And to top it off, the last but not least Johnson was our wacky reverend, the great Liam Dunn. I found the gloriously funny Liam Dunn when he played the judge in What’s Up, Doc? Liam Dunn was actually a casting agent. I didn’t know who he was, but I loved his delivery and made a mental note to remember him. No one could have read this sermon like Liam Dunn:
Rev. Johnson: Now I don’t have to tell you good folks what’s been happening in our beloved little town. Sheriff murdered, crops burned, stores looted, people stampeded, and cattle raped. The time has come to act, and act fast… I’m leaving.
The only trouble we had was that while filming that scene the extras in the church kept breaking up every time Liam did his sermon. I begged them, “Please! Don’t laugh! If you laugh, I can’t use the scene! So please, if you can, swallow your laughter.”
By take nine, they were able to contain themselves.
* * *
—
My biggest problem was finding the Waco Kid. For the Waco Kid I wanted to cast either a well-known Western hero or a well-known alcoholic—or if I was lucky, maybe a combination of both.
One day, when I was having lunch in the Warner Bros. commissary, I saw at a table across the room the one and only John Wayne.
Wow! I thought, what a stroke of fortune it would be to get John Wayne to play the Waco Kid. So I held my breath, walked over to his table, and introduced myself.
I said, “Mr. Wayne, you don’t know me. My name is Mel Brooks and I’m making a picture here at Warner Bros.”
He said, “I know you. You’re Mel Brooks. You made The Producers! It’s one of my favorite comedies. So what are you making now?”
“I’m making a Western like there’s never been a Western before. It breaks all the rules—except for one: The good guys come out on top. And I’d like you to be one of the good guys.”
He said, “Send it over to my office. I promise I’ll read it tonight. Meet me at the same table tomorrow at the same time.”
Wow! I did just as he said and could hardly sleep that night. Wow, could John Wayne possibly be the Waco Kid?
I met him at exactly the same table at the same time the next day. He had the script in his hand, and he said, “Mel, this is one of the craziest and funniest things I have ever read. But I can’t do it. It’s just too dirty. My fans will accept almost anything, but they won’t take dirty. They’re not that kind of audience. So like I said, I can’t do it. But I’ll tell you this: When it opens, I’ll be the first in line to see it.”
I thanked him profusely and went forward with my search for the Waco Kid. So I couldn’t get my Western hero, but maybe I could get my alcoholic?
* * *
—
I reached out to Gig Young, who was normally a light comedy actor. For example, his delicious performance in Joe Bologna and Renee Taylor’s Lovers and Other Strangers. But he was also devastatingly emotional as the alcoholic lead in They Shoot Horses, Don’t They? with Jane Fonda, for which he won the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor. He was a remarkably good actor, and I knew he could be the Waco Kid because he had comedy in his background and was capable of rich drama. But I was still cautious about the alcohol business, because he had a reputation of hitting the bottle now and then. But his agent assured me he’d been on the wagon for more than a year and was totally trustworthy when it came to showing up sober. Good enough for me—I hired him.
Wait a minute…We all know that Gig Young is not the Waco Kid. That memorable role is played by the great Gene Wilder.
What is Mel talking about? Let Mel explain.
For some reason, our first day of shooting was scheduled on a Friday. The first scene was a simple introductory meeting between the new sheriff and the Waco Kid. Gig Young as the Waco Kid was hung upside down from his bunk in the jail cell of the sheriff’s office. He is trying to recover from a bad hangover.
Cleavon as the sheriff asks him, “Are we awake?”
And upon seeing the Black sheriff he’s supposed to respond, “We’re not sure, are we Black?”
Instead Gig replies, “We’re not sure, are we bla…are we bla—BLA?”
I turned to my assistant and whispered, “Wow, look what we’re getting. He’s so real.”
And then the shit hit the fan. Instead of finishing the line, Gig started spewing green vomit all over the jail cell. It was like Mount Vesuvius erupting in green.
I said, “This is a little too real. Call an ambulance.”
Obviously, Gig was not a recovering alcoholic, recovering had played no part in it. He was still in a lot of trouble. The ambulance came and took him to a local hospital. The doctor who was attending him called me and said he had the d.t.’s （delirium tremens, severe alcohol withdrawal） and was much too sick to perform for the next few months.