History Of The World, Part II review: Mel Brooks’ sketch show is a meta facepalm
Avoiding offense (and anything funny), the Hulu series feels like Drunk History with PG-rated dad jokes
TV Reviews Mel Brooks
Usually ranked well below Blazing Saddles but above Robin Hood: Men In Tights, Mel Brooks’ sketch-driven History Of The World, Part I was a guilty treat for late-night teenage viewing. It starts by spoofing 2001: A Space Odyssey with a group-masturbation gag (furry Neanderthals who discover their junk) and ends with a fake ad for Part II, featuring “Jews In Space” and “Hitler On Ice.” Between, writer-director-star Brooks unleashed a torrent of dick jokes, fart jokes, piss jokes, drug jokes, and punchlines targeting gay and Black people, Jews, and women. Like an R-rated edition of Mad Magazine sprung to life, History may be Brooks’ crassest, horniest film, which is saying something.
It’s also the hardest for audiences today to swallow—not just because of the sleazy vibe and equal-opportunity offensiveness. Unlike the timeless, subversive cool of Gene Wilder in Young Frankenstein or Cleavon Little in Saddles, the house style in History was broad, hysterical schtick: mugging, dumb puns, clowning. Today’s fashionable comic mode is the deadpan, the medicated, the awkwardly hip. Contemporary joke writing has to walk a minefield of uncovering humor without stepping on sensitive topics. Laughing at the past can be construed as endorsing oppression and suffering. All of which might explain the unfortunate failure of Hulu’s History Of The World: Part II, which is about as funny as a high-school textbook left out in the rain.
Headlined by the hard-working Ike Barinholtz, Nick Kroll, and Wanda Sykes, and narrated by Brooks, the cameo-packed series (which premieres March 6) strings along sketches about Jesus, the Civil War, and the Russian Revolution, with one-off vignettes and filler. The action takes place more or less in the Mel Brooks Cinematic Universe, with winking allusions to The Producers and Blazing Saddles that land with a thud (conspicuously absent: any variation on “It’s good to be the king”). When Nick Kroll’s whiny shtetl dweller Schmuck Mudman starts to quote Leo Bloom freaking out on Max Bialystock, it’s a meta-facepalm.
In the 1981 movie, Brooks burlesqued major epochs—the Roman Empire, the French Revolution, and so forth—through Boomer-era movie tropes: sword-and-sandal epic, Esther Williams–Busby Berkeley pool extravaganza, Rat Pack buddy flick. The scaled-down (read: cheap-looking) version for the series operates similarly: insert cast member or guest star in historical event, then parody TV show or internet phenomenon. So the Russian Revolution bits borrow from Keeping Up With The Kardashians, Fiddler On The Roof, and Instagram influencers. Galileo (Nick Kroll) appears as a Renaissance Try Guy between sketches on TicciTocci. Johnny Knoxville is the host of JackRasp, playing infamous Romanov parasite Rasputin getting his dick chopped off. Sykes portrays the first Black Congresswoman, Shirley Chisholm, in a Jeffersons-style ’70s sitcom called Shirley! Jesus (Jay Ellis), the apostles, and Mary Magdalene (Zazie Beetz) pop up as nitpicking nudges in Curb Your Judaism, then in a weak-sauce mockumentary riff on The Beatles: Get Back.
Few of these mashups seem to have been developed past the pitch line and sit there at sub-SNL levels of satiric timidity. When not lampooning, the writing defaults to stoner absurdism: Noah (Seth Rogen) brings not two of every creature aboard the Ark, but an assortment of adorable tiny dogs. If you like history-based humor, there’s far wittier material in Cunk On Earth.
By the fifth episode, Part II starts to find a comic pulse when three Union soldiers (Tim Baltz, Zahn McClarnon, Tyler James Williams) sent to rescue a dipsomaniacal Grant (Barinholtz) and Lincoln’s idiot son distract a Southern lynch mob with stand-up and music. Their inspired banjo ditty “Fuck The North” almost approaches South Park degrees of inspired stupidity (even if musical numbers throughout are undercooked). Josh Gad scores zingers playing William Shakespeare as diva showrunner to a room of Elizabethan scribes. The spiciest walk-0n, god help us, is Jason Alexander as a notary public and part-time mohel who micromanages the signing of the treaty to end the Civil War. Alexander’s manic, Borscht Belt pizazz feels both antiquated and instructional.
