Citing his will to survive pandemic, Mel Brooks, 94, backs Biden

Mel Brooks knows that life stinks. For now, anyway. He wants Americans to know it can change.

In a rare moment of (semi)-seriousness, the Jewish comedian on Wednesday endorsed Joe Biden for US president and laced into Donald Trump’s response to the COVID-19 pandemic.

In a video, the 94-year-old funnyman sits indoors, his masked son and grandson looking on from outdoors.

“Hi, folks. I’m Mel Brooks and behind me you see my son and my grandson. And they can’t be with me. Why? Because of this coronavirus. And Donald Trump’s not doing a damn thing about it,” says Brooks.

“So many people dying. And when you’re dead, you can’t do much. So I’m voting for Joe Biden,” he adds.

“Why do I like Joe? Because Joe likes facts. Because Joe likes science. Joe will keep us going. Take a tip from me, vote for Joe.”

The video was posted by Brooks’s son Max, who said this was his father’s first-ever political video.

Brooks made another appearance in a video by his son in March on the virus, through the glass door, in which Max Brooks pleaded for social distancing.

https://twitter.com/maxbrooksauthor/status/1239624352305303552

Amid the pandemic, Brooks was interviewed by CBS News in April alongside his longtime collaborator Carl Reiner, who died two months later. Asked how he’s coping, Brooks replied: “I am not watching the news, I am telling everybody, ‘Watch old black-and-white movies.'”

“By the way, I have a great suggestion: it’s called ‘Young Frankenstein.’ It’ll do you a little good, and it’ll do me a lotta good!”