Riffs: Joe Traigle, Sterling Studios, president

“One of the all-time-greatest comedic minds is Mel Brooks, who at the zenith of his productivity produced History of the World, Part I. What made this film such a classic in many ways was his genius in assembling an astonishingly powerful cast for something as fun as History. For example check out this list of people who were part of History: his regulars, Harvey Korman and Madeline Kahn, add to that Sid Caesar, Gregory Hines, Orson Welles, Bee Arthur, Shecky Greene, Dom DeLuise and many others. And of course, Mel Brooks himself makes several appearances. Check out this film as it is ‘sketch comedy’ at its very finest.”