Comedy Central has pulled the plug on Drunk History.
According to Deadline, the cable network announced the sketch comedy show would not return for a seventh season, which had been ordered in 2019. The outlet reports Drunk History was in pre-production when the coronavirus pandemic halted film and TV projects. The decision to cancel the Emmy-winning live-action series came as Comedy Central shifts its focus to adult animated shows; it recently picked up the Daria spinoff Jodie as well as the reboots for Beavis and Butt-Head and The Ren & Stimpy Show.
Series co-creator Derek Waters confirmed the disappointing news Thursday night, during Deadline's Emmy season virtual screening of the show. Drunk History is up for three 2020 Primetime Emmy Awards, securing nominations for Outstanding Variety Sketch Series, Outstanding Costumes for a Variety, Nonfiction or Reality Program, Outstanding Production Design for a Variety, Reality or Competition Series. It won its first and only Emmy in 2015 for Outstanding Costumes for a Variety Program or a Special.
Waters and Jeremy Konner created Drunk History as a web series in 2007. It would evolve into a half-hour show in which an inebriated individual narrates historical events that are reenacted by other celebrities. Maya Rudolph, Michael Cera, Jason Momoa, Adam Scott, and Johnny Knoxville are among the stars who've appeared in the show.
"The first episode of Drunk History was just a one-time idea," Waters told No Film School in 2019. "It came to me when I was with my dear friend Jake Johnson, and he was very drunk, telling me about Otis Redding. We were both unemployed actors then. He was trying to convince me that Otis Redding knew he was gonna die when he got on the plane that unfortunately crashed. I just kept picturing Otis Redding having to reenact what my friend was saying, but also looking at me, shaking his head like, 'This never happened. Don't believe me.' I was like, what if I did that, but with a story that I knew was true, and a subject that people rarely discuss after drinks? What if we do history?"
Drunk History's sixth season and final season wrapped up in August 2019, shortly before it was renewed. At the time Drunk History picked up a 16-episode seventh season, Waters had signed a first-look deal with Comedy Central. Deadline reports he will continue to work with the network on new projects.
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