There’s an apt evaluation in the first minute of the documentary Mel Brooks: Make a Noise.

“Mel was not interested in the little laugh,” observes writer/director Barry Levinson.

“He literally wanted you to collapse and fall on the ground and can’t breathe.”

If you think back to Mel Brooks‘ most famous movies, such as The Producers, Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, Spaceballs, History of the World, Part I and Robin Hood: Men in Tights, not to mention the classic TV show Get Smart, Levinson kind of nailed it, I think.

Mel Brooks never was particularly subtle. But his comedy was far from dumb. A lot of it was based upon history and philosophy.

“He is truly an intellectual, which astonishes people,” says Joan Rivers.

That combination of grounded structural smarts and madcap comic stupidity is fully and lovingly chronicled in Mel Brooks: Make a Noise, which airs Monday, May 20 on most PBS affiliates as part of the American Masters series.

This expansive documentary features new interviews not only with Brooks and the afore-mentioned Levinson and Rivers, but also with the likes of Carl Reiner, Rob Reiner, Cloris Leachman, Matthew Broderick, Nathan Lane, Richard Lewis, David Lynch, Richard Benjamin and Tracey Ullman.

Others who unfortunately have passed away – including notable Brooks collaborators such as Madeline Kahn and Marty Feldman – contribute to the doc not only with archival interviews, but also through the numerous clips from Brooks’ best-known and lesser known projects.

Brooks – real name Melvin Kaminsky – is 86 now. He obviously has outlived many of his contemporaries. But when you speak with Brooks today, he still can knock you over with his energy.

“I’m not such a comedy giant,” Brooks told a room full of TV critics earlier this year. “I’m 5-foot-6.

“There are guys not as funny, but they are bigger, and I think that counts.”

Brooks mostly stayed behind the scenes early in his career, allowing his ideas and concepts to be funneled through performers such as Sid Caesar.

“Sid Caesar was so good,” Brooks says in the doc. “That (S.O.B.) held me back because of his Promethean talent. I could have been out front doing it, but never as funny and as incredibly moving as Sid Caesar.”

Brooks’ face became recognizable through his famous “2000 Year Old Man” comedy routine with Carl Reiner, which they performed everywhere, in live shows and on TV. And then as time went on, Brooks popped up on-screen in his own movies more and more, moving from bit parts to leading roles.

“Well, it happened when Gene (Wilder) deserted me, I think it was Silent Movie,” Brooks told critics, recalling his 1976 film.

“He got a part somewhere. He went overseas. He wasn’t available and I got the money and I was ready to do Silent Movie. And I said, ‘Well, nobody talks, so I could get away with this.”

While every comedy career has its early struggles and ups and downs, things certainly worked out for Mel Brooks. He is one of only 14 entertainers to have achieved the coveted “EGOT” (Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony awards).

“Being rather bizarre looking and being very short, I needed another tool so that I would be accepted,” Brooks says in the doc. “So I used comedy.”

Acceptance achieved, many times over.

bill.harris@sunmedia.ca

@billharris_tv

As Stefon would say: This Saturday Night Live had everything.

Kanye West, Jennifer Garner, Anderson Cooper, a musical super group, a surprise guest appearance from Amy Poehler and what looks like the departure of not one, but three cast members.

Bill Hader made it official earlier this week, but apparently he isn’t the only one moving on: Fred Armisen and Jason Sudeikis appear to be leaving too.

With all the stars and farewells, tonight’s SNL season finale made it hard for even a multiple Oscar winner to carve out a place to shine.

At least host Ben Affleck knew he was being upstaged at every turn and had a good sense of humour about it.

Even when he introduced Kanye West for the rapper’s first performance of the show, he knew what everybody else was thinking.

“Ladies and the gentleman,” he said. “Here he is – the man you came to see. Kanye West.”

It was that kind of night.

BEST GOODBYE: Bill Hader

Bill Hader’s departure from SNL means saying goodbye to everybody’s favourite “city correspondent” Stefon. He went out in style, with Seth Meyers leaving his Weekend Update chair to stop Stefon’s wedding to Anderson Cooper in front of a church filled with the club kid’s favourite nightlife characters like smurfs, midgets, a gremlin and of course, ALF.

