History of the World: Part I
From the dawn of man to the distant future, mankind's evolution (or lack thereof) is traced. Often ridiculous but never serious, we learn the truth behind the Roman Emperor, we learn what really happened at the Last Supper, the circumstances that surrounded the French Revolution, how to test eunuchs, and what kind of shoes the Spanish Inquisitor wore.
Richard reviewed
October 21, 2025•
I saw this one on TV and it felt like stumbling onto a forbidden sketch show disguised as a history lesson.
Mel Brooks didn’t just rewrite history, he defaced it with fart jokes, musical numbers and a cast of characters who looked like they wandered in from a Broadway rehearsal and a toga party.
From cavemen discovering fire (and promptly lighting a joint), to Moses dropping one of the commandments (“I bring you these fifteen, crash, ten commandments!”), the film was a relentless parade of gags that dared you to take any of it seriously. Spoiler: you couldn’t.
Watching it on TV added a layer of surreal charm. It felt like something that shouldn’t be allowed on public broadcast, a fever dream of historical parody that somehow slipped past the censors. And the title? Part I, a joke in itself, teasing a sequel that never came (until Part II finally dropped decades later).
A chaotic, cheeky and utterly unhinged romp through history that made me question everything I learned in school and love every second of it. Watching it on TV felt like catching a late night transmission from a parallel universe where Mel Brooks is the Minister of Education.