Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks

Mel Brooks (Melvin James Brooks) was born on June 28th, 1926 and is currently 99 years old. Mel Brooks was born in Brooklyn, New York, USA. Brooks attended Virginia Military Institute.

Mel Brooks is a songwriter, actor, comedian, and filmmaker. In a career that spans 7 decades, he’s known as a writer and director of a variety of successful broad parodies and farces.

Mel is one of 21 entertainers to ever win the EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony). 3 of his movies Blazing Saddles (#6), Young Frankenstein (#13), and The Producers (#11) were listed in the top 15 of AFI’s top 100 comedy films of the past 100 years (1900-2000).

He was a sickly, small boy that often got bullied and teased by classmates due to his size. When he was 9, he saw Anything Goes at the Alvin Theater. After the show was over, he told his uncle that he wanted to go into show business.

While Mel was still a teen, he changed his name to Melvin Brooks, having been influenced by his mom’s maiden name of Brookman, after getting confused with Max Kaminsky, a trumpeter.

He met Sid Caesar when he was 14 and working as a pool-side tummler at the Butler Lodge. He kept guests entertained with his crazy antics. He’d jump into the pool wearing a derby and a large alpaca overcoat with 2 suitcases filled with rocks, complaining about business being terrible and not being able to go on.

Buddy Rich taught Mel to play the drums, and began earning money as a musician at the age of 14. While he was a drummer, he got his first chance as a comedian at 16, filling in for a sick MC.

All About Me!: My Remarkable Life in Show Business is for anybody that loves American comedy. Here are the never before told, behind the scenes remembrances and anecdotes from a master filmmaker, storyteller, creator of all things funny.

The book charts his meteoric rise from a Depression-era child in Brooklyn to the recipient of the National Medal of Arts. Whether serving in the United States Army during WWII, or during his burgeoning career as a teen comic in the Catskills, he was always mining experiences for material, and always looking for the perfect joke.

His iconic career started with Sid Caesar’s Your Show of Shows, where he was a part of the best writers’ room in history, which included Larry Gelbart, Carl Reiner, and Neil Simon. After co-creating both the mega-hit 2000 Year Old Man comedy albums and the classic TV show Get Smart, his stellar film career took off.

Filled with stories of achievement, struggle, and camaraderie, listeners are going to gain a more personal and deeper comprehension of the incredible body of work behind one of the most beloved and accomplished entertainers in history.

Mel Brooks: Awards & Accolades

Brooks' book, All About Me!: My Remarkable Life in Show Business was nominated for the Goodreads Awards, Best Humor, in 2022.

Related Authors

Fans of Mel Brooks also enjoy these authors:

1. James Patterson, author of the Alex Cross Series.
2. Stephen King, author of The Dark Tower Series.
3. George Saunders, author of: Lincoln in the Bardo.
4. John Grisham, author of the Jake Brigance Series.
5. Agatha Christie, author of: And Then There Were None / Ten Little Indians.

Mel Brooks: F.A.Q