The Watch - ‘The Mandalorian’ Returns, Another Busy TV Spring, and Nick Kroll on ‘History of the World: Part II’

Episode Date: March 2, 2023

Chris and Andy talk about what is shaping up to be another busy spring for television as shows try to make the Emmy deadline, and whether or not they think this trend will continue (1:00). Then, they talk about the premiere of ‘The Mandalorian’ Season 3 (22:33), before Andy is joined by Nick Kroll to talk about working with Mel Brooks on ‘History of the World: Part II,’ a sequel to the original movie from 1981 (42:11). Hosts: Chris Ryan and Andy Greenwald Guest: Nick Kroll Producer: Kaya McMullen Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

It's official. One Shining Podcast is back, and I am your host, Tate Frazier. And as March Badness begins, we're covering everything from Selection Sunday all the way to the championship and beyond. We're going to have great guests that are coming through on the show. And look, if you're a friend of the program and you're already subscribed, you don't have to do anything. OSP is back. It's going to be right back in your feed. And if you're not a friend of the program, and this is your first time on the rodeo, then let me tell you this. You need to go to Spotify, Apple, or wherever. wherever you get your podcast and smash subscribe today because the OSP show is back. Did you know about one in three people with plaques psoriasis may also develop psoriotic arthritis, which causes joint pain, stiffness, and swelling? Does this sound like you?

Listen to what it sounds like to be a million miles away. Trimphaya, gusalcumab taken by injection is a prescription medicine for adults with moderate to severe plaques psoriasis who may benefit. from taking injections or pills or phototherapy and for adults with active psoriotic arthritis. Serious allergic reactions and increased risk of infections and liver problems may occur. Before treatment, your doctor should check you

for infections and tuberculosis. Tell your doctor if you have an infection, flu-like symptoms, or if you need a vaccine. Imagine being a million miles away. Explore what's possible. Ask your doctor about Trimphia. Tap this ad to learn more about Trimphia, including important safety information.

This episode is brought to you by Brooks. Running connects us to a rush of energy that flows through our world. The cheers of friends that unlock a new gear within us, the intersection of interest that inspires a run crew, the support that gets you over the finish line. Connection is why we move forward and what inspires us to keep going. Let's run there. Learn more at brooksrunning.com. I need supports to have to clear the run. Stand up and walk now. Hello and welcome to The Watch. My name is Chris Ryan. I am an editor at The Ringer.com. And joining me in the studio, the Chip Gaines of the new Navarro. It's Andy Greenwald.

Wow. You know what we didn't talk about? What? Is Chip Gaines buying Larry McMurtry's bookstore? I mean, first of all. Chip Gaines, for those who don't know, is part of the Magnolia Network. Kind of one of the core tenets of David Zazlov's,

you know, expansion into HBO. Macs country is putting the Magnolia content on HBO Max. I'm just thinking about what Faiscai is making right now. She thinks about the headline for today's podcast. Did a new Star Wars season premiere last night? Yes. Are we talking about a essentially

glorified property brother buying a bookstore? Whoa! Sloy roll. Chip is really good at hanging... Chip is a builder. Antiques on the wall and being like just as a little accent up there, you know? Uh-huh. Okay, go on. So what you... Great to see you brother. You don't want to talk about the bookstore?

No, it's right. I just feel like I have an open mind. So do I. So do I. Like, I'm just think he's going to do right by Larry. Yeah. Yeah. I think we've been proven out over the last couple of years is just, you know, believe in people.

Yeah. And they'll never prove it wrong. Their intentions are pure. I also think, and I don't want to step on what we're going to talk about soon, but I think that we should probably be forthright with our listeners that the reason we didn't make a bid on the bookstore is that we've actually been pooling our assets for a larger purchase that we are going to be speaking about soon in this podcast. That's right. So today on the podcast, we're talking about the rush of shows coming before the Emmys.

Yet again, we're going to do a little bit of Mandalorian. And then Andy has an interview with Nick Kroll, which should be awesome. Yeah, Nick has his new History of the World Part 2, a eight-part television sequel to the Mel Brooks classic film History of the World Part 1. A lot of famous people in it, a lot of funny people in it. It's really good and was excited to have Nick back on the show. First time in a while. Yeah. Didn't he guest host once when I was out?

I had him and Manzukas. Nick and Manzukas came on in their alter egos as, I think they referred themselves as the Finger Boys because they had, the last time I had seen them prior to having them on the podcast was at the scenic Burbank Airport where I was buying a needed coffee at 7 in the morning and I turned around and Nick Manzookas and Nickroll were standing there. Did you say Nick Manzookas and Nick?

Nick and Nick. The two Knicks, is that like to call them? Jason knows his friends called Nick. Jason Manzuka and Nick Kroll were standing behind me by like the creamers and milks, giving me the middle finger. That's good. Yeah. No, it was nice.

It felt good. I love hijinks at the airport. It's the best place for hijinks. Andy, why don't we do this first at the top? All right. Let me tell you about a little story about a guy named David Nevins. This is great. So David Nevins, for a long time, ran showtime.

Also, frequent guest on this podcast for a couple years. I think he was on like three times with me. Yeah, I think it was more of an Andy project. Not that I would have rejected him. I just don't think I was invited. I wasn't C-Ced on those. No, he called in during Twin Peaks the Return. You were there for that.

Oh, yeah, I was. Yeah. When you were like, this is the only good show that's ever been made. He was like, thank you. It was a classic AG interview. Actually, Twin Feaks the Return is when I feel like you really sort of started to throw your lot in with like shows either are trash or the greatest thing I've ever seen. First of all, I've always been like that about music and everything since you've known me.

No, you were like more of a nuanced critic in your youth, I think. No, I was like, this is the, I was like swallowed by Bush is the only good song that has ever been made. And you were like, my brother. And then we did the predator meme, and that's how we became friends. That's right. Anyway, David Nevins, who oversaw, you know, the last, what, 15 years of Showtime, 10 years of Showtime? Yeah, he was head of Showtime. And then more recently he was promoted, his purview was basically all of the CBS.

networks before the more recent shakeup and then his eventual ouster. Yes. And so Wall Street Journal reported this week that Nevin's reportedly put together a $3 billion offer to Paramount to purchase Showtime. Incredible. Back from Paramount. To rescue it basically from the fate that it has now found itself mired in that we were discussing, which is under the purview of Chris McCarthy and the Paramount and basically being rebranded as Paramount Plus with Showtime.

and just going all in on its franchises and... A Dexter spinoff. Many, many billion spinoff. Several billion spinoffs. Yeah. So a Donovan spin-off must be approaching. I think the idea being that David Evans was like, this is still a viable artistic and creative brand,

and let me rest, let me take it off your hands for you. And we can have it be a distinct, worthwhile service. That didn't happen. No, and in the bottom of the Wall Street Journal piece, they said that this is not the first time that somebody has bid on Showtime to Paramount,

that there was something like a $4 or $6 billion bid a couple of years ago. I don't know how that half the market value got vanished. I know how. You don't know how. Have you been covering television for the last few years? Yeah, but I mean, you know, $3 billion worth of value gone? Did you watch the last two seasons of Homeland? I'm just saying.

Chris, back of the notepad, would you rather own Showtime or the Phoenix Suns? Oh, that's a great question. Is it, though? It seems like a pretty easy question. The Suns. Yes. Yeah.

Yeah. But, you know, I mean, like, much the same way you're going to have to be paying, you know, Paul Giamatti for the last five years of his career. Great point. You've got the last five years of his career. I think Paul Giamati and Chris Paul are in very similar territory. Chris Paul Gimati. Let's just do it. Right?

How are those guys not in a state format together? Look. look, we're already monetizing our Jammati investment. Let's, wait, let's go big picture here. So, first of all, I am 100% in on former employees being like, you know what, I'll buy the whole thing. Yeah. That is my, I would watch a movie about that. I would read any story about it, and I would love for it to happen, just in real life more often.

I wanted to ask you whether or not you think this would be like a fun thing for a new development in the world of entertainment would just be a lot more. mergers and acquisitions and splintering off of these sub-brands within these huge companies where it's like, you know what, I'm going to come in, I'm going to buy this. Let me take shutter off your hands, AMC. It's weird that like

Elon Musk spent, what, $44 billion just to shitposts? You could buy a TV network. Yeah? For us... Thank God he didn't, though. 10 sports teams. It just seems like such a weird use of money

if this is the going rate. Okay, but to your point, I do think, if we're going to, Okay, I'd like to answer this in two ways. Oh, you're right. Because like, you know what? If Showtime was worth $6 billion a couple of years ago, you could just buy Manchester United for that.

