Welcome to the Forward’s coverage of Jewish comedian Mel Brooks.
Mel Brooks
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The Schmooze What Mel Brooks can teach us about racism
“Blazing Saddles” is generally regarded as Mel Brooks’s best movie: It was ranked sixth on the American Film Institute’s list of the 100 greatest American comedies and it was nominated for three Academy Awards. “Best,” though, is a relative term. Brooks’s Borscht Belt-meets-absurdism style is so unique and so indelible that what we call the…
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Culture The History of Mel Brooks, Part I
Ironically, it was Mel Brooks who asked the first question: “So, how long have you been working for the Jewish Daily Forward?” Then he wondered aloud how I spell my name, and he graded my response. “You got all the letters right,” he said, and laughed when I ask for extra credit for getting them…
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The Schmooze Mel Brooks’ First Tweet
In case you missed it. Mel Brooks has joined Twitter! This is my 1st tweet – watch me with @carlreiner & @juddapatow live at 5E/2P for #comedyfest P.S. Carl made me do it. ampmdash; Mel Brooks (@MelBrooks) April 29, 2013 The comedy genius hopped on the blue birdie train during a Comedy Central chat with…
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The Schmooze Mel Brooks, Out of His Element
Spend an hour with Alan Yentob and you quickly realize just how good Dick Cavett is. Yentob hosts “Mel Brooks Strikes Back!” a conversation with the comic genius that premieres on HBO December 10 at 9 p.m. It comes a little more than a year after Cavett performed similar duties in another HBO special, “Mel…
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Culture The Disappearing Yiddish Accent
They say that Yiddish has been dying for the past 200 years. Up until about 50 or 60 years ago, saying as much was kind of a crude bluff, but now it would be a lie to say that Yiddish hasn’t been severely diminished. According to UNESCO’s most recent list of endangered languages, Yiddish falls…
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The Schmooze Friday Film: The Art of Being a Jewish Son
David Suskind was the Oprah of his day. From 1958 until 1987 he hosted a television talk show that discussed controversial issues, from Vietnam to race relations. One of his most popular programs, which he rebroadcast on a regular basis, was “How To Be a Jewish Son.” Originally broadcast in the fall of 1970, it…
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The Schmooze Paul Mazursky From ‘Curb’ to Warsaw and Beyond
At 81, Brooklyn-born screenwriter and director Paul Mazursky may be most familiar to some HBO-TV viewers as Sunshine, the ill-fated poker dealer in “The Sopranos” and Norm, strictly unamused by Larry David’s antics in “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” A new book, “Paul on Mazursky,” out from Wesleyan University Press this fall, reminds us that Mazursky’s varied…
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The Schmooze Kibbitzing With Mel Brooks, Dick Cavett and Carl Reiner
Courtesy of HBO Dick Cavett calls Mel Brooks more than a comedy star; he’s a “super nova.” Mel Brooks calls Dick Cavett “spectacularly gentile.” The two share the stage on the appropriately titled HBO special, “Mel Brooks and Dick Cavett Together Again,” an hour-long, anecdote-filled, hilarious love fest debuting September 9 at 9:00 p.m. Brooks…
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