Mel Brooks Looks Back at ‘Blazing Saddles’

A comedic genius was “Back in the Saddle Again!” — as the Thursday night show was billed at Radio City Music Hall.

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Mel Brooks graced the Big Apple’s landmark stage to greet, reminisce and commiserate with a legion of his loyalists, who lit up the 6,000 seat-plus Madison Square Garden company theater with their perpetual cackles — watching a screening of “Blazing Saddles” and settling in as Brooks recalled hilarious Hollywood moments over his lengthy career.

Even brighter than their laughter was the Brooklyn-born actor-writer himself, who at 90 years old was as vibrant as ever, still walking and talking circles around most folks a fraction of his age.

The man, the legend — hardly a myth — is a comedic time capsule. He’s been around the star-studded block since Hollywoodland became Hollywood. Rightfully so, he’s made a reputation for himself by mostly doing “films that were born in my own thinking.”

Almost as impressive as Brooks’ 67-year career is his steel-trap memory and plethora of on-point impressions — a periodic cat’s meow and Bing Crosby’s “Dancing in the Dark,” to name just a few.

Decked out in a two-piece suit, Brooks addressed the intricacies and absurdities of not only his 1974 Western satire “Blazing Saddles,” but a handful of life recollections that are close to his heart, including his far-from-checkered past with the late Gene Wilder.

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Brooks directed Wilder, who died on Aug. 29 from Alzheimer’s complications, in three films.

“Blazing Saddles” and “The Producers” aside, Brooks described his work with Wilder in “Young Frankenstein” as “eloquent, moving, and thrilling.”

The two first crossed paths on Broadway in the 1960s when Brooks’ late wife Anne Bancroft worked with Wilder in Bertolt Brecht’s “Mother Courage.” Brooks was in the midst of penning “The Producers.”

With well over half a century under his belt as an established cinematic entity, it’s hard to fathom that Brooks was once a starving artist. He humbly recalled how Bancroft “used to slip him money” underneath the table to pay for food.

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Brooks’ breaking of the Hollywood bread came when he joined the 1950s variety program “Your Show of Shows,” for “a thousand a week.” The 90-minute series spotlighted Sid Caesar and Imogene Coca. Brooks made an impact on the sketch comedy show with his “The 2000 Year Old Man” skit alongside Carl Reiner, who currently holds the distinction of being one of the oldest active celeb tweeters.

“I got an offer to go to Columbia Pictures. I’m just a kid on the Sid Caesar show. It’s a summer break, so I got a couple months. They fly me out to Hollywood,” Brooks explained. He claimed he met Caesar “in the mountains.” He recalls not being able to breathe in Chicago when the TV pioneer was puffing on a cigar.

“He grabs me by the collar and belt and hangs me over Michigan Avenue. I see taxis. He says, ‘You got enough air?’ I said, ‘Oh, plenty.'”

“Your Show of Shows” paired Brooks with an all-star comedy lineup that featured Larry Gilbert, Neil, Simon, Woody Allen, and Richard Pryor, who co-wrote “Blazing Saddles.” Pryor was Brooks’ original choice to play Sheriff Bart — but the latter’s battle with drugs and mental health issues had studio executives giving it the red light. The role ultimately went to the Tony Award-winning Cleavon Little, with Pryor staying on creatively.

Brooks’ brush with death wasn’t the only occurrence that kept him modest.

“So I go over to Universal and the first thing he says is, ‘I loved “Blazing Saddles.” It was a great movie.'”

While appearing on the short-lived game show “Eye Guess,” he unintentionally poked fun at host Bill Cullen, who suffered from polio. Brooks presumed that the prime-time Emmy winner was “acting like Jerry Lewis” when he waddled over to him. Luckily, Cullen wasn’t the least bit offended by it.

One of Brooks’ greatest memories was his experience with psycho-thriller guru Alfred Hitchcock, who he referred to as “Al.”

“So I go over to Universal and the first thing he says is ‘I loved “Blazing Saddles.” It was a great movie.'”

Hitch — not known for his comedic chops — was also adamant about pitching Brooks an idea of his own. He described it in minute detail to a very eager audience.

“He said, ‘I got a joke for you.’ A good guy is being chased by a lot of bad guys and they are catching up with him. He’s running for his life. He’s at the end of a pier and he sees a ferry about 12 to 14 feet away and he leaps with all his might and lands on the deck. Except the ferry is coming in.”

More bottomless than Hitchcock’s plethora of creative nuggets was “The Bird” director’s appetite. Brooks remembered watching Hitchcock — who once gifted him with a vintage bottle of 1961 Bordeaux red wine — polish off multiple plates of large steak, jumbo shrimp, and double scoops of ice cream.

“Hitch would tell the waiter: ‘George, do it again.'”

Hailing from Williamsburg, Brooklyn, far before its gentrification and the hipster movement that followed it, Brooks grew up the youngest of four boys at a time when rent was a minuscule $16 a month. He recalled his mother insisting that they could “see the world” for an additional $2. Brooks has far exceeded those expectations.