norman had a talkback in the system, and he pressed the talkback system.

In the -- Amp, whatever it was, and he started singing again, and all of the doors opened up.

We came right out.

-Woke up on Saturday morning and had breakfast in bed, clothes, and never got out of them until Sunday night when we were driving home.

♪♪ -Mel Brooks, who decoded every film genre one by one, had to go up against the master of suspense, Alfred Hitchcock.

He did so in 1977, with the parody "High Anxiety."

Many are the quotes from the Hitchcock film that Mel shifted and reinvented in order to turn expectation and tension into laughter.

An art form in itself.

[ Dramatic music plays ] ♪♪ -[ Screaming ] -Richard, Richard!

Richard, come, my boy.

You all right?

Come back inside.

Oh, my goodness.

Come over here.

Have a seat.

Goodness me.

-Thank you.

Thank you, Professor.

I'm sorry.

I don't know what came over me.

-I know what came over you.

High anxiety.

-He was remarkably nice and sweet and good to me.

But he scared me.

'Cause he's a frightening figure.

He's Alfred Hitchcock.

He's like, you know, he's like a Roman emperor in movies, you know, he's big.

And when I showed him the rough cut, he didn't laugh much.

He just looked at it very carefully.

"High Anxiety," I mimic "Psycho" at one point, with a newspaper.

Barry Levinson, who became a director later.

I know!

Get the newspaper.

Get the newspaper, get the stinking newspaper!

He's a bell boy, he says, 'Here's your paper."

And he stabs me in the shower.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ -Here!

Here!

-Ah!

Ah!

-Here!

Here!

Here's your paper!

Here's your paper!

Here's your paper!

♪♪ [ Door slams ] -That kid gets no tip.

The water over the print, and it went down the drain as if it were blood, and he gave me his elbow and said, "Marvelous.

Marvelous."

That's the only comment he had.

And then when he left, he didn't say anything, so I said... [ Speaking French ] Not a word.

I was in such trouble.

So the next day, I'm at my desk at Fox, and a box wrapped in silver paper with a little note on it comes.

And I take the note, and I open it up.

And it says, "Dear Melvin," [ Chuckles ] Melvin.

"Not to worry.

Have no anxiety over 'High Anxiety.'

It's a truly wonderful picture.

Love, Hitch."

I mean, it was just -- And I opened -- I tear the paper, I tear the ribbon, I opened it, there's a wooden box, and it says "Chateau Haut-Brion 1961."

-[ Speaking French ] -Anyway, he was wonderful.

And we used to go to dinner together.

He ate a lot.

He ate a lot.

There's a place called Chasen's, and he ordered a shrimp cocktail and he ordered a steak, and he ordered a baked potato with sour cream and chives.

And then for dessert, We called it a frap -- two vanilla balls, chocolate, and a cherry.

He ate it all.

He took out a cigar, smelled good.

A petite guillotine, you know, to clip the tip of the cigar.

He put it on the cigar, and he stopped.

[ Speaks French ] I said to myself, "He's a little crazy.

This guy, [Speaks French].

He's a little nuts.

So he was thinking, and he said to the head waiter at Chasen's, he stopped.

Put the cigar back, he put the guillotine back, and he said, "George.

George, do it again."

I said, "What could he mean?

What could Hitchcock mean, 'Do it again'?

What could it mean?"

And sure enough, 5 minutes later, shrimp cocktail, steak.

[ Speaks French ] Petite, you know.

Everything.

Everything.

No dessert.

No, he didn't.

He didn't have the dessert.

Then he took out the thing, clipped it, lit it up.

He was big.

I was sitting next to him, you couldn't see me from this side.

You could only see me with Hitchcock from that side.

Undiscovered.

[ Fanfare ] -Your Majesty.

[ Gasps ] Oh!

-[ Chuckles ] It's good to be the king.

[ Speaks French ] -[ Moans ] -It's good to be the king.

-[ Shouting ] -Oh, please, listen to me.

I'm not the King!

-He continued his work of genre deconstruction with the historical film genre in "The History of the World."

With a song that became a worldwide success.

-♪ Now get down people and listen to me ♪ ♪ Gonna tell you how I made history ♪ ♪ You call me Louis I'm the King of France ♪ ♪ Check out my story while you do your dance ♪ -♪ Oh, yes it's good to be the King ♪ ♪ Oh, la la ♪ -August 1939, Nazi troops mass on the Western border of Poland.

Europe stands precariously on the brink of World War Two.

But in Warsaw, despite the threat of imminent invasion.

-While Mel Brooks worked generally as a director and producer, he also acted.

The opportunity for a duo with Anne Bancroft presented itself in 1983 with the remake tribute of "To Be or Not to Be," a film by Ernst Lubitsch directed by Alan Johnson.

