Mel Brooks: Make a Noise

Carl Reiner remembers how the 2000 Year Old Man all got started.

Mel Brooks remembers his hard working mother.

Mel Brooks remembers his Oscar winning short, "The Critic".

Not everybody gets Mel Brooks. Don't worry, he'll take it personally.

Mel Brooks remembers growing up poor and exotic fruit cocktails.

The logic here is, as long as it isn't happening to Mel Brooks, it's funny.

Mel Brooks is here to find the insane and the bizarre in the commonplace.

Mel Brooks ad-libbed his first stage appearance. The crowd loved it. The director did not.

Comedic legend Sid Caesar passed away February 12, 2014, at the age of 91. Caesar was a friend and mentor to Mel Brooks and the two worked together through much of Brooks’ early career. See Brooks talk about Caesar’s genius for comedy in this film excerpt from American Masters “Mel Brooks: Make A Noise.”

On June 6, 2012, Dick Van Patten was interviewed for American Masters – Mel Brooks: Make A Noise (2013). In this never before seen outtake, Van Patten recalls the first time he met Mel Brooks in a Sunday tennis match with Mel, Carl Reiner, Alan Alda, and Gene Wilder. Van Patten, known for his roles in Mel Brooks’ Robin Hood: Men in Tights, Spaceballs, and High Anxiety.

Bernadette Peters on meeting Mel Brooks and the impact of his humor: “As far as he would go with jokes, like in Blazing Saddles…he’ll get away with things because they were truly funny.” Peters was interviewed on September 4, 2012 for American Masters – Mel Brooks: Make A Noise (2013).

In this clip, Brooks reminisces about his collaborations with Wilder, and how he almost drove the actor to a nervous breakdown while filming a scene for The Producers (1968).