Despite the disappointment this series will be to fans of the movie, there is a sobering lesson: The future of satire will depend on how ugly writers and performers are willing to get. Retrograde and lazy comedy punches down; virtuous, often smug comedy punches up; the truest sort (even History Of the World, Part I) punches in both directions to dismantle all pieties. Sadly, this limp coda to the Brooks oeuvre only lands a half-hearted knuckle sandwich on its own crotch.
History Of The World, Part II premieres March 6 on Hulu
138 Comments
I can sum up this show in 3 words:“What’s the point?”
I can answer with one gesture, but you can’t see it so I’ll answer with one word instead:Money.
I’m imagining your gesture and I’m offended by the implied antisemitism I made up in my mind.
That was the title of Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money
Count de Money
De MonET!
“De Mon-ay!”
Spaceballs 2: The Search for More Money!
So for this to be enjoyable, it’ll need a miracle?
(far-off whinny)
Frau Blucher?
Brooks did go back to the same well on that joke, didn’t he.
Ovaltine?
The way you describe the “Fuck the North” bit makes it sound like a direct rip-off of Trainspotting 2’s excellent “No More Catholics” bit.
I had a feeling that would be the case, will probably watch it anyhow but Brooks hasn’t been funny since the ‘90s unfortunately :(“If you like history-based humor, there’s far wittier material in Cunk On Earth.”Cunk on Earth is goddamn hilarious, everyone should watch it.
+1. I had no idea what it was when I hit play and I absolutely loved it.
Same, I was hooked within 5 minutes. I’m glad there weren’t many episodes, the writers got to use all the good jokes and didn’t have to come up with filler. Diane Morgan is amazing.
The moment she did the walk and talk and changed from the city to the countryside and kept yelling for a minute I was hooked.I don’t know if you ever watched The Day the Universe Changed, which was an old (80s) PBS show about the history of science, but this show really seems to take a lot from that show specifically. (That show is also great and I think you can find it on YouTube).
The name isn’t familiar but back in the ‘80s PBS was one of 3 channels that we actually got so I probably did watch at least some of it.
I first encountered James Burke walking/talking across continents on “Connections,” his follow-up series.
Connections was seven years before The Day the Universe Changed. You’re probably thinking of Connections 2 or 3.
Ah, thanks. In the States we’re accustomed to only learning about BBC shows years after they start, so I just assumed I saw the newer show first.
Personally, I prefer Jacob Bronowski and his “Ascent of Man” which is a great series, ignoring the sexist terminology for humanity (it was 1973), but when Bronowski suddenly died, Burke was the replacement for that sort of thing.
David Attenborough might be another inspiration — Life on Earth has a bit early on with an ostentatious switch of locations to show fossil-bearing rocks.
British educator/writer James Burke did two series showing how things we use/are used to today are connected to historical inventions and events—CONNECTIONS (the first series was great, but subsequent ones suffer from The Law of Diminishing Returns) and THE DAY THE UNIVERSE CHANGED. This is the first episode of CONNECTIONS:and apparently THE DAY THE UNIVERSE CHANGED ended up on Dailymotion:
Even better than TDTUC in the James Burke Television Universe is the first series of Connections.
Don’t go on YouTube then, there is a crap-ton of Cunk material that has been eating a lot of my time of late.
You have to go to YouTube for it (in the US, at least), but also see its predecessor Cunk on Britain. (“Harold won the Battle of Hastings by taking an arrow in the eye. He died shortly after that…nobody knows why.”)
I’m catching up on Party Down(Never had Starz during its original run) but I’m gonna get on Cunk on Britain after that. Thanks!
I kept seeing ads for it on our streaming box, and I was like, wtf is this, so I looked it up. It’s a Charlie Brooker joint! I watched the first few minutes and it was great, so I definitely will catch up with it.
