Mel Brooks Reaches 100 as American Film Institute Names Blazing Saddles Top Comedy

NEW YORK (AP): The comic persona known as the 2000 Year Old Man has reached a century — and so has the man behind him. Mel Brooks marks his 100th birthday today.

The writer, director and performer has long looked forward to the landmark. Earlier this year, filmmaker Judd Apatow released a retrospective documentary bearing the title Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!

"I was born to make people laugh," Brooks says in the film. "So, I do that."

Brooks entered the world as Melvin Kaminsky in Brooklyn, New York, on June 28, 1926. He served in the Army during World War II, honed his craft in the Borscht Belt, and later joined Sid Caesar's writing staff. On Caesar's Show of Shows, he crossed paths with Carl Reiner — a friendship that lasted a lifetime and produced the celebrated 2000 Year Old Man routines.

In those sketches, Reiner would grill Brooks' impossibly aged character about historical figures. On Jesus, Brooks once replied: "Jesus … yes, yes. Thin lad. Wore sandals. Always walked around with 12 other guys."

From there, Brooks built a catalogue of landmark comedies, among them The Producers, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein and High Anxiety. Speaking to The Associated Press in 2021, he traced that arc back to a childhood spent in Williamsburg, Brooklyn.

"I wanted to keep the party going. I wanted to keep the happiness and joy and explosions of laughter going into a dour part of our lives, not our childhood anymore," Brooks recalled. "I was once interviewed and the guy said, 'What was the happiest part of your life? Was it winning the Academy Award? Was it marrying Anne Bancroft?' I said no, not at all. It was my childhood. From about 4 or 5 to 9, it was the most exciting, happiest, joyous life that anyone could experience.

"The guy said, 'What happened at 9?' I said, 'Homework.'"

Brooks shows little sign of slowing down. In April, he recorded a video tribute for Eddie Murphy's AFI Life Achievement Award. In May, he revealed plans to give thousands of personal documents and photographs to the National Comedy Center in Jamestown, New York.

"I've always been proud to say that I make people laugh for a living," Brooks said in a statement at the time. "So, knowing that my work will have a home at comedy's national archive and continue making people laugh leaves me with a deep sense of pride."

To honour Brooks' centennial, the American Film Institute on Friday declared 1974's Blazing Saddles the funniest film ever made. The western parody had earlier placed sixth on the institute's list of the 100 greatest movies. Its new ranking bumped Some Like It Hot from the top position — a film Brooks had repeatedly argued was less funny than his own work.

"He's right!" said Bob Gazzale, AFI president and chief executive. "We're happy to right this wrong as Mel celebrates his centennial. It's good to be the king, and may he live to be a 2,000-year-old man. Happy birthday, Mel!"

Brooks has turned mortality into comedy as well. In a sketch from the 1980s, he imagined a coin-operated headstone that played a recorded message. It opened with the line: "I was Mel Brooks, one of the funniest little Jews to walk the Earth."

Asked in that same 2021 AP interview whether he dwells on death, Brooks answered in the negative.

"I gave up after 60 thinking about it because if I did, I'd be thinking about it all the time. So I don't think about it much. When and if it happens, it's going to be a sad day — for everybody but me," Brooks said, laughing.

"I enjoy living," he added. "I'd like to do it as long as I can."