GOODBYE TO FRED AND JASON TOO?:

The last sketch of the night was a performance by Fred Armisen’s punk alter-ego Ian Rubbish and his fictional band the Bizarros. The band (which included Jason Sudeikis and Bill Hader) played what sounded like a sweet goodbye song called “It’s a Lovely Day” before being joined by Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon, Aimee Mann, J Mascis, Michael Penn, The Sex Pistols’ Steve Jones and Sleater-Kinney’s Carrie Brownstein. It’s a Lovely Day sure sounded like a swan song. Major cast changes ahead.

BEST SKETCH: Bengo F—k Yourself

Iranian leader Mahmoud Ahmadinejad (played by Fred Armisen) gets back at Ben Affleck’s “Argo” by starring as the actor in his own movie “Bengo F—k Yourself”. Oddly enough, Affleck himself is involved with Ahmadinejad’s film as a sound man because he’s “longed to be in a movie worse than Gigli.”

WORST SKETCH: Prima Donna

A lazy depression era dirt bag would rather use his prostitute to hit people over the head with a brick than wake up at 8 AM to make an honest living. Even Ben Affleck’s Jimmy Stewart-style impression didn’t have enough charm to save this one.

BEST KANYE: No Kim K

Whatever you think of the Kanye’s new songs Black Skinhead and New Slave (the former a mix of hip hop and industrial beats, the latter an intense rant against consumer culture) he did it all without Kim Kardashian. Yes, there was no Kim K Kameo on SNL last night. Thank you for that, Mr. West!

WORST KANYE: N-word gets through

Maybe New Slave wasn’t the best choice for performing live? By my count, it has 11 N-words, 6 F-bombs and a refrain with the word ‘d—k’. Kanye made a valiant attempt to self-censor via substitution (using ‘prick’ instead of ‘d—k’) and mumbling some of the curses. It worked really well – until it didn’t. At least one of those N-words got through. Song is still hot, though.

BEST CAMEO: Amy Poehler

Amy Poehler stopped by to help Seth Meyers with his Really!?!: segment – and then stayed on for the rest of “Weekend Update.” Bonus.

So that’s a wrap.

What did you think of the finale?  Is SNL in trouble with all these departures? Who will you miss the most? Did Ben Affleck do a good job? Did you like Kanye’s new songs? Let me know in the comment section below.

The impromptu interview took place at the Staples Centre last Friday during Game 6 of the Los Angeles Kings and St. Louis Blues playoff series.

We have to hand it to Matthew, though – he managed to turn it into a hilarious segment by stating that the axed NBC sitcom “was really getting in the way of Kings games.”

We think this reporter should stick to interviewing hockey players.

Watch it all unfold below:

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Welcome back, Kristen Wiig!

Has it really been 11 months already?

Stick around a while longer, won’t you?

Like, maybe a few more seasons?

It’s great when former Saturday Night Live cast members return to host the show, but always a little sad when you’re reminded of how funny they are, especially when you realize they aren’t coming back next week.

Last night, however, we could savour the hour and half and pretend she never left.

Hey, it was good while it lasted.

BEST SKETCH: Bloody acupuncture session

Here’s one to make the horror movie fans smile – and the queasy pass out. Wiig and Aidy Bryant play wellness centre workers giving acupuncture to a patient when one of the needles causes a cartoonish amount of blood to squirt out in all directions. Just when you thought the blood had stopped – Surprise! – giant blisters form on Jason Sudeikis’ “back” and burst all over the room. The absurdity of the blood bath and the reactions of the shocked workers make this sketch work. Sometimes, it’s worth it to stay up past Weekend Update. This one had too much gore to air any earlier.

WORST SKETCH: Benghazi hearing (Cold open)

This sketch was so unfunny, it was like watching a real congressional hearing on C-SPAN. In the sketch, Republicans invite convicted killer Jodi Arias and alleged abductor/rapist/torturer Ariel Castro to a hearing on Benghazi to get a bump in ratings and media coverage. Thankfully, this is something most people don’t feel comfortable laughing about. Hooray for humanity!

BEST WIIG CHARACTER REVIVAL: Kat (as in Garth and Kat)

Garth and Kat, the turtle-necked dorky duo who make up song lyrics on the fly were possibly the funniest characters created by Fred Armisen and Wiig. It was sweet to see the matching blonde haircuts and tacky vests again. This time, their songs took on a Mother’s Day theme with an under-prepared ditty called “Mom, You’re the Bomb.” As is typical with the act, both Armisen and Wiig needed a lot of will power to pull through without cracking up.

