You can actually learn something from Drunk History, be it a about forgotten war hero or how one shouldn't mix tequila with wine. This is the untold truth of Drunk History.
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00:00You can actually learn something from Drunk History, whether it's something interesting
00:03about a forgotten war hero or how you shouldn't mix tequila with wine.
00:07This is the untold truth of the long-running, hard-drinking comedy series.
00:12Drunk History was co-created by Jeremy Conner and Derek Waters, who was also the de facto
00:16host of the show, frequently seen drinking a tequila shot with a narrator or donning
00:21a fancy wig for a reenactment.
00:23According to The New York Times, the whole thing stemmed from a conversation Waters had
00:26in 2007 with actor Jake Johnson.
00:29Waters and Johnson were, duh, drunk, and Johnson was passionately trying to explain
00:34to Waters how Otis Redding passed away.
00:36It's probably got two minutes of content, the story.
00:38It took me about 45 minutes to tell it.
00:42The next — and I thought, man, I just blew this kid's mind."
00:45How hilarious and awesome it would be, thought Waters, to tape drunk people telling a rambling
00:50story about a historical event and then get actors to reenact the drunk person's story.
00:55Waters had the idea for months, but didn't do anything about it because he didn't think
00:58it would work.
00:59Plus, he didn't have any clout.
01:01Fortunately, one of his best friends happened to be Juno and Arrested Development star Michael
01:05Serra, who kept encouraging him to figure out a way to do it.
01:09He also promised to be in the show if Waters ever managed to make it.
01:12Clout granted.
01:13In its first incarnation, Drunk History was a completely different animal.
01:18Waters' first pitch was for a reality show.
01:20According to IndieWire, the concept was that Waters would rent a bus and drive around the
01:24country, popping into bars and parties in major cities where drunk locals would tell
01:28him unfiltered tales of local history.
01:31While the show's concept changed into something a bit more manageable, this original concept
01:35was retained in the early seasons of the show as a framing device.
01:39Waters says he was also offered the chance to do Drunk History as a bunch of sketches
01:42that would be edited together into a feature film.
01:45While a company throwing money at you to make your movie seems pretty awesome, Waters actually
01:50turned it down, because he knew the concept of a drunk person describing a historical
01:54event acted out by people in period garb is something that would only work in small doses.
01:59Further down the line in the production series, the History Channel showed interest in putting
02:03Drunk History on the air, but wondered if the word drunk had to be in the title, or
02:07if the narrators had to be drunk.
02:10So it'd just be… history?
02:12That kind of kills everything special about the show.
02:21Storytelling
02:23While a brain on booze isn't the most reliable conduit for information, the cast and staff
02:28of Drunk History ensured that the show's narration segments — and by extension, the reenactments
02:33— came out accurate, albeit in a swervy, tipsy sort of way.
02:37In order to come up with good material, the producers had a group of History doctoral
02:40students from UCLA compile hundreds of potential Drunk History stories before each season began
02:45taping.
02:46The list was then pared down, and each story was matched up to the comedians who signed
02:50up to narrate, based on their historical interests.
02:53Waters told The Wrap in 2018,
02:54"...most of the people who do it have some sort of idea of the story prior, or the world
02:59that it's going to be discussing."
03:00To guarantee that the guest stars appeared to be experts on their topic, they were encouraged
03:05to cram like it was a high school history test.
03:07Waters explained,
03:08"...we send them a research packet so that they have one or two weeks of studying it
03:12over and over again."
03:13The packets usually consisted of a three-page summary of the historical figure or event,
03:18links to documentaries, and book recommendations for a deeper dive.
03:21When taping actually happened, Waters just let the narrators ramble on, stopping them
03:26only if they got a date, name, or some other fact wrong.
03:29"...what year are we in?"
03:30"...I don't know."
03:31"...Yes, you do."
03:32With such a hot property on his hands, Derek Waters was naturally beset by requests from
03:37agents of big-time Hollywood big shots who wanted their chance to cut loose on Drunk
03:42History, and he was happy to have them on, provided they were easy to work with.
03:46Fortunately, there were certain fail-safes that weeded out a lot of potential human buzz
03:50kills.
03:51The fact that the reenactments took all day or more was a major turnoff for busy actors,
03:55as was the fact that the show operated on such a shoestring production budget that it
03:59could only afford to pay $600 for a day of on-screen work.
04:03Nevertheless, some stars were still down, like Oscar winner Octavia Spencer, who guest
04:07starred as Harriet Tubman.
04:09Waters would later single her out as being a delight to work with.
04:12In addition to being solicited by celebrities and their agents, on occasion, Drunk History
04:16producers would approach stars with offers and roles in mind.
04:19One major actor who declined the chance to star in a historical reenactment?
04:23Adam Sandler, who didn't want to play Davy Crockett in a segment about the Battle of
04:27the Alamo.
04:28Waters took on the role himself, telling Entertainment Weekly,
04:31"...I really wanted to be Davy Crockett, and I'm glad Adam Sandler said no."
04:35"...You are a gentleman, but with just the right amount of a bastard."
04:44Drunk History was both extremely accurate and deeply entertaining, which would probably
04:48make it an effective educational aid in history classes, were it not for all the unbridled
04:53drinking and bleeped profanity.
04:55Still, its value came from an earnest and honest place.
04:58Waters explained,
04:59"...I wanted to be a teacher.
05:00I just never thought I'd be a teacher like this."
05:05Apparently, this uncommon teaching path has actually made a positive impact.
05:09Waters explained that his show seems to be a valuable teaching tool at the college level,
05:13saying,
05:14"...People have told me that their professors show a clip.
05:16The thing that gets me is some people say, I had a test and I didn't know this until
05:20I saw Drunk History.
05:21I passed.