Yes. But what are we doing? Everybody's wrong about everything. Because I was going to ask you, is like, should we buy a streamer? Well, yes. So the answer to this is yes, and we're going to talk about it. But in the more serious answer, I think it would be fascinating in this fractured

marketplace, which is moving more and more towards consolidation. And we say repeatedly on this podcast, like not all these services can survive. There's no way. There's no marketplace for all these things. There's going to have to be some sort of consolidation. Too many shows. Not enough eyeballs. Not enough potential subscribers, et cetera. What if one just became bespoke? What if, like, what Jeff Bezos did with the Washington Post, where it's just like, this is a public good, you know, to make the good Lord bird season two or whatever, like we were going to do this. Like, three women shouldn't be on stars. Sorry, stars. We're going to invest in this. Right. Is there a, a, a

towards profitability, and would it be creatively disruptive for that to happen? It's interesting. We won't find out because the bid was rejected. They feel like Showtime still has some value towards the larger portfolio, et cetera, et cetera. Your question is the most valid one, which is, I think we should announce that the three of us have been meeting. Yeah, especially Kaya. She's the lead investor on this. Kaya has been, just better in meetings than we are. Sure. So we've been, you know, we've been talking to the street. We've been taking some trips up to Silicon Valley. My guys at Redbird have been very interested. Blackstone.

These hedge, the hedges, they, you know, they love to take a meeting. And I think we presented a pretty attractive offer to them for us, the Watch Podcast LLC, to buy a streaming service. And we've been thinking about it. There are a couple options out there. We considered Peacock. But, you know, so instead... I was kicking the tires on Disney Plus. Were you? Yeah. I just think I have a feel for the lore, you know? Those stories are inside of me. We're getting to that. Would you make changes for Willow season two?

That's proprietary information at this point. My God, you're right. We can't spook the markets. It seems like AMC Plus is the one that we should buy. Yeah, that's the one that's out there, right? I feel like it's been out there for a minute. And I think that especially since I moved the markets on Monday when I was like the night manager to an AMC Plus original.

and people came up to me on the street being like, sir, sir, that is an Amazon Prime show. And I was like, look, I just talk into the mic. Yeah, I don't think. Ron DeSaintis. So, right. So, I think that's the one we should. I do think we should buy this. I think the campaign starts now.

Day one, let's just give people a little teaser. Okay. Day one, what's our first movie at AMC? We cancel the Walking Dead franchise. Day one. Does the fact that there are multiple, multi-million dollar lawsuits pending about the rights

to the Walking Dead and the residuals? I can't comment. I can't comment. I've always been a Frank Darabant supporter and did I just move the markets again? Whoops. I just think it's time for fresh blood. And I think if there's one thing that we've learned about zombies,

you can kill them. Fresh blood with old blood. So I don't want to deviate too far from what made AMC the sixth or seventh most popular or streaming service. Shawshank Redemption reruns. Well, look, Vince Gilligan's been in a really great steward of the Breaking Bad

universe for a long time. I just think maybe he's not seeing all the angles anymore. Okay. So you and I come in. And it's just like, what about breaking good? Yeah. This is us. A teacher diagnosed with terminal cancer who decides to spend the rest of his days

doing good works. This is a billion dollar idea. And you're just giving it away. Just investing in Albuquerque. Yeah. Infrastructure. Turning it into the Navarro of the American Southwest. I love this idea. We're going to do this.

It begins today. This is not a one podcast thing. I think that if David Nevins can put together a $3 billion offer, and I all do respect to David Nevins, who truly is one of the better creative executives of the last decade, two decades, I think that we can put together, I think we can put together a competitive offer for AMC. You think that you and me can put together a bigger offer for Showtime. No, I'm not by Showtime. Showtime isn't for sale. And also, frankly, do you want to make British Billions? Well, the thing is that we need to do is we should go try to get like Sundance now. You know what you mean? Like there's probably something out there that has like some good stuff on its,

in its library, has like some brand recognition. And then we can kind of like invigorate it. There's a lot of goodwill there for me because of rectify. Yeah, that's what I'm saying. I feel like the Sundance now doesn't exist. Is that IFC? Sundance, I think it got folded into IFC, which got folded into AMC networks. Yeah, but it's there. Like, it's still separate, I think. Happened Leonard's season four.

Let's do this. The all-time funniest purchase that could ever be made by a single individual of a streaming service or of like a subsidiary of a streaming service, and this is what I need to see before I die, is Martin Scorsese taking over the MCU. Oh, come on, yes. Just siphon off MCU. Marty comes in, deposes Feigey.

Yep. Every movie, I was going to say every movie is now three hours, but they're already three hours. They already are. Yeah. And they're all about a search for God. Again, I'm not seeing, you just replace that with Galactus, and it's basically the same thing. We're joking around. One thing that's not a joke is the oncoming TV schedule. I'm a little bit worried for us.

Okay. last year around this time as we approached the Emmy deadline, which this year is May 31st. I think it's May 31st every year probably. And we were like, God, they're really putting out a lot of stuff. And some of that was COVID backup. You know, we've got to get it all out. Some of it was, I bet they made this deal,

when they made this deal with this pretty big start of, you know, headline this limited series or whatever, there was probably a handshake agreement, if not a written agreement, that you will be up for. Emmy. We will promote this as Emmy fodder. I would say it on the other, I would turn that around too and say that one of the reasons why streaming services and networks make deals with big stars at all is because you get the residual push of an assumed or at least hoped for or

plausible nomination. Yes. It's just why you make the deal to begin with, because otherwise, what's your return on investment? I have advocated for Emmys twice a year. I have been shot down by members of the Hollywood community over that. Should we, should we buy the Television Academy? We are cash rich right now. That's right. Cash is so cheap right now. It's so cheap. I looked up just like a cursory look at what's coming out between now we are March 2nd as we record and May 31st, which is the deadline.

And keep in mind that there are lots of times like what will happen is like, oh, and then HBO announces suddenly like this is coming out in a month or something like that. Probably not the idol. You should talk about that another day. In March, Daisy Jones in the 6th, that's this weekend, Perry Mason, which is on Monday, Ted Lasso, extrapolations on Apple, lucky Hank, the new Bob Odenkirk show. On our network. The Great Expectations miniseries on FX. From Stephen Knight. Succession comes back, and Yellow Jackets comes back on the same night.

That's March. Top Chef. Always loses the Emmy. Sure, but it'll be back. That's happening too. In April, Dave, Tiny Beautiful Things with Catherine Hahn, Transatlantic, which is a Netflix show about a group evacuating, a group evacuating. Refugees from Nazi Occupied France. Not about Death Cap for Kitty.

Waco the Aftermath, the sequel to Waco. Great. So is that basically just the last 30 years? Isn't the name of this podcast also? Waco, the Aftermath. Isn't everything any of us have done? Mrs. Davis, Damon Lindeloff and Tara Hernandez's new show. Dead Ringers, the Rachel Vice reboot of Old Croni. Somebody Somewhere Season 2, Love and Death, the Citadel, which is the long, gestating, very expensive

of Russo Brothers show and Fatal Attraction, the reboot. And then in May, at least City on Fire and probably some other stuff. There's only 19 shows in 12 weeks. Isn't Secret Invasion coming? Isn't CR's number one with the bullet, pre-scroll war show coming? It's tough. I can't believe there are two Olivia Coleman shows coming out in the next eight weeks. And is one of them Secret Invasion?

Yeah. And the other one is Great Expectations. Is she in that? Olivia Coleman's in Secret Invasion? Oh, and The Great is coming out. The Great Season 3. Olivia Coleman is in Secret Invasion. She's joining the MCU?

Yeah. Were you high? Yeah. I didn't know she was. I thought, I know Amelia Clark is in it. I'm going to look it up right now, but if I'm wrong, I'm going to give you 10% of my holdings of AMC. I believe Olivia Coleman has been cast in Martin Scorsese's reimagining of Black Widow. Olivia Coleman plays Sonia Fallsworth. No. She's Sonya. No, I'm just fucking idiot.

She's in it? Yeah. That's fun. Yeah. This is going to be our show. This didn't work last year. I think everybody was overwhelmed. I think everybody was like, oh, God, that's a lot of TV. That's a lot of TV. I think that there was a lot of, like, holy shit.

You know, am I supposed to watch this Jessica Beale thing or like, you know, like, whatever. Like, nobody actually, I didn't say that. But like, I'm sure somebody was. A lot of people watch Candy. Yeah. Not us. What do you think about this? Sorry, Tim.

