A funny chronicle of where he went right

Mel Brooks sits down for a documentary, and other stars step up to celebrate him.

- Review ROBERT LLOYD TELEVISION CRITIC

HBO LUCKILY for the makers of "Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!," their subject likes to talk. He's smart and funny as he tells tales from his decades-long career.

Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio have made a two-part, four-hour documentary about a comedy idol, “Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!,” premiering Thursday on HBO and HBO Max.

It follows Apatow’s “The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling” and “George Carlin's American Dream,” also directed with Bonfiglio, in a growing library of comic biographies; a film on Norm Macdonald is in the works.

It's a basically chronological telling of the life and work of a man who helped shape the comedy of the 1950s, '60s and '70s, and as an influence, of the '80s and '90s and beyond — there is perhaps no “Airplane!,” no “Austin Powers,” without the trail blazed by “Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein.” When I told my friend Jack, 33, that a “Spaceballs” sequel is coming, costarring and co-written by Brooks, he could not have been more excited.

It’s also as a love story, or stories: that of Brooks and second wife Anne Bancroft; of Brooks and best friend and double-act partner Carl Reiner; of the love of the audience for the work, and the love between characters in the work, which might not always be obvious but is clear to Brooks. (“He's a loving man. It’s about love with him,” says Richard Pryor, one of the writers on “Blazing Saddles.”)

There’s a subtle sweetness to the documentary that can be quite moving, especially if the work means something to you, as well. I grew up on the New York Jewish sound of Brooks as the 2000 Year Old Man and the soundtrack album to “The Producers,” which included large sections of dialogue; I know its inflections like one might internalize every element of a popular song. It’s music to me.

I also laughed a lot, even at clips from movies I might not have laughed at before, which makes a course of re-watching feel inevitable.