![\"\"](\"http:\/\/stallonezone.com\/zone\/2016\/z061716historyoftheworldpart1_trivia.png\")
<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Mark Mancini<\/strong> and Mental_Floss<\/strong><\/a> present 11 Facts About History of the World, Part I<\/em><\/strong><\/a>. Here are three of my favorites…<\/p>\n 2. THE LEAD CAVEMAN WAS PLAYED BY MEL BROOKS\u2019S FORMER BOSS.<\/strong><\/span> Twenty-two years after Your Show of Shows<\/em> ended its run, Brooks expressed his gratitude to Caesar by giving him a major role in 1976\u2019s Silent Movie<\/em>. Brooks would cast the comic again in History of the World<\/em>, this time as Chief Caveman, who has a zeal for music (and slapstick).<\/p>\n 4. ORIGINALLY, JOSEPHUS WAS GOING TO BE PLAYED BY RICHARD PRYOR.<\/span><\/strong> 11. BROOKS NEVER INTENDED TO MAKE A SEQUEL.<\/span><\/strong> The misleading title\u2014as he later put it\u2014was meant as \u201ca joke,\u201d one he now regrets. \u201cI\u2019m sorry I did that, the kids keep writing me letters asking when we are going to see part two,\u201d he explained while promoting his DVD box set, The Incredible Mel Brooks: An Irresistible Collection of Unhinged Comedy<\/em>. Still, he\u2019s definitely thought about what new topics he might spoof in a potential follow-up\u2014as he states in the below clip. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of things I haven\u2019t covered in history. Things like the Civil War.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Mark Mancini and Mental_Floss present 11 Facts About History of the World, Part I. Here are three of my favorites…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":912,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[17,63,54],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-15654","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-celebs","category-humor","category-movies","comments-off"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15654","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/912"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15654"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15654\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15655,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15654\/revisions\/15655"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15654"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15654"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/craigzablo.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15654"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\nIn 1949, the late, great Sid Caesar hired Brooks as a joke writer for The Admiral Broadway Revue<\/em>, a short-lived NBC variety show. After the series ended, Brooks joined the staff of Caesar\u2019s next program, Your Show of Shows<\/em>. Working for a living legend was something the younger man would never forget. Even today, when Brooks is asked about his mentor, he often says \u201cNo Sid Caesar, no Mel Brooks.\u201d<\/p>\n
\nJosephus, a quick-witted Ethiopian slave, is a principal character in the film\u2019s Roman Empire segment. Richard Pryor seemed perfect for the part and, to Brooks\u2019s delight, he accepted the role. Unfortunately, though, a terrible accident kept him out of the movie. On June 9, 1980, less than a month after History of the World<\/em> began production, the comic lit himself ablaze while freebasing cocaine and had to be hospitalized. At the suggestion of Madeline Kahn (who played Empress Nympho), Brooks handed the role to tap dancer Gregory Hines.<\/p>\n
\nWith a title like History of the World, Part 1<\/em>, you\u2019d assume that a Part 2 would be hot on its heels. But Brooks has stated that he never intended to make a sequel. On June 7, 1981\u2014just four days before the movie opened in theaters, the director weighed in on this subject in The New York Times<\/em>. \u201cWill there be a History of the World, Part 2<\/em>?” he asked, rhetorically. \u201cNo. Maybe a Part 4<\/em>, never a Part 2<\/em>.”<\/p>\n