Editing Mel Brooks (section)

=== 1949–1959: Early work and breakthrough ===
{{main|Your Show of Shows|Caesar's Hour}}
[[File:Coca caesar your show of shows 1952.JPG|thumb|left|Brooks wrote for ''[[Your Show of Shows]]'' starring [[Imogene Coca]] and [[Sid Caesar]]]]

After the war, Brooks's mother had secured him a job as a clerk at the [[Brooklyn Navy Yard]], but Brooks "got into a taxi and ordered the driver to take him to the Catskills",<ref>{{cite news |last=Jacob|first=Kornbluh |author-link=Jacob Kornbluh |date=August 23, 2021 |title=The advice comedian Mel Brooks gave to his great nephew Todd Kaminsky, now running for Nassau County DA |url=https://forward.com/news/474504/the-advice-comedian-mel-brooks-gave-to-his-great-nephew-todd-kaminsky-now/ |work=[[The Forward]] |location= |access-date=August 24, 2021}}</ref> where he started working in various [[Borscht Belt]] resorts and nightclubs in the [[Catskill Mountains]] as a drummer and pianist. When a regular comic at one of the clubs was too sick to perform, Brooks started working as a stand-up comic, telling jokes and doing movie-star impressions. He also began acting in summer stock in Red Bank, New Jersey, and did some radio work.<ref name="Wakeman, John 19882"/> He eventually worked his way up to the comically aggressive job of [[tummler]] at [[Grossinger's]], one of the Borscht Belt's most famous resorts.<ref name="Wakeman, John 19882"/><ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/articles/2001/15_Aug---Lost_Issue_Mel_Brooks_Interview.asp |title=8/15/01: Lost Issue Mel Brooks Interview 1997 |publisher=Filmscoremonthly.com |access-date=May 4, 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090918053720/http://www.filmscoremonthly.com/articles/2001/15_Aug---Lost_Issue_Mel_Brooks_Interview.asp |archive-date=September 18, 2009 }}</ref>

<blockquote>In the years after the war, Brooks's hero was comedian Sid Caesar. Back in New York, Brooks would slink<ref name="thecjn.ca/brooks">{{cite news |last1=Breslin |first1=Mark |title=Mel Brooks: The other Jewish comedy legend |url=https://thecjn.ca/arts/books-and-authors/mel-brooks-the-other-jewish-comedy-legend/ |access-date=29 September 2022 |work=The Canadian Jewish News |date=18 July 2019}}</ref> around trying to catch Caesar in between meetings to pitch him joke ideas. Eventually Caesar cracked and paid Brooks a little cash to throw him gags....At 24, Brooks got his break as a full-time writer.<ref name="lareviewofbooks-McGilligan-brooks">{{cite news |last1=Yogerst |first1=Chris |title=Review: 'Funny Man' by Patrick McGilligan |url=https://lareviewofbooks.org/article/mel-brooks-boomers-comedian/ |access-date=29 September 2022 |work=[[Los Angeles Review of Books]] |date=12 June 2019 |language=en}}</ref></blockquote>

