History of the World: Part II

Listen, I love Mel Brooks. Love his humor, his zingers and bluntness. But this was not funny and I don't blame Mr. Brooks for that at all. If you're a fan of Ike Barinholtz, Nick Kroll and Wanda Sykes then this show is for you because they are the main characters and in every episode (Sykes being in only 7 of the 8 episodes). They also direct and write episodes. If you're looking for laughs, this isn't the show for you. I'm seriously hoping they don't make a season 2 because it was so boring and there was too much of Krull and Barinholtz that just killed it for me. Some of the bits went on too long and you just lose interest. Took me way too long to finish the last 2 episodes because I just didn't want to do it.

What an embarrassment!

Hammy improv-style acting of unfunny scripts depicting various moments in history

A few name actors ... Danny DeVito, Wanda Sykes, Marla Gibbs, Kym Whitley, Rob Corddry ... get stuck in this mess but most of the cast are a bunch of nobodies who likely have Youtube shows or something of that ilk.

While Mel Brooks' original 1981 movie was one of his worst, this TV series makes that film look like a masterpiece.

I barely made it through the first episode. Schmucky schtick about Abraham Lincoln, Rasputin, Shakespeare and a Russian shtetl (with inane musical numbers) make this just about unwatchable.

This is not Mel Brooks Humor.

This is a reboot of The Kroll Show with special guest Wanda Sykes.

There is WAY too much Nick Kroll here.. way, way, way way too much... and I have never found Nick Kroll funny. He just does some silly accent and thinks THAT makes a bit funny.. it doesn't.

The Sykes sketches are far more political in nature than they are funny. Sykes brought her soapbox to the set....

The Bariholtz sketches are okay.. but only because they are OFTEN merely trying to mimic the atmosphere of Blazing Saddles in some way. Several aspects are direct, uhmm, "homages" to Blazing Saddles.

Every single actor in this is also a producer...

I imagine Mel Brooks just "trusting" these people to write what's (permissibly) funny today. After all, MOST of Mel Brooks's films would NEVER be made today because they would be seen as too offensive.

Unfortunately, this series just isn't funny..

.... the Jackass/Johnny Knoxville/Rasputin bits are the only okay aspect throughout the ENTIRE series.. and they are only 2 minutes in length, if that.

If you like Nick Kroll.. you may love this series. If, like me, you find Nick Kroll more annoying than funny, you may hate this series.

Most anthologies are "hit or miss" but this one is extreme in that and, unfortunately, mostly miss. What's even more depressing is that a project bearing the name of Mel Brooks, the Grandfather of Bad Taste, shows so little of his trademark edgy humor. The funniest bit -- far FAR -- is a horribly offensive and utterly hilarious version of Jesus's capture by the Romans entitled "Curb your Judaism." THAT'S the Mel Brooks I know and love! Some bits, like the Russian Revolution, Shakespeare, the Oslo Accords, and the actual "Hitler on Ice" promised at the end of Part I show some of the old Brooks magic. But, sadly, such moments are few and far between.

I hate to use the "W" word, but not sure what other reason there is for spending so much time on Shirley Chisolm (a minor US politician from the 70's) and presenting her as such an important figure in the history of the entire world. She is presented in a seemingly endless, painfully unfunny, virtue signaling sketch based on "The Jeffersons." Another endless and unfunny bit is Jesus (who is Black, of course, along with Mary Magdelene and several Apostles) doing a takeoff on The Beatles "Get Back" documentary. There's a "Jackass" takeoff that is just awful. Other sketches just don't work, and too many attempts to comment on either the technology or social issues of today fall flat.

I'd like to say that they could make a decent 90 minute film out of the 4 hours of the show but I'm not sure. I know they could make an awesome 30 minute show... maybe a "Best Of" would work better?

If you haven't watched Mel Brooks, then don't make this your first impression -- go back and watch "The Producers," "The Twelve Chairs", "Blazing Saddles," "Young Frankenstein." Go and seek out "The 2000 Year Old Man" with Carl Reiner. Even minor works like "Spaceballs," "High Anxiety," and, of course, "History of the World, Part 1." If you have consumed all that, you can watch this and try to enjoy the good nuggets. But do NOT let this be your first impression of one of the greatest comic geniuses of all time.

Wow, what a waste of talent. As someone who has loved Mel Brooks for decades (and quoted "Blazing Saddles" on practically a weekly basis for just as long), this was a crushing disappointment.

Clumsy, forced jokes that would embarrass your average middle-schooler combined with just flat-out unfunny writing make a cringeworthy, discombobulated mess. This is also the first time I've ever seen Wanda Sykes NOT be funny. And the D-Day scene at the beginning of episode 2 was just a foul, disgusting mess. Somebody obviously thought that just having people fire stupid lines at each other quickly would somehow be funny - it's not.

Madeline Kahn is spinning in her grave.