Dismal video quality but a very funny story told by a very funny man.

*****A better quality version is now on the official Carson channel    • Mel Brooks Hilarious Cary Grant Story...  

Broadcast on 19 May 1992, the third from last ever episode.

In his excellent autobiography, "All About Me" (2021), Mel recounts the "Cary Grant story" as one of his favourite stories to tell onstage, pointing out in the course of doing so that Grant had bought copies of the "2000 Year Old Man" record to send to his friends.

He continues: "That is the story I tell on stage and it really garners big laughs, but the truth is in real life our conversations were a lot more in-depth. Cary told me about his struggles with the studious, he wanted to be doing more important serious films and not just light comedies. But the studios system wouldn't allow it as long as the light comedies were making big money. I remember seeing a few of his serious films and we talked about "Penny Serenade" (1941) and "None but the Lonely Heart" (1944). I told him they were both wonderful and his performances in therm were incredibly moving. He really appreciated the compliment and explained that unfortunately neither film did that well at the box office. So unless he could raise his own money, he was stuck with what the studio offered him. He was intelligent, sensitive, and I really treasured his company and friendship".