Mel Brooks at 97: Remembering when he went on The One Show and said what every guest thinks

Comedy legend went viral for his bemused response to BBC show

Mel Brooks is probably the greatest guest The One Show has ever had.

In 2017, the comedy legend was interviewed on the BBC programme by hosts Alex Jones and Matt Baker – and clearly had no idea what he was a part of.

The writer-director expressed his confusion about the contents of the show, which often flips from trivial matters to more important and bleaker ones with breakneck speed. Naturally, he went viral.

Brooks, who turned 97 on Wednesday (28 June), was left perpelexed after Baker when, shortly after their laughter-filled interview, said: “Earlier on, we heard the story of Patricia who contacted us hoping to find out more about her long lost father.”

Here, the funnyman interjected: “What a crazy show this is!”

Russell Crowe, who was also a guest on the show, explained: “This is kind of like the sponsor’s break, they have to do something serious and they’ll be back to the frivolity of us shortly.”

Following much laughter from the crew behind the camera, Jones asked if they could get back to the story of Patricia and her long-lost father.

“OK, but this is nuts – I want that to be known,” Brooks said.

Later in the show, he was warned that an “uplifting” music section was now coming up, to which he responded: “Are we allowed to segue to happiness? We can be happy now? You gotta tell me when happy, when sad.”

Brook's career has spanned seven decades. His credits include The Producers (1967), which received a successful Broadway adaptation from 2001 to 2007, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein (both 1974), Spaceballs (1987) and Robin Hood: Men in Tights (1993).

Mel Brooks (Getty Images)

In 2007, shortly before his One Show appearance, Brooks warned that political correctness is killing comedy.

Speaking on BBC’s Radio 4’s Today programme, he said: “It’s not good for comedy. Comedy has to walk a thin line, take risks. Comedy is the lecherous little elf whispering in the king’s ear, always telling the truth about human behaviour.”

He said that, without Blazing Saddles’ controverial elements, it “would not have had nearly the significance, the force, the dynamism and the stakes that were contained in it”.

Brooks levelled: “I personally would never touch gas chambers or the death of children or Jews at the hands of the Nazis. Everything else is OK.”