Thank Goodness for Mel Brooks

A celebration of the genius in honor of his new documentary

There’s only ever been one Mel Brooks, but that’s certainly been enough. In a new documentary now available on HBO Max, Mel Brooks: The 99-Year-Old Man!, there’s more than three hours worth of footage, stories, and love for the Jewish comedian who changed show business forever. It’s a lovingly put-together documentary from director Judd Apatow (The 40-Year-Old Virgin, Knocked Up) about the beginning of Brooks’ career in the service of his country in World War II, all the way up to the announcement of Spaceballs 2. Like most sprawling documentaries of this nature, there isn’t too much here that you couldn’t get from reading Brooks’ Wikipedia page. The delight comes from spending time with a legend on the precipice of his 100th birthday, having another career arc even at his advanced age. 

Brooks, born Melvin Kaminsky, was from a Ukrainian Jewish family. Since his father passed away when he was only two years old, Brooks was raised by his mother and three older brothers. He got his first inspiration to enter show business when he was only nine years old. It was then that he attended a showing of Anything Goes with his uncle and decided that he’d make that his dream. It certainly helped that he met 18-year-old Sid Caesar before he went off into military service. Brooks credits Caesar with launching his career in the network variety series, Your Shows of Shows.