Mel Brooks names the greatest comedy actor of the 21st century: “That makes me laugh out loud”
As you’d expect from someone who was born in 1926, most of Mel Brooks‘ favourite comedians are tethered to either the era he grew up in, or the period when he took his first steps in show business.
He’s always been adamant that Harry Ritz deserves to be called “the funniest man ever,” and he first rose to prominence in the 1920s. That’s not to say he doesn’t deserve the accolade, but a recurring theme of the EGOT winner’s personal preferences is that they carry more than a faint whiff of nostalgia.
Brooks once declared that Madeline Kahn was in with a shot at being named “the single best comedian that ever lived,” but there’s more than a tinge of bias when he worked with her on Young Frankenstein, High Anxiety, History of the World, Part I, and she delivered an Oscar-nominated turn in Blazing Saddles.
Along with the Ritz brothers, the actor, writer, producer, and director also considered the Marx brothers and the Three Stooges among the greatest onscreen comedians of all time. Again, his opinion isn’t invalid when plenty of people would agree, but it’s another indication that he thinks big-screen laughs peaked when he was still a nipper.
Of course, that doesn’t mean he views the entirety of modern comedy as worthless and incomparable to the biggest stars of his youth, and those he collaborated with, like Gene Wilder and Carl Reiner, with Brooks declaring that Sacha Baron Cohen was the closest thing modern Hollywood had provided to his heir apparent. And yet, that wasn’t his top pick.
In a 2010 conversation with Moment, the living legend was asked to name his favourite current-day comedian, and he didn’t hesitate. “Seth MacFarlane, the creator of Family Guy,” he said. “I think Family Guy is really very good. Very little makes me laugh out loud, but that makes me laugh out loud.”
While mileage may vary on the multi-hyphenate who oversees an animated empire being called the greatest comic actor of the modern age, he’s undoubtedly one of the most successful. MacFarlane has conquered the small screen with Family Guy, The Cleveland Show, and American Dad, all of which have been beamed into millions of homes for decades.
On the big screen, he’s much more hit and miss. Ted was a monster hit at the box office, but the sequel failed miserably compared to its predecessor, and the less said about A Million Ways to Die in the West, which was clearly intended to be his attempt at a Blazing Saddles of his very own, the better.
Still, Brooks has probably forgotten more about comedy than most folks will ever know, so if he wants to call MacFarlane the best to emerge after the turn of the millennium, then he’s entitled to do just that.
