Drunk History: Heroines

January 23, 2018 9:11 AM - Season 5, Episode 1

Paget Brewster tells the story of Deborah Sampson (Evan Rachel Wood), the first woman to take a bullet for America, Tiffany Haddish goes with Rose Valland (Busy Philipps), a museum curator who recorded the whereabouts of art plundered by the Nazis in Vichy France and Amber Ruffin selects Clara Barton (Mandy Moore), founder of the American Red Cross.
posted by lmfsilva (14 comments total)

I watched this because of Tiffany Haddish and she did not disappoint.
posted by cazoo at 12:02 PM on January 23, 2018 [2 favorites]

DEBORAH SAMPSON! Probably my favorite revolutionary hero is getting her due, though perhaps through a bit of a drunken lens. Thanks, ERW. Sampson needs her own biopic, ASAP. She's fucking fascinating. I was introduced to her through this book and while not quite scholarship, it will whet your appetite for this fascinating figure.
posted by Stanczyk at 3:39 PM on January 23, 2018

Also, Amber Ruffin is amazing. I love her. Amber Says What flirts with being Whitmanesquely pointed commentary, effectively persuasive poetry, and still fucking hilarious. But I'm over Clara Barton and I wish she'd chosen someone less overemphasized, though I was tickled by her telling of Barton's hagiographic story.

Also loved Haddish but did they both have to cover white women?
posted by Stanczyk at 4:07 PM on January 23, 2018 [2 favorites]

Okay I haven't watched this yet but 1. I am so glad it's back and 2. I am absurdly, preposterously, completely in love with Paget Brewster.
posted by elsietheeel at 5:59 PM on January 23, 2018 [2 favorites]

Derek Waters was on Seth Meyers last night and said that Tiffany Haddish had originally pitched the history of the weave. He also said that Amber Ruffin loves Clara Barton, so maybe she does.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 6:33 PM on January 23, 2018

... i'd totally love a drunk history of the weave!

we luuuuuuuuuve drink history in our house
posted by Hermeowne Grangepurr at 8:59 AM on January 24, 2018 [1 favorite]

Did you mean Drink Hurstory?
posted by Stanczyk at 5:14 PM on January 24, 2018

My husband pointed out that Derek's presence in the story telling segments adds nothing and he mostly seems to just get in their way and slow them down. This was especially egregious in Paget Brewster's part. Now I can't unsee it.

Is anyone also a little weirded out by the choice of having a woman of color narrator and a white actress. It's one of those things that makes me think we're supposed to be laughing at instead of laughing with (or at least other people are laughing at) and it makes me uncomfortable. Just pick a more diverse cast.
posted by bleep at 1:17 PM on January 31, 2018

Just pick a more diverse cast.

I only started watching Drunk History sometime in season 4 plus whatever odd repeats I've caught since then, but, my impression is that they do have a pretty diverse cast -- John Cho as William Shakespeare and the Stonewall Riot episode spring to mind. Were those the exception rather than the rule?
posted by oh yeah! at 4:16 PM on January 31, 2018

Paget Brewster is the Best Drunk Historian

bleep, I agree that watching a guy constantly interrupt a woman is irritating. But I really like the asides, part of the fun is seeing the inebriated storytellers alongside the stories.
posted by ActingTheGoat at 6:50 PM on February 1, 2018 [1 favorite]

Oh yeah for sure I just wish they replaced him with someone who contributed anything. Like anything at all. I mean I know it's his show so they won't. But yknow.
posted by bleep at 8:31 PM on February 1, 2018

I gave up on this show a couple of seasons back because I felt like it would be much more interesting to have drunk historians telling these stories instead of drunk comedians telling a story they obviously had to memorize. Has the show gotten better in the last few seasons?
posted by LizBoBiz at 1:44 PM on February 7, 2018 [1 favorite]

Oh man I feel exactly the same way. I was disappointed when I found out that that wasn't the premise. And often it seems like the whole joke is "historical figures speaking informally while a performer does drunk kayfabe" I kind of just got used to it I guess. In the latest ep "Game changers" at least they have Questlove telling a story he obviously knows and cares about.
posted by bleep at 1:52 PM on February 7, 2018

?uestlove finally got to be on the show? I remember last season's episode with Lin-Manuel Miranda and ?uest was texting him and SUPER JEALOUS that Lin was doing it.

(Do you think LMM ever gets tired of talking about Alexander Hamilton? I mean, I could talk about certain topics for ages, but my name isn't synonymous with any of them...yet.)
posted by elsietheeel at 7:09 PM on February 7, 2018