 Madeline Kahn (qv) started working on the movie the day after  being fired from the role of Agnes Gooch in _Mame (1974)_ (qv).  Lucille Ball (qv) believed that Kahn got herself fired (by  deliberately acting poorly) so that she could take the role of Lili  Von Shtupp in Blazing Saddles, but still get paid for the Gooch role  in Mame, which by her contract wouldnt have happened if shed  merely quit.