You Should Be Watching the Totally Tipsy Show That Makes History So Fun
It’s easy to understand the appeal of Drunk History. The Comedy Central show, which began in 2007 as short Funny or Die webisodes, films inebriated people telling a story of historical or pop cultural significance (the abduction of Patty Hearst, the assassination of Abraham Lincoln, Nellie Bly’s investigation into the state of mental health facilities) while well-known actors, such as Kristin Wiig, Adam Scott, and Laura Dern, perform the basically true (if anachronistically quoted) tale in period garb.
The show, which was a Sundance Festival–winning short in 2010 and is in its second season, works because of hilarious moments such as 30 Rock’s Chris Parnell in a foppishly long, curly wig as King Charles II mouthing along to the intoxicated rasp of comedian Jen Kirkman as she says, “Don’t kill people, because that makes you look more like a pussy if you didn’t know, by the way, dudes.” The production levels of the reenactments are deliberately low, the performances by the reenactors are knowingly silly (though their lip-synching to the slurring, stuttering, or forgetful storytellers is always impressively accurate), and those recounting the tales are really, really drunk. It’s not unusual, for example, for the show to feature vomiting or people falling over in the middle of their stories.
While the inebriation is what makes Drunk History so funny, it’s also like the spoonful of sugar that helps the medicine of educational television go down. Many of the historical vignettes—there are three per episode—tell tales that most history classes skipped. On this show American history isn’t just Washington crossing the Delaware, it’s also Charleston, S.C., judge Waties Waring’s early school desegregation rulings and 16-year-old Sybil Ludington’s ride, which was twice as long as Paul Revere’s, to alert colonial forces that the British were coming.
The best part is that the show has reenacted many lesser-known stories from black history. Beyond George Washington Carver’s peanut and Rosa Parks’ bus boycott, which are no doubt highlighted in many schools each February during Black History Month, Drunk History has shed light on the life of Percy Julian, the pioneering African American chemist who was the first to synthesize steroids from plants; Claudette Colvin, the pregnant teenager who was the first person arrested for resisting bus segregation in Montgomery, Ala.; and Robert Smalls, a seaman who freed himself and his crew from slavery by commandeering a Confederate ship and delivering it to the U.S. Navy.
The show doesn’t just celebrate African American contributions to the civil rights movement or other important sociopolitical moments . Drunk History has also devoted episodes to major African American cultural achievements, such as the recording of one of the earliest hip-hop songs, “Rapper’s Delight,” or Joe Louis’ triumph in the boxing ring over Max Schmeling (and, by extension, fascism). Perhaps that’s because, as creator Derek Waters told The New York Times last summer, he asks his narrators, “What moment in history do you think people need to know more about?” Because much of African American history is, at best, not common knowledge or is under-taught, it would follow that the show’s drunk storytellers would feel an urgency to share it.
The show is not only doing a service by telling mass cable audiences about stories of African American history that many of us sorely missed in school; it is also hiring and promoting excellent comedic actors of color to portray the historical subjects. While Key & Peele star Jordan Peele—who portrayed Julian in a recent episode—may not need the exposure, Drunk History has offered parts to newcomers, such as Da’Vone Macdonald and Mariah Wilson, brought niche comedy talents Retta and Ron Funches to a broader audience, and reunited viewers with where-are-they-now sitcom stars Lisa Bonet and Jaleel White. Given the mostly pitiful diversity of most non–Shonda Rhimes–produced shows, Drunk History may have one of the most diverse casts on television.
But Drunk History is blissfully casual about these facts. It doesn’t group stories based on a “black history” theme, ghettoizing its amazing stories and star-studded casts into one token episode, or advertise that it’s interested in educating audiences about little-known African American figures. No, the show is too busy laughing at the drunk people. You will be too, and along the way you’ll also learn a little something.
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Original article from TakePart
