Comedy Central's "Drunk History" took the comedy world by storm for the better part of a decade, and its origin story is more familiar than you might realize.
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00:00Comedy Central's Drunk History took the comedy world by storm for the better part of a decade,
00:05and its origin story is more familiar than you might realize.
00:08Even diehard fans of Drunk History would admit getting a comedian drunk, having them recite
00:12some historical tale, and then filming reenactments of those tales as actors lip-sync to narration
00:17sounds pretty convoluted.
00:19Luckily for the showrunners, viewers somehow enjoyed the show's haphazard hilarity for
00:22a full six seasons.
00:24Well, it just so happens that the initial idea for the show was no more planned out
00:27than the drunken retellings it wound up depicting.
00:30The tale of Drunk History fittingly began with a drunken tale about history.
00:34As co-creator Derek Waters told Entertainment Weekly in 2019, the first spark of inspiration
00:39for his future hit show dates back to 2007.
00:42Waters and his friend actor Jake Johnson were unemployed at the time.
00:46One night, Waters was listening to a trashed Johnson tell an obviously apocryphal story
00:50about soul legend Otis Redding.
00:52Johnson described a goodbye scene between Redding and his wife, Zelma Atwood, quoting
00:56each character using different voices.
00:58The whole time, Waters doubted the story was true at all.
01:01Waters told No Film School that at the time, he wasn't happy with how online comedy was
01:05all about, quote, "'hits' and not content."
01:08He wanted to film and edit a proper show featuring comedy shorts and put it online.
01:12Hearing Johnson's story, the light went on in Waters' head.
01:15What if this was the comedy show he wanted?
01:17What if he featured real historical events?
01:19He partnered with his friend Jeremy Conner, and the two set out to produce a video, mostly
01:23for fun.
01:24The next day he called me up, he goes, I want to come back over, I want to get you drunk.
01:28Jeremy's going to film you telling that story.
01:30Drunk History ultimately debuted in 2007 as an independent web series on YouTube.
01:35The very first episodes fell into place thanks to none other than comedian Michael Cera.
01:39Cera had just starred in both Superbad and Juno, and was on something of a comedic hot
01:43streak.
01:44Given the awkward nature of the show's concept, few could argue that Cera was anything but
01:48a perfect fit.
01:49As he shared with No Film School, Waters told Cera about his idea for the initial episode,
01:53which focused on the well-known duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr in 1804.
01:58Upon hearing the pitch, Cera said he was in.
02:01The episode went on to feature Cera, Waters, Johnson, and actress Ashley Johnson.
02:05No relation.
02:06The funny thing is, Waters didn't post it online right away.
02:09He only thought to do so later, when he was, quote, bored during the holidays.
02:13From there, there was no stopping the show.
02:15The small, independent show continued to gain steam thanks to Jack Black playing Benjamin
02:19Franklin in its second and third episodes.
02:21Then, in 2010, Will Ferrell starred in the show's sixth episode alongside Don Cheadle.
02:26Their performance earned the show the Sundance Film Festival's Jury Prize in Short Filmmaking
02:30in 2010.
02:31Like all Drunk History episodes, a huge chunk of its success centered on the narrator, which
02:35in this case was comedian Jen Kirkman.
02:38However, Drunk History's success wasn't necessarily a guarantee at that point.
02:42As Waters told No Film School,
02:44Comedy Central expressed interest in picking up the show following the 2010 Sundance win.
02:49But Waters was unsure because he didn't think that the central premise of an actor acting
02:52out a comedian's drunken words could be more than just thick comedy.
02:56So Waters began traveling to various U.S. cities to learn local history and based episodes
03:00on that.
03:01From there, the show was an almost instant hit.