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Mel Brooks' '2000 Year Old Man' is remastered.

Posted at 12:00 AM on Sunday, Nov. 22, 2009

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Mel Brooks regularly gets letters from high school students.

They're not asking questions about the 83-year-old director's classic comedy movies such as "Blazing Saddles," "The Producers" and "Young Frankenstein." What's caught their attention is a comedy routine Brooks and Carl Reiner have performed for 50 years: "The 2000 Year Old Man."

The young fans have found the original recordings and are laughing at the same material that made their parents and grandparents laugh.

Brooks can expect even more of those letters with the release of the remastered three-CD/DVD set, "The 2000 Year Old Man: The Complete History," on Tuesday.

The routine has Reiner pretending to be a very serious reporter who gets the chance to interview a man, Brooks, who is 2,000 years old. They discuss everything from dating to politics.

The key to such longevity, says Brooks, was to avoid topical material.

"We had a conversation very early on and I said Nixon jokes are not going to work 30 years from now. I said let's do the human conditions: man's fear, man's pride, man's ability to be a liar. We do name names, but they are either Joan of Arc or a bunch of people in a cave," Brooks says.

In the world of comedy, "The 2000 Year Old Man" is considered a classic. "The 2000 Year Old Man in the Year 2000" earned a Grammy in 1998. The 1961 album "2000 Years with Carl Reiner and Mel Brooks" was selected in 2009 to be added to the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry.

Jerry Seinfeld calls the Brooks/Reiner routine "one of the greatest bits in 2,000 years of comedy history."

Brooks got the laughs, but he credits Reiner with making the comedy routine work so well.

"The genius of Carl is that he actually believes he's dedicated to the truth, and he's always chasing me into corners like I am a trapped rat. He's always saying things like, 'Prove you are 2,000 years old' or 'You say you knew Joan of Arc. Prove it.' He so earnest about it," Brooks says. "Everyone thinks I'm the comic but that's not true. It's 50-50. It's Carl's enthusiasm and naiveté that makes it work."

Brooks and Reiner started the comedy relationship while working as writers on "Your Show of Shows." One day in the writers' room, Reiner turned to Brooks and the pair began to ad-lib an interview. They originally only performed the routine for family and friends. Fellow funnyman Steve Allen encouraged Reiner and Brooks in 1960 to record the "2000 Year Old Man." Four more albums followed.

Every performance of "The 2000 Year Old Man" was ad- libbed, and Brooks rarely gave Reiner the same answer twice. Brooks' mission was to catch Reiner off guard enough to make him laugh.

"If I got him, I knew I got the audience," Brooks says.

Because nothing was scripted, the albums are the purest form of comedy for the pair.

"Even I, genius that I am ..." Brooks says with a laugh, "I have no idea what synaptic connections are going to bring to my mouth names, dates and places."

Brooks is excited that the new release has the original recordings along with the DVD featuring several TV appearances by Reiner and Brooks. He says the character of the 2000 Year Old Man was meant to be heard and not seen.

"There is something special about audio recordings because you bring your own pictures to the party," Brooks says.