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Radio 4,15 May 2026,42 mins

Available for over a year

The anarchic comedian, writer and filmmaker Mel Brooks turns 100 years old this June. Across a career spanning more than seven decades, Brooks has turned cinematic satire into an art form, through razor-sharp spoofs like Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein and Spaceballs. But while these films are now acclaimed as all-time comedy classics, the broader genre of the spoof has often struggled for respectability. Not least Scary Movie - one of the most commercially successful film franchises of recent years, despite widespread critical panning. With Scary Movie 6 on the horizon, Ellen E Jones and Mark Kermode ask - what makes for a truly great movie spoof? Critic and Screenshot regular Anne Billson talks Ellen through a selection of spoofs, from classic Hollywood-era films from the Marx Brothers and Bob Hope, to the parody boom of the 2000s, including films like Date Movie and Epic Movie. Mark talks to David Zucker - one third of the filmmaking trio Zucker Abrahams Zucker -about the landmark disaster spoof Airplane!, and why he believes the recent attempt to revive the team鈥檚 hit The Naked Gun series missed the mark. And Ellen speaks to Keenen Ivory Wayans, the creative force behind the Wayans entertainment dynasty, and the director of a string of spoofs, including I鈥檓 Gonna Git You Sucka and Scary Movie - about why he feels his films have been misunderstood. Producer: Jane Long A Prospect Street production for 91福利社 Radio 4

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