Live at the Geffen

At 88 years old, Mel Brooks commands a standing ovation just by walking onstage. The director and writer doesn’t use his HBO special to workshop new material; instead, he offers a relaxed, intimate victory lap through his own life. He shares showbiz anecdotes with the polished timing of a guy who helped invent the modern film parody, mixing in a few musical numbers from High Anxiety and Blazing Saddles along the way.\n\nFilmed at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, the 2015 hour functions as a conversational memoir. Brooks talks about growing up in Brooklyn, his World War II army service, and almost getting fired from Your Show of Shows. He shares stories about his late wife Anne Bancroft and meeting Alfred Hitchcock. The broadcast earned two Emmy nominations, but its best moments are informal rather than theatrical. At one point, his lifelong friend and collaborator Carl Reiner, seated in the audience, simply asks him to imitate a cat, and Brooks obliges.