Q 01/05

What was Mel Brooks's birth surname?

A) Brookman

B) Konigsberg

C) Kaplan

D) Kaminsky

Answer · why

D) Kaminsky

He picked Brooks by shortening his mother's maiden name, Brookman, because the full name wouldn't fit on his drum kit.

Q 02/05

In which New York borough was Mel Brooks born and raised?

A) The Bronx

B) Queens

C) Brooklyn

D) Manhattan

Answer · why

C) Brooklyn

He was born on a tenement kitchen table in Brownsville and grew up in Williamsburg; his father died when he was two.

Q 03/05

Which jazz drummer, a fellow Williamsburg native, taught the teenage Mel Brooks to play drums?

A) Gene Krupa

B) Buddy Rich

C) Max Roach

D) Art Blakey

Answer · why

B) Buddy Rich

Brooks earned money as a drummer from 14 and got his first comedy break at 16 filling in for a sick emcee.

Q 04/05

In which December 1944 German offensive did Mel Brooks serve as a combat engineer?

A) The Battle of the Bulge

B) The Battle of Anzio

C) The Battle of Iwo Jima

D) Operation Market Garden

Answer · why

A) The Battle of the Bulge

His unit cleared booby-trapped buildings and mines; he says he answered German loudspeaker songs by singing Al Jolson through a bullhorn.

Q 05/05

Mel Brooks began his writing career on which comedian's 1950s TV show?

A) Milton Berle

B) Jackie Gleason

C) Ernie Kovacs

D) Sid Caesar

Answer · why

D) Sid Caesar

He first met Caesar as a 14-year-old poolside 'tummler' at a Borscht Belt resort.