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‘Drunk History’ returns for a new season Tuesday, July 1st, at 10pm on Comedy Central. The series is co-produced by writer, comedian, and Moses Brown grad, Seth Weitberg. Go Fighting Quakers!
‘Drunk History’ is the liquored-up narration of our nation’s history. Host Derek Waters, along with an ever-changing cast of inebriated storytellers and top actors and comedians, travels across the country to reenact the rich tales that every city in this land has to offer. Booze helps bring out the truth. It’s just that sometimes the truth is a little incoherent.
And proving that it is indeed a gift to be simple, Weitberg stepped in front of the camera last season to tell the Dolly Parton/Porter Wagoner story. Most of the narrators start out completely hammered, but Mr. Weitberg doesn’t really get rolling till the end. Either he has a hollow leg or, more likely, he didn’t want to embarrass his nana.
Frequently recycled cast members include Bob Odenkirk, Bill Hader, Jason Schwartzman, Rich Fulcher (of Mighty Boosh fame, always fun to look at) and Michael Cera, in one of my faves — The Burr-Hamilton Duel.
Speaking of Quakers, the episode above tells the story of religious martyr Mary Dyer, played here by Winona Ryder. Like Roger Williams, Dyer was banished from the Massachusetts Bay Colony for spreading her dangerous ideas, and fled to Rhode Island where she should have stayed put. But she kept going back and on June 1st, 1660 was hanged on the Boston Common. The ‘Drunk History’ version is surprisingly accurate . . . except for the part about Jim Morrison.
‘Mary Dyer on her Way to the Scaffold’ by Howard Pyle: Charter Museum, Rhode Island State House.
