As this blog frequently demonstrates, the internet provides historians with a powerful new medium with which to explore the past and reach a broader audience. We in the profession, however, are not the only folks doing history online.
Among the more unusual of these new online explorations of the past is Drunk History.*
The methodology set up is pretty simple: comedians Derek Waters and Jeremy Konner get a fellow comedian friend of theirs rip-roaring drunk and ask him or her to recall a favorite event in American history. They then film surprisingly well-known performers in period costume acting out the drunkenly-narrated story.
One could note that the series plays in interesting ways with conventions in “reel history” and suggests much about Americans’ relationship to our past. But I’ll let others explore these things in comments if they insist.
Without further ado, here’s Drunk History, Vol. 3: The Story of Oney Judge (as told by a drunk Jen Kirkman):
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* Yeah, I know….the series is actually a couple years old. But it’s new to me (h/t The Sound of Young America)
One Thought on this Post
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Ben,
When I saw this was posted on a Friday evening, I became mildly worried about the content. 🙂 Depending on how the week has gone, I could be on a third beer at that point. It’s clear that the participants in these videos are well past their third beers—and probably filming late on Friday nights—provided it’s not all “staged.” 🙂
– TL