Mel Brooks is the best

After an unsatisfactory interview with John Cusack, I asked if I could interview Mel Brooks for this article about movie screenings with talk-backs. Mel was the nicest. He is a huge fan of all things Italian — his late wife was Italian — and we talked about Italy, food, families and more. A class act.

Mel Brooks says there are few things better than making people laugh. That’s why he loves attending screenings of his old films, popping out after the end credits to address the still-chuckling crowd.

“I love live audiences. The movie warms them up and then, if I’m in the movie, I’ll pop up and it’s like magic,” Brooks said in an interview with NJ Advance Media. “I took ‘Blazing Saddles’ to Radio City (Music Hall) and you never heard laughing like that in your life — in your life. Seven thousand people laughing will blow you off the stage.”

Screenings of decades-old films followed by celebrity talkbacks are becoming increasingly common. Brooks was at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in May in support of “Spaceballs,” the 1987 comedy. Tim Matheson stopped by in February to share stories after a 40th-anniversary showing of “Animal House.”