Meeting Mel Brooks!

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So, last Friday, December 9, 2016, this happened in my old hometown of Easton, Pa., at an old restored vaudeville theater where I used to work as a teen. Apologies that a 90-year-old, short, balding man is more photogenic than I am, but I thought some of you would get a kick out of it.

I've been a fan since 1974, so this was a bit of a dream come true for me.

This was right before he kissed me and said he loved me. Me and about 75 other people. Still ...




The Adventure Starts Here!
Right on! Was he funny?
The event is called Back in the Saddle. He's touring the country doing this shtick. It's a showing of Blazing Saddles, followed by a little over an hour of Mel telling stories and answering Q&A from the audience.

Then the VIP ticket holders got to meet-and-greet (for about thirty seconds each, ha!) and have some photographer take our pictures. We also got a signed poster.

His stories were hilarious. The man has energy to spare. There was an interviewer on stage and two easy chairs and a coffee table. Mel kept grabbing his mic and standing and dashing around the stage to tell his stories. He couldn't sit still. Great, great fun.

And it was a total hoot to watch Blazing Saddles with an audience of 1,500 (sold out!) mega-fans, all laughing and applauding and hollering and reciting lines along with the whole movie.

It was like a Rocky Horror Picture Show event for comedy freaks. LOVED every second of it.



The event is called Back in the Saddle. He's touring the country doing this shtick. It's a showing of Blazing Saddles, followed by a little over an hour of Mel telling stories and answering Q&A from the audience.
OMG, this sounds totally awesome, I'm so jealous. I have so many questions I have always wanted to ask Mel Brooks.



The Adventure Starts Here!
OMG, this sounds totally awesome, I'm so jealous. I have so many questions I have always wanted to ask Mel Brooks.
It's called the Back in the Saddle tour, produced by the Backlot Project, if that helps you find out if he's coming anywhere near you. I drove 350 miles back to my hometown to see him, then turned around and drove home the next day. Worth every mile.



So, last Friday, December 9, 2016, this happened in my old hometown of Easton, Pa., at an old restored vaudeville theater where I used to work as a teen. Apologies that a 90-year-old, short, balding man is more photogenic than I am, but I thought some of you would get a kick out of it.

I've been a fan since 1974, so this was a bit of a dream come true for me.

This was right before he kissed me and said he loved me. Me and about 75 other people. Still ...
This is great – I definitely got a kick out of this one . I was thinking about Spaceballs today in fact, especially "God willing we'll all meet again in Spaceballs II: The Soytch for More Money"

One of my favourite Mel Brooks stories is about Ann Bancroft, where he said he'd seen her on stage and shouted "Hey Ann Bancroft! I'm Mel Brooks! and that she "may have even said: "Who gives a s***?".



The Adventure Starts Here!
Yeah, she wasn't impressed by him at ALL. He apparently started just kinda following her around. He'd ask her where she was going for lunch, and she'd tell him, and he'd say, "Wow, what a coincidence! I was just heading over there myself!" Over and over again. He was like a lost puppy around her for a long time, and she realized she really loved it... and him.



Yeah, she wasn't impressed by him at ALL. He apparently started just kinda following her around. He'd ask her where she was going for lunch, and she'd tell him, and he'd say, "Wow, what a coincidence! I was just heading over there myself!" Over and over again. He was like a lost puppy around her for a long time, and she realized she really loved it... and him.
Their version of To Be or Not to Be was fantastic – I was surprised when I saw the original that a lot of the dialogue was the same. The "then we'll hurt him" bit for example.



The Adventure Starts Here!
Ahh, he told a lot of these stories last Friday. And the Young Frankenstein stories I heard back in October when I took my parents to the live simulcast theater showing of Young Frankenstein. (Mel Brooks did a tour of the set and told stories live from L.A. before the screening.)

I keep wondering why he's sitting on a folding chair in that Conan clip, though.