Do you think that this is now the new normal is that we're going to put out 20 shows in three weeks, three months? I don't because I do think that all. have a writer strike and then there won't be... We are likely to have a writer strike. But even before the writer strike, perhaps, but not unrelated to the writer's strike, a lot, there have been a lot of things redlit over the last few months,

ungreen lit, a lot of things slowed down, a lot of things canceled, a lot of things taken off the schedule, a lot of things just simply not bought. There will be a residual effect of that over the next six months to two years, honestly. So I think there will be fewer shows generally. But to your point,

this is kind of where we're at. I mean, there is no moment that isn't contested for viewership and eyeballs. There isn't a moment when one streaming service isn't trying to establish a beachhead in some way,

whether by taking someone else's corner or saying, we do giant world beating fantasy now, or we're still here, or we're going to reboot Breaking Bad, which is what we're going to do. Yeah, so I think it is kind of, unfortunately,

well, again, we should always put the asterisk. It's unfortunate for people who have to at least make a passing effort to watch all of it. It's still pretty boom times for the consumer. And I think part of it goes back to what you said before, too, which is about the Emmys, which is every one of these shows is looking for some advantage towards eyeballs. And I think there is some thinking that if you can launch now and then get a nomination later, you can extend. Even if people watch it in June.

you can extend the tale of your show. You can extend the interest. You can extend the conversation. I'd also like to just take a moment to salute myself for scheduling a vacation at the end of March. I think that was... That was before you found out

when succession was coming back. But it was also on brand. Thrilled about it. It's a lot of shows. What from that list... Am I interested in? I mean, I'm interested in a lot of them, honestly. Daisy Jones is a lot of fun.

I want to check that. I really like it. I mean, it's also one of those things that I think we get away from probably on this podcast, but sometimes a show is just about something you're really interested in. Music. So this is what Rogue Heroes was for me. I was like,

I'm pretty interested in the Africa campaign of World War II. Also, you've never been a hero's guy, but if they're a little bit roguish? Sideways? Yeah. So, guess what I like Flewood Back? I'm pretty interested in the 70s rock, and I watched the first two.

And I really enjoyed it. You know, it's not like going to teach you I think anything you maybe didn't already know about 70s rock if you're like a huge fan of that era but so far I'm really enjoying myself that's cool what else

Mrs. Davis yeah trailer dropped Gilpin season it's in this house it's always Gilpin season so yeah and Yellow Jacket season two I'm excited for I'm really excited for Odenkirk

coming back yeah and you're a big Richard Russo guy I'm a big great white American novelist guy. I'm not that Rousseau fluent, to be honest with you. But I'm excited for the show. I'm excited to see, you know, again, like, to see what our new employees at AMC have been cooking. Before we...

Like, when we take over that business, are we going to introduce them to some dangerous ideas? Like, what? Well, no, I don't... We better work, Kai, make a note. We should really workshop some dangerous ideas. I just like, you remember New York Magazine? Do you think this is an era of dangerous ideas in corporate environments?

Yeah, I just feel like a couple months ago, New York Magazine had the cover that was like inside Elon's hardcore Twitter. Oh, you mean like fire everybody, then hire them back. Yeah, I just feel like we're unpredictable. Then put the watch on AMC 19 hours a day. That's why the street loves us. And then beg Walking Dead to come back. Sirs. We've made a terrible thing.

We get rid of everything but fear the Walking Dead. Kim's on that. That's my, come on. Kim's back. Is she back on that show? Was she gone? Yes. It was a big scandal.

So when Kim Dickens was on Briar Patch, we would talk constantly about how she was inundated by, and I was as well in a very loving way, many, many, many social media accounts, many of them in Italy, who are big, big fans of Kim, and as they should be, she's one of our great actors and greatest people.

And they were like, you are so beautiful, please bring Madison back. They did Madison wrong. Yeah. Like, they were, the character they felt was wronged by the show. And during that summer, they were reaching out to her. And, like, she was pretty excited to come to run it back.

Coleman, Coleman Domingo's on that show. Yeah. Another one of our great actors. I think this is our first plank. No Walking Dead except Fear of the Walking Dead. Andy, nothing would make me happier than if you pivoted to a huge Fear of the Walking Dead fan and we're constantly referencing it and being like, this kind of reminds me a season five of F-O-T-D. The one on the boat.

Yeah. This is like you being a Shazam guy. That's your thing. Are we Mandalorian guys? Are we ready? Are we doing this? Yeah. Okay.

All right. So season three. I still count myself as a Mando guy. There's just something about seeing Carl Weathers walking across a beautiful town square. Unbelievable. And being like, Mando! I need the leads. I need the Glengarry leads.

We're building. Not this shit He was in expansion mode So everyone loves that I love it Everyone loves that I felt like

Mando I have a great tract out here for you Chris we're gonna You and your son You joke But we are at a moment of crisis For America's great cities Yeah are they ungovernable Right

You know and like Or has zoning Our zoning laws Capping or housing supply And nimbism Yeah quite frankly Not fucking Carl Not grief

build up and build out What percentage of the vote And remember this is like a Top 2 contenders into a runoff situation What percentage of the vote Lightfoot style? Would brief cargo have gotten in the recent Chicago mayoral election? Did I send you the

The picture somebody had of Lori Lightfoot Leaving a CVS with a case of Medellos? No, but that's incredible This is post-election I imagine I think so She just took a suitcase, she packed her bag No, it was like when you go to Walgreens No, no, they call them a suitcase, yeah.

Oh, I didn't know that. You don't buy them as much as I do, I guess. When it's the weekend, and it's, I call that Fear O'Clock. Okay. Because I fire up the season of The Walking Dead. For the big suitcase of Modellos. And just think about... No wonder you'll remember anything that happened on that show.

Just think about governance in the windy city. I think that he presented a pretty compelling argument for a new generation of urban leadership. Because basically, and again, you had to correct me on this. My understanding of the Mandalorian timeline is that he just flew away and got the baby back from Luke. and then all of a sudden Navarro is Corrassant? Uh-huh.

Like all of a sudden, yeah. What, how did he do this? There's a great tribute. So this is, what is the Navarro miracle? You're getting to a thing that I don't think you and I as cash mando guys. This is our conversation.

There are, are there cash Mando guys anymore? Well, this is the conversation. So apparently, all right. It's been like five years. Wow.

Since this show started in Mando time. Wow. Not only in like, it's been. what, two years since Mandeloran season two. How many years since the Battle of Yavin? So John Favreau

cleared all this up. Yeah. He was like the first two seasons of the Mandalorian took place over the course of many years. Really? Yeah.

Right? I sent you this text, didn't I? Okay, we actually, you'll never know this guy's Magic of Podcasting. We stepped down while Chris and Kai had taught me

how to search texts. So we're doing great. This is going to go very well in our presentation to, you know, the hedgies. Chris sent me a tweet that said John Favreau clarifies the timeline of the Mandalorian.

Thank you. Thank you, sir. Seasons one and two take place over many years. Grogu was with Luke for two years before being reunited. At the end of the Book of Boba Fett, which you definitely finished, right? A million percent. Yeah. Right.

Because when we did that podcast a couple months ago, we were like, man, they're really giving away that these guys are reunited. Yeah, I definitely was confused as to not just how much time had passed in the Dindjaran verse, but also in my own life since I last watched the Mandalorian because Boba Fett became the Mandalorian, essentially, near the end of its season. Did he? No, no, he didn't become it. The show became it. Oh, yeah, I was just, well, because you never know.

You were ready to believe it. And he's a scroll. I have no idea who's inside that suit anymore. It's not Pedro Pascal. He's not even claiming it anymore. I know. I appreciate that. All right.

Well, let's talk about we love grief. We love grief. We love the cityscape. we believe in the Navarro miracle. I think the bigger point for me is something you just said you just tossed off, which is like the casual Mando fan. Are we tipping into mythology a little hard?

This season began with stuff that I have to fully confess to you, I don't care so much about. Sure. Never been a big Creed guy. Oh, the Creed, not Creed, not Apollo Creed. Yeah. I watch that movie. Yeah. Not the band either. Creed III apparently heavily influenced by anime.

I saw that. That is. Okay. Sure. It's all, you know what it is? It's all Waco legacy to me. Was it Waco aftermath? It's all the aftermath of Waco.

If you really, really squint. No, so it just, you know, the season begins with the armorer and a bunch of mandos and some mandos, I'd imagine. It's hard to tell in the armor. Doing some stuff. Doing some old, you know, religious. order type of thing where they put a helmet on a little boy. They're baptizing a little homie

and he's about to wear that helmet for life. I got a couple, I did have a couple notes about that. Just like, I feel like that's the wrong age to encase a person's face in a mask forever. Well, do you think that you change masks over the course of your life? It's not just that. It's that

that puberty age is a time when young boys' faces are not the most, you know, unblemished. Like there's oily buildup. You might need some stridex. And you can't touch your face anymore. You know what I mean? I just feel like that's...

