I’ve never known a moment of my life without being able to laugh at the works of Mel Brooks. And I dare say, that’s also true for you–or should be the case, if you’ve somehow not allowed yourself the chance to do so yet. Thankfully, through the labor of love that Judd Apatow and HBO dropped into our lap and onto their network and platform last night, you can catch up.
In the first nearly two-hour installment of what naturally had to be a two-part documentary–because it’s nay impossible to capture as lengthy and productive a life as Brooks’ in just one –Apatow and co-director Michael Bonfiglio lovingly take us back to a time and place that now only exists in the memories of stories that our parents and grandparents told me and apparently just about every modern comedian with any New York and especially Jewish roots. And thankfully, Brooks is still very much here and his remarkably detailed-oriented memory paints a robust picture of that world that coupled with the brilliant producing style that the two gentlemen executed is both captivating and immediately immersive–which is pretty much true of just about every film he’s made in his incredible (and still very much active) career that has just begun its fourth quarter-century.
INDIE WIRE’s Ben Austin echoed my sentiments in the review he authored yesterday:
(T)he three-and-a-half-hour doc leans into a kind of cumulative intimacy: Much of “The 99-Year-Old Man!” chronicles Brooks’ “great stories,” as Apatow calls them, by stitching each one together across multiple archival interviews: Brooks will start recounting the time he met Cary Grant to Johnny Carson, then continue on a different talk show before delivering the punchline to a third interviewer. His narrative is seamless, which emphasizes Brooks’ storytelling expertise, but each montage also works as a means to verify the truth staring us straight in the face: Brooks is an incredible talent and a lovely human being.
Initially, it’s hard to quell the knee-jerk reaction: “No duh!” But the film’s point is rarely as simple as, “Remember that?” It’s closer to, “Will you look at that – will you look at him.” Apatow and Bonfiglio are in awe, not only of Brooks’ artistry, but of his character. And through their dedication to capturing a life well-lived, soon enough, you are, too.
Thanks to the robust amount of archival interview footage available from Brooks’ numerous talk show appearances over the years, both in the U.S. and U.K., we are able to immerse ourselves back into a simpler time where New York Jewish shtick was appreciated and embraced by more than merely New York Jews. We also benefit from some amazing rarely seen gatherings of comedic genius from what appears to be a Paley Center celebration of Brooks’ first major resume entries, the groundbreaking live NBC Saturday night tour de force YOUR SHOW OF SHOWS. On one stage–and forever cracking each other up–were a staff and cast that included M*A*S*H’s Larry Gelbart, THE ODD COUPLE’s Neil Simon (and his talented older brother Danny), the show’s mercurial star Sid Caesar and who ultimately became Brooks’ lifelong best friend, THE DICK VAN DYKE SHOW’s Carl Reiner. To someone who even has a remote appreciation for classic comedy, the fact that one program had that much talent in one room should be eye-opening.
We also learn through another one of those panels how Reiner got the inspiration for what turned out to be Brooks’ first breakthrough performance as the 2000 YEAR OLD MAN. Reiner was inspired by a TV interviewer of the era who would breathlessly tell his viewers about how unique the person he was about to sit down was, so he thought what if we had someone who had actually seen the crucifixtion of Jesus Christ? Through several years of impromptu tape recordings where Reiner would tee up Brooks in character to improvisationally riff the album came together and established Brooks’ unique ability to meld Borscht Belt humor into contemporary commentary and satire, a combination that would eventually continue into his movie-making, beginning with 1968’s THE PRODUCERS. Those familiar with the award-winning live theatre version that Nathan Lane and Matthew Broderick brought to Broadway (and recently was re-revived on London’s West End) may not be all that familiar with the movie that preceded it, and initially it was mercilessly panned by critics, a painful disappointment that Brooks recalls in detail. At that point in his life, Brooks had endured a dry spell that as he confessed the modest financial returns yielded to him from the success of THE 2000 YEAR OLD MAN and his NBC comedy farce GET SMART still left him as financial second banana in his household. As USA TODAY’s Bryan Alexander recounted in his review that dropped yesterday, it’s that almost inexplicable 41-year marriage with his true love of his life Anne Bancroft that shaped the determination and spirit that he still possesses today:
The love story between the mischievous, short-statured Brooks and the glamorous Bancroft is especially touching. Bancroft supported Brooks when the comedy writer was struggling, before his movie success. The actress was the household breadwinner, slipping money under the table to her husband so that he could still pay for dinner….On camera, Brooks allows himself to go uncharacteristically deep when Apatow says of their pairing, “She got you.” “Exactly, she got me,” Brooks responds, closing his eyes. “She gets me.” When asked what he misses about Bancroft, Brooks waxes reverently and spontaneously. “Too many things. Things that nobody in the world would understand,” Brooks says. “When faced with an unhappy moment, the look on her face. When making up her mind to go somewhere, how fast she turned and moved. It’s hard to explain, there are some things that stay with you forever.”