Yeah, I love Mel Brooks but I haven’t enjoyed any of his movies since Spaceballs (I realize Men in Tights has its fans, but it was just eye-roll city for me on that one). And the trailer for this show didn’t exactly inspire much confidence. You’re supposed to put some of your best jokes in the trailer, and if those were the best? Woof…
Men in Tights is ok but it’s an obvious drop in quality. The Spaceballs cartoon, though…ouch…
On the other hand, Curb Your Judaism, made me chuckle.
oh my god, i had forgotten about how awful that was. bad flash animation… was Brooks actually involved beyond “producer”?
The internet tells me he wrote the first episode too.
Men In Tights isn’t as good as I remember it being but I still have a soft spot for it since it was the first Brooks I saw in theaters.
For me, the drop-off for Brooks was when he started trying to be current with his references. Spaceballs riffed on decades of sci-fi, specifically Star Wars (and the merchandising thereof). Blazing Saddles riffed on westerns. Young Frankenstein riffed on, well, Frankenstein movies. All filtered through Brooks’ borscht-belt comic sensibility. Then you have Men in Tights, that did a bunch bits like the “Nike Pump Shoes” joke, a “White Men Can’t Jump” joke, a “Home Alone” joke, and generally the kind of lazy “spot the reference” crap that instantly dates the movie and really should be banished to those shitty “Epic Movie” half-assed crapfests. It’s still got enough of Brooks that it’s not a complete failure, but it was an unfortunate sign of things to come.
Not sure that’s better or worse than Woody Allen continuing to draw on Tennessee Williams and Ingmar Bergman 50 years after they were ‘current’.
If only that was the worst thing Woody Allen was guilty of
I unabashedly love Men In Tights, but you’re absolutely correct that Tights has that really specific dated/reference humour. A lot of very specific riffs on Robin Hoods: Prince of Thieves that don’t quite land (Asneeze/achoo). The pumps and home alone, and white men can’t jump joke (which is still really funny to me anyway). That’s why those epic movies are so bad, they’re literally just “it’s the exact thing but what if gross?” The first Scary Movie wasn’t… totally horrible. But that’s the entire bit. “It’s the same scene, but this time we kill the guy with a dildo instead of a knife! HILARITY!” Classic Brooks was still character based and you gain a lot by riffing on the broad idea, rather than the specifics. Older Zucker movies are similar. Airplane doesn’t even require real knowledge of disaster movies; The Naked Gun riffs on the entire police procedurals. But goddamn, “MASTER ROBIN! YOU LOST YOUR ARMS… BUT GREW A REALLY NICE OF BOOBS!” and “Blinken, WHAT are you doing?” “I’m… guessing? I’m guessing nobody is coming!” Cary Elwes playing the entire movie virtually straight and deadpan is glorious. Amy Yasbeck IS gorgeous. The Sherriff is gold; Prince John: “I have a MOLE???”
it’s also so stupid but I love the “let’s fox them joke.” “it really IS the key to the greatest treasure in all the land!”… man, I’m gonna watch Men in Tights tonight.
Yeah, the specific Prince of Thieves references (“Unlike some Robin Hoods, I can speak with an English accent . . .) are solid and not too far off from “RANDOLPH SCOTT!!” from Blazing Saddles (which means nothing if you’re not familiar with Western movies and is REALLY funny if you are) and it’s still a damn funny movie, but the THESE ARE REFERENCES FROM 1993!!! bits are rough and were an unfortunate sign of things to come.
“my full names will Scarlett O’Hara. we’re from Georgia.”
This will always crack me up. Amy Yasbeck’s reaction shots are what put it over the top:
Glad I’m not the only one who LOVES Men in Tights.
Never got around to seeing Men in Tights, but I loved the When Things Were Rotten TV show when I was a kid.Not sure how it’d age if I saw it now. Not sure I want to know.
i think i liked that show as a kid.
