What Your History Professor Could Learn About Teaching From ‘Drunk History’

A recent article in the New Yorker, “The Healing Buzz of ‘Drunk History,'” describes the show as “sweet, filthy, and forgiving” and argues that the television program corrects the overly imposing ways of telling history. Can the special intimacy and lightness that this show assigns to even the most difficult of historical topics serve as a teaching tool for how we discuss history and issues?

Absolutely. In fact, although, from appearances alone, “Drunk History” seems like a mockery of great narratives of the past, the television show adds a particular flavor to historical re-telling. And no, it’s not just the alcohol.

Now in its fifth season, “Drunk History” has gained popularity both on Comedy Central as well as on YouTube. The premise of the show surrounds interesting stories about figures from history that most audiences might even be completely unaware of, even if they are familiar with the historical figures represented in the show.

The host, Derek Waters, gets buzzed with a narrator, gets to know them and then sits down and has them tell a story from history. The narrators are always slightly more drunk than Waters, but he is the host after all and has to keep the story at least a little bit on track.

What’s more, the show pairs the audio from these narrations with lip-synching actors dressed completely in character and acting out the events of the story. Despite the intoxicated state of these retellings, they become very entertaining and especially humorous to the audience while also staying true to an understanding of what really happened in history, and, more importantly, what these historical moments mean. ...