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in classic epics like Quo Vadis, Ben-Hur (1959), and The Fall of the Roman
Empire (1964), but also recalls an earlier comic send-up of the chariot race
at the end of A Funny Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum.
Brooks puts himself into the Roman Empire sequence of History of the
World, Part I, as he does in almost all his films, playing the role of Comicus,
a humble “stand-up philosopher” trying to make a living – and stay alive!
– during the reign of the emperor Nero. Alongside him in the supporting
cast are several outstanding veterans of earlier Brooks films, whose comic
brilliance enlivens the pompous historical settings and scenes. These exaggerated
characters provide the principal dose of direct lampoon of earlier
epic films and their stock figures: “Consistent with genre parody, the characterizations
are based upon film conventions rather than on any plausible
human realism” (Yacowar, 147). The obnoxious Nero, played by Dom
DeLuise, bloated with boredom and wine, evokes the depiction of the
emperor in earlier epics, especially Peter Ustinov’s slimy-suave Nero in
Quo Vadis, and hardly needs to be embellished here to produce a comic
effect. As his wife, the luscious and insatiable Empress Nympho, played by
frequent Brooks siren Madeline Kahn, is a send-up of oversexed Roman
imperial temptresses such as Poppaea in Quo Vadis. Kahn has some of the
film’s best one-liners, saturated with sexy double entendre, as in her wideeyed
question to one of her centurions about employment opportunities
on her personal staff: “Oh Bob, do I have any openings that this man
might fit?”
Also standard in earlier epics about the ancient world are figures from
the Roman army, here embodied by the commander Marcus Vindictus,
played by Shecky Greene, as a stiff-necked but loose-limbed version of the
sturdy cinematic Roman general, like Marcus Vinicius in Quo Vadis (whose
name is obviously parodied) or Messala in Ben-Hur. A couple of fictional
roles round out Comicus’ circle of friends. His agent, Swiftus Lazarus,
played by regular Brooks collaborator Ron Carey, is a nod to the famous
show-biz agent Irving “Swifty” Lazar. Swiftus tries to help Comicus during
his ill-fated performance at Nero’s palace. Like a good stand-up,
Comicus sets up a topical joke: “The Christians are so poor . . .” And
Swiftus gives the formulaic answer from the wings: “How poor are they?”
“They’re so poor . . . they have only one god!” Dancer Gregory Hines plays
runaway slave/palace wine steward/failed eunuch Josephus, in a role originally
intended for Richard Pryor (Crick, 131–2). The Roman Empire
sequence also features other familiar comic faces in small but attentiongrabbing
parts, such as Bea Arthur, from the 1970s television series Maude,
in an uncredited role as the dole office clerk.
200 HISTORY OF THE WORLD, PART I (1981)