Is the Nike joke really any different than the Perri-air joke in Spaceballs?A college professor once said to our class that Mel Brooks was like SNL – you loved what you discovered and what came before, but hated anything after. He hated Spaceballs and thought the jokes were cheap. Our class, who discovered him on Spaceballs, were shocked that he felt the way about it we did about Men in Tights.Gave me some perspective, I think. But I’d also maintain that, while Spaceballs has some cheap jokes about that moment in time, it also has “this is now.”
Is the Nike joke really any different than the Perri-air joke in Spaceballs?I think so, because you don’t need to know what Perrier is for the joke to work. You can remove the label and it’s still funny that Scroob gets off a call saying there’s plenty of air and immediately starts sniffing fresh air out of a can. (It’s not a great joke, but it’s a joke.) The Nike Pump joke starts and ends at, “These shoes exist.” Same with the Home Alone gag. Kid runs around and does the Home Alone face. And then he says he’s Home Alone. End of joke. And I don’t care who you are, Dracula, Dead and Loving It was hot garbage and puts the lie to your professor’s theory. NOBODY, of any age, is running around saying that’s their favorite. I personally just think that Mel Brooks was getting a little self-conscious as he got older and was a little worried that his borscht-belt comic sensibility was going out of fashion so he tried a little too hard to be “modern”. I don’t think he had cause to worry, classic Bugs Bunny cartoons are considered classics for a reason, and it’s largely the same type of humor.
The early-90s bits nearly kill what otherwise could’ve been a pretty decent movie. tbh, though, I find Brooks’s Dracula underrated.
Well, there’s also the fact that Richard Pryor co-wrote Blazing Saddles and Gene Wilder co-wrote Young Frankenstein. I think in both cases they balanced out Brooks zany but sometimes outdated humor. The fact that the funniest scene in Young Frankenstein was the one that Wilder had to fight to keep the movie (the Putting on the Ritz number) pretty much tells the whole story.
I recommended Cunk on Earth to everyone I know immediately after watching it. God that was hysterical. Her earlier Cunk on Britain and other one-offs are just as good.
I didn’t know there was an earlier series, is it on any streaming services?
You can find some YT playlists that have Cunk On Britain and then just a search for Cunk On should bring up other stuff. Some of the quality isn’t as good but for Cunk on Britain especially, there’s a playlist that has two sets of the same eps, you’ll want the second set.
Damn thanks I’m gonna check that out!
Society peaked at King Arthur Came A Lot.
The main issue with Mel Brooks is MOST of his stuff 100% would not get made today for various reasons.
I don’t think that’s actually the case, I think he just used up all his good material before the ‘90s.
is that an issue, or is it a reference on his comedy not exactly…holding up?
I’ve always adored Mel Brooks the person. The comedian/writer/director? Not so much. Even as a child I found it infantile, immature, lazy and hacky. And I was like, 7. I remember at 8 in the early 80’s going “Wow, a whole scene of fart jokes. And more of the insults. And some more fart jokes. Oh, good, wordplay. Always great.” Like, groan city for a child in the 80’s- I can’t imagine it holds up much better today.Nor that he’s still making “hot” comedy in his 90’s based on the 1970’s humor references he is winking to.Sorry, Mr. Brooks, it’s just…not working. Now CUNK? That’s some comic gold.
Well more so his particular style of comedy being very much of the “older” style where things like racist joke or other similar things just don’t fly in modern times. And as you mentioned a lot of his comedy is infantile and immature. I personally enjoy his movies, more or less.
No it isn’t, his stuff already got made a while ago, we don’t need his stuff to be made today. I can go buy Blazing Saddles if I want, it’s on the internet and everything!
Isn’t it basically gender-swapped Ali G (who was a far funnier character than Borat, IMHO)
Not at all, no.
I don’t know which part you are arguing about but my point is that Ali G and Cunk both have the shtick where a comedian pretending to be an idiot interviews people who are actual experts and exasperates them. Which I find funnier than the Borat shtick where a comedian interviews assholes/idiots and the targets don’t get that they are the joke.
Oh I see what you mean, yeah pretty much.
