Your official Purim drinking game for Mel Brooks’ ‘History of the World, Part II’
A handy, holiday guide for Jewish streamers
Amelia (Hannah Einbinder) and Bessie (Wanda Sykes) enjoy a drink in The History of the World, Part II. Photo by Patrick Wymore/Hulu
By PJ Grisar March 6, 2023
Maybe it was a fluke of the programming calendar, but Mel Brooks’ long-awaited History of the World, Part II is debuting on Hulu in time for Purim, a holiday where Jews recount our own history with a satiric twist. It’s also a day where Jews get really, really drunk.
In honor of the occasion, which feels too perfect to be purely accidental, I thought a drinking game was in order. What Nick Kroll, Ike Barinholtz and Wanda Sykes prepared for us is many magnitudes better than Drunk History, but that doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy it buzzed. Having watched the show in its entirety, I have curated a drinking game for the first four chapters (parts one and two will air on Erev Purim, March 6, with the second two arriving on March 7.)
If you plan to treat yourself after hearing from the scroll, here’s a nifty way to enhance your viewing of an all-star spiel. Please drink responsibly in the manner described:
Drink and say “mmm, so good”
Every time Ike Barinholtz appears as Ulysses S. Grant, who expelled the Jews from Southern states, and who, in the show, is charged with staying sober until the Civil War is over
Take a shot of Manischewitz
Every time Grant mentions a Jewish holiday
Drink twice
Every time someone bursts out into song
Drink and say “l’chaim!”
Every time Nick Kroll’s Schmuck Mudman pays homage to Fiddler on the Roof
Drink and say “That’s not kosha” like Arnold Schwarzenegger in The Critic
Whenever someone eats or references something treyf (like a bacon cheeseburger or a war oyster)
Drink and say “I liked it better the first time”
Every time History of the World, Part I, is mentioned
Drink and point like Leo
Every time an actor’s other projects are referenced — be they Curb Your Enthusiasm or The League
Drink and say “whoops!” in an Austrian accent
Every time Taika Waititi’s Sigmund Freud has a Freudian slip
Take a shot (of vodka)
When Jewish actor Jack Black first appears as a tormentor of Jews who died on Purim
Drink and chase with hamantashen
Whenever a traditional Jewish food is mentioned
And, finally, fitting for the holiday…
Drink and boo and sound your grogger
Whenever a known antisemite from history is ridiculed (it’ll happen a lot)
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