The Pitch: Over 40 years after Mel Brooks โ beloved Part I , the long-awaited sequel to The History of the World has arrived โ this time as an eight-part series on Hulu and tailor-made for the streaming age. Though Brooks served as a writer, executive producer, and narrator, Brooks himself takes the backseat and lets a new generation of comedians take the wheel: Nick Kroll , Wanda Sykes , and Ike Barinholtz serve as executive producers and principal cast members, amidst a vast sea of hilarious guest stars , including Jack Black, Pamela Adlon, Seth Rogen, Taika Waititi, Josh Gad, and many more.
Similar to Part I , The History of the World jumps across the timeline of human existence for an anthology-style sketch show. Now that the project has broken free from the limited runtime of a film, Part II stretches its longer sketch arcs into multiple episodes, all including the same cast members โ for example, โThe Story of Jesusโ takes place over the entire series, with three concrete eras of Jesusโ story being represented in three different ways, while โThe Civil War,โ โThe Russian Revolutionโ also serve as overarching stories.
In addition to larger historical movements that take place over a long period of time, several important moments in history are parodied in individual sketches. โThe Invention of the Telephoneโ finds Alexander Graham Bell being pranked called by his associate in the next room over, โWilliam Shakespeareโ sees the literary figure berating his writersโ room as they complete work on Hamlet , and โThe Invention of Fireโ follows three cavewomen as they figure out how to light up a joint.
As always with Mel Brooks, the jokes range from quippy one-liners and dad jokes to totally absurd meta-commentary, with breakout musical numbers, pop culture skewers, and a healthy amount of showbiz comedy. They also parody specific properties and genres: The third phase of โThe Story of Jesusโ takes on the title of โThe Last Supper Sessionsโ as it satirizes The Beatlesโ Get Back documentary from 2021, and the story of Kublai Khanโs hundreds of wives and mistresses is parodied as a reality show titled โThe Real Concubines of Kublai Khan.โ
The Business We Call Show: Just as with Part I โs extended arc covering โThe Roman Empire,โ Part II is littered with showbiz jokes. Josh Gadโs turn as a volatile showrunner-version of William Shakespeare (who takes credit for everyoneโs ideas) is cheekily relevant, and Jillian Bell hosting a focus group to essentially โrewriteโ the story of Jesus as a blockbuster hits the nail on the head. โThe Last Supper Sessionsโ also likens Jesus and his apostles to The Fab Four, with Judas serving as George Harrison (โI think Iโll be leaving the band now,โ he says, quoting Harrisonโs infamous exit depicted in Get Back).

History of the World, Part II (Hulu)