BEST CAMEO: Maya Rudolph

Wiig wasn’t the only former cast mate to show up – Maya Rudolph and her pregnant belly were there too.  Rudolph made a cameo in a reprised Californians sketch later in the show, but made her biggest impression in the monologue by dancing very provocatively while rubbing her stomach. Rudolph really knows how to use a pregnant body for humour, which is good because she always seems to be expecting a new baby.

What did you think of the show? Did Kristen Wiig live up to the hype – or was the show a big letdown? Let me know in the comments below.

By the way, the last show of the season is next Saturday. Get ready for Kanye…and probably Kim Kardashian.

Family Tree makes sense now, thanks to the internet. As a story 15 or 20 years ago, it just wouldn’t have been as relatable.

“I think for certain the popularity of Ancestry.com, and other sites, helps us to frame this in a way that most people can understand,” said Christopher Guest.

“It just happened to coincide with my own kind of searching, initially without the benefit of the internet, and then using various sites. So I think that’s true, that most people are aware of this happening now.”

Guest, of course, is famous for his movies, such as This is Spinal Tap, Waiting For Guffman, Best In Show, A Mighty Wind and For Your Consideration.

But now Guest is venturing into TV as the co-creator, alongside Jim Piddock, of Family Tree, which debuts Sunday, May 12 on HBO Canada.

Family Tree stars Chris O’Dowd (picutred above, known for his roles in Bridesmaids and Girls) as 30-year-old Tom Chadwick, a man who is adrift in terms of his own identity, having recently lost both his job and his girlfriend.

After receiving an old chest of mysterious contents from a great aunt, Tom gradually becomes obsessed with his lineage. The story starts in England and eventually takes Tom to the United States.

Guest, Piddock and many other familiar faces from Guest’s movies make appearances in Family Tree, in roles of varying size. But according to Guest, the part of Tom had to be cast correctly for Family Tree to have a chance at success.

“From my standpoint, this keys entirely on the main character, Tom Chadwick,” Guest said. “So it was vital to have someone who could do a variety of things.

“It had to be a funny person, but also someone who could handle things that were almost more emotional in a sense, and reality-based, because it’s not really a sketch situation. It’s based in some kind of reality, even though it’s funny.

“(O’Dowd) is a wonderful actor. And he’s able to improvise brilliantly as well, and that’s a vital thing, because otherwise, there’s no show.”

Regarding improvisation, though, Guest wanted to make it clear that often people misunderstand the way he works.

“We’ve been given an opportunity by HBO to do the kind of work that I do, which is, I think, not terribly normal – constructed with outlines, then we go and do it,” Guest said. “If this had been a movie, I think I could have gotten it made. But it doesn’t lend itself to that format.

“This actually took longer than a conventional screenplay to write. We knew the basis of the story, and then we had to go into the intricacies of these people’s lives. So in this particular case, (O’Dowd) has a background of knowing what his character’s early life was. Whatever he’s going to improvise is built around those (facts). Those are sacrosanct.

“This isn’t just people showing up and messing around. So it’s a deceptive way of working, I suppose. This is quite strict in the way you have to do it. Every scene has a point. It doesn’t just meander.”

Investigating your roots certainly is an enterprise that can meander. But that doesn’t mean it can’t be amusing, as Family Tree hopes to prove.

bill.harris@sunmedia.ca

@billharris_tv

Want to see Andy Samberg marry Zach Galifianakis?

Of course you do!

Since leaving Saturday Night Live last season, Samberg and his comedy troupe friends Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone (collectively known as The Lonely Island) have proven they haven’t lost their talent for the absurd in a new music video off their upcoming comedy disc “The Wack Album.”

In the video for Spring Break Anthem the comics rap about typical spring break excess and…gay marriage.

Why not?

The video begins with a hilarious Between Two Ferns interview segment with Zach Galifianakis and James Franco before breaking away to The Lonely Island as the show’s ‘musical guests.’

From there, the video goes high-def with bikinis, booze, beads and breasts contrasted with tame and tranquil scenes of wedded bliss.

There’s a Hollywood star for each guy, too. Samberg marries Zach Galifianakis, Schaffer weds Franco and Taccone exchanges vows with Ed Norton.

It could be the oddest video in support of gay marriage yet.

TLI will post a new video on YouTube every Wednesday leading up to the release of The Wack Album on June 11.

