Not that anyone was disagreeing, but in his appearance on Jimmy Kimmel last night, Mel Brooks explained that the movie that gave us “where da white women at?”, “Kansas City fagg*ts“, and “you said rape twice,” probably couldn’t have been made today. Yeah, no kidding. But what do we care? We’ve got Seltzer/Friedberg now.
When we had a preview [of Blazing Saddles], there were two guys, there was John Calley, and there was a guy running the studio. Ted Ashley – who was in charge of Warner Bros. We had a preview, and the crowd went crazy, everyone loved it. And afterwards, he grabs me by the collar and shoves me into an office. And he says, “Okay, here’s a legal pad, here’s a pencil, take these notes.” He says, “N-word, OUT! We don’t say it. No punching a horse. Around the campfire, cut out the farting… You can’t punch an old lady. Lily von Schtupp and the black sheriff… you can’t – OUT. ”
So, I said “Yes, sir, it’s gone. You come here tomorrow, and it’s all out of the movie.” He leaves, and I crunch it up, and I go all the way across the room and I put it in the waste basket. John Calley says “Nice filing!”
I had final cut, so what did I care?
And that, kiddies, is why Mel Brooks is one of comedy’s greatest heros. You can take our n-words, farts, and horse punching when you pry them from our cold, wanking hands.
Meanwhile, said YouTube:
[JimmyKimmel via THR]