Brooks found more rewarding work behind the scenes, becoming a comedy writer for television. In 1949, his friend [[Sid Caesar]] hired him to write jokes for the DuMont/NBC series ''[[The Admiral Broadway Revue]]'',<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.pbs.org/wnet/americanmasters/mel-brooks-timeline-2000-years-of-mel-brooks/2593/|title=Mel Brooks – Timeline: 2000 Years of Mel Brooks |date=February 1, 2013|work=American Masters (PBS)|access-date=March 15, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref> paying him, off-the-books, $50 a week. In 1950, Caesar created the innovative variety comedy series ''[[Your Show of Shows]]'' and hired Brooks as a writer along with [[Carl Reiner]], [[Neil Simon]], [[Danny Simon]], and head writer [[Mel Tolkin]].<ref name="Wakeman, John 19882"/> The writing staff proved widely influential.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://brothers-ink.com/2016/02/the-amazing-writing-team-of-your-show-of-shows/|title=The Amazing Writing Team of Your Show of Shows |website=Brothers' Ink Productions|date=February 5, 2016 |language=en-US|access-date=March 15, 2018}}</ref> Reiner, as creator of ''[[The Dick Van Dyke Show]]'', based [[Morey Amsterdam]]'s character Buddy Sorell on Brooks.<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.neatorama.com/2017/01/26/13-Things-You-Didnt-know-about-The-Dick-Van-Dyke-Show/|title=13 Things You Didn't Know About The Dick Van Dyke Show|work=Neatorama|access-date=March 15, 2018|language=en}}</ref> Likewise, the film ''[[My Favorite Year]]'' (1982) is loosely based on Brooks's experiences as a writer on the show including an encounter with the actor [[Errol Flynn]].<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.denofgeek.com/us/movies/my-favorite-year/253706/my-favorite-year-a-mirror-for-errol-flynn-peter-otooles-hellraising|title=My Favorite Year: A Mirror for Errol Flynn & Peter O'Toole's Hellraising|work=Den of Geek|access-date=March 15, 2018|language=en}}</ref> Neil Simon's play ''[[Laughter on the 23rd Floor]]'' (1993) is also loosely based on the production of the show, and the character Ira Stone is based on Brooks.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://variety.com/1993/legit/reviews/laughter-on-the-23rd-floor-1200434229/|title=Laughter on the 23rd Floor|last=Gerard|first=Jeremy|date=November 23, 1993|work=Variety|access-date=March 15, 2018|language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.tennessean.com/story/life/arts/2017/11/15/review-act-1-delivers-plenty-laughter-23rd-floor/864200001/|title=Review: ACT 1 delivers plenty of 'Laughter on the 23rd Floor'|work=The Tennessean|access-date=March 15, 2018|language=en}}</ref> ''Your Show of Shows'' ended in 1954 when performer [[Imogene Coca]] left to host her own show.<ref>{{Cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2001/06/03/nyregion/imogene-coca-92-is-dead-a-partner-in-one-of-tv-s-most-successful-comedy-teams.html|title=Imogene Coca, 92, Is Dead; a Partner in One of TV's Most Successful Comedy Teams|last=McFadden|first=Robert D.|date=June 3, 2001|work=The New York Times|access-date=March 15, 2018|language=en-US|issn=0362-4331}}</ref>

Caesar then created ''[[Caesar's Hour]]'' with most of the same cast and writers (including Brooks and adding [[Woody Allen]] and [[Larry Gelbart]]). It ran from 1954 until 1957.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://eyesofageneration.com/caesars-hour-1954-57after-your-show-of-shows-ended-its-four-year-run/|title='Caesar's Hour'…1954–57 – Eyes Of A Generation…Television's Living History|website=eyesofageneration.com|date=August 25, 2013 |language=en-US|access-date=March 15, 2018}}</ref><ref>{{Cite encyclopedia|url=https://www.britannica.com/biography/Carl-Reiner#ref1197590|title=Carl Reiner {{!}} American actor and filmmaker|encyclopedia=Encyclopedia Britannica|access-date=March 15, 2018|language=en}}</ref> Brooks told ''[[The New York Times]]'', "When I was a fledgling comedy writer working for Sid Caesar on ''Your Show of Shows'', our head writer was Mel Tolkin... I really looked up to him. (By the way, I was 5-foot-7 and he was six feet tall.) He was a bona fide intellectual, thoroughly steeped in the traditions of great Russian literature. One day he handed me a book. He said to me, 'Mel, you're an animal from Brooklyn, but I think you have the beginnings of something called a mind.' The book was ''[[Dead Souls]]'' by the magnificent genius [[Nikolai Gogol]]. It was a revelation. I'd never read anything like it. It was hysterically funny and incredibly moving at the same time... It was a life-changing gift, and I still read it once a year to remind myself of what great comic writing can be."<ref>{{Cite news |date=November 13, 2022 |title=How 'Dead Souls' Taught Mel Brooks What Comedy Writing Could Be |work=[[The New York Times]] |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/10/books/review/mel-brooks-by-the-book-interview.html}}</ref>