Mel Brooks Documentary on Tap for HBO

Mel Brooks poses for a portrait during the 2024 Peabody Awards at Beverly Wilshire
Mel Brooks poses for a portrait at the 2024 Peabody Awards in Los Angeles. (Image credit: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images for Peabody Awards)

HBO is teaming with producers Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio to develop a two-part documentary on the life and career of comedy icon Mel Brooks.

The documentary will take an expansive yet intimate look at the more than 70-year career of Brooks, 98, HBO said. An EGOT — the winner of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award — Brooks has created and produced such memorable screen works as the film and play The Producers; the films Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Silent Movie, History of the World Part I and High Anxiety; and the 1960s spy sendup TV series Get Smart

Brooks is also the author of The New York Times bestseller All About Me! My Remarkable Life in Show Business.

Last month, Brooks received the Peabody Awards' Career Achievement Award for his work and commitment to broadcasting and streaming media.

The Brooks documentary will be produced by HBO Documentary Films and Apatow Productions. It marks the reunion of Apatow, Bonfiglio and documentary editor Joe Beshenkovsky, who last worked together on HBO’s Emmy-winning documentary George Carlin's American Dream.

“I went into comedy because of my love for Mel Brooks,“ Apatow said of the documentary. “This project is the dream of a lifetime.”

R. Thomas Umstead

R. Thomas Umstead serves as senior content producer, programming for Multichannel News, Broadcasting + Cable and Next TV. During his more than 30-year career as a print and online journalist, Umstead has written articles on a variety of subjects ranging from TV technology, marketing and sports production to content distribution and development. He has provided expert commentary on television issues and trends for such TV, print, radio and streaming outlets as Fox News, CNBC, the Today show, USA Today, The New York Times and National Public Radio. Umstead has also filmed, produced and edited more than 100 original video interviews, profiles and news reports featuring key cable television executives as well as entertainers and celebrity personalities.