US comedian Alex Edelman, whose shows cover everything from far-right extremists to Jewish summer camps, reflects on Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles

I saw Blazing Saddles when I was in high school. It stars Cleavon Little as the new black sherrif who turns up to take control of a small, conservative Western town. It’s one of those lifechanging films. Mel Brooks is mind-bendingly brilliant. He recently said that the film wouldn’t have been made today because of our politically correct culture – but it was edgy back in 1974 and had problems getting made then.

It was co-written by Richard Pryor, probably the greatest stand-up comic of all time, and it’s been selected as historically significant by the Library of Congress and was nominated for a Bafta for best screenplay. It’s a great piece of Jewish-African American comedy and it works so well because it’s a blending of those sensibilities.

I met Brooks once with a friend, and my friend told the director that by having Pryor co-write the film he had shown real representation of the black experience. To this Brooks said, ‘We needed someone who understood the black experience of the US and that wasn’t me.’ But I don’t know if he realises that his comedy was a model of best practice before that even became something that was an issue.

My favourite thing about Blazing Saddles is that it is so progressive. The joke is always at the expense of the racists.

The film is about outsiders beating people who are close-minded bigots but it doesn’t take itself seriously. Every minute there’s another incredible joke. It’s bursting at the seams with originality. It has influenced me – especially around the idea of ‘heavy things worn lightly’. In my routines I’ve had jokes about the Pittsburgh shootings, the Nixon tapes or a friend’s funeral. If you asked Brooks if it’s OK to joke about anything, he would say yes – and you should.

But I do censor myself – I used to do a joke where the punchline had to do with the weight of a person. Then I read The Elephant in the Room by Tommy Tomlinson, who is a brilliant guy and weighs upwards of 440 pounds. And it is interesting, sensitive, funny and kind and I went on stage that night and I didn’t want to do the joke any more. The joke had always got a laugh and no-one ever objected to it, but you grow and change.

Interview by Rebecca Taylor

All four series of Alex Edelman’s Peer Group are available to stream now on BBC Sounds. This article appears in the Summer 2021 issue of JR.