TOMORROW: Mel Brooks 101
The funnyman behind The Producers, Blazing Saddles, and Young Frankenstein
Monday at Noon EDT Jewish Culture 101 will offer Mel Brooks 101. Since the 1950s, Brooks has been making Americans laugh with his satirical, irreverent, off-kilter - and Jewish - sense of humor. We’ll give an especially close look at his film masterpieces The Producers, Blazing Saddles, and Young Frankenstein. Does the racial humor in Blazing Saddles still hold up? What about the Nazi jokes in The Producers? Could a comic filmmaker today get away with making a black and white film (like Young Frankenstein) or a silent film (like Silent Movie)?
Sign up: bitly.com/BenkofFunny
The Mel Brooks session is part three of a five-week series of all-new classes on Funny Jews. The following two Mondays we’ll do Funny Women (August 24) and Humorists (August 31).
I’ve also announced three new Monday classes for September: “Schoolhouse Rock-y” (the songs of Lynn Ahrens) on September 7; The Holocaust and American Jewish Culture on September 14; and Arthur Miller 101 on September 21. (No class September 28 because of Yom Kippur.)
As always, Thursday classes are Greatest Hits. This Thursday (August 20) I’m doing Painters and a week later (August 27) it’s Women Photographers.
The entire upcoming schedule, with links, is below. All classes are at Noon EDT:
Monday, August 17 Mel Brooks 101
Thursday, August 20 Painters
Monday, August 24 Funny Women
Thursday, August 27 Women Photographers
Monday, August 31 Humorists
Monday, September 7 Schoolhouse Rock-y (the songs of Lynn Ahrens)
Monday, September 14 The Holocaust and American Jewish Culture
Monday, September 21 Arthur Miller 101
Two more things:
• Subscribe to my YouTube Channel here: tinyurl.com/BenkofChannel. You’ll find dozens of American Jewish culture videos, including a 55-minute lecture on Philip Roth’s first great book, Goodbye, Columbus; and this one-minute slideshow of Roy Lichtenstein’s great comic book paintings.
• I’m booking Zoom talks for individual organizations, and eventually in-person classes. Here’s a demonstration of my in-person teaching and this one-minute intro shows how Jewish Culture 101 works.