This is the sort of humor that's utterly indefensible by any rational standards, except it makes me laugh:
Eighty-one years ago today, little Melvin Kaminsky was born in the Bronx. Upon entering showbiz--as a tummler in the Catskills--he changed it to Mel Brooks.
He wasn't the first comedian to make me laugh, but he was the first one to make me laugh so hard I literally couldn't breathe. That was when I was ten, the first time I saw Blazing Saddles. Specifically, this scene:
Hey, I was ten, and for whatever reason, that "Kansas City faggots" line killed me. Still does, especially since I now realize Brooks meant the word "faggot" to offend. Nobody really appreciates Blazing Saddles as a subversive work, but there's no way this movie could get made today.
But we're here to celebrate Mel, not to go off on a rant, so let's hear the man himself:
And let's watch him, singing and dancing with his beloved wife, the late Anne Bancroft:
Brooks reigned as my all-time comedy idol for...well, only for one summer, actually. My brother Keith, who took me to that fateful screening of Blazing Saddles, took me that fall to The Return Of The Pink Panther, and my Peter Sellers obsession was born. But that's another story. Today is all about Mel:
