Joan Baum on Funny Man Mel Brooks

It occurred to me, a longtime fan, that Mel Brooks is 96 and a half and still going strong — and that’s worth celebrating.

He’s just published a memoir, “All About Me! My Remarkable Life in Show Business,” and he’s got a movie in the works for Hulu — “History of the World Part II.” He also recently appeared in an indie documentary “The Automat” (screened at last year’s Hamptons Doc Fest) doing his usual, which includes writing a song for full orchestra. And he’s been in the public eye recently — a mid-November interview in The New York Times Book Review, and for those who saw the Cate Blanchett film, “Tár,” he’s mentioned by her character as one of the few celebrities to be an EGOT winner — Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony. The audience, hers and in the real theater, laughed. Most of all, though, I was intrigued, and still am, by so many people saying how much they “love” him. It’s an unusual reference for an actor /comedian, though some find him vulgar and accuse him of abetting anti-Semitism with his parodies of Hitler. (He’s said that because his 1981 film “History of the World: Part I” cut off at the French Revolution, the sequel would feature a “Hitler on Ice” number.)

When I asked some people why they love him, they said because he’s funny. It was the juxtaposition that got me — comedy and love. There are many talented stand-up and script-oriented comedians today, some who go back to Mel Brooks’s golden days. He and Woody Allen both wrote for the Sid Caesar’s shows. But Mel stands out to his fans as both outrageous and compassionate, and they show their devotion by seeing his movies over and over again. His 2,000-year-old man interview albums with Carl Reiner still sell. He’s topical, but universal.

It’s difficult to be a comedian and rare to be someone who not only can do rehearsed numbers but also ad-lib brilliantly. Comedy is a complex genre that many people tend to dismiss vis-à-vis tragedy, (Oh, Aristotle, where did your tract on comedy go?). Brooks is innovative, satirical, but never cruel, never offering up obscenity or expletives for a cheap laugh. Theatrically egomaniacal, he was and remains a humane comic presence in our nasty, narcissistic, negative world. A cynic (“Hope for the best, expect the worst,” from “The Twelve Chairs”) but never a pessimist, Mel Brooks exemplifies humor as a defense against cruelty and death. He courts and deserves our continuing love.

On December 9, I’ll be at the East Hampton Library where I’ll talk about Mel Brooks for about 35 to 40 minutes, welcome your comments, and send us all off with a recording from the movie he did with Anne Bancroft, “To Be or Not To Be,” where he does “The Hitler Rap.” Lyrics will be on seats for those attending the East Hampton Library; Zoomers can pull up the recording on YouTube. As they say in “Spaceballs,” “May the Schwartz be with you.”

“Baum on Brooks” is Friday, December 9, 6 to 7 p.m. in the Baldwin Room at the East Hampton Library, 159 Main Street, East Hampton. In addition, on Friday, December 2, at 1 p.m., the library will host a screening of the Mel Brooks film “To Be or Not To Be.” To reserve for these events, call Steve Spataro at 631-324-0222, ext. 3 or email steven@easthamptonlibrary.org.