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Funny Man
Funny Man: Mel Brooks | Patrick McGilligan
2 posts | 1 read
A deeply textured and compelling biography of comedy giant Mel Brooks, covering his rags-to-riches life and triumphant career in television, films, and theater, from Patrick McGilligan, the acclaimed author of Young Orson: The Years of Luck and Genius on the Path to Citizen Kane and Alfred Hitchcock: A Life in Darkness and Light. Oscar, Emmy, Tony, and Grammy award–winner Mel Brooks was behind (and sometimes in front the camera too) of some of the most influential comedy hits of our time, including The 2,000 Year Old Man, Get Smart, The Producers, Blazing Saddles, and Young Frankenstein. But before this actor, writer, director, comedian, and composer entertained the world, his first audience was his family. The fourth and last child of Max and Kitty Kaminsky, Mel Brooks was born on his family’s kitchen table in Brooklyn, New York, in 1926, and was not quite three-years-old when his father died of tuberculosis. Growing up in a household too poor to own a radio, Mel was short and homely, a mischievous child whose birth role was to make the family laugh. Beyond boyhood, after transforming himself into Mel Brooks, the laughs that came easily inside the Kaminsky family proved more elusive. His lifelong crusade to transform himself into a brand name of popular humor is at the center of master biographer Patrick McGilligan’s Funny Man. In this exhaustively researched and wonderfully novelistic look at Brooks’ personal and professional life, McGilligan lays bare the strengths and drawbacks that shaped Brooks’ psychology, his willpower, his persona, and his comedy. McGilligan insightfully navigates the epic ride that has been the famous funnyman’s life story, from Brooks’s childhood in Williamsburg tenements and breakthrough in early television—working alongside Sid Caesar and Carl Reiner—to Hollywood and Broadway peaks (and valleys). His book offers a meditation on the Jewish immigrant culture that influenced Brooks, snapshots of the golden age of comedy, behind the scenes revelations about the celebrated shows and films, and a telling look at the four-decade romantic partnership with actress Anne Bancroft that superseded Brooks’ troubled first marriage. Engrossing, nuanced and ultimately poignant, Funny Man delivers a great man’s unforgettable life story and an anatomy of the American dream of success. Funny Man includes a 16-page black-and-white photo insert.
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RamsFan1963
Funny Man: Mel Brooks | Patrick McGilligan
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I'm not sure if this was a biography or a character assassination. No one likes a fawning biography, but the author seems to go out of his way, in my opinion, to take every shot he could at Brooks' height, looks, his cheapness, his crude humor. One compliment was followed by two put downs, as if keeping score. If you're a fan of Brooks, the biography is detailed if unflattering. 3 💥💥💥 1/2 out of 5.

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RamsFan1963
Funny Man: Mel Brooks | Patrick McGilligan
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I'm currently listening the Mel Books autobiography by Patrick McGilligan. Today, June 28th, is his 93rd birthday. Happy Birthday Mel!! Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein are two of my favorite films.

TheBookgeekFrau Both really good movies; but History of the World will forever be my favorite! 5y
RamsFan1963 @C.Perone Oh yes I've watched it many times, and I forgot my other favorite, Spaceballs. Its has one of my favorite lines...."What's the matter Colonel Saunders? Chicken?!" Cracks me up every time 5y
TheBookgeekFrau @RamsFan1963 Ludicrous speed! 😂 Man, he's got a lot of good ones 5y
LauraJ Young Frankenstein is soooooo funny! Love Mel Brooks 🖤 5y
Melissa_J Spaceballs is my favourite 😊 5y
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