History Series / DrunkHistory

* FunWithSubtitles: If the narrator says something funny while setting the time and place of the action, like "Siberia (which is a real place, by the way)" or "It's, like, two or three in the morning", this will often be echoed by the on-screen dateline caption. Likewise with the arrival in a story of someone like "F***in' President Lincoln". A narrator's slurred speech is also given a subtitle card, like "The Lakotah Indrians".

* AnachronismStew: Almost inevitable given some of the actors get so drunk they don't know what year ''they'' are in, much less what year the story is set in. For example, the telling of the Robin Hood legend on ''Drunk History UK'' relates how Robin Hood gets back to his house only to find he's been evicted by the Sheriff of Nottingham, with 'all his...electronics...outside', with a shot of an 11th Century UsefulNotes/PlayStation on the grass outside.

* DiggingYourselfDeeper: In the Buster Keaton story, the creation of film studio United Artists is covered by having Creator/CharlieChaplin, Creator/DouglasFairbanks, Creator/MaryPickford and Creator/DWGriffith having a conversation about what films they could make on their own. Then Griffith -- fresh off of the insanely racist ''Film/{{The Birth of a Nation|1915}}'' -- suggests that along with comedies, they could also make great films about the KKK and white supremacy. The others on the couch stare at Griffith, each other, then walk out, while Griffith keeps rambling. (Griffith was, in reality, eventually fired for being an unprofitable filmmaker.)

* CoughSnarkCough: While talking about Al Capone's medical history in the Chicago episode:

** In the "Las Vegas" episode, the narrator, Paul F. Thomkins, gets a prolonged attack of hiccups in the middle of recounting a hypothetical conversation between Cary Grant and Frank Sinatra at the Moulin Rouge (the first attempt at a racially integrated Las Vegas casino). The re-enactment shows Sinatra getting the hiccups while Grant watches with increasing concern.

* PeriodPieceModernLanguage: Contemporary (2010s and 2020s) actors and comedians get shitfaced and narrate historical events. These narrations are then acted and filmed in full historical regalia with the actors lipsyncing to the humorous drunken monologues.

''Drunk History'' (2013-2018) started as [[WebVideo/DrunkHistory a web series]], then was picked up by Creator/ComedyCentral in 2013. The Creator/ComedyCentral episodes are typically three shorts long, with initial episodes taking place in a different city and the stories related to that city's history. Later-day episodes tend to be based around a common theme between the shorts apart from the geographic location.

* GenderFlip: Alia Shawkat as UsefulNotes/AlexanderHamilton and Aubrey Plaza as Aaron Burr in the ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'' episode, although both characters are still depicted as male.

Tonight on ''Drunk History''....

Series creator Derek Waters finds comedians, gets them ''really'' shitfaced, and has them narrate historical events to the best of their abilities. Their narration is acted out, with the actors lip-synching all the dialogue, including mild slip ups. The recreation is sometimes interrupted when the narrator needs to remember what they were saying, or puke, or lie on the ground.

Comedy Central's page for the show can be found [[http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/drunk-history here]]. ''Drunk History UK'', an officially approved ForeignRemake (insofar as it features British comedians both drunkenly recounting and acting out British history), began airing on the UK and Ireland's Comedy Central on 2015, narrated by stand-up comedian and television host Creator/JimmyCarr. The original series also aired in the UK as ''Drunk History USA''. [[https://twitter.com/CraigRennie_/status/886901317565693952 And yes, there are British viewers who thought the UK version was made first.]]

-->'''Tommy Blacha:''' And then they got these weird, salacious, Barbara Eden types to approach [Ralph Nader] at the supermarket, y'know, "Say Mister, wanna go for a ride? Y'wanna go for a ride in the car?" *cuts to the dog* We can go in the car. All around the neighbourhood.

* CloudCuckoolander: Rich Fulcher is by far the most unhinged person to ever appear on the show, channeling his drunkenness into screamed gibberish and complete left-turns in conversation, rather than giggling and falling out of his chair.
--> '''Rich Fulcher:''' [Chessmaster Bobby] Fischer was huge, and he became a Cold War hero, and he felt like... ''[guttural noises]'' Tell me more, you sucking pig! Suck!! SUCK!!! ''[spits drink back into glass]'' ... That's it.

* DiggingYourselfDeeper: In the Buster Keaton story, the creation of film studio United Artists is covered by having Creator/CharlieChaplin, Creator/DouglasFairbanks, Creator/MaryPickford and Creator/DWGriffith having a conversation of what films they could make on their own. Then Griffith -- fresh off of the insanely racist ''Film/{{The Birth of a Nation|1915}}'' -- suggests that along with comedies, they could also make great films about the KKK and white supremacy. The others on the couch stare at Griffith, each other, then walk out, while Griffith keeps rambling. (Griffith was, in reality, eventually fired for being an unprofitable filmmaker.)
* DramaticThunder: Dramatic thunder and lightning accompany the mixing of the first batch of Coca Cola in the Atlanta episode.

* EstablishingSeriesMoment: From [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6V_DsL1x1uY the original short]], which concerns Mark Gagliardi recounting Alexander Hamilton's duel with Aaron Burr, Hamiliton proceeds to confront Burr near the start of the story... only when he approaches him, [[LeaningOnTheFourthWall he finds himself unable to talk]] as Mark Gagliardi pauses the story to lie down on the couch, asking Derek Waters for a bucket.

-->'''Laura Steinel:''' HE HAD A FIVE DOLLAR WRISTWATCH!

* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: Maurine Dallas Watkins has this response when her fluffy sensational journalism leads to two definitely-guilty murderesses getting acquitted and an innocent woman being convicted. (The show gets it wrong about the said woman being executed; a woman defense lawyer took the convicted one's case and got the charges dismissed.)

--> '''Kyle Kinane:''' Puking on ''Drunk History'' is like crying on ''Barbara Walters''.

** PlayedForLaughs with set-pieces as well. In an episode about an Old West shootout, a scene involving a horse getting shot is played out using a giant stuffed horse; in another about an arsonist, model houses are shown being torched -- with a hand holding a lighter in the frame. The scene of Kris Kristophersson landing his helicopter on Johnny Cash's lawn uses a ForcedPerspective shot of a ''toy'' helicopter being lowered to the grass in front of the house.

* DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment:
** The story of the Hearst kidnapping includes the detail that Patty Hearst's captors "put her in this closet that's, like, the size of a closet".
** Porter Wagoner hires Music/DollyParton to be the girl singer on his show because "[she's] a girl."

* GenderFlip: Alia Shawkat as UsefulNotes/AlexanderHamilton and Aubrey Plaza as Aaron Burr in the ''Theatre/{{Hamilton}}'' episode.

Comedy Central's page for the show can be found [[http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/drunk-history here]]. ''Drunk History UK'', an officially approved ForeignRemake (insofar as it features British comedians both drunkenly recounting and acting out British history), began airing on the UK and Ireland's Comedy Central on 2015, narrated by stand-up comedian and television host Jimmy Carr. The original series also aired in the UK as ''Drunk History USA''. [[https://twitter.com/CraigRennie_/status/886901317565693952 And yes, there are British viewers who thought the UK version was made first.]]