Mel and Max Brooks are right: ‘Don’t be a spreader’

Comedy legend Mel Brooks and his son, Max, have teamed up in a new video to give us just what the doctor ordered: Comedy and facts to keep each other safer during the Covid-19 outbreak.

The comedy part is especially needed given that “Saturday Night Live” on Monday announced the cancellation of its next three shows, and many of the late-night talk shows such as those of Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon are on hiatus until at least the end of the month in response to the virus outbreak.

In their video, which went viral, the two Brooks make the case for social distancing and taking other precautions in order to help reduce the spread of coronavirus.

It opens with Max standing behind a glass door outside his father’s house, with the elder Brooks inside. Max notes that since he is 47, if he gets the virus, he’ll “probably be OK.”

But, he adds, pointing to his 93-year-old father, who waves hello through the glass door:

“If I give it to him, he could give it to Carl Reiner, who could give it to Dick Van Dyke and before I know it, I’ve wiped out a whole generation of comedic legends.” (The three comedy greats are long-time friends.)

Max then serves up a vitally important piece of information about combating the spread of Covid-19. “When it comes to coronavirus, I have to think about who I can infect,” he says. “And so should you.”

In fact, on Tuesday at the press briefing in the White House, Dr. Anthony Fauci shared the identical sentiment.

Fauci told younger people while you might feel “invulnerable,” you need to be aware that you still “might inadvertently put your loved ones at risk,” especially if they’re elderly or have health issues.

“We can’t do this without the young people cooperating,” he said.

The Brooks’ 50-second video continues with Max giving viewers more advice, including: “avoid crowds, wash your hands, keep six feet away from people and if possible, stay home.”

The younger Brooks wraps up the video by saying, “Do your part: Don’t be a spreader. Right, Dad?”

At this point the comedy legend steals the show as he responds with perfect timing, “Go home…go!” He then waves to his son and to us.

I’ve been friends with Max Brooks for years from our time working together at “Saturday Night Live” in the early 2000s. He was a writer, I was on the production staff.

He told me via email the why behind this video.

“I came up with the idea of doing a video with my dad to illustrate the importance of social distancing,” Brooks, who wrote the book “World War Z” which later became a hit movie, said.

“I wanted everyone to understand that it’s not just about getting infected but also who you could inadvertently infect.”

The Brooks family is not just giving us a lesson on the facts but reaffirming the sense that we are all in this together. If all of us do our part, we can reduce the spread of the virus and save lives.

That means putting aside partisanship in the hyper-polarized time we live in.

No, that doesn’t mean we will forget that just three weeks ago President Donald Trump accused his opponents of politicizing the virus and suggesting the controversy around it was the Democrats’ “new hoax.“

Nor will it stop people from investigating why the Trump Administration didn’t use the World Health Organization’s coronavirus test kits, which delayed mass testing in the United States and harmed efforts to fight the spread of the virus.

There will be a time for partisan battles once this outbreak is contained. But between now and then, our fate is literally intertwined. And that’s not a talking point or some sugar-coated panacea. That’s the truth as respected experts like Dr. Fauci have made clear. Our well-being — and even our lives for those with elevated health risks — is in each other’s hands.

So follow the advice of Max Brooks: “Don’t be a spreader.”

And if possible, also heed the sage advice of his legendary father, “Go home…go!”