In tonight’s episode, ‘Weird’ Al Yankovic makes a brief cameo as Adolph Hitler. Photo/Comedy Central
[dropcap]E[/dropcap]veryone’s favorite intoxicated story-telling TV show made it’s triumphant return tonight as “Drunk History” made its second season debut on Comedy Central tonight.
For those who aren’t familiar with the web series turned TV show, “Drunk History” is a show in which three different historians get drunk and each tell a story that’s relevant to a certain area. The stories are then reenacted with celebrities lip synching their versions of the stories, slurred speech, stammers and all.
Tonight’s episode featured three different stories from Montgomery, Alabama, one of the central locations for the African American civil-rights movement. The first story was was about Percy Julian, who is perhaps one of the most influential black scientists in American history. Julian discovered many things, but his most significant discovery was the creation of medical steroids from plants. As our drunk narrator tells the story of his struggles with racism, Jordan Peele (from Comedy Central’s “Key and Peele”) portrays the famous scientist.
The second story was about one of the civil rights movement’s lesser known figures, Claudette Colvin. Colvin was actually the first African American who was ever arrested for refusing to leave her seat on a bus, preceding Rosa Parks’ arrest by nearly nine months. Members of the NAACP felt that the 15-year old Colvin was not only too young to be the face of the movement, but she also became pregnant before getting married, something they worried would discredit her.
Parks would go on to be the face of not only the Montgomery Bus Boycott, but also the civil rights movement. Colvin would eventually be forgotten by many, although her contributions were no small feat at the time.
For the final story, our third story teller tells us about the historical significance of Joe Louis’ two fights verse Max Schmelling. Not only did the fight feature the story of an African American fighting a white guy who was the heavyweight champion of the world, but it was also the story about how for one of the first times in American history, white people found themselves publicly rooting for a black man. It was also a crucial time in American history, as it pitted an American fighter against a German in a time where tensions were high between Americans and Germans. It change from just being about a boxing match, to something of almost political significance.
Although Louis lost the first match due to his lack of preparation and training, he stunned the German in their rematch, defeating him with relative ease. Louis immediately became a household name, while Schmelling and the Germans lost much more than just a boxing match.
The season debut features many celebrity appearances, including Mariah Wilson, Lisa Bonet, Terry Crews and a special appearance by everyone’s favorite accordion player, ‘Weird’ Al Yankovic.
Next week’s episode will feature three stories about New York City and will be airing on Comedy Central at 10:00 p.m. EST.