-To be... -[ Whispers ] "Or not to be."

-Or not to be.

Excuse me.

That... -Pardon me.

[ Siren wails ] -Air raid!

Quick everybody to the [Inaudible].

[ Screaming ] -What's going on?

All right, all right.

Don't panic.

You'll get your costume.

-Look at me.

I'll never get away with this.

Who's gonna believe I'm Colonel Erhardt?

Who's gonna believe this place is Gestapo headquarters?

It's a disgrace!

-Let's get the flags.

-Dobish, give me Hitler.

-Relax, Bronski.

Siletski has never even met Erhardt.

He doesn't know what he looks like.

-If we all play our parts, properly, he'll never suspect a thing.

♪ Me-mi-mo!

♪ -Dobish, quick.

Let's rehearse the scene.

-All right.

Heil Hitler.

-Heil Hitler.

Alright.

I've got it.

[ Suspenseful music plays ] -[ Breathing heavily ] -But Mel Brooks also liked to deconstruct blockbuster movies, which in the '80s were already at the top of the charts.

Blockbuster saw the beginnings of movie merchandising.

In 1987, he made the parody movie "Spaceballs."

-"Spaceballs" the movie.

-Yes, sir.

-"Producers" "Twelve Chairs," "Blazing Saddles," "Young Frankenstein..." -Colonel Sanders, may I speak with you, please?

-Yes, sir.

-How go to be a cassette, "Spaceballs" the movie?

We're still in the middle of making it.

-Oh, that's true, sir.

But there's been a new breakthrough in home video marketing.

-There has?

-Yes.

Instant cassettes.

They're out in stores before the movie is finished.

-Nah!

-Here it is, sir.

"Spaceballs."

-Good work, Corporal.

Punch it up.

That's much too early.

Prepare to fast forward.

-Preparing to fast forward.

-Fast forward!

-Fast forwarding, sir.

-So Princess Vespa.

[ As Princess Vespa ] No, please.

Leave me alone.

[ Normal voice ] No, you are mine.

[ As Princess Vespa ] I find you strangely attractive.

[ Normal voice ] Of course you do.

Jewish princesses are often attracted to money and power, and I have both, and you know it.

Kiss me.

[ As Princess Vespa ] No.

Yes.

-Lord Helmet.

-What?!

-You're needed on the bridge, sir.

-Knock on my door!

Knock next time!

-Yes, sir.

[ Upbeat rendition of "The Imperial March" plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ -With "Life Stinks," seeking to follow in the footsteps of Frank Capra and Preston Sturges, Mel Brooks tried his hand at a more serious tone.

With a story of a real estate developer who following a bet, experiences the hardship of being homeless.

His character falls in love with Lesley Ann Warren.

-I have a little surprise.

Follow me.

-What is this?

-Well, we would never presume to question your genius for financial wizardry, sir.

Why?

-[ Laughs ] Wait.

[ Whirring ] Gentleman, the ultimate achievement of my life -- Bolt Center.

-It's absolutely visionary.

-In 1993, Mel Brooks once again captivated his audience with humor with the film "Robin Hood: Men in Tights."

-You know, I'm not that nice.

I mean, really, there's so many -- You have no idea.

-Oh.

-Then, in 1995, "Dracula: Dead and Loving It," explored the themes of sexuality, fantasy, and again, monstrosity.

-Oh, how stupid of me.

Oh.

[ Suspenseful music plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ -Ahh!

-Today, Mel Brooks has returned to his first love -- the stage.

And he's always in tune with the world.

-I'm working on... Ta-da!

"Young Frankenstein" as a musical.

[ Upbeat piano plays ] ♪♪ -Yeah, he usually comes over every evening when he's in town and he's in town forever.

He was away for two weeks, and it was hard to have dinner and watch television.

He sits right there.

We only watch things that don't upset us -- "Jeopardy!"

and "Wheel of Fortune."

-Then glorious, simple, like omelette baveuse.

-When that's over, we'll watch "Rachel Maddow," we'll watch, you know, the news, and then we curse about Trump for a little bit.

And then, uh... Gee, he's getting scarier and scarier.

-Look how long the war in Syria.

Look, how many children?

Children.

How many children have been killed?

How many families have been destroyed?

How much... Syria.

The country is just dismembered, you know?

It's ridiculous.

'Cause you know why?

No one thinks of compromise.

No one thinks of giving in.

They always say, "We're right."

You know, "We are right," you know?

-Au revoir.

-I kiss your hand.

For now.

[ Grandiose orchestral music plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ -Mel Brooks remains very much a genius entertainer.

-[ Speaks French ] ♪♪ [ Cheers and applause ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