If I could speak with.... Mel Brooks

Over the years I've met some significant people. First things, first... my wife, my kids, you know, the typical (and proper) Jewish notion of significance. No mention of the rabbi from my youth; obviously. But I've also been lucky enough to spend time with Ed Charles, former third baseman for the KC Athletics and winner of the World Series in 1969 with the Amazin' Mets. I've met former NY Mayor Ed Koch and then-Senator Joe Biden while handing out leaflets respectively on the streets of NYC (at the re-opening of Carnegie Hall)  and BWI airport (I guess he skipped the train that day).  In this continuing series of "If I could speak with" wishes, today I mention Mel Brooks. He's 94 years old and lives in California although he grew up in the Depression in Brooklyn. His real name was Melvin Kaminsky, youngest of four boys; his father died when Mel was two.

As a Jew who grew up in the US in the 1950s and 1960s, I was influenced by his comic genius. Early on it was his writing on Sid Caeser's Your Show of Shows, then his comedy came to the front in Maxwell Smart's character 86 in Get Smart. However, it wasn't until The Producers in 1967 that his shtick and outrageous brilliance hit me. Who else but a Jew could create a show called "Springtime for Hitler" and self-mockingly make it a Broadway hit?

If I could talk with this older man today, what would we speak about? He's very forthright about comedy and tragedy. I'd like to hear what he thinks today about God, and matters of eternity. In an interview with Andrew Denton given in April 2004, and collected into the book 1001 interviews you must read before you die, Denton unveils the real Mel Brooks and helps us get to know the man, the comic, the legend. There Mel said, "Fame is the enemy." (page 348) I wonder if that's still his impression.

Four days ago, with less than two weeks before the US election, Mel made a political video. According to his son (he has four children, but only Max from his former wife Anne Bancroft), Max on Twitter said, "he has never made a political video. Until now." It showed Mel inside his home with his son and grandson outside separated by the large sliding glass door. Mel blamed Mr Trump for the coronavirus and said, "Trump is not doing a damn thing about it." Mel used his platform to encourage us to vote for Joe. 

Mel said, "Why do I like Joe (Biden)? Because Joe likes facts. Because Joe likes science." I graduated the University of Kansas with a degree in mathematics and a minor in biology, so I'm with Mel in this regard. Something Mel said to Andrew in 2004 sticks out. He was saying that comedy is everywhere and everything goes better with comedy. "I think The Passion (of the Christ, the movie by Mel Gibson) needed a few jokes...anything can use comedy, any subject needs comedy. Comedy leavens the bread. The bread rises through comedy." Andrew asked where Mel would have placed the comedy in the movie about Jesus, Mel: "Well, I think before he got to the cross. Once he's there, forget it. Then you're fooling around with too much; it's too big." (page 352)

I think Mel and I would need to discuss this. Why is the cross so significant? Why is it 'too big?' It's not that I disagree with him. Certainly, the Monty Python satire of the messianic claims of Yeshua (Jesus' Hebrew name) might have gone too far with Brian Cohen as the pseudo messiah in Life of Brian. Peter Sellers' Chauncy Gardener's walking on the water at the end of Being There also comes to mind. 

What else would we discuss? Mel and Carl Reiner made famous the 2,000-year-old man and there are so many men from that era we could discuss. The Jewish rabbi Saul, who became Paul the apostle comes to mind, but honestly, the only other such character I would want to continue to discuss is Yeshua himself. 

Mel, who do you think Jesus is? Is he good for the Jews? You put yourself as the waiter in the Last Supper by Da Vinci during the Passover seder in History of the World Part I and I found that brilliant. Someone had to serve, of course. Can you imagine yourself being one of the fellows there partaking of the story and the meal, and not being the Judas character, whom you call out recommending the wine? 

One day let's chat. Maybe on Twitter, Zoom or the trusty telephone. I probably won't ever be in your 1001 interviews book, but I'd be happy to discuss the turbulence of the world, the answers offered us by the media and politicians, and maybe you would be able to meet the best secret agent "1", The One, The Holy One, the real messiah who really did walk on water.  His answers may surprise you. They certainly have a place in our lives. 

Stay safe. All the best.