Mel Brooks’ hilarious prank on Werner Herzog: “The bastard sits there and grins and chuckles”
(Credits: Far Out / Alamy / Gorup de Besanez)
Sun 4 January 2026 1:00, UK
Hollywood has produced its fair share of unexpected friendships, and one of the most surprising is between Werner Herzog and Mel Brooks. At first glance, the eccentric German filmmaker and the legendary comedy icon seem to have little in common. But behind Herzog’s strange and intense approach to life and filmmaking is a sharp, often overlooked sense of humour, which may explain their connection.
The pair struck up an unlikely friendship back in the ‘70s, right around the time Herzog was hitting his stride as a narrative filmmaker. Off the back of the widely praised Aguirre, the Wrath of God in 1972, he went on a run of critically acclaimed films like The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser and Stroszek – each one cementing his place as one of the most distinctive directors of his generation.
Subversive and rich with philosophical depth, Herzog’s films defined the New German Cinema movement of the ‘70s, in turn reflecting the era’s increased propensity for cinematic experimentation and boundary-pushing.
During this period, many incredible movies emerged as part of an underground movement, playing as midnight movies due to their lack of widespread commercial appeal. Titles like John Waters’ Pink Flamingos, Alejandro Jodorowsky’s The Holy Mountain, and David Lynch’s Eraserhead shaped the landscape, and soon people were recognising the power of these films to open up new avenues for cinema.
The latter, Lynch’s surreal odyssey into parental and sexual anxiety amid a bleak industrial landscape, captivated Herzog, who had to tell his friend Brooks about this incredible film. The movie had suffered rather middling critical reviews, and he certainly didn’t expect Brooks to have seen it, but little did he know that the comedian was actually a big fan of Lynch already.
Herzog recalled in an interview with Vulture, “I told Mel, ‘Mel, you know what, I have seen an extraordinary film. Something you must see. You must see. It’s only at midnight screenings at the Nuart Theater. And it’s a film by — I don’t know his name, I think it’s Lynch. And he made a film Eraserhead and you must see the film.”
He harped on about the film to Brooks, who kept up the appearance of being none the wiser, only to surprise Herzog. “And Mel keeps grinning and grinning and lets me talk about the movie and he says, ‘Yes, his name is really David Lynch, do you like to meet him?’ I said, ‘In principle, yes.’ He says, ‘Come with me,’ and two doors down the corridor is David Lynch in pre-production on The Elephant Man! Which Mel Brooks produced!”
Brooks might seem like an unlikely producer for The Elephant Man, but he loved Eraserhead. Still, he hid his name from the credits of the moving Victorian-era film so that audiences wouldn’t think they were going in for a comedy. They’d be in for quite a shock if they expected something in the vein of The Producers.
Joking about the fact that Brooks pretended to have no idea what Eraserhead was, Herzog continued, “The bastard sits there and lets me talk and talk and talk and grins and chuckles. And I had no idea [and kept thinking], Why does he chuckle all the time when I talk about the film? But that was how I love Mel Brooks.”
Related Topics
