I recently finished listening to the audiobook version of ALL ABOUT ME!, Mel Brooks’ memoir. In the audiobook, Brooks - currently 95-years-old! - reads from his book, an exhaustive look at his career. From his early days writing for television to his line-up of culture-shifting films to his late-career move into Broadway, Brooks digs deep into his successes. And, if you believe Brooks, they were all successes.
Before I get much further in this newsletter, I want to make it clear - I like Mel Brooks’ films. A lot. Brooks is responsible for some of the funniest and most influential films of all time. As an entertainer, Brooks is top shelf - he knows how to make people laugh and he’s very, very funny. All that said, I found it very interesting that Mel Brooks - even at this point in his career - is his own best hypeman. Every joke Brooks recounts telling was the funniest joke ever told. Every movie Brooks made was a smash, even the ones that flopped at the box office. The closest Brooks gets to admitting defeat was when he talks about his Broadway adaptation of YOUNG FRANKENSTEIN - but even then it’s only to acknowledge that it wasn’t as good as his previous play THE PRODUCERS, which broke records for Tony wins. And then Brooks quickly follows that admission up with a note detailing how he revamped the play for its London debut and this new version won rave reviews and brought the house down.
Mel Brooks celebrates his successful career every step of the way in ALL ABOUT ME! - and why shouldn't he? It has been a successful career. That said, I couldn’t help but compare the book to COMEDY COMEDY COMEDY DRAMA, Bob Odenkirk’s memoir which I listened to the previous week. Both books are similar in that the author takes a painstakingly detailed journey through their professional career, skipping or glossing over any personal drama or stories. These books aren’t glimpses into the behind-the-scenes lives of their authors - they are career summaries. TED Talk versions of Wikipedia pages. Odenkirk’s memoir, though, is a more even-balanced affair - he’s not afraid to admit when he fell short of his goals and ambitions. For Brooks, his life was nothing but sunshine and roses every step of the way.
I liked ALL ABOUT ME! just fine, but I was expecting something a little more insightful. You can’t truly learn about a person unless you know the lows of their life alongside the highs. I wanted to know what lessons Brooks learned from the films that bombed. To me, the jokes that don’t land are just as interesting as the jokes that do. As an aside, I was recommended Patrick McGilligan’s FUNNY MAN: MEL BROOKS - a biography that explores Brooks’ dark side along with his career achievements.
While I may not have gotten any real insight into the man behind the comedy, I did get one major takeaway from ALL ABOUT ME! - I need to do a better job promoting myself. In both my personal and professional life, I have a bad habit of leaning too much into self-deprecation. I constantly undersell myself and my achievements. I tell myself this is just me being humble but, if I’m being honest, it’s actually a pride thing. I don’t want to toot my own horn because I expect other people to do it for me. But that’s the thing - it’s rare that people will line up to toot your horn.
Growing up, my parents tried to drill into me the idea that if I wanted something in life - I needed to make it happen myself. Opportunities do not fall out of the sky - they happen because of hard work, sacrifice, and perseverance. And it’s true - almost every success in my life has happened because I willed it into being. But - even if I understand this truth to be reality - I still struggle with self-promotion. I undercut the horn-tooting with jokes because I don’t want to seem too eager or too full of myself. This behavior is because my parents also taught me not to be a braggart.
The truth is, there’s a fine line to walk between braggadocio behavior and self-promotion. It comes down to knowing your worth. Don’t exaggerate or over-promise but also don’t undersell. As the song goes from THE PRODUCERS, “Ven you got it, flaunt it.” There’s nothing wrong with presenting the best version of yourself to the public and there’s nothing wrong with setting your eyes on a goal and working towards making that goal happen.
Modesty is a good value to have, but modesty does not put food on the table.