So you think that really what we don't talk about enough is how the mandolour are like riddled with acne. Ravaged with acne scars. Yeah, because they just don't do enough. Noxema. Yes. Okay. 100%.

That's my first note. My second note was just like, casually, it's just like, the more seriously... Yeah, okay. Big picture. Is it hard for us to go? go back to the show after watching Andor, yes. But I do think they're very different shows, and they should both be able to exist successfully.

Yeah. My thing is... One's peanut butter, one's jelly. But my thing is that what makes Andor so special is Tony Gilroy and his teams deep dive into almost the facts that seem almost uninteresting on the first pass and makes them into the stuff of operatic legend, right?

Like the money trail from Mon Mouin. to the revolution and blow something up out of that. When Mandalorian goes deep, deep, deep, deep into the details, it's the opposite effect of me. I'm less interested. I'm less interested in the tradition of these people who put themselves in magic armor and they're like infighting over dark sabers. You lost me. That is very, very far from the sort of lone wolf and cub show wandering into different worlds

that delighted me, frankly. Do you think it's like a show-not-tell thing or a tell-not-show thing? It's like in and or the depth of the show seems to be very much part and parcel with whatever the plot is. Like the plot has this incredible richness of detail, whereas in the Mandalorian, it's like people standing there and being like, you must go cleanse yourself in the sacred waters if you want to get back into the group, you know? They seem like they're making it up as they go along. Well, no, I'm sure Faloni is like, nope, you got to get in that poor, you know? But it's great. Yes, there is a lot of thought behind the.

making of the show, I don't mean to suggest otherwise. But there's just some stuff within, like, so this season begins with the armor, she's making her little mask for her guy, they do the baptism ceremony. My thing is, like, if you're going to have your baptism near the alligator pit, you should have a plan. You know what I mean? Like, you should have an escape strategy, or you should just be better at fighting alligators. Like, they seemed so surprised by that alligator. What planet are they on? Because I was wondering whether or not they're so like kind of down on their luck that the only spot they can get to do a ceremony is near the crocodile. Do you think when you put it that way, it makes me feel like, are they just going around

planet to planet like finding the one kid who's just like, this acne is terrible? I'm going to live in a mask for the rest of my life because I've got a dance coming up. Like over the ridge are the rest of the alligator hunters being like, where's Jake? I saw him wander into a cave with some armored lady. Like, I I know he was really sweating that Zit. They need, like, where is the, it gets better of that planet for the young people before they become. The larger point you're making, though, is about whether or not, like, whether or not, like, you want this to be, like, a week-to-week samurai Western. Yeah.

Or whether or not you want it to be about the creeds and codes and mythology of these ancient warriors and, like, what they do or don't have to do to be part of certain tribes. And I think the meta-text of what you're just saying is how much do I want this show to, be about Dinger and Grogu, who I have a lot of affection for in time and grief and these other characters that we've met. Literally can't get enough of them. True. Or the larger meta story of the older religious tracts of high priest Dave Faloni, who is in the background. And we know this from our good friend, Mallory Rubin, who we just ran into. And you should absolutely be listening to her on the ringerverse, talk about the show in a completely different way than us. you know, he does seem to be using this show and the sequels and spin-offs as a way to make his Clone Wars cartoons flesh, to bring those stories to let him.

Ben Lindberg did, when I was reading Limburg's recap on the ringer, which people should definitely read because I think even the most eagle-eyed viewers will probably learn a lot from reading Ben's stuff. Ben spent a lot of its time in his recap discussing a moment that I honestly didn't register at all with me, which is this apparition that seems to appear to grow, grew as they are in hyperspace. Yes. And it's like, oh, cool. Like, is this just like what? Like, there's just vibes out there? Space whales.

It's a space whale. But the space whale is incredibly important to the Ezra Bridger, Thron, like, Ashoka type jam. Yeah. Like, that's bringing all that towards us. And that is hugely significant and hugely meaningful to people who are invested in these stories. And we're not litigating this anymore. Like, I am sure.

sure that the Clone Wars cartoons are incredible content and really entertaining and enjoyable, probably not going to be watching them. So I am going to continue to watch the show as someone who wants to be entertained for what it is. And it doesn't fail at that. But there begins to be this feeling that there is a larger hand at work here that I do feel slightly excluded from. So even the machinations of what Mando is doing, which is like he goes to visit grief, which is great. He wants to get a robot. But it needs to to be the Tyca bot. Well, because he doesn't trust other robots.

See, you're already losing me. But even though, because he's had some bad experiences with them. During the five years we didn't see? No, when he was a kid, remember, the droids show up and, like, mask or his whole family. Look at you. Yeah. Remembering season one of them. Wikipedia.

Pretty impressed. And then, here's my thing. Yeah. First of all, why do you guys make Carl Weathers, like, get down on his knees to shout into that scene? Like, we, just, like, on a blocking level? Like, can't he just hang out? That was weird. Also, I feel like this is the third iteration of the Keebler-El Fix People race in Star Wars. There was a little... Isn't that Babu?

Yes. Wait, is this same again? Are they the same people? No, I don't think it's the same guy, but I think it's like he's, like, his cousin. I thought they just invented more. Like more fucking fragles that fix robots. And I'm like, guys, you have a deep bench. A deep, deep bench. We don't need more. Do you think they're unionized? Those guys? I want to say, I hope so. And I'm going to tell you no. I'm definitely going to tell you But it's just a weird scene because he's like Yeah I've got like a million droids for sure And he's like no it has to be this one Because we had a good hand

That's already had a homicidal psychotic break It's weird Yeah it's weird And he's like no problem I'll just get in my spaceship and go find the part I'm going to go on a repair run For the first part of this boldly awaited season But I'm going to make a quick pit stop

And an abandoned planet That has a castle It just has a lady sitting on a chair. Right, with her leg just strewn over the arm. Do you think, I didn't get this vibe from that scene, but I do wonder, like, did Bocatan hear the ship coming? And she's like, oh, shit, I got to look casually. How am I going to greet him? Yeah.

Like, do you think she was, because to hear her talk, she's, like, in a state of just abject. Oh, that's kind of like how, like, in seventh grade, I would always try to be like, when, when, like, girls would come into the gym, I'd be like, oh, I just finished that layup. You know, like. just toweling off. Just pour. Oh, you interrupted me. I was just lifting. Gosh.

Sorry, just finishing my last set. And 20. Hey, what's up? Jessica, probably. The thing that would have worked better for me is if Bokatan had been kind of like you and your Burbank COVID dungeon. And then like the knock on the door for housekeeping. You're like, one second! And like you choose the one thing that you could do to maybe make it seem like you weren't just eating.

goldfish crackers for the last 10 hours. I know, watching diners drive us and dives. She was a little too put together. Sure. Waiting for that moment. Sure. But also, I, I don't know. So you don't know anything about the Dark Sabre.

You don't know why it matters. Maybe it doesn't matter. I did like the way John Carlo Esposito and Gina Carano got written off the show. Oh, Mando. He's been reassigned. Yes. Good question. Why am I trying to do your voice?

Mando, do you follow Ben Spiro? on Twitter. Have you heard of being red-pilled, Mando? Just doing her own research she was. Can I be positive for a second? Right-wing Yoda. Yeah. Just love an old Western-style draw. So the Mandalorian, well, I guess he's gin.

But him in grief versus the pirate guys. Doug that. Love the music. Music's great. Pretty good crocodile. Pretty good. Pretty good CG. Cross the board. they really spend on the show and you can see it, the space battle. Do you...

You know, the one guy, the one pirate... The guy with the broccoli face? I love that guy. Yeah. More of him. 100%. Sorry, I just wanted to say, that's what I love.

I love that guy. Yeah. I do think... You're a little bit of a Treki, though. You love a weird-looking dude. Well, no. A Trekkie would be like if he just had a couple ridges on his nose,

and they'd be like, wow, how exotic. Yeah. Because they couldn't afford the full broccoli face paint. The logistics of a space battle in a world where you can just flip a switch and vanish

to the other side of the universe has never fully made sense to me. My thing was, you're asking about the unionization of the droid fixers. I feel like the Pirate Guild has a real grievance to file against this guy,

just in terms of respect of the employee in human life. He rolls with six dudes. I'm not sure that those guys are the sharpest sticks I've ever seen. They all get gun down. We need to go to the bar. And he's like, well, that's a school now.

