History of the World - Part II (Hulu)

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Brian
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History of the World - Part II (Hulu)

Post by Brian »

I haven't finished the series yet but here's what I can say about what we've seen so far:

You might want to lower your expectations.

Yeah, no, lower than that....

Lower....

A little lower....

Lower....

There ya go.
Last edited by Brian on Sat Mar 18, 2023 9:52 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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Re: History of the World- Part II (Hulu)

Post by Blackhawk »

I'm four episodes in. I will get back to it at some point, but I generally agree with Brian's assessment. There are some hilarious bits.

And then there is Stalin singing.
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Re: History of the World- Part II (Hulu)

Post by Kraken »

I kinda hoped this would suck because I don’t have Hulu.
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Re: History of the World- Part II (Hulu)

Post by Brian »

Finished it. The last four episodes I think I laughed/chuckled once. The first four episodes had some genuinely funny bits but you had to endure a lot of mediocrity and forced/unfunny jokes to get those few and far between gems.

Also, you'd better be a big fan of Wanda Sykes and Nick Kroll (I'm not, so much) because you are going to get more than your fill of these two.

I feel this is a show that didn't need to be made and it seems like maybe the writers felt the same way.
I gave it a shot and was disappointed and maybe (probably) you will be too but there are a few good jokes and we probably got some modicum of entertainment playing "name that cameo!"

I give it 2.5 out of 8 tentacles.
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Re: History of the World- Part II (Hulu)

Post by Scuzz »

We tried to watch this but for every laugh there were minutes of painful failure. So we only watched two episodes.
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Re: History of the World- Part II (Hulu)

Post by Jaymann »

Another example of waiting WAY too long before a sequel. This might be a candidate for a "best of" You Tube video.
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Re: History of the World - Part II (Hulu)

Post by Blackhawk »

They didn't seem to get what made the original work, and tried to make a sequel while playing it 'safe.'

It's like trying to remake Blazing Saddles without saying anything offensive to modern audiences.
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Re: History of the World - Part II (Hulu)

Post by YellowKing »

Shrug, I'm three episodes in and like it quite a bit. As with anything it's not going to be knee-slapping hiliarious from start to finish but I LOLed more than a few times. That's a rare occurrence for me with *any* comedy.
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Re: History of the World - Part II (Hulu)

Post by hepcat »

I love Mel Brooks, but my probably unpopular opinion is that Spaceballs was the beginning of the end for his comedy. He turned almost completely to stupid puns and “safe” jokes. Robin Hood and Dracula are unwatchable for me. So I had little hope for this, and thus planned on avoiding it. And it sounds like I made the right call.
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Re: History of the World - Part II (Hulu)

Post by hentzau »

I have found as I have aged that Mel Brooks comedy did not age with me, with the exception of Young Frankenstein.
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Re: History of the World - Part II (Hulu)

Post by TheMix »

hentzau wrote: Sun Mar 19, 2023 2:44 pm I have found as I have aged that Mel Brooks comedy did not age with me, with the exception of Young Frankenstein.
:text-+1:

Though I would probably include Blazing Saddles as well. I do still mostly enjoy that one as well.

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Re: History of the World - Part II (Hulu)

Post by Scuzz »

I think I agree with Hepcat above that at some point long ago Brooks kind of lost it, and maybe it did have something to do with him going to puns and gags rather than stuff that today we would call politically incorrect humor. Although Young Frankenstein doesn’t use that.
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Re: History of the World - Part II (Hulu)

Post by Blackhawk »

His stuff suffered when he went from suck to blow satire to parody.

Not that some of it wasn't funny, it was just... lessened.
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Re: History of the World - Part II (Hulu)

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Re: History of the World - Part II (Hulu)

Post by Max Peck »

I forgot all about this. It's available on Disney+ here in Canada, but they aren't promoting it at all. Maybe there's a reason for that... :whistle:
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Re: History of the World - Part II (Hulu)

Post by Isgrimnur »

Max Peck wrote: Sun Mar 19, 2023 6:21 pm I forgot all about this. It's available on Disney+ here in Canada, but they aren't promoting it at all. Maybe there's a reason for that... :whistle:
Given the laws up there, admitting to watching it might get you prosecuted. :wink:
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Re: History of the World - Part II (Hulu)

Post by YellowKing »

Regarding not being edgy:

I wouldn't exactly rate
Spoiler:
Alexander Graham Bell being prank called into fucking his own telephone
a rated G, clean cut sketch! :lol:

I mean did anyone besides Brian actually watch this, or are you just assuming it's bad because you've already decided Mel Brooks has lost his way?
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Re: History of the World - Part II (Hulu)

Post by Max Peck »

They got the required Canadian content out of the way in the very first segment (the Canadian judge gave Hitler a 0), so I think we're good to go here.
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Re: History of the World - Part II (Hulu)

Post by Blackhawk »

YellowKing wrote: Sun Mar 19, 2023 6:33 pm Regarding not being edgy:

I wouldn't exactly rate
Spoiler:
Alexander Graham Bell being prank called into fucking his own telephone
a rated G, clean cut sketch! :lol:

I mean did anyone besides Brian actually watch this, or are you just assuming it's bad because you've already decided Mel Brooks has lost his way?
Compare phone sex to "A black sheriff?!?". It isn't that it's all PG13 (it's not), it's that it's safe content. The best Mel Brooks was socially relevant satire. It slapped certain attitudes across the face with its edgey content.

This was just skits with jokes.

And yes, several of us said that we watched it, myself included. I think I'm 5 episodes in.
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Re: History of the World - Part II (Hulu)

Post by malchior »

My wife and I gave this a few episodes and decided it wasn't for us. I believe I agree with others. The ratio of jokes that land versus not land is low.
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Re: History of the World - Part II (Hulu)

Post by YellowKing »

I guess I'm in the minority then, and just enjoy the goofy humor. I don't think Young Frankenstein or Spaceballs fall into the realm of "edgy content" yet are two of my favorite comedies of all time.

And I think the days of comedians being edgy are long gone, when the pitchfork wielding mob can cancel them at the drop of a hat.
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Re: History of the World - Part II (Hulu)

Post by hepcat »

Young Frankenstein was just a solid comedy. It’s also one of my favorites. The Producers, High Anxiety, History of the World Part I, Blazing Saddles…I love them all. But it just feels like Mel started leaning more and more into schlock, slapstick and puns as time went on. There’s an audience for that, and I certainly enjoy stuff that others don’t, so no insult intended.
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Re: History of the World - Part II (Hulu)

Post by hentzau »

hepcat wrote: Sun Mar 19, 2023 10:34 pm Young Frankenstein was just a solid comedy. It’s also one of my favorites. The Producers, High Anxiety, History of the World Part I, Blazing Saddles…I love them all. But it just feels like Mel started leaning more and more into schlock, slapstick and puns as time went on. There’s an audience for that, and I certainly enjoy stuff that others don’t, so no insult intended.
I forgot about The Producers. That is a solid comedy.
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