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Drunk History in the Media


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(edited)

So, this is from last year, but I thought it might be interesting to bring up before the new season starts: Tommy Blancha's girlfriend (he did the Ralph Nader story and the Al Capone story) wrote an article last year about her experience with them filming.  She answers some questions in the article and in the comments about how Tommy decided what story to pick (sounds like they are given story options, then the narrator picks one) and how drunk he actually got (very it sounds like), as well as some other tidbits.  I thought it was pretty interesting, so just thought I'd share.

Edited by Princess Sparkle
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(edited)

I just "discovered" the show today (Tara's piece about Jordan Peele hooked me). Season 1 is easy to catch up on (Amazon Prime for one), but where can I see complete episodes of Season 2 -- in particular the Montgomery episode? Comedy Central offers only a compilation of three excerpts, as far as I can see.

Edited by Rinaldo
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@Rinaldo Comedy Central shows have been going up on Hulu with like a five week delay or something this year, or at least they did for Kroll Show/Review/Broad City. It's also in the Comedy Central app.

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NPR's Morning Edition did a full (and serious) segment on the show. I couldn't figure out if Derek Waters had gotten drunk before the interview or if he just always sounds like that.

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The comments about that NPR story are funnier than the story itself.  It quickly devolved with a number of posters upset that the show celebrates alcoholism.  With the obligatory racial comments sprinkled in for effect. 

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The comments about that NPR story are funnier than the story itself.  It quickly devolved with a number of posters upset that the show celebrates alcoholism.  With the obligatory racial comments sprinkled in for effect. 

Curse you for making me interested enough to go read internet comments. Now I'm all moron-riled up. I hate it when that happens.

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NPR's Morning Edition did a full (and serious) segment on the show. I couldn't figure out if Derek Waters had gotten drunk before the interview or if he just always sounds like that.

 

I think that it's his thick Baltimore accent. I heard the story while driving home. I didn't step out of the car until after it was done with. Hilarious!

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From first  above-linked article on renewal:

Through the first four episodes of its second season, ratings for “Drunk History” are up +26% among Adults 18-49 vs. season one and +17% among total viewers.

 

I think this is great! I wonder why the ratings are up so much?  I do think there was more publicity for this season than for the first, I saw articles in the New York Times, NPR and a few other places. 

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It may be one of those shows that people hear about but just kind of pfft it away because it sounds so ridiculous: "It can't possibly involve drunk people, can it?" You kind of have to watch the get the joke, so maybe there's enough of a groundswell of reviews and word-of-mouth to get people to tune in now.

 

That was my experience, anyway, which I'll cheerfully extrapolate to the rest of the populace.

Edited by lordonia
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It may be one of those shows that people hear about but just kind of pfft it away because it sounds so ridiculous: "It can't possibly involve drunk people, can it?"

 

 

That was basically my experience too,  but I started watching a couple of episodes into Season 1.  When I first heard about it,  I thought they just made up fictional history, and had drunk actors.  I didn't realize they recreated interesting real historical events, and only the narrators were drunk.   

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Message for all Canadians...

 

On December 31st, from like 3:00 pm in the afternoon until midnight, the Muchmusic channel is airing a marathon of Drunk History.

 

In case some of you have missed a lot of the show (like me). Now you know!!

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Comedy Central UK have ordered a pilot for a remake of the series. I'd rather they show the US version, I guess this doesn't rule that out: http://www.tvwise.co.uk/2014/09/comedy-central-pilots-uk-version-drunk-history/

As a Canadian who has just binge-watched this show to catch up, I have to disagree. US history is pretty sparse compared to the UK (and Canada? fuhgeddaboudit!) The vast history that the UK version has to draw on, including early Roman times, gives an original UK version of the show so much more source material than would be available just re-running the US series. And the talent pool available. Wow. I hope to see it broadcast on Canadian TV someday too.

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I think it makes sense for a UK show to feature UK history. There are certainly ways that UK and US history overlap, but the US show doesn't focus on the UK perspective, so it seems to me to be a bit unfair to expect the UK version to focus on US cities and US stories.

 

I think also that since a good deal of the humor in the show is from the skewed/drunk retelling as it contrasts with the stuffy way the same stories are usually told, that angle of amusement would be lost (or at least reduced) if the people watching don't know the sober version of the story to begin with. So the show remakes need to tell stories their local viewers are already familiar with, to maximize the effect.

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I think it makes sense for a UK show to feature UK history. There are certainly ways that UK and US history overlap, but the US show doesn't focus on the UK perspective, so it seems to me to be a bit unfair to expect the UK version to focus on US cities and US stories.

 

I don't have a problem with them doing a UK version of the show; I just wish they allowed people to watch the US version too. They have a handful of clips on their website, but that's it.

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ApathyMonger, many episodes are available on YouTube - that is to say, the early eps are, anyway.

Edited by stacey
Let's not recommend potentially shady methods please!
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ApathyMonger, many episodes are available on YouTube - that is to say, the early eps are, anyway.

 

Yeah, I've watched the early episodes on Youtube. Now that the DVD is out in the US; I might just order that. Annoying though.

Edited by stacey
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UK version of Drunk History? Do you know how awesome that would be??? So much brilliant history to cover, and so many amazing and OLD pubs to cover that history in. Hell, there are pubs in London that are their own history.

 

Please show this in Canada, show. Pretty please!!

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I wonder how different it'll be from the US version. In those promos they show an animated Queen Victoria and Henry VIII, but maybe that's just for the promo. Anyway, I would like to see this. Maybe there'll be a way in the interwebs….

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The storytellers are often well-known in their own fields, so have some level of 'celebrity' in their areas (e.g., Kyle Kinane and Jen Kirkman are stand ups, Paget Brewster is an actress, Dan Harmon produces). It sounds like he's going to be the story-teller for this one. Looking forward to it!

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3 hours ago, chitowngirl said:

Would Lin be the one drinking? Aren't the celebrities the one doing the reinactments?

Yes he will be narrating the story drunk from what I read in the article.

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Emmy nominations for Drunk History:

OUTSTANDING PRODUCTION DESIGN FOR A VARIETY, NONFICTION, REALITY OR REALITY-COMPETITION SERIES

OUTSTANDING DIRECTING FOR A VARIETY SERIES

OUTSTANDING PICTURE EDITING FOR VARIETY PROGRAMMING

OUTSTANDING VARIETY SKETCH SERIES

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Not exactly DH In the Media, but there's a new show on the Food Network called Food: Fact or Fiction. Michael McKean hosts it. I've watched it only once or twice, but the format reminds me a little of DH, esp where the historical people lip-sync to what McKean is saying.

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I loved this interview! And I also love Dwight Yoakam for THE EXACT SAME REASONS! 
Harriet Tubman is one of my top two episodes, also.

I do laugh about how seriously he takes this job he has, filming drunk people telling stories about history. I suppose that means he's doing a good job because it seems absurd as all hell! 

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