Mel Brooks coined the title of his comedy “History of the World, Part I” (The History of the World, Part 1) which first aired in 1981 as a joke.

There were never plans for a Part 2, but with the streaming revolution, Mel Brooks, his associate producer Kevin Salter and rights holder Searchlight Pictures decided to explore a sequel in series form.

Then they contacted Nick Kroll for “History of the World, Part II.” Kroll tapped comedians Wanda Sykes, Ike Baringholz and David Stassen to develop the 21st century version of the legendary comedy.

As the Covid-19 pandemic kept everyone at home they called Mel Bruce into a virtual room to write the script.

“First of all, it was a long-distance call, so I wanted to determine who was paying for it,” joked 96-year-old Mel Brooks in an interview with Variety. “And they said they’re paying, so I said, ‘okay’.”

“I was stuck in this situation with Covid where you didn’t see people, you were locked in a cave. So this was a very welcome relief from isolation,” he added.

Having worked for decades as a writer, director, producer and actor on his own projects, Brooks said he was happy to do whatever the new creative team asked, which included anything from narrating, writing jokes or removing elements he felt didn’t belong. they matched. “I am the Jewish adviser, ready to advise them on everything,” he noted.

Mel Brooks and his collaborators created the eight-episode series for Hulu “History of the World, Part II.” Based on the original film, each episode features various skits about famous people and events in world history.

“I’m very happy that I’m still writing comedy and hearing people laugh every once in a while,” said Mel Brooks. “There is no greater reward for someone in comedy than to make the audience laugh. It’s just exciting. There’s nothing like comedy. You don’t think about the bad things. You think about whether something is really funny and whether it makes you laugh. It’s a bit of a miracle. I love it,” he added.