Mel Brooks: The 100-Year-Old Man

Born Melvin James Kaminsky on his family’s kitchen table in 1926, the man that the world would come to know as Mel Brooks had to endure the Great Depression, abject poverty, the death of his father at two years old, childhood bullying and active duty in WWII before he became the world’s funniest man.  

Rising through the comedy ranks in the Borsch Belt, Brooks harnessed his difficult and distinctly Jewish upbringing and turned it into fearless satire that defanged his enemies and made the world laugh: famed sketches like ‘the 2000 Year Old Man’, classic television shows like Get Smart, and iconic comedies like Blazing Saddles (named the funniest film of all time by the American Film Institute) and The Producers.  

He’s an EGOT winner, an icon, and the foremost Jewish comedian of his lifetime. JIFF is proud to screen seven films by Mel Brooks to celebrate his 100th birthday.