This is the best thing on the internet since Belgian techno supergroup Technotronic released their epoch-defining dance club smash Pump Up the Jam.
Brooks hasn’t been funny since the release of the unrelated Belgian techno anthem Pump Up The Jam.
Brooks hasn’t been funny since the ‘90s unfortunatelyAs much as it pains me to say, the last legitimately good, funny movie was spaceballs. Everything after that has been “Please, Mel. Dude, just retire.”And yes, I include Men In Tights in that list. While it’s not unwatchable, compared to what had come before? It’s not very good.
Yeah ‘Men in Tights’ is just ok compared to Spaceballs or Blazing Saddles.
The Producers musical came out in 2001. Yes it was an update of the original movie, but I’d say it was pretty funny. The movie sucked. (the second one)
You say “PG-rated dad jokes” like it’s a bad thing.
It is when it’s from someone like Mel Brooks, who’s clearly more talented than that.
More talented than a PG-rated dad like me?
It was the height of the Great Depression, and times were tough. But there was one man who refused to let hard times get him down – Benny Goldstein.Benny was a small-time con artist with a heart of gold. He had a talent for talking his way out of sticky situations, and he used that talent to make a living during the Depression.One day, Benny had a brilliant idea. He decided to open up a speakeasy, selling booze to people who were looking for a way to forget their troubles.Benny’s speakeasy was a hit. People flocked to the joint, eager to drink and dance the night away. And Benny was making a fortune.But Benny’s luck soon ran out. The speakeasy was raided by the police, and Benny found himself facing a lengthy prison sentence.Desperate to avoid jail time, Benny came up with a plan. He would stage a musical, with the profits going to charity. He hoped that the judge would see him as a reformed man and give him a lenient sentence.Benny’s musical was a disaster from the start. The actors couldn’t sing or dance, the sets kept falling apart, and the audience was heckling them at every turn.But Benny refused to give up. He poured his heart and soul into the production, determined to make it a success.And somehow, against all odds, Benny’s musical ended up being a smash hit. People were laughing and singing along, and the show raised a ton of money for charity.In the end, Benny was let off with a light sentence, and he went on to become a beloved figure in his community. He continued to run his speakeasy, but this time he did it above board, selling only the finest and most legal booze.And every now and then, Benny would break out into song, belting out a tune from his ill-fated musical. It may not have been a great production, but it had brought joy to a lot of people during one of the darkest periods in American history. That’s why, even to this day, people line up for tickets to every production of HOBO! The Musical.
“…is about as funny as a high-school textbook left out in the rain.”However bad it is, I’m sure the writing is better than this.
I’ve seen textbooks left out in the rain and they were effing hilarious.
‘Funny as a high school textbook’ would have worked…the rain part is what lost me.
He just listened to Macarthur Park.
And I’ll never have that math problem again.
Dammit, I just got the MacArthur Park reference.
Don’t you get it? It’s funny because the book is wet.
Some thoughtful soul drew cartoons and goofy captions all over my freshman year history textbook. I don’t know how I got any work done, laughing so hard.
Can’t we just have Drunk History back?
Hard to imagine this being worse than movie, which had one good joke: the “First Served, First Come” sign for the orgy.
The movie’s sophomoric, but I actually think it has a lot of funny lines within its puerile framework. “Give to Oediups, Give to Oediups; Hey Josephus” “Hey, motherfucker!” is a pretty solid one. “It’s good to be the king” is a pretty incredible Brooksian delivery. And the Inquisition song has a bunch of good puns. It’s spotty but I actually think it’s more clever than a lot of things in Spaceballs or basically any Brooks post-Spaceballs.
Correct. The inquisition song was hilarious. And I thought the French Revolution bit had some other great lines (from memory):“Sire, the peasants are revolting!” You’re telling me, they’re disgusting! Pphh!”“I am their sovereign, they are my subjects. I love them. Pull! Aiiiieeeah!”“Wait for the shake.”
“Don’t get saucy with me, Bearnaise.”
My most quoted line.
Also, I think the line was about the peasants revolting was, “You said it! They stink on ice!”