05:22I knew this question that was on my test because of Drunk History."
05:26For the actors to get their lip-syncing of the drunk narrator's tales just so, the sets
05:30of the historical reenactment segments were outfitted with gigantic speakers that bellowed
05:34out the drunk narrations, a few lines at a time, on a loop.
05:38But when the actors nailed it, it was all worth it.
05:40"...This is about to be, like I'm not even about to bullsh-t you, this is about to be
05:43some bullsh-t.
05:44Like, this is about to be like a real stealth operation, you motherf-ckers have never seen
05:48no sh-t like this before."
05:50The real technical problems came when shooting the drunk portions.
05:53Oddly enough, drunk people combined with expensive filmmaking equipment added up to potential
05:58disaster.
05:59Who knew?
06:00Director Jeremy Conner told Complex that problems with audio were almost a given, and
06:04that the drunker the comedians got, the less they seemed to care about keeping the expensive
06:08microphones safe.
06:10Another problem?
06:11The narrators sometimes got so hammered that they wound up laying face down on the ground
06:14or on a couch, and they would try to tell their stories that way.
06:18Unfortunately, microphones can't pick up audio when it's drunkenly mumbled into a couch
06:22cushion or throw rug, meaning the production crew always had to be ready to help get things
06:26back on track.
06:28Derek Waters liked his narrators good and hammered for real.
06:31The show was called Drunk History, not Sort of Tipsy History, after all.
06:35This explains why, according to him, every single one of the narrators puked at some
06:40point during their taping.
06:41Waters even worked up a little drinking routine.
06:44He encouraged the comedians to have a drink before the crew arrived, to get them warmed
06:47up and loose.
06:48But not too many.
06:50Waters has said he's had to reschedule when he's shown up at a narrator's house to find
06:53that they were already five or six sheets to the wind.
06:56Then, to loosen them up further, and to get them comfortable with losing all their inhibitions
07:00on national TV, Waters would share a drink with the narrator.
07:03The drinking continued throughout the shoot, so the narrators got pretty plowed.
07:07"...some celebrateds?
07:10What's the word I'm looking for?
07:11Some, um…"
07:12"...Mart?"
07:13"...Wait, wait, wait, hold on."
07:15What specific alcohols worked best?
07:17Over the span of the show, Waters told Cheddar News he learned that beer makes people talk
07:20too much about themselves, wine makes them sleepy, and bourbon, quote, "...makes you
07:25do what I like on the show, which is make you think you're the smartest person."
07:29According to Business Insider, a taping of the average narration segment for Drunk History
07:33could last around six hours.
07:35Multiple takes were required, from which the best was selected later on.
07:39On Drunk History, this was usually the one where the narrator is the drunkest, but not
07:43necessarily the one where the comedian is trying to be funny.
07:46Waters said it's because people naturally try to be funny when they're drunk, but even
07:50professionals forget how to craft a joke when the world's spinning all around them.
07:55"...Mark."
07:56"...Mark."
07:57"...Uh huh."
08:03The production crew also took measures to make sure everybody was safe while filming.
08:07"...Yeah, we have a medic and security on set.
08:12It's a poison.
08:13You shouldn't drink alcohol."
08:15Drunk History filmed actual drunk people being drunk, but some got far more drunk than the
08:20rest.
08:21Co-creator Jeremy Conner told Complex in 2005 that two narrators stood out.
08:26Comedian Duncan Trussell somehow managed to tell the story of Thomas Edison's destruction
08:30of rival Nikola Tesla on the floor of his bathroom.
08:33The other was Natasha Leggero, who drank a bottle of white wine and followed it with
08:38some tequila shots and then tried to film from a bathtub filled with moisturizer.
08:43However entertaining that might have been to see, the thread of history was surely lost.
08:47The comic ended up calling production the next day after she'd sobered up, unable to
08:51remember if they'd finished taping her episode or not.
08:54Turned out, they hadn't, so they had to reschedule.
08:57Drunk History aired its sixth season finale on Comedy Central in August 2019, and a few
09:01weeks later, the network ordered a seventh season as part of a major production and development
09:06deal with Derek Waters.
09:07Cheers to being perfect.
09:08Yes.
09:09About a year later, in August 2020, per Variety, the cable outlet decided it didn't want more
09:14Drunk History after all and canceled the renewal, effectively ending the show.
09:19Ratings-wise, the show remained a decent performer up until the end of its life on Comedy Central,
09:23and at the time of its cancellation, it had just been nominated for multiple Emmy Awards,
09:28including Outstanding Variety Sketch Series.
09:31What truly killed the show was that it was a victim of an evolving approach to programming
09:35on the part of the network.
09:36After coronavirus-related shutdowns led to temporary production delays on live-action
09:40shows, Comedy Central canceled or moved nearly all of its non-animated scripted shows, scrapping
09:46Drunk History in the process.
09:48When Comedy Central suddenly canceled Drunk History in the summer of 2020, production
09:52on the show's seventh season had been halted for months due to international shutdowns.
09:57Unfortunately, that put an end to co-creator and host Derek Waters' plans to pay tribute
10:01to the person from his Baltimore childhood who made him a history buff, and whose teaching
10:06style had a strong influence on Drunk History.
10:08Waters told Gold Derby,
10:10Why I love history is my high school teacher, Mr. Stang.
10:13He would be able to somehow relate the historical figure that we were learning about or the
10:16moment in history and then turn it into why the Orioles suck right now."
10:20Waters had an episode in the works where drunk narrators discussed their favorite and most
10:24personally impactful teachers, and it would have ended with Waters and Mr. Stang, quote,
10:29"...getting drunk and teaching the story of the Whiskey Rebellion with Alexander Hamilton."
10:33Unfortunately, it never came to pass.