Mel Brooks has spent more than seven decades making audiences laugh, but a new HBO documentary reveals that his early pursuit of fame came with personal costs.
Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!, debuting January 22, explores the comedy legend’s rise to stardom and his influence on Hollywood.
The two-part film features tributes from collaborators like Rob Reiner and Judd Apatow, but also candid reflections from Brooks and his children about the struggles behind the spotlight.
Nicky Brooks, Mel’s second child with first wife Florence Baum, recalled his father’s relentless drive.
“My dad was very hungry for stardom; he really wanted desperately to be a somebody. Not just to be a kind of industry success in some abstract way, but to be recognized and noticed and appreciated.”
After the end of Your Show of Shows in 1954, Brooks went from earning $5,000 an episode to nothing.
He admitted in archival footage: “I cried for two years. For two years, I did nothing but sob. I mean, I was broke.”
Nicky said the stress manifested in anger.
“My dad tended to express anxiety, stress through anger, and he became a very angry person, very volatile mood-wise. It was difficult for my mom trying to raise these babies, and I think it just reached a point where my dad was just frankly so difficult to live with. It was just intolerable.”
Florence Baum, a dancer in productions like Gentlemen Prefer Blondes, married Brooks in 1953.
They had three children, Stefanie, Nicky, and Eddie, before divorcing in 1962.
Brooks later married Oscar-winning actress Anne Bancroft with whom he had a son, Max.
Stefanie Brooks added that her father limited Baum’s career.
“My father made my mother stop working, because she was his wife. It was a dynamic that was very common at the time.”
Brooks himself admitted, “I kept getting her pregnant, and that meant she could not pursue her career, but I could pursue mine… I don’t blame her for divorcing me. It was just hell living with me. Very unhappy.”
Despite those turbulent years, Brooks’ career rebounded with the 2000 Year Old Man comedy album alongside Carl Reiner in 1960, paving the way for classics like The Producers, Blazing Saddles, and Spaceballs.
