Mel Brooks’ ‘Blazing Saddles’ Broke Ground by Breaking Wind

Okay, yes, fart jokes feel like they’ve been done to death. For many people, the most uproariously funny thing that happened during recess and sleepovers has turned into one of the most groan-inducing bits that is overplayed in television and film — a clear indicator of juvenile sensibilities. A fart joke, much like a fart itself, can be disastrous at the wrong place and wrong time. But as high-and-mighty as a person may feel about comedy of this nature, there is still a subtle brilliance in a well-executed fart joke that can leave audiences of any age in stitches. There’s a unique simplicity and effectiveness at poking fun at one of a human’s most embarrassing bodily functions; never discount how much a perfectly timed toot can be the perfect punchline.

While toilet humor is nothing new (even Shakespeare made plenty of jests about passing wind), there was still a time in American cinema history when movies were no longer silent, but had yet to prominently feature sounds of the flatulent variety. That was until Mel Brooks — the prominent filmmaker, writer, EGOT winner, and visionary — broke ground by breaking wind when he featured the first audible farts in one of the funniest scenes from his satirical masterclass and one of the greatest Westerns ever made, Blazing Saddles. While the silent film era had ended decades prior, Brooks’ film marked the end of American cinema’s silence on passing wind, signifying the beginning of a louder, smellier, and more boisterous time of movie-making hilarity.

‘Blazing Saddles’ Campfire Scene Had the First Audible Farts in American Cinema

Don’t let the smell of beans overshadow the fact that Blazing Saddles is considered one of the funniest films ever made, rife with commentary and slapstick hits. The satirical Western follows the newly appointed Sheriff Bart (Cleavon Little), a Black former railroad worker working alongside an alcoholic gunslinger called Jim the Waco Kid (Gene Wilder), as they earn the town of Rock Ridge’s respect and protect it from getting destroyed by the construction of a railroad. When Taggart (Slim Pickens), the man hired to run the people out of Rock Ridge, assembles a group of cowboys to help run Bart out of town, he’s met with one of the funniest and most flatulent-filled moments in American movie history.

The group of hired cowboys sit around a campfire and eat plates full of beans, leading to a chorus of farts and belches that overlap each other in raucous cacophony. The fart scene continues uninterrupted for nearly an entire minute; almost a full 60 seconds of every noisy iteration of bodily sounds that food as gas-inducing as beans can produce for a pack of frontiersmen. Without stopping their meals, the cowboys all let it rip from both ends before Taggart finally steps out of his tent, waves off the loud and proud stench of flatulence, and gets his people to work as they try to run the new sheriff out of town.

Burton Gilliam, who played Lyle (the cowboy in a red shirt and vest), talked about his experience filming the iconic scene in an interview with New Jersey 101.5. Gilliam talked about Mel Brooks’ involvement in the scene, including his belief about the effectiveness and impact of the joke in particular. Though Gilliam didn’t know that he would be the first person to audibly fart in a movie, he believed in Brooks’ sense of enthusiasm and enjoyment while making the movie. However, actually filming the scene wasn’t as simple as it seemed. Gilliam shared with the radio station that, “We did that scene probably at 35 times from different directions. We probably did it a hundred times. The first couple of times we did it, naturally we were doing our very very best, but after a few times unless you’re absolutely super human, we had to bring in the extras and let them do some scenes from off camera or something.” Despite being just one of countless jokes, the campfire scene from Blazing Saddles continues to be one of the highlights of the film and is often credited as one of the funniest and most memorable moments from the entire picture, leaving a lasting impact that can be smelled in comedies for decades to follow.

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From ‘The Lion King’ to ‘The Lighthouse,’ Fart Jokes Have Stuck Around

While it’s facetious to say that Mel Brooks invented the fart joke — classic writers like Shakespeare and Mark Twain have used them, as have many other prominent artists — he does deserve credit for helping make fart jokes prevalent in the Western media. However, while the campfire scene from Blazing Saddles is pointed to as the first audible farts in a movie, it’s actually only the first for American-made movies, as there have been other films that have poked fun at farts long before Bart became the sheriff of Rock Ridge. Acclaimed Japanese director Yasujirō Ozu’s 1959 film Good Morning featured one of the earliest audible fart scenes in cinema. In just the opening minutes of the movie, a group of young boys play a game reminiscent of “pull my finger” as they jokingly fart and jest like any good pre-pubescent child. Ozu doesn’t just mindlessly insert fart jokes for the sake of fart jokes, however, as they are actually relevant to the plot and play a role in the film’s themes of communication and conversation.

Following in the legacy of Brooks and Ozu, The Lion King also stands out for featuring the first character to fart in a Disney film. When the beloved Pumbaa (Ernie Sabella) farts so ferociously that all the other animals flee from the water hole, it’s a momentous occasion for the historic company. While Pumbaa’s flatulence is more aligned with the negative perception of toilet humor (which can be criticized as needlessly juvenile), farts have continued to linger in even the most unexpected films. The former Boy Who Lived himself, Daniel Radcliffe, made literal waves with his performance in Swiss Army Man as a corpse capable of excreting winds capable of saving lives. In the artistic 2019 movie The Lighthouse, the ever-brilliant Willem Dafoe’s character farts almost ad nauseam, ultimately helping create the atmosphere of frustrating isolation integral to the movie. At the end of the day, whether a squeaky toot makes a kid laugh or the passing of gas represents integral thematic elements, fart jokes are here to stay — and we have Mel Brooks to thank for bringing them to our ears.

Blazing Saddles is available to stream on Netflix in the U.S.

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