Now, by far. Old enough to know time’s short, young enough to use it.
Originally asked
The Guardian, to a different person each week, The Q&A
Asked in 52 of the 131 consecutive instalments of The Guardian's The Q&A harvested on 2026-08-29.
You answer as yourself. Nobody on FLAPSS answers as anybody else.
Vanity Fair, The Proust Questionnaire, Vanity Fair, December 2021 source ↗
Others on this question
View all 577 →In 1982, having travelled for three years to do the first journey around the earth on its polar axis. Charles Burton and I were trying to get from the north pole down to our ship on the edge of the Arctic Sea. We had to float for three months on a diminishing ice floe. Eventually we had to leave the floe and try to get to the ship in canoes with skis under them. In the maze of broken ice we saw its masts on the horizon. That second was probably my happiest moment.
This morning in bed.
On my wedding day.
More from Mel Brooks
View profile →Taking daily showers and always being there when I need them.
Probably me, but I don’t think I’m supposed to say that!
A Broadway theater filled with nothing but critics.
Being in a Broadway theater full of people laughing their heads off at one of my shows.
Being too damned self-absorbed.
Never picking up the check.
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