He's like, well, we'll be drinking there. And it's like, but do they don't serve alcohol here? Like what? This is such a weird conflict. We will be smoking in the boys' room. That's a great song once. And then he goes into space with four more guys. So what was the recruiting mission being like?

He comes back alone to the Pirate Guild. And he's just like, you four, follow me. Was there any moment where they were like, what happened to, what happened to like Tom and the rest of them? Yeah. And then they go into space. And again, I think that you would, I want to say, I want to big up you here.

I think you would thrive in this universe because I think you're good at a lot of things. Okay. I feel like even if I was good at like laser gunfights, which I am not, but if I was, I don't think I would then also be good at space piloting. Oh yeah. You have to be good at so many things to survive. You have to be a five tool player. That's my point. Or then you wind up being Amy Sedaris. You know what I mean? So she's like in the baseball analogy, she's a lugie. Like she just has her one thing. Yeah, she's like a submarine pitcher comes in, specialist eighth inning gets one guy gets yanked and gin is tray turner yeah that's right okay that makes sense to me i just my thing about the show is it is so good at being itself that it is not bad i

know though i've been i've been making jokes and i'm not feeling it as much as i did the prior seasons it's so it's such a quality product it knows what it is it has fun doing it i'm always excited to see who shows up and what kind of green stuff is on their face but there has been a little bit Is that guy famous? No. Okay. I mean, what am I saying? No, 100% no.

Let me click on Ben Lindberg's Twitter. Oh. It was Brian Cox. That's the most important person ever to be in Star Wars. No, it's just that there was a little bit of a bait and switch that was done very well where it isn't the show that it was at the beginning. Yeah. It has become subsumed into this larger narrative that may be the smarter play for the show. Yeah, I think that seal got broken when Luke showed.

When nephew Kyle spoiled Luke coming back for me. Did he spoil that for you? Did you remember? I was like, I got on Twitter at like 8 a.m. for some reason. And Kyle's just like, damn, it's Luke. We just ran into Kyle on Monday. Did you bring it up or if you mend the kids? You can't blame a guy, you know?

Sometimes you just get excited. You tweet. Does he have a tattoo about that as well? No. Like Luke showing up on a man. But that wouldn't be a big deal. It's like if he'd had a tattoo and it was like one day Luke Skywalker will come back. This tattoo will be relevant.

That's what happened with Tate. They both come back. The two princes who were promised. Yeah. So that's my thing. It's just this is, we're not out on the show. I'm not out on this show. I just felt the, I felt this show, like you said, gets subsumed into the larger

Floniverse and also there was a little bit of like, did I miss four episodes? Which I did. Which apparently you did. I did. I did like it when Grogu tries to take the little workers as pets. That is fucking awesome, man. That was so great. Well, I showed my wife that and she was just like,

this is the best show on television. She loves it. Do you do just a super cut of just gross content? I just go in with like, I'll just like shock her with it because she won't know what's going on. And I'll just be like, hit play and then Baby Yoda hugs a mechanic. Have I told you,

I know we got to get into my interview with Nick, but have I told you my, my billion dollar pitch, the Lucas film guys? I told you that my wife, Phoebe, she really wants Bill to have Baby Yoda on his podcast. Like, she thinks it's like, What would they talk about?

Is Grogu a big body language guy? Do you imagine Grogu and Marin? Who were your guys? And he's like, well, Obi-Wanobios. The whole Skywalker thing. That was big for me. No, I just think that it's time for a major rebrand for the kids to get the old, the original trilogy back.

And what you do is you rebrand Yoda as old Grogu. Oh, yeah. That's the rebrand. That would get your daughters interested? No, they don't care about any of this magic. boy stuff. They're out. Okay. But I think that's, you can have that idea for free. We don't need it because we're

buying AMC. Thanks to Kai McMullen for producing yet another really buttoned up episode of the watch. Sterling and focused episode. Enjoy Andy's conversation with Nick Kroll coming up. We'll be back on Monday to talk about the last of us and hopefully maybe some Daisy Jones, maybe

some Perry Mason. We've got a lot of shows coming up, so Andy's going to be busy. Wait. The thing, I love watching TV. The playoffs are here, and you can predict the action all the way to the finals with Fandul predicts. Follow all the playoff dishes, swishes, wishes, wishes, and misses. Predict the spread, the total points, and even the game winner. Sign up for Fandual Predicts and predict it from the couch.

Offered by Fandual Prediction Markets LLC, a registered futures commission merchant. 18 plus. Trading derivatives involve significant risk and may not be suitable for all investors. manage your activity with our consumer protection tools. This episode is brought to you by Amazon Prime. Ever have a plan come together out of nowhere and realize you're missing something? Like a last-minute beach day, a spontaneous hike or an outdoor movie night you didn't plan for,

that's when Prime's same-day delivery as you're back. Getting you exactly what you need fast and reliably so you can actually join the moment instead of watching from the sidelines. Same day delivery, it's on Prime. Visit Amazon.com slash Prime. to find millions of items delivered fast, available in select areas, terms apply. Kayak gets my flight, hotel, and rental car right, so I can tune out travel advice that's

just plain wrong. Bro, Skycoin, way better than points. Never fly during a Scorpio full moon. Just tell the manager you'll sue. Instant room upgrade. Stop taking bad travel advice. Start comparing hundreds of sites with kayak and get your trip right. Kayak. Got that right.

Introducing the new best skin ever ultra-slim precision concealer from Sephora Collection. It's full coverage with a matte finish and perfect for any look, whether you're building it up for a full glam moment or targeting correction for a more natural vibe. At only $12, it's great for affordable touch-ups on the go. Get this new must-have concealer at Sephora or at Sephora.com today. All right, so I am thrilled to welcome back to the podcast, the executive producer and one of the stars of the fantastic new Hulu series History of the World Part 2. Nick Kroll, back on the watch. Thanks for coming back on.

You know what? I've been counting down the days. It's been, I think, 536 days since I was last on the pod. So I'm happy to be back. And we can start the count over again. We can finally, yeah, how many days since a lost time incident? It's actually been longer. I checked.

I think it's been five years. As I was saying it, I was like, that's like peak pandemic 536 days ago. I probably wasn't, I wasn't slinging any content at that moment. So, you, you and Jason came on to talk about Big Mouth premiering. Yes. Wow. Prior to that, you came on graciously to talk, maybe you've been on more than, because I think you came on to talk Kroll Show, but there was another time when you came on to

promote Uncle. Drew. Of course. Some people, you know, say that you get, you don't get paid to do the work. You do, you get paid to do the press. For me, like, and I don't consider this press. This is a conversation between friends, between colleagues, between peers and dare I say, and dare I say too much, between lovers. And here we are, but for me, I do the work so that I can go, not do this, but like, you know, the five, 10-minute junket interviews, like, you know, in a room. Like, that's what I'm really in it for. I could care less about the work.

Do you keep up with Kyrie? I was realizing that, like, you know, he's had an interesting arc since you guys work together. I don't know if you want to take any responsibility for that, but... I mean, we do a podcast, just a private podcast between us. It's not for the world. Mainly because of the things, if you can believe it, because of the things I say. Yeah. Because of my takes and stances.

It's really tricky because, you know, I really enjoyed, like, working with him. I love watching him play basketball. He's a really interesting, smart fella. But he's not making it easy to root for him. I honestly could keep talking to you about Kyrie Irving for the rest of our allotted time. But I do think there's an opportunity for a segue here to, basically say that your IMDB page may be undefeated because it goes from Kyrie Irving to Mel Brooks, perhaps the only person who can wrap his arms around both those things. So you're here

today to talk about this history of the World Part 2, which is fantastic. Thank you. I love it so much. I've watched half of the season. We should say we're running this on Thursday. The show premieres on Hulu this coming Monday, so we won't give too many spoilers, although it's not really a spoiler-centric show. It's history. It's all, it's out there. There's a couple of, there's a couple things like that are, you know, that I'm sure you've, like, when you do, like, there are embargoes on a couple things that can't be spoiler alerts that I'm like, you know, it's very funny. It was decided at some point through the spoiler alerts and they're like, we can't talk about this. And it's just so funny to think of our show as like, as if it was like the last of us or

something where it's like, we cannot spoil what happens in the final episode of history of the world part two. The way you treat resputin is so wild. We can't. It's. It is Johnny Knoxville as Rasputin. Truly the party was born to play. So for people who don't know, and I hope more people do, so this is a sequel in all ways to Mel Brooks's film History of the World Part 1, which was released in 1981. Let's take your connection to this all the way back.

