The Immortal Mel Brooks

The 2,000-year-old man turns 97 this summer. I talked with him about fighting in World War II, his life in comedy, and the secret to happiness.

- Judd Apatow

I'm always looking for a way to get near Mel Brooks. Can you blame me? He has acted in, directed, produced, and written some of the most memorable films in human history-among them The Producers, Blazing Saddles, History of the World, Part I, and Spaceballs. He is the reason I went into comedy. As a young man, I obsessively watched his films and his appearances on late-night television. I would listen to his 2000 Year Old Man albums in which Mel played the character of an ancient man explaining the origins of humanity and dream of having the same job as him. Once, I interviewed Mel at an event where he was so funny that I locked up completely and didn't dare attempt a single joke. After I wrote the foreword to his book about the making of Young Frankenstein, I got to watch him record the audio version of it. Fifteen minutes into the reading, he stopped and shouted, "Why did I make this thing so damned long?! This is going to take forever!" Then there was the time that I took my friend and fellow comedian Bill Hader to Mel's office just to chat. He regaled us with stories for several hours. When we were getting ready to leave, Mel said, "Come and visit again, but not soon! Wait a few months." As we walked to our car, he screamed from the far distance, "Get the fuck out of here!" Mel is turning 97 this summer. He is way sharper than I am, which isn't saying much, and he is still riotously funny. Recently I visited him at his house in Los Angeles, not just so I could bask once more in the comic genius of a true master (although also that), but because I hoped to glean some of his wisdom. I wanted to understand what made Mel Brooks who he is, and I attempted to steer him toward the philosophical and the spiritual, so that we might all benefit from what he has learned in almost a century on this Earth. Our conversation has been condensed and edited for clarity. And to make me seem less dumb.