Today's Entertainment

2 • October 30 - November 5, 2016 • Brainerd Dispatch By Jacqueline Spendlove TV Media A ny designated driver who's been trapped in a rambling, dis- jointed conversation with a com- pletely inebriated passenger might be surprised to hear of a TV series that's found great success in ram- bling, disjointed retellings of histori- cal events from a completely inebri- ated narrator. That, however, is precisely what "Drunk History" has managed to do. The show that began as a series of Funny or Die online shorts born of an actual drunken discussion has become a half-hour Comedy Cen- tral mainstay, now in its fourth sea- son. Catch a new episode of "Drunk History" when it airs Tuesday, Nov. 1, on Comedy Central. According to "Drunk History" lore, the idea for the show came to co-creator Derek Waters ("Hall Pass," 2011) during a boozy night spent with friend and "New Girl" star Jake Johnson. The two were dis- cussing the death of singer Otis Redding and, according to Waters, he envisioned Redding telling the story in Johnson's words, moving his lips to what was being drunken- ly spouted off. The image, as it turned out, trans- lated to the screen to great effect. Each episode of "Drunk History" re- counts events from American histo- ry as narrated by a thoroughly soused comedian. The cast acts out what's being said, while lip-syncing the narration — complete with anachronisms, stammering, hic- cups, curses and mistakes. The more poorly the story is told, the funnier the reenactment comes across, from one narrator mistakenly referring to Richard Dreyfuss ("Jaws," 1975) while re- counting a story about abolitionist Frederick Douglass, to another for- getting the names of pretty much all the reindeer in his recitation of "'Twas the Night Before Christ- mas" (unless I'm the one in the wrong and Santa does, in fact, have reindeer named Shouter and Blinsen). Still another narrator needed to pause the story — not once, but twice — to, shall we say, void his system of eight vodka cranberries. Part of the draw of the show is the big names involved. Since the early web series days, the ever- changing cast has included count- less celebrities and Hollywood A- listers. The episode detailing the friendship between Abraham Lin- coln and Frederick Douglass fea- tures Will Ferrell ("Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy," 2004) — who also co-produces the Com- edy Central series — Don Cheadle ("Hotel Rwanda," 2004) and Zoo- ey Deschanel ("New Girl"), and went on to win the award for Best American Short at the 2010 Sun- dance Film Festival. Since moving to Comedy Central, the series has enjoyed the antics of Jack Black ("School of Rock," 2003), Winona Ryder ("Girl, Interrupted," 1999), Bill Hader ("Saturday Night Live"), Bob Odenkirk ("Better Call Saul"), Owen ("Wedding Crashers," 2005) and Luke Wilson ("Old School," 2003), John Lithgow ("3rd Rock From the Sun"), Greg Kinnear ("As Good as It Gets," 1997) ... the list goes on and on and on. For the most part, each episode has focused on a city and related a number of historical events and fig- ures associated with it. The show has looked at the Lincoln assassi- nation and the Watergate scandal in Washington, D.C., the kidnap- ping of Patty Hearst in San Francis- co, the story of Benedict Arnold in Philadelphia, and the activities of Bugsy Siegel in Las Vegas. While major people and events are cer- tainly portrayed, the show's re- search team digs deep for lesser- known stories as well, so there's more than just the pieces of history everyone is taught in school. "I think a lot of these stories have vanished, and they're about an injustice that has happened," said Duncan Trussell, one of this season's sloshed narrators, at an Awardsline Emmy screening back in June. "I think that underneath the intoxication and slurring, we've summoned up a soul that's getting a little bit of vengeance in the form of having their story re-announced to the world where it's mostly been dormant." More recently, the show has branched into broader themes, and that's where things have landed for the current season. Season 4 kicked off with "Great Escapes," which looked at Timothy Leary's (Thomas Lennon, "The Odd Couple") flight from prison, the Devil's Island penal colony, and Titanic survivor Charles Joughin (Chris Parnell, "21 Jump Street," 2012). "It's not just Abraham Lincoln stories," said Waters at this year's San Diego Comic-Con. "It's more like, 'Oh, this is a great story that more people need to know about,' like the Stonewall riots ... good sto- ries that aren't necessarily going to be in history books, but people should know about." The upcoming episode, titled "Sib- lings," sees Katherine Wright help her brothers build an airplane, the Kopp sisters fight to protect their home, and the Fox sisters' role in the cre- ation and spread of Spiritualism. Eliz- abeth Olsen ("Godzilla," 2014), Ja- son Ritter ("Another Period"), Rachel Bilson ("Hart of Dixie"), Sarah Ramos ("Parenthood"), Sugar Lyn Beard ("50/50," 2011) and Jenna Fischer ("The Office") all lend their talents to the episode. Seriously, never has ear- nest drunken blathering been so en- tertaining. Check out the newest ep- isode of "Drunk History" when it airs Tuesday, Nov. 1, on Comedy Central. Will Ferrell guest stars in "Drunk History" Pour me another A new episode of 'Drunk History' welcomes more celebrities Cover Story this week Kinship Partners Inc. Match of the Month For more information about Kinship Partners, call (218) 829-4606 or visit www.kinshippartners.org Be a Friend. Be a Mentor. Photo donated by Mike Aulie at Sother's Studio Why not start your own friendship journey? Kinship Partners is proud to honor Donna & Molly Palm and Lana Britton as its newest Match of the Month. Lana is 11 and has been matched with mother/daughter mentors Donna and Molly since she was 6. Some of the things they enjoy doing are swimming, biking, going to parks, doing crafts, visiting the library and hanging out at Donna's house. Even though Molly is off to college, she calls most weeks when Donna and Lana are together. When Molly is home for a visit she does something special with Lana. What makes their relationships so special? 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