Have a look at the first one below and let me know what you think.

WARNING: NSFW

Zach Galifianakis may have been a guest on “Saturday Night Live,” but he acted like he owned the place.

Who needs the rest of the cast when you have one of the biggest comedy actors at your disposal? Give him a bad joke and he can make it funny, give him a good joke and he’ll run with it and make it hysterical.

The man just seems to drip funny, no matter what he says or does. For example, he opened his monologue by deadpanning, “‘Hope everyone had a great Thanksgiving,” which got more laughter than even he was expecting. It was effortless and natural.

So, it’s no wonder he was enlisted to deliver the funniest lines and most outrageous characters of the night.

For critics of the last “Hangover” sequel, the message of the night seemed to be, if you don’t like ”Part III” on May 24, it’s not Zach’s fault.

STANDOUT SKETCH: Jennifer Aniston look-alike competition

In this sketch, Galifianakis gets to play an angry Jennifer Aniston look-alike contestant who just found out he finished in last place. This one got a lot of laughs for the sight gag alone: Zach in a blonde wig with his trademark beard. But we were also treated to some great Aniston impersonations by Taran Killam, Nasim Pedrad, and Vanessa Bayer before a “Hangover” reunion with Bradley Cooper and Ed Helms in matching Aniston wigs. Not strange enough? It all ended with a performance of Dionne Warwick’s “That’s What Friends Are For”.

WORST SKETCH: Michael Jordan’s wedding

Air Jordan’s $10 million wedding was an obvious (and deserving) target for jokes – it’s just too bad most of the Jordan barbs were interrupted by coke-snorting jugglers, played by Jason Sudeikis and Galifianakis. The Jordan jokes were funny, the jugglers were funny – but together, they made for an unfocused sketch.

BEST CAMEO: Nikolaj Coster-Waldau

In case you couldn’t wait until Sunday night to get your “Game of Thrones” fix, “SNL” invited Jaime Lannister into a sketch about obsessive “GOT” fans. This is the second “GOT” actor invited onto the show this season (Peter Dinklage appeared last month on “Weekend Update”) so it’s safe to say the growing group of “Game of Thrones” nerds includes some “SNL” writers.

What did you think about the show? Was it one of the better ones this season, or did you think it fell short? Let me know in the comment section below.

We all suffer from warning-label fatigue.

I mean, who even reads those things any more?

Especially when it comes to everyday household items and products, most of us assume we know what’s safe and what isn’t.

But the idea of the new Canadian series Never Ever Do This At Home is to test those accepted safety rules, just to see if we’re being lied to, I suppose.

Debuting Monday, May 6 with back-to-back episodes on Discovery, Never Ever Do This At Home is the first English-language adaptation of a TV format that has proven popular in several European countries. The Canadian version is co-hosted by Teddy Wilson (pictured above right) and Norm Sousa (pictured above left).

As Wilson says in the first episode, “The one place in the world where you’re supposed to be safe and sound is actually super dangerous, if you don’t follow the rules.”

To which Sousa adds, “On this show, we’re going to break all those rules, just to see what happens.”

The setting is a beautiful old farmhouse in Southwestern Ontario. Like, what did that poor house ever do to anyone?

If there’s a victim in Never Ever Do This At Home, it’s the house. It doesn’t get to wear safety goggles like those wimps Wilson and Sousa.

Anyway, this series taps into the defiant little kid that exists within all of us. You know, the one who bristles at authority and rules, and gets tired of being told “no” to virtually anything that sounds as if it might be fun.

“Don’t set off fireworks in the house,” we’re told. But what would happen if we actually did?

Fittingly, setting off fireworks in the house is the first experiment conducted in Never Ever Do This At Home. Let’s just say it’s a good thing there’s a team of firefighters close at hand.

For my viewing interests, Never Ever Do This At Home works best when it focuses on potential disasters that we all truly may have wondered about, such as the fireworks thing, or what would happen if you heated up a can of soup directly on the burner of a stove.

One of the experiments in the first episode involves the creation of a room-size, walk-in microwave oven, to see if it will thaw a gigantic frozen fish. A setup like that isn’t as interesting to me, because it’s not something any normal person ever has thought to do.

This series is more relatable when they stick those cans of soup on the stove, because there’s a far better chance a normal person at one point may have wondered, “So what really would happen if I did that?”

