Happy 95th Birthday, Mel Brooks!

Having focused on the career of the great Gene Wilder in our June 11 post, the comedy-crazed rapscallions at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog have been thinking often of Mel Brooks lately.



Today, lots and lots and lots of websites are paying tribute to Mel Brooks, the toast of Broadway, Hollywood, Cannes and the Borscht Belt, on his 95th birthday, so we will, too.

We are required by law to post this clip of Mel and his pal Carl Reiner doing just one of many 2000 Year Old Man bits!



Gotta love Mel. Gotta love the late, great (and fearless) Anne Bancroft



We're big fans of Mr. Brooks and the ace comedy writers who worked with him on Your Show Of Shows.





The Producers would be the favorite Mel film of the gang at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog.







Young Frankenstein would be a very clase second.



Arguably, Brooks' best known film is the hilarious and brilliantly written deconstruction of movie westerns Blazing Saddles.



The Twelve Chairs is a lesser known film of his we are particularly fond of.



We love the cinematic world of silent film comedians and comediennes, so of course, we love the 1975 film Silent Movie.



Also love Mel’s Hitchcock spoof, High Anxiety, notable - among other things - for yet another bravura performance by comedienne Madeline Kahn.




Mel and his colleagues from Your Show Of Shows, Caesar's Hour, The 2000 Year Old Man records and the TV show Get Smart! - preminent among them Carl, Sid, Imogene, Howie and Nanette - are not just among our favorite Americans but our favorite human beings.



The first time I recall seeing Mel Brooks is in this memorable sketch from Your Show Of Shows.



The second time would be via my favorite 1960's television program other than the shows of Ernie Kovacs - Get Smart! The spy spoof was brought back for numerous remakes and re-takes over the decades, but nothing tops those first episodes of the series. Mel and Buck Henry penned the pilot, which was directed by Your Show Of Shows and Caesar's Hour co-star Howard Morris.

Conan O' Brien, who just completed his decade long run with TBS, interviewed Mr. Brooks at length as part as his Serious Jibber-Jabber series.



Love the Mel appearance on WTF With Marc Maron as well.



We respectfully tip a top hat worn by Harpo Marx in Animal Crackers and wish a happy birthday to Mel Brooks.



Shall take a time out to revisit your movies (Spaceballs, viewed after a Star Wars flick, along with Ernie Fosselius' Hardware Wars, always), the Sid Caesar DVD loaded with your sketches, your appearances on The Tonight Show With Johnny Carson and the following American Masters documentary shortly.



In closing, here's Mel's first movie - and one of the funniest voice-overs ever.