Drunk History

Drunk History is an American educational comedy television series produced by Comedy Central, based on the Funny or Die web series created by Derek Waters and Jeremy Konner in 2007. Will Ferrell and Adam McKay are the show's executive producers. In each episode, an inebriated narrator, joined by host Waters, struggles to recount an event from history, while actors enact the narrator's anecdotes and also lip sync the dialogue. In addition to Waters and celebrity guest stars, the show's characters are played by regulars such as Bennie Arthur, Tim Baltz, Mort Burke, Sarah Burns, Maria Blasucci, Craig Cackowski, Michael Cassady, Michael Coleman, Tymberlee Hill, Adam Nee, Jeremy J. Tutson, Greg Tuculescu, J.T. Palmer and Aasha Davis. The series premiered on Comedy Central on July 9, 2013. On August 26, 2019, the series was renewed for a seventh season. On August 19, 2020, that decision was reversed when Comedy Central cancelled the series, with the sixth season serving as its last. Early production had already begun before production halted due to the COVID-19 pandemic. A number of international versions have also been produced. Production The idea for the series originated from a drunken conversation that Derek Waters had with his friend and actor Jake Johnson in which Johnson recounted the story of R&B singer Otis Redding, who died in a plane crash. Waters thought it would be funny to film and recreate a story of an intoxicated person stumbling through a historical story, and have actors reenact the story. Waters told his friend, actor Michael Cera, about the idea, and Cera encouraged him to make it and volunteered to appear in the video. The first video premiered on the website Funny or Die on August 6, 2007. It starred Johnson, Waters, Cera, and actress Ashley Johnson. The series continued to air online on Funny or Die and briefly aired on HBO. It premiered on Comedy Central on July 9, 2013. The storytellers in the series read up on the stories while sober, then rehearse it in front of a producer before getting drunk. Waters says he drinks with the storytellers in order to "let them know we're doing this together" and so as not to make it feel exploitative.