In Mel Brooks' 1981 comedy History of the World, Part I, one of the jokes was the promise of a second part. Over 40 years later, History of the World, Part II, premiering Monday on Hulu, proves it was worth waiting for a streaming series.
Like Brooks' movie, the series is a collection of comedy sketches set in historical periods. Forty-two additional years of pop culture provides the show's writers with many new tools with which to lampoon history.
Ike Barinholtz, Nick Kroll, Wanda Sykes and David Stassen join Brooks as lead writers and they incorporate modern language and culture into the satire. Anachronism was always the joke in Part I, with players in the French Revolution and biblical times speaking with modern slang.
"White guilt" is a recent term that very much applies to historical satire, and hashtag jokes are funnier applied to pre-hashtag history.
TikTok videos and memes didn't exist when Brooks was making Part I. Incorporating them into history mocks both the history and modern culture's obsession with going viral. Sketches become more self-referential with specific jokes about the streaming service.
Sketches employ different styles, from aping '70s sitcoms in general to directly spoofing specific modern TV shows. History sketches can invoke epic war movies or intimate chamber pieces as the historical events demand.
There is plenty of sexual innuendo humor, and lots of music with both funny lyrics and catchy melodies. Other sketches are adorable and endearing.
Like the movie, some sketches are funnier than others. However, in 30-minute episodes, they are much more consistent than spread over 90 minutes.
Some historical events require multiple sketches, and some of those continue over multiple episodes, so give the show credit for being thorough. When recurring sketches span multiple episodes, a brief recap catches up on both the history and the nature of that particular series of sketches.
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The sketch nature also allows A-list comic stars to guest in a sketch or two. So History of the World, Part II boasts as impressive a cast as the movie.
History of the World, Part II does not require seeing Part I, but includes plenty of fan service callbacks. Over eight episodes, it also provides more than twice as much historical comedy for new and returning viewers.
Two episodes of History of the World, Part II premiere nightly next week on Hulu.
Fred Topel, who attended film school at Ithaca College, is a UPI entertainment writer based in Los Angeles. He has been a professional film critic since 1999, a Rotten Tomatoes critic since 2001 and a member of the Television Critics Association since 2012. Read more of his work in Entertainment.