“History of The World: Part II” star Nick Kroll says the new Hulu series continues Mel Brooks’ legacy of “poking fun at those in power.”
“Mel’s ultimate goal was always to poke fun at those in power and how greedy and stupid they were,” Kroll said during the 2023 Television Critics Association’s Winter Press Tour on Saturday. “And so doing a show about history now at a time when we are reexamining the past, how things went down, it became a very easy through-line to just continue Mel’s legacy of poking fun at those in power.”
While the landscape of comedy has shifted in the 40 years since Brooks’ film “History of The World: Part I” was released, Kroll argues that comedians can “still say and do insane things.”
“They just have to be a little more thoughtful about how and why you’re saying them,” he added.
Brooks is a writer and executive producer on the Hulu series along with Kroll, Wanda Sykes, Ike Barinholtz and David Stassen. Kroll called working with the 96-year-old comedy legend “one of the of the true honors and privileges of my life.”
“I remember very early meetings with Mel and he was like ‘I got jokes.’ He had bits ready to go,” Kroll recalled. “I had the privilege and deep fear of directing Mel doing voiceover, and there’s nothing better than hearing Mel Brooks say, ‘Oh, good idea.’ And there’s nothing more crushing than pitching Mel a joke and he be like, ‘No, I’m not saying that. That’s bad.’”
When asked about the possibility of future “History of The World” seasons, Kroll said that he would be open to the prospect but noted that Brooks would have to be involved.
“The guy has an insane life force and he’s still got jokes,” Kroll said. So if and when we would make more, it would be with Mel.”
In addition to Brooks, Kroll, Sykes, Barinholtz and Stassen, the series is executive produced by Kevin Salter and Christie Smith. The 8-episode season is directed by Alice Mathias, David Stassen, Nick Kroll and Lance Bangs.
“History of the World, Part II” is a production of Searchlight Television and 20th Television. The series launches on Hulu with the first two episodes on March 6 and two episodes released nightly through March 9.