So what did you think of that movie when you were three years old? I mean, we own that movie on VHS, and so it was one of like three months. movies that I think we owned. You know, it was like that top secret, you know, I think like a Monty Python movie. And then it's slowly expanded. But that was like one of our first VHS. So I wore that VHS down more than like the one porn I had, you know, later in life. Or like, you know what it was truly was Caddyshack, the scene where they have sex with Lacey, you know.

And that like that. So those two, history of the world. than Caddyshack, the sexy, not even the comedy part, where the big, just like, you know, when you had tracking on your VHS,

like it would start to get like, oh yeah. Did Kentucky Fried movie play into your, oh yeah, yeah, yeah. That was the one you rented at sleepovers.

Yes, yes. Like, I don't think we were allowed to own that one, but we definitely. Okay. So,

so that movie was incredibly important to me as, as not, maybe not three, but probably by, I was like started maybe watching that around five or six.

And then, really all of Mel's movies, especially the producers, Young Frankenstein, Blazing Saddles, and History of the World, those four I definitely owned and listened and watched incessantly. You know, like, know most of those movies by heart. And so it was a very crazy incoming call that was like Mel Brooks would like to do History of the World Part 2 with you. It was very surreal.

So that's really how it happened. It was just a MBs online too. He wants to talk to you about this. Did you have any connection to him about? I have a multi-phone, like an office phone in my house. You're a busy guy. I assume you do. I do roll calls in my office.

Yeah, it was sort of an, it was an incoming from Mel and from Searchlight television. And it was, yeah, it was crazy. And it was, and I had met Mel a few times. like I, and that's why I call him Mel. You know, that's why I call them like, we're dear friends. You know, Mel and Marty and I, I'm not talking about Martin Scorsese, though. I'm talking about Martin Screlly. Yeah, no, right.

Me and Mel and Martin. You all listen to the one Wu-Tang album together. Exactly. It was down to, it was, that's what we bonded over us all bidding on the Wu-Tang album. And Marty got it. You know, he obviously, he's the biggest fan. But no, it was, so then it was like, Mel was like, you know, Melon search,

you want to do this? And I was like, yep. I'm sorry, I want to go run it back just one. Like when you, you said you met him a couple of times. Like,

does he keep, does he keep track of like, young, handsome Jewish comedians like yourself? Like, what is his, what is his, you're so kind.

You're so kind to add young and handsome and talented. This is how I get you to open up to me about basketball players you've met. Right. Yeah. Yeah, let me tell you how I've been feeding Kyrie his research.

Yeah, he had, He had seen, oh, hello, and I had met with him. And, you know, I think he keeps up. I mean, he like, you know, I had heard that years before. It was like, oh, Mel likes to take meetings. You know, so I met him at an Emmy's party. And his producing partner is this guy, Kevin Salter.

And so I met him at this Emmy party. And I told Kevin, like, if, if Mel ever wants to sit down and talk, like, you know what I mean? And he was like, great. And we got one on the books. And he gave us. Raisinette at the end of the meeting. And he came and saw, oh, hello, uh, in L.A. And I saw him at like Radio City, did a live screening of Blazing Saddles. And so, so we, you know, we had some version of a, but the first time I met him was like 20 years ago at this like event, this, uh, like the Jewish

humor awards. And I went up to him and I, the producers is kind of my all time favorite movie. Like literally the, the original producers. That, that movie. We really, like, really went quite deep for me. And I had an idea for, I just graduated college, moved to New York and was like starting to come. And I had an idea for the producers, like a remake of it, which I still think is a good idea, which Kyrie and I are currently writing. I was going to say, he's the guy.

On spec. And I went up to him as he was leaving and I was like, Mr. Brooks, I'm big fan. He's like, uh-huh, great. Yeah. I said, I have an idea how to remake the producers. And he's like, go do your own work. And then walked out. And my brother was there with me that night, my brother, Jeremy. And he was, and as my, as Mel was walking out, he goes, work, work, work, work, work, work. You know, it's like, from blazing saddles. And Mel laughed at that. And I was like, fuck, I blew it. You know, my brother won. And then look who came crawling back 20 years. But he was like, do your work. And he was, that was the right advice. Like, go do your own thing. Figure out. who you are and then, you know, at some point this other thing might happen, you know. And yeah, and then we started to put together the whole kind of operation and team around it and went to Wanda Sykes, who was like, yeah, absolutely. And, you know, she's a big Mel Brooks fan and the funniest person. I mean, just so funny. And such a good, like, producer and such a good partner. And then these two guys won this fan contest, uh, Ike Berenholtz and Dave Stavis.

And they both put up 30. It was an omaze thing. And, you know, you could raffle it off. You had $10 raffle. And if you won, you know, you got to be a producer and writer and star of History of the World Part 2. And otherwise, you know, money would go to a charity. What a return on investment for, what was his name? It was Mike Barronholz?

Mike Barronstein. Mike Barronstein. No. Mike Barronstein, not Jewish. Not Jewish, weirdly. As a parent, I feel like you're very aware of the difference of the Berenstein-Barre books before and after Mike took over. Absolutely. And Ike, Berenholds, however, Jewish.

He's so tall, you don't think of him as Jewish. But we brought in Ike and his writing partner, Dave Stassen, to, like, you know, write and for Ike to star and for them to, you know, run it with me. and and then we just, you know, assembled the rest of the team, but that was sort of it. And then we kind of figured out how to do, like, how do you do this sequel, 42 years in the making of a movie, a sketch movie.

And it was actually sort of, we tried to follow the format of the movie, which is all these shorter sketches and then these bigger chunks around the Roman Empire and the French Revolution. And so each episode hopefully feels like a mini version of the movie where you're in these shorter, like one-off just historical sketches, and then these like bigger storylines that cover mainly like four big stories that are sort of sprinkled in and out throughout the season each episode.

It's one of the most pleasurable things I've watched in a really long time. It is so funny, but to speak to the format, it's honestly ideal and feels like a really wonderful corrective because you start an episode and it's delightful not having any idea what's going to happen next, where are you going to be, who's going to be in it, what they're going to be doing and how long you'll have them for. And then interspersed with these little pops, you get the ongoing saga of your own, perhaps your greatest character, Schmuck Mudman. You know, and you get that, you get the serialized storytelling like you wouldn't say, The Last of Us, but you have similar stakes. Very similar. No, but it's just, it's what you want

to watch, honestly, at this moment, the way it's laid out. Thank you. That makes me happy to hear. It was, you know, like Mel, beyond the format, like, when you watch, it was like, because people were like, why are you doing history? It's an interesting time to do history, quote, history of the world now. And I think what was helpful is when you go back and watch Mel stuff, it's like he really, he's very, he's not political. And he's never been like overtly political or preachy at all. He's making incisive political.

He's making social commentary. But it's never at the expense of being like silly and really like, He just wants to be funny first and silly. And he wants to be sort of provocative and push some buttons. But it's like all in genuinely all in good fun. And I think we try to take that ethos, especially right now, to make a show that is just kind of like fun and silly. And yes, it's about history. And like you're, you know, we're trying to make a few points here and there.

But really it's like just like make something that's like hopefully just sort of pleasurable to watch and not to. you know, because I like, I like my serious comedy, like the best of them. I love my dromedes. You know I love my dromedies. Those hands can't be heavy enough. Yeah. Real, real weighty. Yeah, I want my comedy serious and my one hour's light.

You know me. And that's what Kyrie and I are endeavoring to do with The Last of Us, the movie. It was brave of you not to take a credit on the series. I just think your contributions are being felt. We were there as just to, you know, and obviously, you know, he had some thoughts about just like how the earth should look. It's a little too round. It's so weird that I'm sort of going.

It's just he's, you know, it's hard not to talk about him. But yeah, so we sort of built around that ethos from Mel and tried to follow through. And it is sort of like sprinkled whether you're like watching a short sketch with, you know, Rogan as Noah's, you know, Noah's Ark or Taika's, you know, Freud or Kumail in the Kamasutra or, you know, Hannah Einbinder is like Amelia Earhart with, you know, those kinds of like one-offs. And then you've got these bigger stories with always, I always build my character from the name up. So, you know, other people are like, what is he where? What is, where is he from? What were his family? I'm like, what's, his name is Schmuck Mudman. And then what can we do around that?

you know, again. Was that your role of showrunner as well? You throw the name on the table and you walk out. I mean, I mean, to be, if I'm going to share all my trade secrets, I'm not above it. I'm not above it. So, but like just to wrap your arms around something like this, when you can, with the creativity in the room, cover anything in the history of the world, is Mel and his sensibility the North Star of a project like this? Like, it is.

