Come for the politics, stay for the snark.

Not loving this new fraud based economy.

The republican caucus is covering themselves with something, and it is not glory.

If you voted for Trump, you don’t get to speak about ethics, morals, or rule of law.

When you’re a Republican, they let you do it.

The gop is a fucking disgrace.

Republicans in disarray!

They don’t have outfits that big. nor codpieces that small.

Republicans: “Abortion is murder but you can take a bus to get one.” Easy peasy.

Too often we confuse noise with substance. too often we confuse setbacks with defeat.

These days, even the boring Republicans are nuts.

I don’t recall signing up for living in a dystopian sci-fi novel.

President Musk and Trump are both poorly raised, coddled 8 year old boys.

Books are my comfort food!

Black Jesus loves a paper trail.

With all due respect and assumptions of good faith, please fuck off into the sun.

“When somebody takes the time to draw up a playbook, they’re gonna use it.”

When do we start airlifting the women and children out of Texas?

No one could have predicted…

We are learning that “working class” means “white” for way too many people.

Humiliatingly small and eclipsed by the derision of millions.

The lights are all blinking red.

I did not have this on my fuck 2025 bingo card.

You cannot shame the shameless.

Rupert, come get your orange boy, you petrified old dinosaur turd.

You are here: Home / Open Threads / Friday Evening Open Thread: Mel Brooks, Still Putting in the Work

Friday Evening Open Thread: Mel Brooks, Still Putting in the Work

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I recently signed up for Hulu (because godsdammit I’m not gonna spend another year doing nothing but obsessively chasing online political stories), so I choose to consider this a good omen for my 2023.

Who else will be giving Mel his proper respect?

Reader Interactions

45Comments

  2. 2.

    Jim, Foolish Literalist

    /raises hand/

    looking forward to wing-nut head explosions on that “So… you want Jesus to be white?” scene

  3. 3.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    Mel was recently on Terry Gross’s show (link) and he’s was prominently featured in the charming documentary “The Automat” (link), so I did a search to see what Mel was up to and discovered his granddaughter is drop dead gorgeous (photo) 👀

  4. 4.

    David 🌈☘The Establishment☘🌈 Koch

    GROSS: I will say you got a Kennedy Center honor from Obama, but you were offered one from President George W. Bush, and you declined because of the war in Iraq. How public did you want to be about that? How much of a public statement did you want to make about that? And how much did you just want to quietly decline?

    BROOKS: I wanted to quietly decline. I didn’t want to make a big deal of it. And I just didn’t – I thought that pursuing that war in Iraq, I thought, was all wrong. I’d been a soldier myself. And I said, why are these guys going? Why do they – why? It just didn’t make sense to me. And when I got the one from Obama, I asked – I said, Can I get two? I turned the – last year, I turned the other one down. Do I – can I get two? And Obama said one to a customer.

    GROSS: (Laughter).

    BROOKS: So it was very sweet. Yeah. Right.

  6. 6.

    Cheryl from Maryland

    Shortly before my father died, he asked me to watch Blazing Saddles with him.  It was lovely and memorable (watching it with him – we both had seen it many times).  Thank you, Mr. Brooks.

  9. 9.

    kindness

    I have Mel Brooks Blu-ray box set and it is great.  How long am I going to have to wait for History Of The World Part II to come out on disc?

  10. 10.

    Barbara

    I have Hulu, Netflix and BritBox. I endorse having distractions from political commentary/hand wringing. The next two years are going to be Wizard of Oz Wicked Witch levels of hysteria.

  12. 12.

    Phylllis

    I’m currently listening to the audio version of All About Me, read by Mel. I’m enjoying visiting with him each morning and I already have Hulu. I’m all in.

  13. 13.

    Baud

    Speaking of Hulu, I just saw an ad for 1619 project documentary on Hulu.

    ETA: the documentary will be on Hulu. I didn’t see the ad on Hulu. I don’t have Hulu.

  14. 14.

    Chief Oshkosh

    ABC News: “The firestorm over President Biden’s misplaced classified documents…”

    What firestorm?! What a bunch of bullshit. Sounds like they’re going to go full Butteremails on this. Fucking wankers.

  15. 15.

    UncleEbeneezer

    Since you got Hulu, highly recommend The Bear.  It’s really good.  Very moving.  Short episodes and KILLER soundtrack!

  18. 18.

    TaMara

    @CaseyL: I got their end of the year deal – I think $5 a month, with commercials. I was pleased that the commercials are not too intrusive. Especially on the movies.

    Repetitive, sure, because despite the idea advertisers would want to buy ad time on a streaming service, there seem to be only a few takers.

    But that’s why god made the mute button.

  22. 22.

    Chetan Murthy

    I didn’t even finish watching the trailer, b/c O MI GOD.  O MI GOD.  Can’t wait.  Seriously can’t wait.

  23. 23.

    trollhattan

    @Cheryl from Maryland: Aww, that’s lovely. Glad you have that memory.

    I could see my kid sitting me down for a “Young Frankenstein” viewing. I still laugh, and I had she and our German exchange student watch it while we were hosting. The German girl of course had never seen it but her little town is not far from an actual town of Frankenstein, Germany. (No, I did not consider “The Producers.”)

  26. 26.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @Chief Oshkosh: We started it and bailed after 10 minutes because it was just too loud/crazy.  Then I heard from numerous friends that it was amazing if you stick thru so I gave it another shot and was hooked after maybe 2 episodes.

  27. 27.

    Brachiator

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    RE: ABC News: “The firestorm over President Biden’s misplaced classified documents…”

    What firestorm?! What a bunch of bullshit. Sounds like they’re going to go full Butteremails on this. Fucking wankers.