Never Ever Do This At Home has cameras capturing every angle of the mayhem, including highly specialized so-called “phantoms” that can record 2,650 frames per second for the ultimate in slow-motion replay.

Through its 13-episode first season, the series simultaneously focuses on the science behind what occurs, with experts in various fields brought in not only to explain what’s happening but to help maximize the destruction. This is a TV show after all.

Be advised, though: If you see a real-estate listing any time soon for a beautiful rural farmhouse that really looks great from the outside, be very, very wary.

bill.harris@sunmedia.ca

@billharris_tv

Ray J, that guy who’s famous for having sex with Kim Kardashian, has just released a music video about, well…having sex with Kim Kardashian.

Yes, Ray J. We know! We know! You recorded it and everything!

But just in case there is still somebody, somewhere living under a rock who isn’t already aware that Ray J (real name William Ray Norwood Jr.) slept with Kim Kardashian and made a sex tape out of it in 2007, we present to you his music video for “I Hit It First”.

The song is a reminder to Kim K’s baby-daddy Kanye West, to her ex-husband Kris Humphries, and to all her other ex-boyfriends, that he slept with the Kardashian sister before them. In the case of Kanye West, about 6 whole years before, so CLEARLY Ray J is the king and not pathetic at all.

Watch the video below in which this guy tries to use his sex tape notoriety to get attention – AGAIN! You’ll see a Kim Kardashian look-alike and numerous veiled and not-so-veiled references to Kanye and Kim’s other exes.

For extra credit, count how many times he says “I hit it first”. Not pathetic at all.

Watch it and let me know what you think in the comment section below.

It’s an old line that has been repeated often in pro hockey circles, and I have no idea who said it first. But it went something like this:

“For many years in the old six-team NHL, there usually were four good teams: Toronto, Montreal, Chicago and Gordie Howe.”

That’s not to discount or denigrate Howe’s teammates with the Detroit Red Wings. He had some great ones, especially in the early to mid-1950s, when the Wings won four Stanley Cups in six years.

Rather, the comment was meant as a great compliment to Howe, who carried the Wings through the rest of the ’50s and throughout the ’60s before he decided to retire in 1971.

What happened in the aftermath of that first retirement forms the narrative of Mr. Hockey: The Gordie Howe Story, a made-for-TV movie that premieres Sunday, April 28 on CBC.

Playing Howe is Michael Shanks (pictured at top and bottom), a veteran Canadian actor best known in recent years for his role as Dr. Charlie Harris in the series Saving Hope. Mr. Hockey also stars Kathleen Robertson as Gordie’s wife Colleen, and Dylan Playfair and Andy Herr as Gordie’s hockey-playing sons Marty and Mark.

Howe was 43 years old when he retired from the Wings, but he quickly grew bored with his glad-handing job in the Detroit organization.

An upstart league called the WHA offered Howe the unique opportunity to play pro hockey with his sons, who were ineligible for the NHL because they were too young. Also, the WHA gave Howe a chance to offset the astonishing underpayment he had experienced with the miserly Wings, particularly for a player of his stature.

So Mr. Hockey follows the Howe family from Michigan to the Lone Star State, where Gordie, Marty and Mark lace up their skates for the WHA’s Houston Aeros.

Shanks plays Gordie as a man who understandably is protective of his boys in the goon-ridden WHA, but he has to learn to let them fight their own battles. Conversely, Marty and Mark are just as worried about their old man, fearing he’s going to keel over and have a heart attack.

Many dismissed the whole thing as a publicity stunt, but Howe had the last laugh. Not only did he string together six productive seasons in the WHA, he then amazingly played a full final season back in the NHL when the two leagues merged in 1979-80.

Not surprisingly, Mr. Hockey is similar in feel and tone to a couple of other CBC hockey-related biopics in recent years, namely Keep Your Head Up, Kid: The Don Cherry Story (2010) and The Wrath of Grapes: The Don Cherry Story (2012).

Certainly if you wanted to touch upon the entirety of Howe’s hockey career, he would need at least two biopics as well. But the comeback is what people tend to remember most about Howe, which does a disservice to the true legend of what a dominating player he was in his prime.

Hockey fans love to debate who the game’s greatest players were. But exact order notwithstanding, everyone’s list includes the likes of Bobby Orr, Wayne Gretzky, Mario Lemieux and Mr. Hockey himself, Gordie Howe.

bill.harris@sunmedia.ca

@billharris_tv