Mel Brooks is literally a man who went behind enemy lines during WW2 to hijack a Nazi propaganda speaker system to play traditional Jewish music. He is not now, nor was he then politically correct. Comedy shouldn't ever be politically correct, which is why a bunch of today's comedies pale in comparison to Mel Brooks and Leslie Neilson-style comedies.
Bro, that whole scene from Blazing saddles, when the sheriff comes to town would get theater's burned today, but it was so god damned funny, especially the sheriff taking himself hostage to get away. That had Richard and Mel's artistic comedic genius written all over it. "HALP ME! HALP ME!" and the most famous line from the movie "Where the white women at?" I think comedy should be allowed to offend, because in the offense it makes people look at themselves harder to see why it offended them.
Years ago, the first time I ever saw Blazing Saddles was while I was working as a door to door salesman. I was new on the job, and in a part of town where I was the only white guy for two miles. I'm in the ladies house finishing up the sale when she turns on this movie. She's excited because this is one of her favorite films. It was the scene scene where they introduce the Sheriff to the town. I knew most of Mel's movies by this point, but somehow kept missing Blazing Saddles. Anyway, they get through the bell tolls, I'm not sure what's happening, then the whole "We present this wreath to our new town..." I couldn't believe what happened, and how they just leaned into it. It was funny and harsh and crazy all at once, and I want to laugh but I can't because I'm not sure if I can. Eventually she looks over and sees the most awkward looking white boy in history and she's like "it's okay, this is funny, you can laugh." That and the next scene with the Waco Kid, I gave up working that night and watched the movie in her house after I finished the paperwork.
I think that the reason why the racist humor worked in the movie was that Mel was punching up, not punching down. He was making fun of the white people, of the studio system, of American history. The movie went after the people in power in the movie, not the downtrodden. That's where the problem with racist humor often falls flat, it almost exclusively is used to make fun downtrodden groups. It's not used against those in power, but it was in this movie.
It's also why the ZAZ movies of Airplane and Naked Gun worked, they punched up, not down. They also took common tropes and turned them on their head as jokes. It could be done today, but one of the problems with doing parodies today isn't the PC nature or wokeness, it's the lack of a common understanding of the joke's basis. For example, there were a series of parodies from the mid 00's like Meet the Spartans and Not Another Teen Movie and a couple others like that which killed the genre. How and why? Most of their jokes were about small slices of society or memes that were popular for like 15 minutes several months earlier. They tried to stay topical with their jokes, but the basis for their jokes was material that never hit critical mass, or worse were just a brief flash in the pan. If they were lucky, the joke might still work but making fun of a viral video doesn't have the same kick as making fun of a TV show that millions of people watched every week. And because there isn't a shared media and message like there was 15 or 20 years ago, a lot of the jokes poking fun at situations then just go right over everyone's head. It's hard to make fun of a movie or TV show if only a small group saw it. And the premise for the parody has to make sense. Who or what is being made fun of has to be brought up pretty quick. Plus, can you make fun of something or someone without it devolving into a fight?
Also look at where Mel and Pryor were coming from. I own all the Pryor comedy specials and his movies on video. I laughed my ass off when he told his famous joke about running down the street, on fire after igniting himself while freebasing crack, and a man stops to ask him if he has a light. He lit the mans smoke and kept running. Pryor did not just punch up or down, but all around. He made fun of whitey, his own race, mexicans, asians, etc. I mean his childhood was horrid, so instead of turning bad and letting it ruin him, he turned it into a joke. and then he took pop shots at everything, because at that time, people could laugh at everything without it turning into a big ol pot of offense. Look at the movie car wash. Pryor ripped to shreds the image of the televangelist. I mean if you cant laugh at yourself, you do not deserve to laugh. Like some of the best comedians I listen to are funny because they dont mind opening fire on the first target in view.
Take Lovell Crawford, he told a joke about being a black kid, with his sister and mom, going to the grocery store. The funny part was the fact that his mom threatened to murder him when he was a boy if he hit her ankles with the cart, and he said she was young enough to go to jail, get out and still be able to make another. Now right there he opened fire on a whole lot of his races stereotypes. A young single mom, two kids, going to the grocery store to pay bills (although I admit, when I was first married after graduation from high school, I had to learn to pay bills at the grocery store too. Easier than having to drive all the way across town to the electric company office, or the utilities board to pay those bills.) But it made me laugh as he emphasized his mothers dead seriousness. In another joke he talked about how his mom would leave him home alone after school to go to work, and she told him do not open the door to anyone until she got home. So he made him some chocolate milk and sat down to watch his favorite after school cartoon (thundercats. I on the other hand, was a transformers fan, my brother was a gi joe fan and sisters loved care bears and the classic my little pony.) But I felt a connection with his joke. Because it snowballed with at first his grandma shows up and wants to be let in, and he would not do it, out of fear of what his momma said, and after awhile, his father showed up, demanding to be let in, and the best part of that was the smart ass reply to his father saying he lived there was "If you lived here, you would have a key.." I almost died laughing. And the last joke of the special was about how his mom would not look for him if he went missing. Because he said she would say, I better not find him, since he made me take off work to look for his ass, cause if I find him, I will kill him. Pure gold.
I think comedy should be good, and offend, but also hit you in the gut with a connection you thought you would never make. Like Fluffy. I used to be overweight in my youth, but I had to work hard, because I got stupid and forgot the rubber, and guess what? Surprise, you gonna be a daddy, right after you get your diploma, so hard work and being poor made me drop a lot of tonnage. So I can laugh at myself back when i went from chunky monkey, to huge hippo then down to alright ape. No joke offends me, because its just words, strung together to make you laugh and then get a rise out of you.
Like the comedy of Don Rickels. He could zing you so quick, you would be laughing before you realized he insulted you. But it was all in good fun.