Drunk History premieres tonight at ten on Comedy Central, taking the beloved Internet video series and stretching it into a full half-hour show, becoming the latest entry in a noble tradition of televised intoxication. Some instances of onscreen drunkenness are sort of tragic and depressing (say, Ruthie on The Real World: Hawaii), but there are plenty of gleeful, goofy instances, too. Here are a few of our faves:
“Even Stevphen: Responsible Drinking”
This Daily Show segment with Stephen Colbert and a plastered Steve Carell is from 2001! These guys have barely aged. Anyway, this is the gold standard of TV drunkenness: zero emotional baggage, non-zero amount of chest-punching.
Danny DeVito on The View
Usually seeing someone drunk on a daytime TV show would be depressing. But Danny DeVito just does not give a crap, and it’s not like The View even matters at all. The best part is when he hiccups so hard he almost barfs, and then Rosie O’Donnell goes into mommy mode and tells him to come sit on her lap.
Mark Wahlberg on The Graham Norton Show
Oh, Mark Wahlberg.
Beyond these, there aren’t that many totally guilt-free drunken appearances. Yeah, it’s funny that back in 2006 Ben Affleck was tanked on a Canadian entertainment show, but it’s not funny if you’re the correspondent he keeps manhandling. Same goes for Joe Namath’s infamous sideline appearance. Chronic drunkenness, like on, oh, Tara Reid’s old show Taradise, seems more tragic than funny.
So, congratulations to Drunk History for walking that thin, thin line between “Man, that person is drunk!” and “Uh, is that person okay?” Cheers.
