ten million years in the making

In History of the World, Part II, Mel Brooks Gets Back to Basics

The 96-year-old comedy legend on teaming with Nick Kroll, Wanda Sykes, Ike Barinholtz, and a murderers’ row of talent for his new Hulu series.
In ‘History of the World Part II Mel Brooks Gets Back to Basics
© Hulu/Everett Collection.

When Mel Brooks asked Nick Kroll to help him bring History of the World, Part II to life, “it was the fastest ‘yes’ I’ve ever given,” says Kroll. His family owned Brooks’s 1981 comedy, History of the World, Part I, on VHS; “I watched that, like, hundreds of times growing up,” he tells Vanity Fair. The comedian subsequently wore out the VHS copies of other Brooks classics, including The Producers (“my all-time favorite movie”), Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, and Spaceballs.

Part II, a four-night Brooksapalooza airing on Hulu beginning March 6, is the more-than-40-years-later follow-up to Part I. That film may not be spoken of in as hushed tones as some of the films listed above, but it did yield the line Brooks claims people quote most frequently to him: “It’s good to be the king.”

Late in Blazing Saddles, Slim Pickens revolts by shouting a fourth-wall-breaking line: “Piss on you! I’m working for Mel Brooks.” Kroll admits he had the urge to repeat it on set; a grip even had it printed on his T-shirt. “But every day we were quoting lines from every Mel Brooks movie,” he says. “Many of them made it into the show in various episodes,” presumably with Brooks’s enthusiastic approval. “The only bigger highlight than being asked to help Mel make Part II was pitching jokes and watching him throw back his head in laughter,” Kroll says. “The other side of that coin is pitching your hero jokes and him saying no, that’s not funny. Mel is generous with his laughs, but also generous with his critiques. It’s what makes him so special—you always know where you stand.”

Though Brooks, 96, shares executive producer and writer credits on Part II, his comic sensibility—“funny-first, provocative, while never overtly political, and always silly,” according to Kroll—is clearly the signpost for the project. The show’s stellar assemblage of guest stars—Pamela Adlon, Jillian Bell, Jack Black, Quinta Brunson, Richard Kind, Kumail Nanjiani, Seth Rogen, J.B. Smoove, Taika Waititi, and Sarah Silverman, to name but a few—suggests they shared Kroll’s passion for working with Brooks.

Each installment is a blazingly paced collection of one-offs, recurring bits, and story arcs that play out across all eight episodes. Highlights include gags about Princess Anastasia as a social media influencer on the eve of the Russian Revolution; Rasputin as the ultimate “jackass” (he’s played, naturally, by Johnny Knoxville); “the Last Supper Sessions” (a pitch-perfect parody of Peter Jackson’s Beatles docuseries, Get Back); Shirley!, a sitcom spoof about first Black congresswoman and major party presidential candidate Shirley Chisholm; William Shakespeare’s writers room; a Sigmund Freud MasterClass; and a Jesus focus group (they would prefer if he were white).

As with the original film, the actual events portrayed are suspect. But Part II can just as easily serve as a history of comedy: It showcases a wide range of styles, including broad shtick, clever wordplay, puns, satire, parodies, arcane references (the Andrews Sisters, anyone?), meta jokes (several about Brooks’s oeuvre), and a glorious spit take. The hit-to-miss ratio is commendably high.

Vanity Fair reached out to the king to talk a little History, Part II. Via email, Brooks shared his one demand of Hulu, how he motivated the show’s writers, and what he considers to be comedy’s primary role throughout history.

Mel Brooks with Nick Kroll, Wanda Sykes, Ike Barinholtz and David Stassen at the premiere of History of the World Part II in Los Angeles.Tommaso Boddi/Getty Images. 

Vanity Fair: At 96, your comic sensibility hardly seems to have mellowed. Some of the new material leaves even Blazing Saddles in the dust. So the first question is: Are you trying to get canceled?

Mel Brooks: What I am trying to do is make people laugh. This is what I said to the writers: I’ve always just written what I think is funny, and let the laughs fall where they may. 

Until now, the only sequels you’d ever done were the three follow-ups to “the 2,000-Year-Old Man.” I always thought if you ever did a movie sequel, it would be for Young Frankenstein, considering how many Frankenstein films Universal and Hammer Productions created. 

I may never have done a sequel, but I have revisited my works in new ways. In 1968, I wrote an Oscar-winning movie called The Producers, and then in 2001, it became a Broadway musical that won the most Tony Awards ever! So why now and why History of the World, Part II? Making fun of history is a good idea. 

 There’s that great line in one of the sketches: “There’s no way Mel Brooks is a part of this.” But you were. What was your involvement?

One of my favorite contributions to Part II was doing the narration, just like the legendary Orson Welles did for me for Part I. Back then, Orson had only one demand—that he be paid $25,000 cash in a paper bag, and a promise not to say anything to his agent. When I handed him the paper bag and asked him what he was going to do with the money, he said, “I’m going to spend it all on beluga caviar and the best Cuban cigars.” I asked the same thing of Hulu, but sadly they said no. 

You were also a writer on the show. What were those sessions like, and what was the pep talk you gave the other writers?

Unfortunately, we couldn’t meet in person because of the pandemic. But I did see them on Zoom, and instead of pep talks, I gave them “threat talks.” I said I’d fire them all if it wasn’t funny. It must have worked, because everything they have done so far is pretty damn funny.

After reading your memoir, I resolved to read Gogol, whom you called a major influence. There’s a line from Dead Souls: “To show forth the vices and the failings, rather than the merits and the virtues…demonstrating our national weaknesses and shortcomings.” That seems to drive *History of the World, Part II—*indeed, all your work.  

Frankly, I think I may have sold as many copies of Gogol’s Dead Souls as I did my own memoir, All About Me! But I’m so glad I helped people find Dead Souls. It’s a treasure. And you’re not very wrong: Finding humor in the mishaps and failures of history is where we often find the truth. 

In History of the World, Part I, one of the characters you portrayed was a stand-up philosopher, a.k.a. “a bullshit artist.” What do you consider the role of the comedian and comedy throughout the actual history of the world?

We’ve always needed the court jester to whisper in the king’s ear, “Hey, Your Majesty, you’re fucking it all up.” 

Your Show of Shows had one of the great ensembles in TV history. History of the World, Part II follows that grand tradition with its many A-list guest stars. 

I was so fortunate to get incredible talents such as Wanda Sykes, Nick Kroll, and Ike Barinholtz, not only as members of the History of the World, Part II stock company, but also as gifted comedy writers on the show. The first movie of mine that I wrote and acted in was The Twelve Chairs, and I worked very hard on making sure my character would steal a few scenes. Wanda, Nick, and Ike steal every scene they’re in. 

Is there a sketch or bit from Part II that captures the essence of Mel Brooks humor?

I don’t know whether I am proud or ashamed of this bit, but in one of the scenes that happens at Appomattox when the South surrenders to the North at the end of the Civil War, General Lee is wearing his splendid shiny saber and each time he turns around, the saber smashes into every soldier’s balls. Cheap, you say? Funny, I say!

 The end of Part I teased a Part II, but that was more than 40 years ago. You’re not going to make us wait that long for a Part III, are you? 

Not to worry! The good thing about history is it never stops making history.