Mel Brooks donates career archive to New York National Comedy Center
Mel Brooks has donated his entire career archive, spanning 5,000 photographs and 150,000 documents, to the National Comedy Center in Jamestown, New York.
The archive includes the star’s earliest notes on comedy while he served in World War II, continuing through to his years on NBC’s Your Show of Shows.
It also spans his rise in the world of comedy in the 1960s and 1970s in hit films like The Producers, Silent Movie, Spaceballs, and Young Frankenstein.
The National Comedy Center also holds the papers belonging to Brooks’ longtime collaborator and late friend Carl Reiner.
As per Variety, Brooks announced the move with pride, sharing, “I’ve always been proud to say that I make people laugh for a living. So, knowing that my work will have a home at comedy’s national archive and continue making people laugh leaves me with a deep sense of pride.”
He added, “I’m honored that my contributions will be preserved for future generations at the National Comedy Center – especially because it’s a place that was meaningful to my best friend Carl Reiner, who believed in the importance of preserving comedy’s history.”
Reiner passed away in 2020 at the age of 98; the pair worked together on Your Show of Shows, and were also known for their recurring bit, beloved by fans and known as The 2000-Year-Old Man.
Actor and Emmy-winner Billy Crystal has celebrated the momentous decision in a statement that began, “Mel Brooks is simply a giant of comedy, and his influence on my life and career is immeasurable. I have had the good fortune of knowing so many hilarious, funny people, and Mel is the king. Now his extraordinary body of work will take its place alongside Carl Reiner’s in the National Comedy Center’s archives.”
He added, “They were my heroes, and became my friends and mentors and the hilarious uncles every comedian wishes they had. Now together again and always, their legacies will live longer than 2,000 years.”
This year marks Brooks’ centennial year.
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