All about me! my remarkable life in show business

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Summary

At 95, the legendary Mel Brooks continues to set the standard for comedy across television, film, and the stage. Now, for the first time, this EGOT (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, Tony) winner shares his story in his own words. For anyone who loves American comedy, the long wait is over. Here are the never-before-told, behind-the-scenes anecdotes and remembrances from a master storyteller, filmmaker, and creator of all things funny. All About Me! charts Mel Brooks's meteoric rise from a Depression-era kid in Brooklyn to the recipient of the National Medal of Arts. Whether serving in the United States Army in World War II, or during his burgeoning career as a teenage comedian in the Catskills, Mel was always mining his experiences for material, always looking for the perfect joke. His iconic career began with Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows, where he was part of the greatest writers' room in history, which included Carl Reiner, Neil Simon, and Larry Gelbart. After co-creating both the mega-hit 2000 Year Old Man comedy albums and the classic television series Get Smart, Brooks's stellar film career took off. He would go on to write, direct, and star in The Producers, The Twelve Chairs, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Silent Movie, High Anxiety, and Spaceballs, as well as produce groundbreaking and eclectic films, including The Elephant Man, The Fly, and My Favorite Year. Brooks then went on to conquer Broadway with his record-breaking, Tony-winning musical, The Producers. All About Me! offers fans insight into the inspiration behind the ideas for his outstanding collection of boundary-breaking work, and offers details about the many close friendships and collaborations Brooks had, including those with Sid Caesar, Carl Reiner, Gene Wilder, Madeleine Kahn, Alfred Hitchcock, and the great love of his life, Anne Bancroft. Filled with tales of struggle, achievement, and camaraderie, listeners will gain a more personal and deeper understanding of the incredible body of work behind one of the most accomplished and beloved entertainers in history.

Contents

Brooklyn
The mountains
World War II
Television
the Sid Caesar years
Carl Reiner and the 2000 Year Old Man
Johnny Carson and The Tonight Show
The Chinese Gourmet Society
Kismet
meeting Anne Bancroft
Get Smart
The Producers
The Twelve Chairs
Blazing Saddles
Young Frankenstein
Silent Movie
High Anxiety
Brooksfilms
History of the World, Part I
Brooksfilms, part II
To Be or Not to Be
Brooksfilms, part III
Spaceballs
Life stinks
Robin Hood: Men in Tights
Dracula: Dead and Loving It
The Producers on Broadway
My third act.

Published Reviews

Booklist Review: "The subtitle for Brooks' rose-colored autobiography could have been It's a Wonderful Life. Even events that might have distressed others get a positive spin. Left fatherless at an early age? More attention from his mother and doting older brothers. A stint in the army in his late teens in the closing days of WWII? An opportunity to hone his comedic chops. Every movie Brooks ever made was a hit (or at least broke even), and every cast and crew he worked with was the best. And maybe it's all true, because the ebullient Brooks' default position seems to be happy. It helps that he focuses on his career, so although his wonderfully talented wife, Anne Bancroft, is certainly mentioned, her death gets just a few sentences. He goes into depth about his own films and shows, but it would have been nice to hear more about the excellent movies his production company made, including The Elephant Man and My Favorite Year. Brooks is a national treasure who's not shy to admit it, and his laugh-filled memories mix with an optimism that fans will find almost contagious.HIGH-DEMAND BACKSTORY: Brooks is legendary in comedy, TV, and film, and his upbeat memoir is just the sort of fun book many readers are seeking."
From Booklist, Copyright (c) American Library Association. Used with permission.
Publisher's Weekly Review: "In this laugh-a-minute memoir, actor and producer Brooks (Young Frankenstein) looks back at his rise through Hollywood, gleefully doling out punch lines along the way. He begins with his childhood in Brooklyn, where he lived with his older brothers and mother ("my first comic foil, and enabler") and at school slipped into comedy like a well-worn glove: "I ... allowed to hang around with the bigger kids because I made them laugh... you don't hit the kid that makes you laugh." Brooks recounts his early days as a writer on Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows in the 1950s; appearing in 1962 on the very first Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson, where he shared the stage with Groucho Marx, Joan Crawford, Rudy Vallee, and Tony Bennett; learning how to bend the truth, after he told producer Joe Levine that he cut a scene from the end of his Oscar-winning film The Producers ("On every movie... since then; I've often lied when the studio objected to something by saying, "It's out!"); and taking a giant leap forward as a director by writing "the greatest farting scene in cinematic history," in 1974's Blazing Saddles. Studded with snickering asides and rapid-fire jokes, Brooks's account of making it in show biz is just as sidesplitting as his movies. (Nov.)"
(c) Copyright PWxyz, LLC. All rights reserved

Additional Information

Subjects	Brooks, Mel, 1926- Comedians United States Biography Motion picture producers and directors United States Biography Motion picture actors and actresses United States Biography Biography & Autobiography Nonfiction Performing Arts Autobiographies. Audiobooks. 1926-
Publisher	[Place of publication not identified] :Penguin Random House Audio Publishing Group,2021 Books on Tape2021
Other Titles	My remarkable life in show business :
Contributors	OverDrive, Inc.
Participants/Performers	Read by the author. Mel Brooks.
Language	English
System Details	Mode of access: World Wide Web. Format: OverDrive Listen Format: OverDrive MP3 Audiobook Requires OverDrive app 3.0 (Windows) / 1.0 (Mac) / 1.0 (Windows Mobile)
Description	1 audio file : digital
ISBN	9780593290750 0593290755
Other	Classic View