And come on, History of the World, Part 1 came after Blazing Saddles. That's another classic.

History of the World is a perfect example of what I mean. I stared at the movie without laughing, thinking it was just plain dumb. It was like they were trying too hard or something, I don't know. But then, after seeing it, quoting the lines from movie, the individual jokes are funny when you re-tell them.

I think it's the line between writing something funny, and producing something funny. I think his stuff looks fantastic on paper, but something goes wrong in the process of translating the jokes to the silver screen. I think casting might be part of it. Gene's work in Frankenstein and Saddles is brilliant, but later films started featuring Mel in bigger roles, and didn't have Gene. Sorry, Mel just isn't a funny actor. He's a brilliant writer, but I just don't laugh when I see him perform even his best material.