I've admired Mel Brook's approach to comedy for many years. James Robert Parish provides a thoroughly researched biography describing the roots of Mel's comic gifts and his long career starting as a Catskill's comic through his work as a successful film director and Broadway producer.
Although not mentioned by the author, Mel's approach to life appears to be "Ready Go Set" The same approach employed by Katie Goodman in her book Improvisation for the Spirit. Mel directed the movie the Producers although he had never done it before and he learned it on the job. He was thrust in the role of Catskill comic when the regular comedian was not able to perform. He failed on many attempts to write scripts for earlier Broadway productions. This helped him learn that he needed to find a partner.
Mel works best as part of a team. As evidenced by partnerships with Carl Reiner - The 2000 Year Old Man, Buck Henry on Get Smart, with Gene Wilder on Young Frankenstein, Thomas Meehan on the Broadway production of The Producers. On his own he lacks the organizational skill to crank out the material on a regular basis. He only wrote for three episodes of Get Smart after the pilot. His fertile mind comes up with a large number of comedic ideas during script development. Many of them don't work out but a few are inspired bits of genius. His persistent efforts to secure work as a writer on the Show of Shows with Cyd Ceasar illustrate his grit. He was not able to deal with the worry that as he was paid more for his work that he would be exposed as someone who didn't deserve this success.
His marriage to Anne Bancroft, the second for both of them was a very good fit even though at first glance the tall elegant Catholic woman contrasts sharply with Mel Brooks short stature and Jewish background. It was love at first sight for Mel who was relentless in his pursuit of Anne. At the time he met her he was close to being broke and was not able to spend money taking her to expensive restaurants. Ann appreciated Mel's sense of humor and grew to love him.
The Critic - Oscar winning short with Mel Brooks
Mel Brooks on Conan - Blazing Saddles Commentary
