Nobody's ever done funny quite the way Gene Wilder does, whipsawing between gentle, milquetoast lunacy and almost-over-the-edge madness.

And it shows in Turner Classic Movies' Role Model: Gene Wilder, a fascinating interview session with Alec Baldwin adroitly asking the questions and setting up the movie clips. It's slated to air April 15, followed by Wilder's incomparable work in The Producers.

Wilder looks more frail than one likes to see, and his mad-scientist hair is thinner, but still unruly. The two actors discuss their very different takes on acting for the screen vs. the stage, and how Wilder's complete miscasting in a stage version of Mother Courage brought about his great professional relationship with Mel Brooks. Wilder starred opposite Brooks' wife, Anne Bancroft, in Courage, and the two men collaborated on three of the funniest, most outrageous movies ever committed to celluloid: Producers, Young Frankenstein and Blazing Saddles.

There are some touching moments as he discusses the tragic death of his third wife, comedienne Gilda Radner, and his current, extremely happy marriage to Karen Boyer. And the two actors confide that before their success, both of them had seen the inside of an unemployment office.

I always wish there were more anecdotes, more behind-the-scenes stories and more clips in these interviews, but nevertheless, this is a lovely, intimate discussion between two artists who respect each other and their craft.

(Full disclosure: Alec Baldwin sits on the board of an organization I work for. But I thought he was a great actor before that!)

The gentle madman at a book signing this month in Los Angeles/by Charley Gallay, Getty Images