Blazing Saddles

Most of what I learned about comedy at an inappropriately early age, I learned from Mel Brooks movies.

My parents didn't put many restrictions on my viewing habits. As a result, I can attribute much of my personality to seeing movies way too early in life. We're talking formative stages lost to the likes of Mel Brooks movies.

Example: I saw History of the World Part 1 on a pay movie channel at my Uncle Gene's when I was maybe 8 years old. That should horrify most parents now. What's more horrifying is that I don't really see the problem.

I was aware of Blazing Saddles as early as age 7, though I'm not certain I actually saw the film end to end until I was much older — at least 14.

Blazing Saddles was one of the first films, if not the first, that my friends and I quoted to each other around school. As you know, quoting movies is how menfolk bond. What you may not know is that quoting movies truly drives women wild.

Yes, to women, there's nothing sexier than a group of young males standing around, spouting off random, out-of-context movie quotes from films that pretty much only make other young males laugh.

I realize this sounds like a generalization, but you really need to trust me on this one: women dig a man who sits around with (or without) other men and memorizes movies, then quotes them ad nauseam.

Interesting Man Fact: Pretty much every guy I know hates Madeline Kahn's "I'm So Tired" number. This is the part where the film draaaaags. The interesting bit is, the perspective shifts from masculine to feminine here. Of course this scene turns men off. Bring back the racial slurs, misogyny, and puns!

(I'm not saying it's right.)

For the record, I'm sitting through "I'm So Tired" again for the purposes of this project. I'm doing this not just for the integrity of the project, but also because I believe in the empowerment of women and the Third Wave.

Like most great comedies, Blazing Saddles holds up well to repeat viewings. I've probably seen this film 50 times, and every time, something new gets me. This time? Gabby Johnson's monologue:

"I wash born here, an I wash raished here, and dad gum it, I am gonna die here, an no sidewindin' bushwackin', hornswagglin' cracker croaker is gonna rouin me bishen cutter."

Authentic frontier gibberish.