Greater Roadrunner : Happy Birthday, Mel Brooks

This is a Greater Roadrunner. If you’re an American of a certain age whose family had a TV, you can’t help but see a roadrunner and have a smile come to your face. “Roadrunner” is inevitably followed by “and Coyote,” and that’s when hilarious memories recur. Even in real life, these birds are amazing. They can kill a rattlesnake. They can run straight up a tree. And they can certainly outrace any photographer chasing after them. The cartoon escapades exaggerated of course, but there was certainly a hint of truth in the coyote’s perennial pursuit and the roadrunner’s inevitable escape.

Today is the 95th birthday of Mel Brooks, a day to celebrate. It is almost impossible to speak of humor in the United States without acknowledging the debt we owe his genius. His Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein are the (ok, my…) two funniest movies of all time. His writing, his songs, his acting - and just his presence and influence - have been baked into the DNA of American comedy for over 70 years. Brooks also served in the US Army in Europe during World War II fighting the Nazis. The man defused landmines before going on to serve as an entertainer for the troops.

Jokingly we recount the theme of every Jewish holiday: They tried to kill us; we won; let’s eat! Go watch Young Frankenstein, and look through your tears during Blazing Saddles, and you’ll see exactly that theme. Brooks’s truly inspiring vision is that laughter defeats evil. As a teenager in the Army, he used a rifle. In the fullness of his strength as a man, he used his pen. He took evil and turned it into farce. He proved that ridicule is a more enduring defeat even than death. His humor, like all Jewish humor before and after him, will remain an enduring weapon. We marvel at the Roadrunner’s combination of clever humor and ultimate victory. Mel Brooks proves how the two are inextricably linked. Happy birthday, Mr. Brooks, with every wish for good health and long life!