There is something to be said for the purity of silly comedy. No matter the time period, someone is always making something fun. Now, withHistory of the World: Part IIarriving on Hulu, it’s time to look at this genre and why it remains relevant today.
Let’s get one thing straight. People love to laugh. They also like to laugh at really stupid stuff. For every highbrowBeing John Malkovichcomedy there exist three others that go for the gross-out or the downright stupid joke.
Why Is Comedy Important?
One of the best examples isAirplane!, a film released in 1980 that remains one of the go-to let’s-watch-something-funny movies that was voted thesecond-greatest comedy of all timeby the viewers of UK Channel 4. The Zucker Brothers, who directed the film, were the kings of silly. In fact, one of the reasons for the success ofAirplane!Was that it mirrored, nearly scene for scene, a serious dramatic movie calledZero Hour!(1957) and a 1979 television series calledAirport. These were two properties that took themselves very seriously and that were begging to be taken down a few pegs.
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In a world of serious daily news and a society-wide need to catastrophize, we need comedy. In fact, the best comedies lampoon the things that are top of mind. When cop shows were getting popular, we gotThe Naked Gun. When we were figuring out college, we gotAnimal House. And when 24-hour news became oppressive, we gotAnchorman. These don’t even begin to start the list of silly movies that include theAmerican Piefilms, theScary Moviefranchise, andNapoleon Dynamite. Everyone has a favorite comedy, and they will be happy to share it with you.
Comedy is natural. We all enjoy laughing and regardless of what makes us laugh, we want to share our good mood. Comedy lets us do that in a way where we laugh at ourselves and our perceptions. One great place this happened was the 1981 Mel Brooks movie,History of the World Part I.
Why History Is Hilarious
The one thing that film has taught us is that history can be funny. The reason for this is that we all have the benefit of hindsight. Think of your own childhood. Now think of how stupid it was. If we take that stupidity and multiply it exponentially, we get history.
History is rife with things to make fun of. The main thing is religion, and many comedy movies about religion have been made and banned. In fact, the number one movie considered the greatest comedy of all time by Channel 4isMonty Python’sLife of Brian(1979). Its treatment of history and Catholicism was seen as hilarious by some and awful by others. Yet now, forty years later, the consensus seems to be that it holds up. That is history.
One of the people who decided to tackle the absurdity of our pastwas Mel Brooks. The director of classic comedies such asThe Producers(1967) andYoung Frankenstein(1974) decided in 1981 that he would take a shot at how absurd the history of mankind has been. Starting with cavemen he went straight through Rome and into the French Revolution. In the span of two hours, he took two million years of history and told us how amazing it was that we ever made it this far. That is the beauty of historical farces. They hand us a mirror and ask how we ever got the hubris to keep going.
Why History of the World: Part II Is Perfectly Timed
Brooks knows that his original film only attacked the soft spots in our history. Those areas that nobody remembers firsthand. However, with his new series, he is poised to make merry all over our modern history. Philosophers, sports, religion, and wars. They’re all a bit fresher in our minds. To some people, this may seem as though they are off-limits. As if too much time has not yet passed to really deal with their repercussions. Brooks and his team of writers would kindly disagree. What can make people laugh harder than laughing directly at themselves?
Related:Why History of the World Part II is Better as a Series
When it comes to historical comedy,Brooks has long been a fan. Especially when it can be silly. He’s said that his Jewish heritage tells him to be angry and fearful but that he chooses to go the other way and make them ridiculous and stupid. That was why he created songs likeSpringtime for Hitlerand a song and dance number about the Spanish Inquisition. There is something unique about taking something so horrific and people so terrible and turning them into something others can laugh at.
Not all humor has to appeal to our smartest selves. Before YouTube, one of the most popular shows on network television wasAmerica’s Funniest Home Videos. People would tune in weekly to watch people fall off of things and get hit with baseball bats in uncomfortable areas. This was not the thinking man’s humor. At heart, Mel Brooks understands that we all want a good giggle, and nothing makes him giggle more than takingbeloved historical figuresand tossing them off their pedestals.
History of the World: Part IIwill be a four-night miniseries you can watch on Hulu starting March 6.