    Republicans are loving this. They are using the notion that Biden may have had a few documents at his home or office as “evidence” that Trump’s possession of hundreds of classified documents is no big deal. But then they pivot and claim that Biden having classified documents is very serious and must be investigated.

    Many media stories also settle on the phrase, “Biden’s mishandling of classified documents,” which is inaccurate and not necessarily true at all.

    And of course, the false equivalence brigade are shouting about how any investigation into Trump or Biden with respect to these documents is “political.”

    So much bullshit.

    A talk radio host talking to a guy with 40 years experience in investigating security issues was very clear and even-handed, but the host kept trying to lean into “it’s all political” and “Biden has a problem.” But the guest clearly indicated that Trump having classified documents and refusing to give them to the proper agencies was far more serious than anything that Biden might have done.

    It’s just enraging to see how much some in the media seem to do anything they can to excuse or to forgive Trump with implied claims of “everybody does it.”

    Just bullshit.

  29. 29.

    JWR

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    ABC News: “The firestorm over President Biden’s misplaced classified documents…”

    Same with NBC, both national and local as far as I can tell. CBS has been a bit better, unless you catch one of Ed O’Keefe’s ready for the smelling salts and fainting couch reports. Dude can be a f*ckin’ tool.

  31. 31.

    trollhattan

    @JWR: It’s been atop the frickin’ BBC News front page. They have nothing more important come to mind? Bored with Ukraine? Hell, Shakira is even below “Biden files.”

    I blame Tories. Where’s Tony Jay?

  32. 32.

    Ruckus

    @Chief Oshkosh:

    This is why I don’t watch visual media news. It seems to always be about LOOK AT US telling you how horrible the world is, and most often it looks horrible because of TV news. Sure there is crap going on in the world, always has been and always will be – it’s humans. Some are good, some not so good and some are pure shit. It’s not that I think ignoring it makes it better but watching it does confirm that the wealthy will always have the power of money and the rest of us will have – crap, because the wealthy most often seem to think only about more money, while the rest of humanity thinks about something to eat and occasionally getting laid.

  33. 33.

    Brachiator

    @Ruckus:

    This is why I don’t watch visual media news. It seems to always be about LOOK AT US telling you how horrible the world is, and most often it looks horrible because of TV news.

    It’s not just visual media news. And I tire of editors and reporters, whether through stupidity or manipulation, give air time and space to non-stories and political gamesmanship.

  35. 35.

    Nicole

    @rikyrah: I’m super excited about this, too. :

    (Like, I didn’t even need to click the link; I knew exactly what you were talking about!)

  36. 36.

    eclare

    @rikyrah:   I can’t wait, my friends and I devoured all of her books.  I remember Forever being discreetly passed around in 8th grade.

  37. 37.

    jonas

    @Cheryl from Maryland: ​
      During Covid, I tried to show Blazing Saddles to my high-schooler, hyping it up as one of the great classic comedies of American cinema, great send-up of the western genre, etc.. We got all settled in with popcorn and everything , but 10 minutes in, they were so visibly uncomfortable with all the n-words — including n*CLANG!*s — that they asked to stop. I get it. I get it. And it’s all ironic and everything. But still. I haven’t told them about “Springtime for Hitler” yet.

  38. 38.

    Nicole

    @eclare: Oh man… Forever made the rounds of all of the girls in my 5th grade.  With the certain pages dog-eared so you could flip right to them.  Also Looking for Mr. Goodbar, come to think of it.

    Our teachers were either really not paying attention or really pretending they didn’t see anything.

  39. 39.

    eclare

    @Nicole:    Hahaha…great memories.

    I was diagnosed with scoliosis around age twelve, so Deenie really hit home.  Luckily I did not need a back brace.

  40. 40.

    UncleEbeneezer

    One thing that has been really awesome about Mérida México for the past week has been seeing almost NO AMERICANS.  No white dudes with insurrection beards in cammo, glaring angrily at every racial/ethnic minority they see.  No MAGA/Brandon/BlueLives bullshit.  Nobody throwing tantrums over masks (probably 70-80% of people wear them even outside).  No road rage assholes riding your ass and shouting at you.  Driving is a bit crazy but people aren’t overtly Dick-ish.  No dudes puffing their chests and picking fights at bars.  Haven’t even CONSIDERED the possibility of someone pulling a gun.  It’s just a reminder that civilized society is still possible.  I’m sure México had plenty of problems and their own right-wing assholes but they don’t dominate the culture the way they try to in America.  It’s been very refreshing.

  41. 41.

    oldster

    The new Mel Brooks film looks hilarious. I was also glad to see Joe Lo Truglio — Charles from Brooklyn 99 — in one scene as a high priest. He’s an amazing actor who should get more roles.

    How is Mel Brooks in such great shape at 96?? I know a lot of 76 year olds in a lot worse shape. Longevity really has a big genetic component.

  42. 42.

    tobie

    I didn’t like Mel Brooks’ slapstick humor when I was growing up but now that I’m seeing my alter kacher father fade I root for Mel Brooks all the time. My father’s 90, I thought he still had a few good years but that doesn’t seem to be in the cards. God bless Mel Brooks and Norman Lear for beating the odds and still making us laugh.

  44. 44.

    UncleEbeneezer

    @TaMara: It does.  It’s dark, depressing and riddled with anxiety but with each episode you get to know more about the characters/situation and you’ll start to like them.  There’s more to the story for every character and they rarely are as they appear at first.  It’s sort of like Ted lasso in reverse where instead of finding out how the likable dude is actually fucked up, in The Bear they start as assholes but you slowly learn why and they become much more human.

  45. 45.

    karen marie

    @CaseyL: Sign up for Mel Brooks but while you’re waiting for March, you can watch two great series: What We Do In The Shadows and Harlots.

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