[Sethomas]

For me, when I watch Mel Brooks in general I have to keep in mind that his incessant self-reference of Jewish culture actually made good sense at the time. I don't think the same type of "hey, we're God's chosen people! ha!" type of humor would work nearly as well today, especially in light of people who followed his cue without even attempting social relevance. Particularly, I think that Seinfeld's "Soup Nazi" routine was bad taste all over (and I was never a Seinfeld fan in the first place).

That being said, I think I got far more laughs out of Space Balls than any other Brooks movie. Blazing Saddles is far and away a BETTER movie, though, for using comedy as a social vehicle in a fairly historic way. In the same light is To Be or Not to Be, but it's been too long since I've seen it to remember if that was funny at all.

I've always loved "History of the World, Part I", but that's more because I love history and far less because I thought it was well-written.