HBO is teaming with producers Judd Apatow and Michael Bonfiglio to develop a two-part documentary on the life and career of comedy icon Mel Brooks.

The documentary will take an expansive yet intimate look at the more than 70-year career of Brooks, 98, HBO said. An EGOT — the winner of an Emmy, Grammy, Oscar and Tony award — Brooks has created and produced such memorable screen works as the film and play The Producers; the films Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein, Silent Movie, History of the World Part I and High Anxiety; and the 1960s spy sendup TV series Get Smart. 

Brooks is also the author of The New York Times bestseller All About Me! My Remarkable Life in Show Business.

Last month, Brooks received the Peabody Awards' Career Achievement Award for his work and commitment to broadcasting and streaming media.

The Brooks documentary will be produced by HBO Documentary Films and Apatow Productions. It marks the reunion of Apatow, Bonfiglio and documentary editor Joe Beshenkovsky, who last worked together on HBO’s Emmy-winning documentary George Carlin's American Dream.

“I went into comedy because of my love for Mel Brooks,“ Apatow said of the documentary. “This project is the dream of a lifetime.”

History of the World, Part II, the long, long, long-awaited sequel to Mel Brooks’s beloved movie, premieres on Hulu March 6. There are eight episodes detailing, as the title indicates, world history. 

Brooks, who is 96, is a writer and executive producer on the series along with Nick Kroll, Wanda Sykes, Ike Barinholtz and David Stassen. The first four are in the cast, along with a long list of notable actors, including Quinta Brunson, Pamela Adlon, Danny DeVito, David Duchovny, Johnny Knoxville, Kumail Nanjiani, Seth Rogen and Sarah Silverman. 

Brooks’s films include Blazing Saddles, Young Frankenstein and Spaceballs. At the Television Critics Association Winter Press Tour last month, Kroll was asked how Brooks’s humor would hold up in 2023. 

“Mel’s ultimate goal was always to poke fun at those in power and how greedy and stupid they were,” Kroll responded. “And so doing a show about history, now at a time when we are reexamining how things went down, it became for me a very easy through line to just continue Mel’s legacy of poking fun at those in power. And that really became our guiding light to continue making the show.”

Kroll insisted there’s still a place for racy humor, as long as it’s done right. “I personally think right now in comedy you can still say and do insane things,” he said. “You just have to be a little more thoughtful about how and why you’re saying them.” 

Kroll also spoke of the challenge of finding roles for the many, many comic actors who expressed interest in working on the show. He shared about casting Rasputin, “who everybody tried to kill a million times,” and mentioned how Johnny Knoxville texted as soon as the project was announced. “Who else would be better to play Rasputin than Johnny Knoxville?” Kroll said. 

Knoxville wasn’t the only one to reach out when History of the World, Part II was announced. “It begins with Mel, people being excited about this, people being excited to work with Mel Brooks in any way they can,” Kroll said. ▪️

PASADENA, CALIF. — Forty-two years after History of the World, Part I came out, the beloved Mel Brooks film finally has a sequel. History of the World, Part II, an eight-episode series from Brooks and Nick Kroll, debuts on Hulu March 6. Two episodes will be released per day March 6-9.

Brooks and Kroll are in the cast with Wanda Sykes and Ike Barinholtz. All four are executive producers, along with David Stassen, Kevin Salter and Christie Smith.

Many, many other big names show up in the series too. Pamela Adlon, Zazie Beetz, Quinta Brunson, Danny  DeVito, David Duchovny, Johnny Knoxville, Zahn McClarnon, Kumail Nanjiani, Andrew Rannells, Emily Ratajkowski, Seth Rogen, Sarah Silverman and J.B. Smoove, among others, are also in the cast.

“It begins with Mel,” said Kroll at Hulu’s Television Critics Association press tour presentation. As soon as the show was announced, he said he got calls and texts from friends who wanted to take part.

Such as Johnny Knoxville. “He texted me five minutes after the announcement–’is there anything I can do? Mel Brooks is my hero,’” shared Kroll.

He counts himself among the lifelong Brooks fans, and mentioned getting laughs from his family when he was 5, as Kroll delivered lines from History of the World. (“It’s good to be the king,” if you’re scoring at home.) He mentioned that film being one of three VHS tapes in the Kroll house.

“Nobody is a bigger influence on me in my comedy career and my point of view than Mel Brooks,” he said.

Brooks’ films include Spaceballs, Young Frankenstein and The Producers. He is 96.

Kroll said Brooks has not lost a step. “He has so many jokes still ready to go,” said Kroll. “His comedy mind is still so sharp.”

Kroll mentioned meeting Brooks for the first time in a meeting years ago. “Mel Brooks gave us boxes of Raisinets,” he said. “It was the greatest day of my life.”

Kroll’s work includes Netflix comedy Big Mouth and FX comedy The League. Given the numbers at the end of the film and TV franchise, Kroll said History of the World can continue beyond Part II. “If we were to make more,” he said, “Mel would be involved in one way or the other.”

Watch the trailer for History of the World, Part II below: ■

Over-the-top video streaming service Crackle will launch a new season of its hit series Comedians In Cars Getting Coffee on Nov. 6, the service said Friday.

Celebrities set to converse with series host/creator Jerry Seinfeld during the fifth season of the Emmy-nominated series include Fred Armisen (Portlandia),Colleen Ballinge (Hipsterhood),Bill Burr(Walk Of Shame),Jimmy Fallon (The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon),Kevin Hart (Think Like A Man Too), Amy Schumer (Inside Amy Schumer)  and Ali Wentworth (In Living Color).

Previous episodes of Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee currently running on Crackle have featured such comedy legends as Jason Alexander, Aziz Ansari, Alec Baldwin, Mel Brooks, Louis CK, Larry David, Tina Fey, Ricky Gervais, Jay Leno, David Letterman, Seth Meyers, Howard Stern and Jon Stewart, among others, said company officials.