It's Pronounced "Fronkenshteen!"

I mentioned this was a trial thing, right? And that we were still working out the kinks and trying to figure out what exactly my voice is and how it's heard?

Well, that's what's going on. Turns out, I don't feel like writing epic posts all the time. But then I was feeling bad like, oh, I should be producing so much more material because I have all these thoughts rolling around and I should be funnier and should be more this or that because that's what people expect.

But, then I reminded myself that, currently, no one is worshiping or hanging onto every word I say, waiting for me to write the Next Great Interesting Thing so that they can fawn all over it and it'll change their lives. For someone that doesn't really have an ego issue, I think I do have one in regard to writing. Like, I'm going to be so fucking funny and insightful and witty and charming that people will lose their minds over it and, when I don't deliver that all the time, I feel like I've let myself and people down. But that is A) false and B) dumb.

So, from here on out, unless I start getting paid for the bullshit I'm writing and people actually do form a cult and throw me in as the False God of said Cult (to which I will humbly thank them and take full advantage of that situation, at least for a little while because they were dumb enough to incite said cult to begin with. Getting ahead of myself a little? Maybe?), I'm going to write what I want, when I want at whatever length I want and stop apologizing for what I am/am not/have/have not/am going to write. Not everything people produce is always going to be a gem, so I think it's probably a good lesson in humility, how to be humble and also how to improve your (my) writing skills. Sometimes the best written bits are just a few words or sentences. At least that's what I'm telling myself, so I'm gonna go with that. Good? Good.

So, now that that little spiel is out of my system, let's move onto today's topic:


Mel. Fucking. Brooks.

Let's show him some respect. He is 85 today and I think he deserves a nod for A) lasting that long and B) for being one of the first real comedic influences in my early life.

One of the first CDs that I ever bought from one of those mail-order places was "The 2000 Year Old Man" with he and Carl Reiner (Ed Side note: Reiner wrote for the  Dick Van Dyke Show, one of my favorite shows when I was little, along with Bewitched, I Love Lucy, The Munsters; Essentially the whole old Nick at Nite lineup. My mom's favorite movie when she was a kid was Mary Poppins, so of course I was inundated with it from a very young age and, hence, fell in love with Bert the Chimney-sweep (apparently someone else did, too). So, imagine my surprise when BERT HAD HIS OWN SHOW, but did not speak with a Cockney accent, which I was very confused by. Also, that he was not a chimney-sweep anymore. But I digress). Because of him, I was introduced to one of my favorite comediennes of all time Madeline Fucking Kahn (I learned from her that girls can be pretty AND funny), Gene Wilder (who knew he could do stuff other than be Willy Wonka?) Dom DeLuise, Rick Moranis (WTF happened to him?), John Candy (R.I.P, sadface), Richard Lewis, Dave Chappelle and a bunch of others. I learned from his movies that comedy is based on well-written and/or bad puns, politics, controversial topics, spoofs, crude humor, sometimes a one-liner, sometimes sweet lovely-dovey stuff and, sometimes, is just straight up silly for no reason other than it's simply funny.

Now that I'm older and have dabbled in writing and thought extensively about writing comedy, I love that he wrote for one of my favorite shows ever as a kid, "Get Smart," (See: Nick at Nite Lineup reference above; also, I was dying to be 99), he wrote screenplays and a contributed to a bunch of other game-changing comedies during the 1950s and 1960s.

And can we talk about Young Frankenstein for a minute? This may be my most favorite Mel Brooks Joint. Gene Wilder, Marty Feldman, my beloved Madeline Kahn AND Peter Boyle?! I can't even see the word "abnormal" without thinking "abby-normal." Blazing Saddles, Spaceballs, History of the World (Part I), The Producers, Robin Hood: Men in Tights and a ton of other stuff I'm sure I'm missing.

So, today, Happy Birthday, Mr. Brooks. My formative young years as a child understanding comedy and my funny bone that has evolved over the years would not have been the same without you.

To end, here's the bit that started it all for me:  "The 2000 Year Old Man:" Part One, Part Two, Part Three.