I was one of the writers on Sid Caesar’s last US TV series, called As Caesar Sees It. Our head writer was Mel Brooks (although Mel insisted his title should have been “Yelling and Screaming in a Room by Mel Brooks”). This was long before he became an auteur.
Your article about the friendship of Mel Brooks and Carl Reiner (Love and free food!, G2, 20 February) was lovely, but the interviewer, in referring to recordings of the 2,000 Year Old Man, neglected to mention one important fact: all of these masterpieces of comedy were almost totally improvised. No script. When Carl asked Mel, the 2,000 Year Old Man, “What was the principal mode of transportation in ancient times?”, he had no idea that Mel’s response would be “Fear”. You might call that thinking funny.
Ernest Chambers
Los Angeles, California, USA
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