Yeah, I think he, you know, I mean, it. both it is in that you're like you're doing history of the role part two and mel brooks movie and you're doing something that is like very much like mel brooks branded that is the priority i think like and and both because it's his thing and also because like frankly i can't help but do mel brooks ask material like i just can't help it like it's it's so deep in my comedy DNA but then you also want to make a show that feels like relevant now and it takes advantage of everything. So there's a lot of like current sort of genre pieces. And again, Mel was like, whether it's in history of the world where he's doing like the Inquisition, which feels like a Busby Berkeley number or, you know, the Roman Empire, which feels like Spartacus or, you know, like we're doing, you know, you're doing Kublai Khan, but you're also doing like the real concubines of Kublai Khan with Andy Cohen, in this case,

Andy Khan at the center of like a reunion show. And so you're just sort of like, all right, that'll be our way into doing sort of all of the many wives that Kublai Khan had. But what's incredible about it to me is, I mean, you're right. Like you can, especially when watching like a Mel Brooks movie now, you can see the DNA and the influence on your work and on a lot of other comedians that I love. I'm sure listeners love and can I identify as well.

But this piece doesn't, it never feels like you're doing pastiche or doing an imitation. Honestly, the feeling I got was everyone felt, it felt really relaxed, like almost as if you finally had permission to give full voice to this instinct that's been in your head and everyone's like everybody leans all the way in. And again, we're not spoiling things that we're not supposed to spoil, but like Alexander Graham Bell invents the telephone and then within, you know, two and a half minutes is fucking the telephone. Yeah.

It's like, you could finally do these things, you know? I think it's the limited stuff on Twitter that I have allowed myself to read leading up to it is like, you know, you better, and again, no spoilers, embargoes, and no spoilers. You know, they're like, you better, if, like, I've been waiting 42 years for Hitler on ice and Jews in space and like, stick around everybody, is what I'll say. And then, and also like, you can't make a Mel Brooks thing now with, had the political woke, the police, all the police who are politically woke and correct. And like, I'm sort of like, I think we, no, we relaxed and we were like,

like, no, we're going to, I think you can still be provocative and fuck around and, you know, like you're going to watch Alexander Bill fuck a phone. Like you're going to, don't worry, don't worry. You're going to have to see it. Yeah. That's one of my favorite sketches. It's, and again, part of the relaxness is that is you've got Ike, Berenholtz working with Sam Richardson, who they've known each other forever and they were in the after part together. And so you're just like watching two buddies, you know, fuck around and fuck a phone. Like, you know, as Alexander under Graham Bell and his associate Watson. And is it Watson or is that, am I, is it also Watson the same as?

It is. It's a little, yeah. It's based on that Guy Ritchie movie, right? Yes. Yeah, we should note that. It's a little repetitive, I think. But there's also a sense, you know, it can go two ways. When you watch a bunch of people who know each other, especially in comedy, having a good time,

it can be either totally exhilarating and ecstatic to be watching it or it can feel a little like, well, these guys were having a good time. This is defiantly the former. It is really joyful. And I wondered what it was, it can't have been a series of hard phone calls getting the incredible cast you got to do this. I mean, I mean, it's, you know,

between me and Wanda and Ike and Dave, like we all have good relationships with different, you know, different sort of groups of people inside of comedy. And so they were, so in general, you know, and also like we've done a lot of people, like some soft. They're like, yeah, I'll come and do, you know, like, and so those calls are not always hard for us to make, but they're not.

But then, but truly, it's like when you're calling me, like, I'm calling about a Mel Brooks project, like, everything sort of changes. So the speed with which you get a return call or, like, let me see if I can make this work. It was, you know, like we have, you know, Jack Black is Joseph Stalin and sings like this very emotional, like, lay miss song called Someday about I was. going to finally get to kill all his enemies. And it's like, you know, Jack is a busy man. And he's like, I'll figure this out. I can make this work, you know? And then I got to like, you know, Mel was not on set,

but I got to like FaceTime Jack with Mel and like watch them talk about, you know, Jack was telling Mel about like, you know, how Ann Bancroft came backstage when he was doing a play in high school. because like Jack was in the play, I think, with Max, Brooks, Mel, Mel, and Ann's son. And he was like, you know, and Anne gave us like a pep doc right before we did this play, having she just come off Broadway. And it's just, and you're just like hearing this story of Jack recounting it to Mel and Mel. It was just like there are moments like that where you're like, I can't believe I'm somehow in the, in the middle of it privy to these really kind of beautiful moments.

So there's a lot of moments like that. Then people want to, people just like want to show up for Mel. Danny DeVito is like, yeah, I'll come. Mel's got to do this thing for me and I'll come and do that. And we're like, great. So you got Danny DeVito's czar Nicholas. What's it like making Mel Brooks laugh? I'm yet to find out.

I'm excited to see once the show comes on. No, there's like, you know, there's a moment with you're pitching him jokes where, you know, a lot of it was over Zoom because we did most of this through, you know, the process started in like 2020. and a lot of us over Zoom. And he like, you'll pitch it. If a joke hits, he, like, he'll throw his head back. And you're like, I can't, I just made, you know, like, seeing Mel Brooks, like,

throw his head back at something you've said is very gratifying. The other side of that is like, we, you know, I directed him. He does all the voice or he narrates the whole show. Kind of like Orson Wells did the movie, the original history of the world movie and Mel does this. And, and, you know, so I had to direct him doing the voiceover. and either give him a note on like how to say something or pitch him a joke. And sometimes he'd get a note. I'd be like, great, yeah, okay, good, good, good.

And then I'd be like, hey, Mel, you want to try something where you're like, and, you know, but the tuna fish was too hot for the man. And he's like, that's stupid, you know. Savage. Yeah, well, he's just like the combination of him being Mel Brooks and also like 96. There's just like no time for bullshit. Do you think he had a favorite bit? in this new series?

That's something that really tickled him or surprised him? It's a good question. You know, he was just throughout, we'd be sort of doing like, what about this and that? And he'd be like, it's interesting because, like, the movie is built around these like every man, comicus or the piss boy and inside of this world where they then come into contact with Caesar or, you know,

Marie Antoinette, Louis X, 16th, or whatever. But he was like, he was also like, give him the hits. Like don't, you know, I'd be like, it's about this guy who's in the middle,

you know, blah, blah, he's like, they, people want to see Hitler. They want to see, you know,

they want to see FDR. Like, give them the, you know, Jesus, like, he was good at keeping us focused on like the,

the, the big stuff, you know. I mean, he, he did, like, we do a parody of,

in the story of Jesus and Mary, a bunch of different, each episode is sort of a different parody of them. So it's like the, the, the, there's one we did called Curb Your Judaism where I'm Judas. It's a Larry David as character.

And we were like, should we ask Larry to do it? I was like, I think the nicest thing we can do for Larry David is not ask him and force him to say no to us. You know what I mean? But you can't do curb without J. Kind of without J.B. smooth. And we got J.B. to do it. So like, once J.B.'s in, it's like, okay, we can do this very silly Curbier enthusiasm thing. and Richard Kind is in it.

It feels like you're watching, you know. It's so great. It's really funny. And I'm Judas. So I'm Larry playing Judas and he doesn't want to wash feet. He doesn't want to wash Jesus' feet basically as long. And then some other insane stuff. But we do that.

We do the Notebook of Mary, kind of a parody of Mary Maglin and the notebook. And then the Beatles documentary. I don't know if you've gotten to that yet. But we were all watching the Get Back doc while we were. writing it and we're like, oh, it's Jesus in like the last supper sessions. So it's all of us doing. And then, anyway, the point being, I don't even remember the point, whatever it was. It was probably something. Well, was Mel. It was like, I was curious what surprised,

mostly humble and self-aggrandizing at the same time. Which, you know, which we have, we probably have five, ten more minutes of that. But like, but for like Mel, it was more like what surprised and what tickled him. What did he, you know, did he push you? Oh, right. So we, we were. were just talking about J.B. Smooth and just like it's just, J.B. is just the funniest person. He's just and we were just, yeah, we were just talking about how, how funny he is and everything and he really makes Mel laugh. And, you know, I think he really, like, loves, you know, Wanda. And we have, Wanda does this Shirley Chisholm, we do this sort of Shirley Chisholm thing as, as like a kind of Norman Lear 70s sitcom style.

