Comedy Central’s popular Drunk History is back for another booze-infused season of historical reenactments, and the season three premiere just so happens to feature the greatest place on earth. We’re talking about New Jersey, of course—or “New Jersery,” as narrator Mark Proksch drunkenly renames it.
Based on a popular web series created by Funny or Die team Derek Waters and Jeremy Konners, each half-hour episode presents three historical tales—relayed by intoxicated storytellers and reenacted by A-list comedians. The New Jersey episode features guest stars Greg Kinnear, Stephen Merchant, Justin Long, Jason Ritter, Tony Hale and Christopher Meloni.
Airing Tuesday, September 1, the episode starts with a few friends in a New Jersey bar, desperately trying to accurately describe our great state. One says, “I love Jersey, but everything in Jersey pisses me off.” Typical.
The first reenactment, narrated by Tess Lynch, tells the story of the Union Army Balloon Corps and how it all started one day with a man named Thaddeus Lowe in a place we call Hoboken.
Greg Kinnear as Thaddeus Lowe, Stephen Merchant as President Lincoln. Photo courtesy of Comedy Central.
The next segment covers “The Bone Wars,” a phrase Mark Proksch can barely even say aloud without laughing. Also known as the “Great Dinosaur Rush,” these so-called “wars” eventually brought competing paleontologists Othneil Marsh and Edward Cope to Haddonfield, where the skeleton of the Hadrosaurus had previously been discovered.
Tony Hale as Edward Cope, Christopher Meloni as Othniel Marsh. Photo courtesy of Comedy Central.
The final story is narrated by Jenny Slate. The comedienne enthusiastically tells the story of scientists Robert Wilson, played by Jason Ritter, and Arno Penzias, hilariously depicted by Justin Long, who made an other-worldly discovery at Bell Labs in Holmdel.
Justin Long as Arno Penzias, Jason Ritter as Robert Wilson. Photo courtesy of Comedy Central.
Tune in to Comedy Central September 1 at 10:30 pm to watch as these famous faces tell the stories of our great state’s past.