Mel Brooks tells David Bianculli about turning down the Kennedy Center Honor the first time he was offered it:

I shouldn’t say this … but I’ll say it anyway. I was offered this – the Kennedy Center Honors – maybe a year or two before and I said, ‘Well, I’m going to wait for another president if I’m still alive if you don’t mind.’ I just didn’t feel comfortable when Bush was president to accept the honors. … Had I not gotten 110 awards, you know, I’m an EGOT so I don’t need any more. … The Kennedy Center Honors at the moment, I didn’t need them. … The only award I haven’t received, I think, is Woman of the Year and I don’t know if that’s not in the works just as an honorary Woman of the Year. I may get that too, but I’m not looking for it.