'Poking a Dead Frog': 10 thoughts on comedy from some of its best writers

Author Mike Sacks talked with some of the star creators of contemporary stand-up, film, and television comedy about the current state of the genre as well as advice they'd give to those starting out in the field.

10. 'Young Frankenstein' teamwork

Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP
Mel Brooks is honored at the American Film Institute's 41st Lifetime Achievement Award Gala in Los Angeles in 2013.

"Young Frankenstein" writer and director Mel Brooks remembered how he and star Gene Wilder disagreed over a scene dreamed up by Wilder in which Wilder and the monster danced to the song "Puttin' on the Ritz." "I said, 'It's no good,'" Brooks said. "'It's tearing the movie apart. It's making it too silly.'... So Gene said, 'Do me a favor. Film it and we'll take a look at it. If it doesn't work, we'll throw it right out.' And I did. I filmed it, and then I looked up and said, 'Gene, not only does it work, but it's the best thing in the movie.'"  

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