‘Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!’ chronicles the comedic genius of a living legend
by Robert Lloyd
Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio have made a two-part, four-hour documentary about a comedy idol, “Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!,” premiering Thursday on HBO and HBO Max. It follows Apatow’s “The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling” and “George Carlin’s American Dream,” also directed with Bonfiglio, in a growing library of comic biographies; a film on Norm Macdonald is in the works.
It’s a basically chronological telling of the life and work of a man who helped shape the comedy of the 1950s, ‘60s and ‘70s, and as an influence, of the ‘80s and ‘90s and beyond — there is perhaps no “Airplane!,” no “Austin Powers,” without the trail blazed by “Blazing Saddles” and “Young Frankenstein.” When I told my friend Jack, 33, that a “Spaceballs” sequel is coming, co-starring and co-written by Brooks, he could not have been more excited.