Mel Brooks Was Baffled When Alex Edelman Told Him He Was Woke

The success of Alex Edelman’s shows like the current HBO special Just for Us has allowed him to meet many of his comedy heroes. Steve Martin, Jerry Seinfeld and Billy Crystal have all weighed in with encouragement and helpful advice. In a conversation on The Last Laugh podcast, Edelman shared a story about meeting another one of his biggest comic idols, Mel Brooks.

A few years ago, Edelman went to a screening of Blazing Saddles, with Brooks on hand for a question and answer session. During the Q&A, someone asked Brooks why Richard Pryor co-wrote the film comedy with him. “Well, I didn’t know anything about being Black in the United States,” said Brooks. “And Richie knew everything so I went, ‘Richie, why don’t you co-write this movie with me?”

Edelman met up with Brooks after the session and told the director, “Mel, that’s very woke of you.” 

Brooks’ response was a shocked, “What?”

“Mel, that’s representation,” Edelman replied. “That's a really wonderful thing.”

Brooks brushed off any ideas of wokeness. “Ah, it was just the right thing to do.”

Mel Brooks understands all of the right ways to do comedy, Edelman argues, but he doesn't think of it in terms of being woke or politically correct. “It's just a different vocabulary for him,” says the younger comic. 

Interviewer Matt Wilstein found the notion of a woke Brooks funny, especially because “he's always accused of being anti-PC, right? I mean, Blazing Saddles and the way people talk about that movie.”

That’s the funny thing about the 1974 comedy-western, Edelman says. “I'm of the opinion that Blazing Saddles is actually extremely PC. It requires a really fine-tuned understanding of who the joke is on and who the joke is about. Because they're not the same thing.”

Edelman offers up an example. “In the beginning, the dumb white guys are forcing the minorities on the railroad to sing and they sing a beautiful (song). And the guys are like, “Nah, sing ‘Camptown Races!’” and (the dumb white guys) sing the really stupid song in a really dumb way. You get right away who the joke is on. It's actually really beautiful.”

That’s right in line with what Edelman told The Atlantic last year. “Watching Blazing Saddles as a comedian, you can go, I can’t believe how clear it is. I can’t believe how funny it is. I can’t believe how many different perspectives there are. I can’t believe how off-the-wall it is. I think every show that you watch, you should walk out marveling at it.”

The film influenced Edelman’s own work, he told Jewish Rennaisance, “especially around the idea of ‘heavy things worn lightly’. In my routines I’ve had jokes about the Pittsburgh shootings, the Nixon tapes or a friend’s funeral. If you asked Brooks if it’s OK to joke about anything, he would say yes — and you should.”

Brooks would likely eat up all of the adoration Edelman has shared about Blazing Saddles over the years. But maybe just leave out the part about calling him woke.