Mel Brooks, Jeremy Dauber
Mel Brooks, Jeremy Dauber
List: $19.99 | Sale: $13.99
Club: $9.99

Mel Brooks
Disobedient Jew

Author: Jeremy Dauber

Narrator: Jeremy Dauber

Unabridged: 5 hr 22 min

Format: Digital Audiobook Download

Publisher: Tantor Media

Published: 03/07/2023


Synopsis

A spirited dive into the life and career of a performer, writer, and director who dominated twentieth-century American comedy

Mel Brooks, born Melvin Kaminsky in Brooklyn in 1926, is one of the great comic voices of the twentieth century. Having won almost every entertainment award there is, Brooks has straddled the line between outsider and insider, obedient and rebellious, throughout his career, making out-of-bounds comedy the American mainstream.

Jeremy Dauber argues that throughout Brooks's extensive body of work—from Your Show of Shows to Blazing Saddles to Young Frankenstein to Spaceballs—the comedian has seen the most success when he found a balance between his unflagging, subversive, manic energy and the constraints imposed by comedic partners, the Hollywood system, and American cultural mores. Dauber also explores how Brooks's American Jewish humor went from being solely for niche audiences to an essential part of the American mainstream, paving the way for generations of Jewish (and other) comedians to come.

About Jeremy Dauber

Jeremy Dauber is a professor of Jewish literature and American studies at Columbia University. His books include Jewish Comedy and The Worlds of Sholem Aleichem, both finalists for the National Jewish Book Award, and, most recently, American Comics: A History. He lives in New York City.


Reviews

Goodreads review by Alexander on March 23, 2023

A good biography of Mel Brooks, mainly focusing on his work and placing it in the tradition of Jewish humour. It's the right side of concise, and the author's reading of his book was surprisingly spirited and amusing (lots of reproducing of Mel Brooks bits). A pleasant, interesting listen. (Thanks to......more

Goodreads review by Jess on March 03, 2023

*Audiobook “Funny is money.” The audio narrator did a good job in speaking this book to life. Mel Brooks has led quite a full life and is a fascinating man. He’s incredibly creative and so very funny. I learned a little more about him in this book but not as much as I had hoped. It was a bit repetitiv......more

Goodreads review by Dave on August 16, 2023

Pretty Good A rare biography that glosses over the ancestry and gets right down to the work and career of the subject. There is a lot here about vaudeville and the early years of television. Very informative, but not quite as much fun as All about Me!: My Remarkable Life in Show Business Ironically t......more

Goodreads review by Jenn on December 30, 2023

Lots of really interesting stories. I loved the story behind Spring Time for Hitler and will never look at another Mel Brooks movie the same way. It really opened my eyes to why Mel Brooks movies tend to age better than other movies from that time period. The stories about his movies and the thinkin......more

Goodreads review by Chantal on March 04, 2023

Ouuuff, oh boy. This book was not for me. Mel Brooks is a legend, but this version of his biography is nearly insufferable. You either have to be obsessed with Brooks, or have a deep understanding/appreciation for all things Jewish, which I cannot relate to. DNF @ 33% (I received this ALC via NetGalle......more