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Comedy legend Mel Brooks is a national treasure, unquestionably one of the most important and influential figures in twentieth-century American culture. Brooks began his career as a comedy writer in the late 1940s and early 1950s, first gaining recognition for his work on Sid Caesar's Your Show of Shows. In 1965, Brooks created the seminal television series Get Smart, which went on to win seven Emmy Awards. While it's been almost 30 years since Brooks directed a movie, his legacy lives on, and he's now producing a sequel to his iconic space comedy Spaceballs.

By the late 1960s, Brooks decided to shift his focus away from television, setting his sights on film directing. For the next 30 years, Brooks emerged as one of cinema's all-time great comedy directors through masterpieces such as Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, and The Producers. A man in rare company,...