If you’d said to any Mel Brooks fan even three years ago that we’d finally be getting a long-awaited sequel to History of the World, Part I, the epic parody film that took audiences through all of human history, they’d likely have called you crazy. But, in 2023, that vision is finally a reality, and the much anticipated History of the World, Part II, has finally arrived, shepherded in by writers, stars, and executive producers Wanda Sykes, Nick Kroll, and Ike Barinholtz.
The series continues the tradition begun by Brooks, framing each episode as a series of sketches covering the entire history of civilization — and then some. Among the many, many stars of the show are Josh Gad, who plays Shakespeare, Jay Ellis as Jesus of Nazareth, and Zazie Beetz, playing Mary Magdalene. The three star in a number of sketches stretching across the series, including Shakespeare leading a writer’s room in an attempt to brainstorm his next big hit, or Jesus and Mary as parodies of John Lennon and Yoko Ono, attempting to writer Jesus’s last great sermon in the style of The Beatles’ final performance.
Collider was excited to sit down with Gad, Beetz, and Ellis to talk about the show and how they got involved. During this interview, they discussed what it was like getting to improv with comedy greats on the show’s production team, where they first encountered Brooks’s work, and most importantly — who does the best British accent.
12