after the seriousness of his previous films, kramer "felt compelled to answer" for the "lack of lightness" in his earlier films, writes spoto. as a result, he directed "it's a mad, mad, mad, mad world" (1963), a film with a "gifted, wacky crew of comedians." kramer describes it as a "comedy about greed." according to one writer, he directed it "to prove he could also handle comedy" and hired many of the leading comedic actors of the previous decades, from silent star buster keaton to emerging talent jonathan winters. winters would later write that "kramer was a man who took chances—as they say, he worked without a net."