And one of the episodes we have George Wallace, you know, in Shirley Chisholm that ran for first black woman in Congress, she runs for president in late 60s, early 70s. And she visited George Wallace, the racist governor of Alabama when they were, when he was shot. And it was like a real weird thing for both of their constituents

and their, you know, their base. So we were like, all right, we'll do that. And I think the best casting for George Wallace, the racist Alabama governor, was to cast George Wallace, the black comedian, the funniest man on Twitter. And maybe the funniest man alive, George Wallace is so funny. So we were like, let's cast him as George Wallace. And I think there are things like that that Mel, you know, like is tickled by or, you know, Marla Gibbs is in it also and Shirley. And like, I think there's just, I think there's like, hopefully like different people from different generations can kind of kind of.

enjoy the folks that they would recognize. Was this done with, this is obviously a very premature question, but was this done with the hope that there would be a part three, or was this more of like, you know, a bookend on the first one? I think it was like, I think for us, at least for me, it was like, let's just do this right and then we can see what happens. Although I did see Michael Ian Black tweeted something that was like, they should have called it History of the World Part One, Part two.

And I was like, that's very funny. I was like, yeah. That's, I mean, you're just doing your own research on Twitter, though. You're getting the reviews, epidemiologists, Michael Ian Black, George Wallace. Yeah, the state, people don't know this, but the state is flat. And I think I've said everything correct there. I think I've gotten out of the right. Yeah, I think that's right.

Right? Stella is flat. Stella, yes. God, big state. I'm a big state fan. So this is your first time back on the podcast since you became a father, Mazel Tov. Thank you. This is a semi-serious question.

You can answer it in a, you know, in a dromedy way, tragic comedy, however you feel. But I am curious how it's affected your creativity and devotion of your energies. Because one thing that I really do admire about you is when you come with a new project, you seem to put your energies in creativity into the best baskets.

I'm sure it's not the same from your perspective, but it's like the stand-up special last year, it's fantastic. And then this year and this show, and you have big mouth sort of percolating in the background, ditto, hello with Mullaney. It seems to be like you're finding ways to express your creativity in different ways, different mediums, and keep it moving.

As someone with two human children, that does affect one's ability to keep anything moving. And I'm wondering how you've rolled with that. First off, thank you. And second off, thank you. No, it is, I mean, it changes like, you know, we really had this, we had our son almost simultaneously, like, I think we found out that my wife was pregnant, almost at the same time we got the call about this show.

I mean, they're almost exactly the same age. And I'm really proud of one of them. So I will let you, the audience, decide. Let history decide, honestly. Make him work for it. I cared about this show or my child. But, you know, truthfully, it was, so there was a learning curve, too. it. And, you know, it's tricky. I'm assuming all of us are feeling like, I had our son,

you know, in the middle of the pandemic, which was incredibly scary, but also like this real consolidated time. And even when we were working and writing this, we were writing from home, the world was slower in general. So it was, even in production, it was still hard. It was not easy to do, but it was also like manageable. What's becoming, I assume we're all kind of dealing with is like the world truly opening back up and everything is expected of us again. And now you have to like work and go places. And also, you know, he's like two. And so he requires different levels of energy than what, you know, what previously.

But but I think maybe, I mean, I've always heard this and I guess I'm starting to figure it. I was like, you just become more efficient with your time. You know, like you're just like I don't have like a day to fuck off to figure something out. It's like, no, I have these two and a half hours. to figure this out. I've heard that. I'm almost 10 years deep in the game. I still haven't figured that out.

But I cling to everyone saying this. I do too, and I don't know if it's real. But I do think it is, I mean, truthfully, the way I've been able to, besides the stand-up, which is like, you know, trying to really find great collaborators and partners and make things with people. And, you know, in this case between, obviously Mel at the top of it all, but like Ike and Dave even Wanda and like everyone else we had involved in the show, it made it so that I was like, I'm not carrying this entire thing on my shoulders. And also in hiring good people, part of that is

like having everyone have the same ethos about how you make something, which is like, let's go do our best, but also let's all acknowledge that we have families and our crew has families and life is only so long and we're making a sketch comedy show. And like, if you're efficient with your time and you plan yourself out, you don't have to like have like 15 hour writing days and 16 hour shoot days. Like you just like do your job, you know, responsibly and hopefully decently. And like everyone can be home for dinner, you know? I think it would be harder to explain to like a gaffer or a key grip that they can't see their kid

that night because you have six actors vomiting in a made-up D-Day boat, but they're not vomiting because they're seasick. It's just because they had bad oysters. And to be like, Right, yeah, yes. Keith, I'm sorry. My boy is like, no, yeah, if you plan correctly and you do your puke tests the day before, you can do that D-Day sketch in like, you know, quarter of a day, half a day, you know.

Yeah. And everyone can be home for dinner and think about all of the puke they saw earlier in the day. That's just called being a professional. But it is like, and that's like, you know, Dave Stassen directed that piece. He had a good idea. You know, it's like, you just plan, you know. But and also like, I think it's also, again, what you're saying early on of like this, like, in this case, like, we are making a silly show. Let it be loose and silly and like don't like make sure it looks and feels exactly like it's supposed to look like.

But like also like just have fun. And if it's fun, like things don't take like an insane amount of time to do. By the way, you talk about things opening up again. I was, it was two days ago that I realized things were really opened up again when I saw that 96-year-old American treasurer Mel Brooks was at your premiere party. That's when I knew. We're back. I know.

Yeah, we had the premiere on Monday and, you know, it was like, it was always like, Mel's a game time decision if he's going to come or not, because he's, he's amazing. He's, he's in great mental and physical shape, but he's 96. and it was like it doesn't look like Mel's coming and we're like okay great and then and then like literally like less than an hour before it's like Mel is coming to the premiere and all of a sudden like my little butthole tightened up and I was like oh my God okay you know and then we all we know we're all saying hello and taking pictures and you know saying hi to the he's come down to sort of glad hatically you know say hi to everyone and he had a video prepared so we played the

video and then he got up and spoke I was like oh we got one more person to say hi and he got up and he started he just started talking about the weather and like what the weather was going to be like the next few days um and it's so funny i mean it's just like you're like oh he's 96 and he's still just like off the cuff killing you know he's like it should anyway it should clear up by wednesday so we're excited to be here tonight you know it's he's still he's still so funny and he showed up and the world was open and i got to see him yesterday and And he's just got so much life in him, you know. You got to work with comedy, Dad.

I really did. It's pretty great. It's pretty great. Congratulations on this. Thank you. Thank you. Which conspiracy theories would you like to come back on the pod to discuss next? You know, just it's open for you.

The lab leak stuff is getting a lot of burn right now. I don't know if you want to weigh in on any of that. I love to. I feel terrible because I'm like a lab. stand, you know, like some people are like, I'm like a Disneyland guy, you know, like I go to every major league baseball stadium. I go to like, um, chemical labs. I go to like a disease. What do they call that? Uh, infectious disease labs. Like that's sort of my like thing. And so I was in China and I went to that lab just to like check it out as a fan. And, um, and I bought like a, I bought like one of those,

you know, like a thermal thermos, you know, like a coffee cup. Yeah, an algin, I think. Yeah, analogine. I got a nalgene there and took it out, like snuck it out because I was like they didn't want. And I guess I, so I start, I guess I technically started it. This has been huge for me because the way you feel about like infectious disease labs, I feel about wet markets. And it's been hard for me these last three years.

And finally I feel justified because like it's just my thing. You can't make the market wet enough for me. I hate a dry market. Well, it's funny. Some people like a farmer's market. but there's something about a wet market that it's just so wet. And I guess we are the Venn diagram. I bring it, you know, because then we meet up.

Yeah. You know, we do like to go to the wet market just to see what's new and what's wetest. And, and I bring my hobby. It's why we kept running into each other in Wuhan because it's the rare place where you get both. And by the way, I've been talking to Marty Schrelli about the Wuhan clan, which is a... There it is. There it is. We did it.

We finally did it. We finally close the loop. I'm proud of us. I'm proud of you. I love the show. And I'm so happy to talk to you about it. Thank you, Nick. Really.

A four-night event. A four-night event on Hulu, History of the World, Part 2. Thank you genuinely for chatting. And I hope I come back here much sooner than five years. It'll be 500 days. We've set the clock. 500 days of summer.

This is the follow-up. It's me and you in a rom-com. You get to be Jogo. I'm Zoe in Wuhan at the wet market with Marty Screlli trying to get us back together. Just a plate of pangolin between us. We're lady in the tramping it. And Marty charge a literal arm and a leg to get the vaccines for those pangolons. Beloved figure, Martin Screlly, just universally curating through the roof.

I feel terrible, by the way. I'm pitching. This is basically the Kyrie project that I've been working on. So I'm pitching it without him and I feel bad about it. But he gets it. We can circle back with him. Well, what's he coming on? Is he on the next one? Is he on the next one? He's actually in Studio 5. He's next door. So thank you, Nick.

Thanks for having, Annie.