I was fortunate enough to have a had a brief encounter with the two of them in a UCLA parking lot when they attended a premiere that a friend’s friend was producing and they were looking for the auditorium it was to be held in. Still an out-of-towner myself, I confessed I was of no help. Immediately Mel picked up on my accent and said, “Brooklyn here!” Anne immediately chimed in “Da Bronx!” When I offered up “Queens!”, Mel began to yell at passers-by “Do we have anyone from Manhattan here?!?! Staten Island?!?! And where the f–k is Royce Hall?!?!?”
While a chance encounter so meaningless could easily be dismissed as disposable and forgettable for me it was a reinforcement that despite their success they were just two New York ex-pats with incredible chemistry and a remarkable ability to immediately connect. For someone who grew up with my father howling at and forever imitating Maxwell Smart, rewatched THE PRODUCERS every time it was shown on television and to this day can still belt out the lyrics to SPRINGTIME FOR HITLER (Deutschland Is Happy Again!!!!) and who showed up the first weekend of practically every Brooks comedy, especially the one-two 1974 tandem of BLAZING SADDLES and YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN, it was downright unforgettable.
Fortunately, there’s a lot more still ahead, both in tonight’s Part Two and beyond. As THE NEW YORK TIMES’ Juno Carmel noted it from the red carpet premiere that HBO hosted earlier this week:
The film gestures toward the sadness and the loneliness of a long life, with commentary from several friends of Mr. Brooks who have died since recording their interviews, a group including David Lynch, Mr. Reiner and Mr. Reiner’s son Rob, who was murdered last month.
And as Travers continued, there will undoubtedly even be a few more tears mixed in with the guffaws:
“That’s the hard part about living that long,” Samantha Brooks, Mel’s granddaughter says. “He’s lost so many friends.” To that end, two of Apatow’s interview subjects died in the time between recording and release, including David Lynch, who shares a heartfelt account of Brooks hiring him for “The Elephant Man.” At the time, Lynch was worried a beloved, blockbuster comedian like Brooks wouldn’t connect with his sole directorial feature, “Eraserhead.” But he did, and Lynch never forgot it.
In Part 2, Apatow sits down with Rob Reiner, who tells him that Brooks kept coming over to Carl’s house “for months and months” after his passing – a loss Brooks was there to witness first-hand. When Apatow asks about those final moments together, Brooks says he shouted at the medics “for an hour,” hoping they could bring Carl back. Both stories, Rob’s and Mel’s, evoke an acute sorrow – a lonesome man desperate to spend a few more seconds with his friend, even in his memories – but Brooks and “The 99-Year-Old Man!” earn their exclamation mark by refusing to wallow.
“You can’t indulge yourself in being incredibly unhappy and miserable because it doesn’t make the pain go away, or better,” Brooks says. “You don’t have to pay God or the world or spirits for losing somebody great. You don’t have to pay for it.”
Wikipedia reminds us of that indomitable spirit with both a recap of the accolades he’s already received and his still-active calendar:
(H)e is one of 27 entertainers to win the EGOT, which includes an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar, and a Tony. He received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2009, a Hollywood Walk of Fame star in 2010, the AFI Life Achievement Award in 2013, a British Film Institute Fellowship in 2015, a National Medal of Arts in 2016, a BAFTA Fellowship in 2017, and an Honorary Academy Award in 2024. In June 2025, Brooks announced Spaceballs 2 was being produced with a release date targeted for 2027.[74] The same month, it was announced that Brooks would be executive-producing Very Young Frankenstein, a television project, for FX.[75]
As I think you can surmise, I can’t wait for Part 2 of these first 99 years. And it sure looks like Brooks already well into his next 99. Baruch hashem.
Until next time…