To Brooks, laughter most important thing

Comedian inspires new generation to ‘Mel it up’ in new Hulu series

Mel Brooks is a sophisticated guy. He collected fancy French wines and did a tasting on Johnny Carson’s show. He was married for 40 years to that epitome of elegance, Anne Bancroft. He was a favorite lunch companion of Cary Grant, the suavest man who ever lived.

But in the new Hulu show “History of the World, Part II,” you can still find all the Mel Brooks signature comedy stylings.

“I like fart jokes,” Brooks, 96, said from his home in

Santa Monica, California. “It adds some je ne sais quoi to the comedy. A touch of sophistication for the smarter people helps move the show along.”

After all, with the percussive campfire scene in his 1974 comedy classic, “Blazing Saddles,” where the cowhands sit around eating beans and passing wind, he elevated flatulence to cinematic history.

The comedy legend behind outlandish, hilarious movies such as “The Producers,” “Young Frankenstein,” “Spaceballs,” “High Anxiety,” “Robin Hood: Men in Tights” and “History of the World, Part I,” no longer

CHANTAL ANDERSON/ THE NEW YORK TIMES Mel Brooks flips through a script for “Springtime for Hitler,” the fictional musical in his 1966 film “The Producers,” at his home in Santa Monica, California, on Feb. 23.