My latest Time Out Chicago blog post covers the upcoming screening of Blazing Saddles at the Chicago Theatre for which the legendary Mel Brooks will be present for an audience Q&A. I’m never allowed too much space at Time Out but it’s always fun sneaking in a little editorializing — in this case arguing that Brooks’ classic western spoof is superior to Quentin Tarantino’s similarly-themed Django Unchained. I also end the piece by making a joke that cracked even myself up. Check it out here.

In other news, I recently appeared on Through the Decades with Bill Kurtis, a very fine television program, for the third time. On this occasion I was asked to talk about Shirley Temple’s breakthrough performance in Fox’s 1934 musical/comedy/variety-show film Stand Up and Cheer!. My wife recorded my segment on her iPhone and you can watch it here: