Just 42 years later, here's the star-studded teaser for Mel Brooks' History Of The World, Part II

Nick Kroll, Wanda Sykes, Ike Barinholtz, and a wholebunch of famous people star in the teaser for Hulu's 4-part follow-up to the 1981 Brooks film

By William Hughes  |  January 15, 2023 | 12:21am
TV News Mel Brooks
Just 42 years later, here's the star-studded teaser for Mel Brooks' History Of The World, Part II
Seth Rogen Screenshot: YouTube

The title of History Of The World, Part I—Mel Brooks’ scattershot but memorable collection of historical comedy sketches, originally released back in 1981—was always supposed to be a joke. (It’s a riff on Sir Walter Raleigh’s famed The History Of The World, Volume 1, not a promise of an incipient sequel.) And yet, wouldn’t you know it: 42 years later, we’re watching the teaser trailer for Hulu’s sequel mini-series, History Of The World, Part II.

History of the World Part 2 | Teaser | Hulu

As we reported last year, this long-awaited (?) sequel is a co-production between Brooks, who introduces the teaser, and Wanda Sykes, Ike Barinholtz, and Nick Kroll, all of whom appear prominently. And while we don’t get any glimpses of “Hitler On Ice” or “Jews In Space”—both promised in the fake trailer that played at the end of the original movie—we do get a sense that the four-part series is going to cover a whole lot of historical ground.

Highlights include Sykes as Harriet Tubman (who a dim-bulb Confederate, played by champion dim bulb performer Tim Baltz, identifies as “the inventor of the bathtub”) and Joe Lo Truglio as a Catholic official who definitely, absolutely doesn’t want Jesus to be depicted as white in the official artwork. (Also, there’s a bit where Jake Johnson, as Marco Polo, yells “Marco!” and it’s a dumb laugh, but we’d be lying if we didn’t admit it got us.)

Also: Celebrities all over the place in this one. Brooks himself doesn’t seem to appear in any of the skits—man’s 96, cut him a break—but we do get appearances from *deep breath* Pamela Adlon, Zazie Beetz, Quinta Brunson, Dove Cameron, Danny DeVito, Jay Ellis, Josh Gad, Johnny Knoxville, Kumail Nanjiani, Emily Ratajkowski, Seth Rogen, Sarah Silverman, Taika Waiti, J.B. Smoove, Jillian Bell, Sam Richardson, and Richard Kind. (And we definitely missed some.) Phew!

 
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