"This is my dog's penis. And then I've also had his, uh...balls removed."
Actress and comedian Jenny Slate sits on a sofa, hair in a top knot, leopard print top askew. She is going to teach us all about scientists Arno Penzias and Robert Wilson. She is also extremely drunk.
Though Comedy Central's Drunk History premiered in 2013, I had not seen it until a couple years ago. I returned to the program once more once it started streaming on Hulu, and found myself inordinately emotional about the array of inebriated comics babbling about history's most epic moments. Figures from the past came to vivid life, portrayed lip sync style by beloved actors from Jack Black to Aubrey Plaza. Accounts of historical moments both well-known and more obscure unfolded via tipsy storytellers brought not only tears of laughter to my eyes, but a sense of revelatory wonder. Here I was, 33 years old and learning about Mary Ellen Pleasant for the first time.
If I learned these things in school, I certainly forgot them. What better method to jog my memory than sloshed, foul-mouthed entertainers who may or may not know what they're talking about? The delightful irreverence with which stories like The Scopes Trial are recounted is a huge part of the fun, and Drunk History keeps going strong year after year, a testament, I think, to not only how funny it is to watch juiced up individuals struggle through something, but how truly eager people are to learn things, even if it is done piecemeal and plastered.
There's something sweet and intimate about the way the meat of the show is captured. Derek Waters has a genuine appreciation for funny people, laughing gently and honestly at their foibles, pontifications, and slip-ups. The stories are related in an unaffected manner, partly due to the alcohol, that feels as though a friend is speaking directly to you. In some cases as in Jen Kirkman's retelling of Mary Dyer, the actor gets emotional about the subject matter. This rings so true to me. Watching someone wax passionate about history's finest folk while drunk (but not while being interrupted by their intoxicated friends), is a warm, familiar delight.
And you're learning something. I mean, don't that beat all?
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