Mel Brooks, Judd Apatow, Patton Oswalt and fellow comedians descended on the Academy Museum of Motion Pictures in Los Angeles on Tuesday to celebrate the premiere of “Mel Brooks: The 99 Year Old Man!”
“I’m very happy about anything that has to do with me that’s positive,” Mr. Brooks said on the red carpet. He smiled as he posed with family members and colleagues, striking showy poses for the photographers.
The two-part documentary, directed by Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio, offers a deep look at the life and work of Mr. Brooks, who turned 99 last June.
“It’s very busy-making,” Mr. Brooks said of the film, which debuts Thursday on HBO Max. “It’s also really lovely that human beings, per se, like my comedy.”
“The 99 Year Old Man!” — a title that riffs on “The 2000 Year Old Man,” the famous sketch he did with Carl Reiner — chronicles Mr. Brooks’s romance with his second wife, the actress Anne Bancroft, who died in 2005, and his decades-long bromance with Mr. Reiner, who died in 2020.
It also features interviews with influential comedians, including Jerry Seinfeld, Ben Stiller, Dave Chappelle and Adam Sandler, and intersperses clips from Mr. Brooks’s shows and movies, from “Get Smart” and “The Producers” to “Young Frankenstein” and “Blazing Saddles.”
“He wasn’t afraid to show his influences, which is really ballsy,” Mr. Oswalt said of Mr. Brooks’s bold satires.
The film gestures toward the sadness and the loneliness of a long life, with commentary from several friends of Mr. Brooks who have died since recording their interviews, a group including David Lynch, Mr. Reiner and Mr. Reiner’s son Rob, who was murdered last month.
Mr. Apatow, the director of “The 40-Year-Old Virgin” and “Knocked Up,” said he pitched the idea of a documentary to Mr. Brooks so that they would have an excuse to “hang out.”
“I was about seven when ‘Young Frankenstein’ and ‘Blazing Saddles’ came out, and my parents took me to the movies,” Mr. Apatow said on the red carpet. “Those are some real life-changing experiences.”
Throughout the documentary, the directors explore how Mr. Brooks tackles heavy subjects with an irreverent levity.
“He’s the funniest person who ever lived,” Mr. Apatow said. “There’s a real moral center to his subjects — watch something like ‘The Producers’ or ‘Blazing Saddles’ or ‘History of the World.’”
“He attacks racism and fascism and he’s always attacking power and mocking governments not taking care of their people,” he added. “So, you know, we need him more than ever.”
The comedian Wayne Federman, one of the producers of the documentary, said Mr. Brooks’s influence is unparalleled: “He’s a connector to a time that’s long gone.”
Bill Pullman, Maude Apatow and other guests made their way to the bright green seats in the museum’s Ted Mann Theater and grabbed boxes of popcorn.
“Welcome to the bar mitzvah of Mel Brooks!” Lisa Heller, one of HBO’s documentary executives, said as she introduced the first part of the documentary.
At the end of the screening, Mr. Brooks received a standing ovation as he made his way toward the front of the theater, where he sat for a short Q&A with the film’s directors. (The conversation was followed by a party at Fanny’s, the Academy Museum’s restaurant, where guests ordered the Young Frankenstini, a martini, and the Blazing Saddles, a mocktail with blood orange, pomegranate and sparkling water.)
“Can you watch that and notice how funny you were?” Mr. Apatow asked Mr. Brooks, who had seen the documentary for the first time.
“Sometimes I can detach myself and see, ‘That guy’s funny,’” Mr. Brooks said. “And sometimes I can say, ‘What an arrogant, stupid son of a,’” using an expletive.
As the conversation jumped from his reaction to archival clips that he’d never seen to his military service during World War II and the death of Carl Reiner, a reflective Mr. Brooks said he was grateful to be “busier than I’ve ever been in my life.” He added that someone recently asked him if he planned to fly to London to see the West End revival of his hit musical, “The Producers.”
“I said it’s a triumph for me to get from the living room to the kitchen,” Mr. Brooks said to big laughs from the crowd. “I ain’t gonna make it. I ain’t gonna get to London — unless they put me in the toilet for the whole trip!”
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