Mel Brooks turns 100 — 'Blazing Saddles' director

The 2000 Year Old Man is turning 100. Mel Brooks will celebrate his centennial after a long career chronicled in Judd Apatow’s retrospective, “Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!” In the film Brooks says, “I was born to make people laugh. So, I do that.” He was born Melvin Kaminsky in Brooklyn on June 28, 1926.

After serving in the Army during World War II and performing in the Borscht Belt, Sid Caesar hired him as a writer on the “Show of Shows,” where he met Carl Reiner and created the “2000 Year Old Man” sketches. When Reiner asked about Jesus, Brooks answered: “Jesus … yes, yes.

Thin lad. Wore sandals. Always walked around with 12 other guys.” Brooks went on to make comedies including “The Producers,” “Blazing Saddles,” “Young Frankenstein” and “High Anxiety.” He has said his childhood in Williamsburg, Brooklyn, inspired his work: “I wanted to keep the party going.

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