‘The 99 Year Old Man’

Filmmakers Judd Apatow (“The Zen Diaries of Garry Shandling”) and Michael Bonfiglio (“George Carlin’s American Dream”) faced a couple of potentially daunting obstacles making the documentary “Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man” for HBO.

For one thing, Mr. Brooks’ story has been told and retold, including in a comprehensive 2013 PBS American Masters special, “Mel Brooks: Make a Noise.” Since then, HBO has broadcast at least two hourlong one-on-one interviews, as well as a comedy special, “Mel Brooks: Live at the Geffen,” where the comedian discusses his life and career. And, then, of course, there is Mr. Brooks’ autobiography, “All About Me!”

Moreover, not only have his fans repeatedly heard his story, they’ve heard his stories at every turn. In fact, there are several occasions in this film where Mr. Brooks begins telling one to Mr. Apatow, then mid-joke the film switches to Mr. Brooks continuing the same anecdote on, say, the “Tonight Show” with Johnny Carson, and then switches again as he continues the story on the “Mike Douglas Show.”

So the question becomes how do you make a fresh documentary about a man whose life is so familiar.

The filmmakers came up with an ingenious solution. They gave him a mic. That’s all. Mr. Brooks scatting about his life plus appropriate archival footage equals genius. Funny genius. Laugh-out-loud genius. I heard it before, but it’s still funny genius.

For the record, Mr. Brooks was born Melvin Kaminsky in Brooklyn, the youngest of four sons. His father died from tuberculosis when Mel was just 2. Mel served in the military during World War II, and presumably, like all the young men in his neighborhood, was destined for a career in the schmatta trade.

But there were several turning points.

An early one he told me about when I once interviewed him (but was not included in this film) was when he attended a summer camp that Eddie Cantor sponsored for underprivileged kids in New Jersey. He imitated a counselor at a Friday night show and “I brought the house down, and I understood then that if you take comedy from life instead of repeating Henny Youngman jokes it works even better,” he said.

But what sealed the deal, he says in the film, was when an uncle got him tickets to “Anything Goes” starring Ethel Merman. “We were all the way in the balcony and I still thought she was too loud. But that’s where I decided I’m not going into the garment center like everyone else.”

There followed his work with Sid Caesar on “Your Show of Shows” and “Caesar’s Hour,” where he collaborated with Neil Simon, Larry Gelbart, and Carl Reiner.

It was Mr. Reiner who came into the writers’ room one day and, without warning, asked Mr. Brooks if it was true that he had been present at the crucifixion 2000 years ago and that he knew Jesus.

“Thin guy,” Mr. Brooks answered. “Wore sandals. Walked around with 12 other guys. They always came into the store. They never bought anything.”

Thus was born the 2,000-year-old-man. Because they believed the routine to be too Jewish, they performed primarily for friends at parties. At the beginning of this movie, Mr. Brooks told Mr. Apatow that half the stuff he tells reporters is not true, so I cannot guarantee that this story that he told me is not apocryphal. But…

Supposedly Cary Grant took a dozen 2000 Year Old Man albums to England with him, and said they loved it at Buckingham Palace. He’d given one to the Queen Mother. That was when Mr. Reiner and Mr. Brooks decided their work had an appeal beyond the Jewish market.

Mr. Brooks lived through some fallow years, but that ended when he became a screenwriter and director of such successful films as “The Producers.”

In the documentary, several comedians talked about how Mr. Brooks had inspired their careers, and Adam Sandler, Sarah Silverman, and Nick Kroll added that his being so openly Jewish provided them with naches.

Understandably, since this is a film that HBO is likely to air around the world, the filmmakers don’t delve deeply into his ethnicity. So I want to add this for a bit of context from an interview I did with him for a Jewish publication.

Mr. Brooks recalled how his mother and her friends drank coffee from yahrzeit glasses, “because coffee was always in a yahrzeit glass, never in a cup, ever. They used to have these jelly jars. The jelly jar was for tea, and yahrzeit glasses were for coffee.”

Passover, celebrated at his grandfather Abraham’s apartment, was his favorite holiday. “Everyone called him Shloimy,” Brooks recalled about his grandfather. “I don’t know why. It should have been Avraham. He would conduct the service. It would be 3 1/2 hours.”

While we discussed this, there were no jokes from this other Mel Brooks, a man who went on to tell me he’d read and been moved by the writings of Rabbi Nachman of Bratslav, who founded the Breslov chasidic movement.

Which is my segue into the parts of the film I liked the most, such as when colleagues pointed out how generous and kind a mensch Mr. Brooks is.

And the footage of Mr. Brooks and his second wife, Anne Bancroft, which makes it clear how much in love they were, how supportive they were of each other, how perfect their marriage was.

And, finally, Mel Brooks the friend. Rob Reiner (and, yes, it is more than a little disconcerting to see him in the film) talks about Mel Brooks as a friend. After their wives died, every night Mr. Brooks would pick up a take-out meal, bring it to Carl Reiner’s house, and the two of them — joined by Norman Lear — would set up snack trays, eat their dinners, and watch a movie. When Mr. Lear died, it was just the two of them, Mr. Brooks and Mr. Reiner, at the nightly gathering.

When Carl Reiner died, Mr. Brooks kept going to the house every evening. He asked Rob Reiner to let him know when was going to sell the house. Until then, he said…

“Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!” will be shown in two parts and debuts on HBO on January 22 and 23.