In History of the World, Part II, Nick Kroll and Ike Barinholtz dip into Mel Brooks's vault of jokes
CBC
Comedian Nick Kroll had a "truly surreal experience" working with Mel Brooks on History of the World, Part II, a sequel to the legendary comedian's 1981 film — and at 96 years old, Brooks still has a whole vault of jokes to share.
"There are jokes sprinkled throughout the series that are things that, I like to say, have been in the Mel Brooks vault," said Kroll. "He's been trying to find a place for some of these jokes for like 40 or 50 years."
Indeed, it's been forty-two years since History of the World, Part I — narrated by filmmaker Orson Welles — hit theatres, a wacky mixed bag of vignettes that teach you, well, not much about history.
Part II is narrated by Brooks himself, but multi-hyphenates Kroll, Ike Barinholtz and Wanda Sykes take the onscreen reins, playing a kooky cast of characters.
Between a string of quips and jokes (Kroll and Barinholtz wondered whether this interview would be beamed into every Canadian household, or just into the homes of Patrick Roy and Shania Twain, thereby infuriating Winnipeg Jets hockey player Teemu Selänne), the actor-writer-producers shared why now is the right moment for Part II.
"The beauty of Mel's work in History of the World — and really across the board — is he always has a clear target, which was sort of like, the wealthy and powerful are dumb and greedy," said Kroll.
"In this moment in time when we are taking a look at history in a different way than we have in the past, I think the target for us tried to remain the same as for Mel. And so in a lot of ways it felt like a very appropriate time to sort of reexamine history through new lenses."
The miniseries features a revolving door of guest stars and cameos from Jack Black, Abbott Elementary star Quinta Brunson, Seth Rogen, Danny DeVito, Jojo Rabbit director Taika Waiti and comedian Kumail Nanjiani, among others.
Comedian Sarah Silverman, who makes a brief, Easter egg-like cameo during History of the World, Part II, called Brooks her hero and her childhood crush during a recent interview on CBC's q.
"I just went to the premiere of it, they showed the first two episodes, and it just filled my heart. It is so funny," Silverman said.
"It tries stuff, it's so free, it's so ridiculously silly. And it really is in the vein of the original, whilst being original."
Kroll, Barinholtz and Sykes got to lampoon everything from the Russian Revolution, William Shakespeare and the Spanish Inquisition — but two sketches hold special places in their hearts.
"I would say the most ridiculous sketch might be Teddy Roosevelt's workout video, where I'm in garter belts and I'm wrestling with this wonderful older actor named Neville — who sadly has passed away, we dedicated the episode to him — but that was just the craziest day where it just felt so insane," said Barinholtz.
"The other one I would just say is Johnny Knoxville as Rasputin and we shot JackRasp. It was like the Jackass cast, but as Rasputin and a bunch of noblemen trying to kill him," said Kroll.
