Comedy Central's Drunk History took the comedy world by storm for the better part of a decade
and its origin story is more familiar than you might realize. Even diehard fans of Drunk History would admit getting a comedian drunk, having them recite
some historical tale, and then filming reenactments of those tales as actors lip-sync to narration
sounds pretty convoluted. Luckily for the showrunners, viewers somehow enjoyed the show's haphazard hilarity for
a full six seasons. Well, it just so happens that the initial idea for the show was no more planned out than
the drunken retellings it wound up depicting. The tale of drunk history fittingly began with
a drunken tale about history. As co-creator Derek Waters told Entertainment Weekly in 2019
the first spark of inspiration for his future hit show dates back to 2007
Waters and his friend, actor Jake Johnson, were unemployed at the time. One night, Waters was
listening to a trashed Johnson tell an obviously apocryphal story about soul legend Otis Redding
Johnson described a goodbye scene between Redding and his wife, Zelma Atwood, quoting each character
using different voices. The whole time, Waters doubted the story was true at all
Waters told No Film School that at the time, he wasn't happy with how online comedy was all about
quote, hits and not content. He wanted to film and edit a proper show featuring comedy shorts
and put it online. Hearing Johnson's story, the light went on in Waters' head. What if this was
the comedy show he wanted? What if he featured real historical events? He partnered with his
friend Jeremy Conner, and the two set out to produce a video, mostly for fun
The next day, he called me up, he goes, I want to come back over, I want to get you drunk, Jeremy's going to film you telling
that story Drunk History ultimately debuted in 2007 as an independent web series on YouTube The very first episodes fell into place thanks to none other than comedian Michael Cera Cera had just starred in both Superbad and Juno and was on something of a comedic hot streak
Given the awkward nature of the show's concept, few could argue that Cera was anything but a
perfect fit. As he shared with No Film School, Waters told Cera about his idea for the initial
episode, which focused on the well-known duel between Alexander Hamilton and Aaron Burr in 1804
Upon hearing the pitch, Sarah said he was in. The episode went on to feature Sarah, Waters, Johnson, and actress Ashley Johnson
No relation. The funny thing is, Waters didn't post it online right away. He only thought to do so later when he was, quote, bored during the holidays
From there, there was no stopping the show. The small independent show continued to gain steam thanks to Jack Black playing Benjamin
Franklin in its second and third episodes. Then, in 2010, Will Ferrell starred in the show's sixth episode alongside Don Cheadle
Their performance earned the show the Sundance Film Festival's jury prize in short filmmaking
in 2010. Like all Drunk History episodes, a huge chunk of its success centered on the narrator, which
in this case was comedian Jen Kirkman. However, Drunk History's success wasn't necessarily a guarantee at that point
As Waters told No Film School, Comedy Central expressed interest in picking up the show
following the 2010 Sundance win. But Waters was unsure because he didn't think that the central premise of an actor acting
out a comedian's drunken words could be more than just bit comedy. So Waters began traveling
to various U.S. cities to learn local history and based episodes on that
From there, the show was an almost instant hit