The 2086-year-old man

Everyone else I know is posting very reverential and reflective meditations on Ash Wednesday and Lent and such-like. Me, I just wanted to tell you about this absolutely fantastic interview I heard with Mel Brooks on the WTF podcast with Marc Maron.

If you have ever loved Blazing Saddles or Young Frankenstein, you owe it to yourself to listen to this. First of all, it's an amazing conversation with someone who has lived a lot of life. Secondly, you learn lots of inside scoop on Brooks himself and on his movies. Such as:

• What was the one scene he cut from Blazing Saddles
• Who he originally asked to play the Gene Wilder role
• How Young Frankenstein came to be written
• Where they got all the gadgets from Young Frankenstein
• Brooks' role in movies such as The Elephant Man, Frances, and The Fly
• and so much more

As I said, this was an absolutely amazing interview. And then, if you're a deep comedy geek, you'll want to follow up with the next interview with Carl Reiner, Mel's straight man in the 2,000 year old man albums.  

Yes, yes, yes, you need to get through about 30 seconds of profanity at the beginning of the podcast. Trust me, it's so worth it. 

Enjoy.