Mel Brooks’ own words telling all about the players, the filming, and studio antics during the production of this great comedy classic. The book is alive and teeming with original interviews and hilarious commentary.

Young Frankenstein was made with deep respect for the craft and history of cinema – and for the power of a good schwanzstucker joke. This book, written by one of the greatest comedy geniuses of all time, takes listeners inside the classic film’s marvelous creation story via contemporary interviews with the cast and crew, most notably legendary writer-director Mel Brooks. This book also relies on interviews with gifted director of photography Gerald Hirschfeld, Academy Award-winning actress Cloris Leachman, and veteran producer Michael Gruskoff.

Mel Brooks is an American film director, screenwriter, comedian, actor, producer, composer, and songwriter. Brooks is best known as a creator of broad film farces and comic parodies including The Producers, The Twelve Chairs, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Silent Movie, High Anxiety, History of the World, Part I, Spaceballs, and Robin Hood: Men in Tights. More recently he had a smash hit on Broadway with the musical adaptation of his first film, The Producers. An EGOT winner, he received a Kennedy Center Honor in 2009, the 41st AFI Life Achievement Award in June 2013, and a British Film Institute Fellowship in March 2015. Three of Brooks’ classics have appeared on AFI’s 100 Years…100 Laughs list: Blazing Saddles at number six, The Producers at number 11, and Young Frankenstein at number 13.

Judd Apatow is one of the most important comic minds of his generation. He wrote and directed the films The 40-Year-Old Virgin (cowritten with Steve Carell), Knocked Up, Funny People, and This Is 40, and his producing credits include Superbad, Bridesmaids, and Anchorman. Apatow is the executive producer of HBO’s Girls.