“We’re too poor to even afford our own language! We just have this stupid accent! We all sound like Maurice Chevalier. Unnnh hunhhh hunh huuunh!”
This one is my favorite.
Bon jour, scum.
*they stink on ice!Also:“Don’t get saucy with me, Bearnais!”Not as funny now, but hilarious at the time.
Spaceballs is painful. History of the World has the conviction to feed Orson Welles the line, “then came the first homosexual marriage,” while a caveman bonks another caveman with a club. It also has lines like “you can’t Torquemada anything,” and “the servant waits while the master baits.” Sometime around 1980 Mel Brooks began targeting his comedy directly at preteens, and History of the World introduced a whole universe of dirty puns.
Spaceballs is painful? That’s it, you’re internet is revoked, go to your room and think about what you’ve done
Spaceballs has always struck me as being EXTREMELY of its time. I’m sure it was the funniest thing ever when it came out because nobody had really spoofed sci-fi, especially Star Wars, before, but it just seems sort of cringe today.
Seeing as Spaceballs came out in 1987, it’s 4-10 years after its time. As a parody, it might have actually been more dated than Men in Tights, which is wild.
Still has better gags. I’ve seen it recently enough. If anyone is going back and watching Space Jam now and saying it’s good, I’ll be impressed.
Read Ebert’s review. Everybody had already parodied Star Wars from Maf magazine onwards. He was puzzled why anyone would care about Star Wars in 1987. It wasn’t like today when it was an active IP. It was done in 1983.
You are right, but like Space Jam, you can’t win because people who saw it as children will defend that crap to the death.
I’m a sucker for “Fifteen.” Crash. “Ten. Ten Commandments.”
“Don’t get saucy with me, Bearnaise!”“The jig is up! ..and gone!”“..the Cretins from Sparta…I mean, the Spartans from Crete”“Groovus!”“my agent, Swiftus”“I’m on my Wine Break”“Where you from? Mesopotemia.. What Part? 185th street..”“Everything’s so green!”“I’m looking for a pack of Trojans. Damn, I just ran out..”“Lindus!”“Pump the shit right outta your house!”“All we have is this stupid accent. Yeah! We all sound like Maurice Chevalier..auh, auh, auh!”“Early Caveman Humour Dance”
“Oh, a bullshit artist! Did you bullshit last week? Did you try to bullshit last week?”“Virgins! Put on your No Entry signs. We’re about to confront guysss.”“I love quicktime harch.”
“Move That Miserable Piece of Shit!”Madeline Kahn’s gum chewing…”Bob..oh Bob? Do I have any openings this man might fit?”
Cunk On Earth is great
I checked out a couple episodes of that last night. I laughed once; the rest was just like “Oh yeah, I get it.”
now you know how we feel about your comments
Oh noes, good comedy is impossible thanks to the PC hoarde! The SJW gestappo has ruined comedy!OR, Brooks’ “edgy” jokes were never that good, Brooks himself hasn’t been funny in years and there was no way this was ever going to be funny, and there are countless hilarious comedians and comedies that don’t have to “punch down,” as you put it, to be hilarious. As if Jerry Seinfeld has to say the N word to land a fantastic joke, or Ali Wong or 1000 other people. Ugh, anytime this mild incel bullshit seeps into someone’s opinion it instantly ruins everything they have to say. Grow up.
Galileo (Nick Kroll) appears as a Renaissance Try Guy between sketches on TicciTocciOof. That’s painful just to read.
Reading that took 5 days off my life.
“Drunk History with [lousy] PG-rated dad jokes” is exactly the vibe the trailer gave off. One of the Drunk History regulars (Tim Baltz) even shows up in it!
I mean I’m not surprised how dire it sounds, but a part of me was hoping it’d be half decent due to the cast. Then again, no matter how strong a cast, if the writing sucks so will the movie.
I’ll probably give it a shot, but this doesn’t sound promising.
So not only is this not funny, but it invalidates the best joke from History of the World Part I, which was the title
In the trailer Shakespeare mocks the idea of adding music to theatrical plays… but we have Samuel Pepys’ diaries of Shakespearian plays, and the music was actually his favorite part. This is what they took from you by insisting on only using the “authentic” versions onstage.
