Review: Drunk History and the American Revolution
Article excerpt
Reason reviews Comedy Central's irreverent series "Drunk History," which dramatizes pivotal moments from the American Revolution through the slurred recollections of intoxicated storytellers. The show features appearances by Hamilton, Jefferson, Franklin, and other founding figures rendered through comedy sketches where inebriated narrators recount historical events with deliberate inaccuracy and comedic flair. The review examines how the series uses alcohol-fueled historical revisionism as entertainment, treating canonical American figures and moments with irreverent humor rather than reverence. The show's central premise, that drunken retelling somehow unlocks truth or entertainment value, becomes the vehicle for examining how popular media processes and plays with historical narratives.
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Drunk History debuted in 2007 with a riotous retelling of the political rivalry between Aaron Burr and Alexander Hamilton, a rivalry that eventually resulted in Hamilton's death. The Founders made frequent appearances throughout the series' lifetime, from Benjamin Franklin's more salacious activities to Revolutionary War stories to the political dramas that unfolded in the republic's early years.
The colorful renditions of the 1800 presidential election are particularly entertaining, highlighting the intensity with which Thomas Jefferson and John Adams campaigned against one another. The two men's close friendship devolved as Jefferson and his supporters slandered Adams in the press, using phrases like "monarchical tyrant" and "hideous hermaphroditical character."
With the help of libations, Drunk History makes the Founding Fathers come alive, and reminds us that in American politics, scandal is nothing new.
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