No Joke, Ahead of His 100th Birthday, Mel Brooks Donates His Hilarious Archive to the National Comedy Center

Thousands of notes, storyboards, early scripts and photographs belonging to the “2,000-year-old man” and EGOT winner will join material from Lucille Ball, Joan Rivers and George Carlin

Christian Thorsberg | Daily Correspondent

May 14, 2026 3:21 p.m.

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A month before he turns 100 years old, comedian Mel Brooks announced that he will donate thousands of documents and photographs from his long career for preservation and public display at the National Comedy Center in Jamestown, New York.

Brooks’ trove of materials spans decades. From jokes and notes he kept while serving in the U.S. Army during World War II to materials from every feature film he directed or produced—including hits The Producers, Blazing Saddles and Young Frankenstein—each chapter of his seven-decade career will be commemorated in the brick-and-mortar archive.

“I’ve always been proud to say that I make people laugh for a living,” Brooks says in a statement. “So, knowing that my work will have a home at comedy’s national archive and continue making people laugh leaves me with a deep sense of pride.”

Born Melvin Kaminsky in Brooklyn, New York, in 1926, Brooks cut his chops as a comic, impressionist and musician at resorts and clubs in New York state. Sid Caesar, another comedian, hired Brooks to write for 1950s television shows including “The Admiral Broadway Revue” and “Your Show of Shows.” Brooks credits Caesar as an influential figure in his rise through the comedic ranks.

“He said to me, ‘Mel, you’re an animal from Brooklyn, but I think you have the beginnings of something called a mind,’” Brooks told the New York Times in 2022.

The premonition proved accurate. Brooks earned comedic fame in the 1960s with his routine as the “2,000-Year-Old Man,” a figure who had lived through the crucifixion of Jesus yet was burdened along the way by hundreds of marriages and thousands of children who never came around to visit. The sketch, which began as a schtick he’d recite at parties with his close friend Carl Reiner, resonated both with live audiences and those who listened via recordings. The duo won the 1998 Grammy Award for Best Spoken Comedy Album—earning Brooks one-fourth of his Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award quartet. The routine was added to the Library of Congress’ National Recording Registry a decade later.

Brooks enjoyed success in subsequent decades for work for the screen and the stage, partnering with comedic powerhouses along the way. His work with actor Gene Wilder included the film The Producers, for which he wrote the now-famed song “Springtime for Hitler.” The tune remains one of Brooks’ best-known works, and the original handwritten lyrics are among the artifacts headed to the National Comedy Center.

Brooks’ donation will join George Carlin’s handwritten joke files, Joan Rivers’ card catalog of 70,000 jokes and records from Lucille Ball. Other recent archival donations to the institution, established in 2018, include those from the families of the late Jerry Stiller and Anne Meara, and Bob Carroll Jr.

“We preserve comedy’s history to document how our society debates, resists, copes and expresses its truths,” Laura LaPlaca, head of the archive, says in a statement. “It is challenging to imagine the American 20th century without the vital voice of Mel Brooks—his work helped us understand one another and endure. Preserving this material ensures that Brooks’ creative legacy will be studied, contextualized, and appreciated at a level equal to its impact.”

Earlier this week, the center, in collaboration with the Smithsonian Institution, published Funny Stuff: How Comedy Shaped American History, a collection of essays and photographs devoted to the genre’s influence in the United States. Brooks penned the book’s forward.

Last year, when fellow performer Dick Van Dyke turned 100, the relatively youthful 99-year-old Brooks shared the secrets to his friend’s and his own longevity in an interview with WBUR.

Of Van Dyke, Brooks quipped, “The angel of death said, ‘Ah, let’s give this guy a break. He’s such a sweetheart.’”

But as for himself, Brooks added, “Well, I hide. I’m never in one place for very long because I’m not looking for this guy to catch up with me.”

Christian Thorsberg | Read More

Christian Thorsberg is an environmental writer and photographer from Chicago. His work, which often centers on freshwater issues, climate change and subsistence, has appeared in Circle of Blue, Sierra magazine, Discover magazine and Alaska Sporting Journal.