Curious what gives this group more satisfaction: a critically-acclaimed but ultimately dreary two-hour film with an amazing performance, or a really dumb 30-min comedy that doesn’t always work but you get a few easy (cheap) laughs from?
Damn you know it’s bad when even the AV Club thinks the comedy is too safe.
Ugh. I thought this was going to be a movie. Stop with all the series!
Hey, I’ll take PG Dad jokes over the stilted metatextual anti-comedy that’s so de rigueur with the contemporary comedy crowd.“Setups and punchlines? Nah, man, that’s outdated. We want Avid farts and uncomfortable social cues punctuated by our actors rolling their eyes at the audience.”
Holy shit – the AV club wrote a cogent, largely literate and without grammatical errors review. Put this one in the Hall of Fame
largely literate- not the A.V. Club
Thanks, ChatGPT!
“spiciest walk-0n”….
Yeah in addition to typo I legitimately wasn’t sure whether Jason Alexander was good in this or not.
“Contemporary joke writing has to walk a minefield of uncovering humor without stepping on sensitive topics”… which is why good comedy is not being produced in 2023.
The fuck? Do you know the difference between a recap (which are stupid thing to begin with) and an actual review? I’ve read multiple reviews of the show and none are dumb enough to layout the payoff of particular skits in so much detail. You do realize you can write your opinions, as good film critic would, so that only after a the viewer has seen the media in question, they understand your critique? You’re mostly just doing a rundown of what actors appear in what skits, surprises robbed from the viewer. Despite the disappointment this series will be to fans of the movie, there is a sobering lesson: The future of satire will depend on how ugly writers and performers are willing to get. Retrograde and lazy comedy punches down; virtuous, often smug comedy punches up; the truest sort (even History Of the World, Part I) punches in both directions to dismantle all pieties. Sadly, this limp coda to the Brooks oeuvre only lands a half-hearted knuckle sandwich on its own crotch.“The future of satire” depending on anything just kills me here. Because the idea that satire inherently punches “in both directions,’ is a wildly naïve view of satire.
This. It’s clear to me that David Cote knows nothing about satire, comedy or how to write a review. I watched the first episode this morning and loved it.
If Josh Gad is the highlight we are all in trouble.
Anyone know when (or if) this will air on Disney+? We dont have Hulu in Sweden.
Cannot wait to see it
In my opinion, after creating three masterpieces, Producers, Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Mel Brooks’ movies fell off a cliff. If those are all 10’s I’m not sure he made a 5 afterwards. Some are somewhat enjoyable, but that’s the best I can say about any of them.
Sounds like they should have hired the Horrible Histories ensemble of writers/actors instead. They’re also responsible for the original BBC version of Ghosts and a criminally underappreciated family fantasy comedy show called Yonderland (not available in the US, sadly).
We watched this last night and were cracking up almost the whole time.
I think it’s just that writers like this just simply don’t like humor that is simply silly and clownish instead of being like an annoying Wesleyan grad in Bushwick making awkward faces because they are scared of strangers.
I got some laughs out of the first episode, maybe mostly just out of nostalgia and affection for Brooks and his classic style, however dated it is now. But the review failed to mention Pamela Adlon, whose performance alongside Kroll in the Fiddler spoof was the highlight of the episode for me.
Not a lot of this lands, but the Kardashians as Romanovs (Mom has short dark hair, a blonde eating salad, filming make up tutorials) was pretty good. As was Curb Your Judaism. You know where this is going, Jesus wasn’t white. Maybe because Nick and Ike are trying to replicate Mel’s sense of humor, or maybe in 2023, stuff that was seen as outrageous isn’t as funny as it was in 1980.
Going to Hell on Earth? No we’re going to West Virginia. The poor people of WV vote for Joe Manchin and want to keep walking into the bowels of the Earth to dig for a material that will slowly kill them. I’d say that’s Hell on Earth.
Watched it over the weekend: It wasn’t bad!