Mel Brooks & Carl Reiner for Tax Day

Today is tax day, luckily there's classic TV to cheer us up. On a February 1965 episode of The Hollywood Palace, Carl Reiner interviews "tax expert" Mel Brooks' "Philip J. Heinker," who discusses his methods for filing, which includes claiming Romania ("I send them cottage cheese and Life magazine"). Look for newly Mrs. Mel Brooks- Anne Bancroft- cracking up in the studio audience.

"I don't sing, I don't dance, but if you've been watching my show, you know I'm one heck of a runner." - Hollywood Palace guest host, The Fugitive's David Janssen

This episode, too, features an admittedly out-of-his-element guest host, David Janssen (then lead of The Fugitive), who nonetheless manages his duties as emcee. The only moment where he trips up, is in playing straight man to Tim Conway- probably not the first person to fail in this task. Conway, who was appearing as Ensign Charles Parker on McHale's Navy at the time, performs his sketch "The Warden." Also among the show's guest stars are Edie Adams and Vic Damone. And don't miss the show's finale with the Harlem Globetrotters versus the Palace Dribblers (Janssen, Brooks [above, right, getting a little help with his dunk], Reiner, Conway, and Damone).

Click here for the Archive's Hollywood Palace page to watch this February 6, 1965 episode of The Hollywood Palace (embedded from the Internet Archive) and hear Archive interviewees including Tim Conway talk about guesting on the series.