All About Me!

Mel Brooks writes about his life, movie by movie, project by project. Fun times. I did not know (maybe another case of my being the last) that Max L. Brooks, who wrote [b:World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War 8908 World War Z An Oral History of the Zombie War Max Brooks https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1528312647l/8908.SX50.jpg 817], is Mel's son.

I loved listening to Mel Brooks talk about his life. I think he hits all the right things and has good pacing and organization. The story about the first names sounded familiar. In 2017 I had listened to it as part of [b:Laughter Therapy: A Comedy Collection for the Chronically Serious 57459837 Laughter Therapy A Comedy Collection for the Chronically Serious National Public Radio https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1616163104l/57459837.SX50.jpg 89967748]. Early in the book I loved hearing about how he had seen a Frankenstein movie and how he was afraid to sleep with the window open. So his mother explains to him that the monster would have to travel all the way from Transylvania and that once he got to their house he'd be much more likely to eat the people on the first floor. In addition to being funny and interesting I enjoyed hearing about some of my favorite movies and actors – Gene Wilder warms my heart and Madeline Kahn is amazing. It was a great mix of familiar and novel as I know some of Mel Brooks' movies (The Producers, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Men in Tights, Space Balls) but not others (High Anxiety, Silent Movie). I'll probably end up seeking them out eventually. 2,000 Year Old Man is brilliant and my father and I most frequently quote the Fifteen Ten! Commandments! bit when we have dropped something. Since Mel is talking about his childhood and his projects that were part of my childhood and young adulthood the whole thing is tinged rosy. It made me want to talk to the people I had enjoyed the movies with, mostly my dad, my husband, and theatre friends. It also made me want to sing or listen to some of my favorite musicals. For me this was a good mix of personal and private life. I saw some other reviews that mention he omits his first marriage and doesn't talk about his kids much. I liked how he spoke of Anne Bancroft and loved hearing about his childhood and army days.

I wanted to love it but I only liked it very much. Most of it I had already learned through various interviews and one-man-shows. If you're new to Mel Brooks' personal and professional story, then this is an excellent book to learn all you need to know about Mel Brooks' formative years both in youth and profession. Well written and at times funny, but always entertaining, it just seemed to be a little bit perfunctory.