 | The examples and perspective in this article deal primarily with Anglo-Saxon culture and do not represent a worldwide view of the subject.(April 2021) |
The town drunk (also called a tavern fool) is a stock character, almost always male, who is drunk more often than sober.
In fiction, the town drunk character serves a number of functions.
The town drunk may serve merely as a moral example and object lesson on the evils of drunkenness. This approach to the character is associated with the temperance movement, and peaked at the start of the twentieth century. The Prohibition film Ten Nights in a Barroom portrays the inevitable fall into destitute drunkenness of a person who dared to take that " Fatal Glass of Beer ", the title of another period drama working this vein. A town drunk who appears in Our Town by Thornton Wilder is perhaps the most often seen example of this version of the character. [1] Pap Finn in The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is another famous example. In modern fiction, which tends to reflect the contemporary influences of the sobriety movement, the town drunk may get sober and set about revitalizing his life. [2]
The town drunk may play the role of the fool as a source of comic relief. [3] "Otis" from The Andy Griffith Show is this type of town drunk, as is the character of Bobby Singer in The CW series Supernatural, as well as many of the denizens of Moe's Tavern from The Simpsons such as Barney Gumble. [4] In the 1971 The Andromeda Strain (film) the only adult survivor is a Town Drunk. In Shakespeare's Macbeth , the Porter who appears in Act II, Scene 3, is also a type of "comic relief" drunk who serves to temporarily lighten the mood of the play right after a heinous regicide has taken place.
As if to underscore the cliche of such a character, the TV series F-Troop had an otherwise-useless character, Charlie the Town Drunk. Captain Parmenter said "We were lucky to get him. Dodge City had a spare."
In a similar vein, the town drunk may serve as a jester figure, a semi-comic proxy for the Wise Old Man. He may disrupt public meetings, either for comic effect, or by dispensing what proves to be wisdom in a garbled and comic form. Or, in this incarnation, the character may introduce the hero to some of the worldlier sorts of wisdom, as well as forming a contrast to his truly heroic character. One prototype for this version of the town drunk is supplied by Shakespeare's Falstaff, who appears in both parts of Henry IV and in The Merry Wives of Windsor . Another would be the drunk who appears in Team America: World Police at the low point of the film, where his drunken ramblings inspire the hero to save the world. In the 1722 Danish play Jeppe on the Hill , the eponymous wise fool main character, declares that "everybody says that Jeppe drinks, but nobody asks why Jeppe drinks".
Frank Gallagher from the TV series Shameless is a quintessential town drunk and rarely appears in the series without being intoxicated.
Sir John Falstaff is a fictional character who appears in three plays by William Shakespeare and is eulogised in a fourth. His significance as a fully developed character is primarily formed in the plays Henry IV, Part 1 and Part 2, where he is a companion to Prince Hal, the future King Henry V of England. Falstaff is also featured as the buffoonish suitor of two married women in The Merry Wives of Windsor. Though primarily a comic figure, Falstaff embodies a depth common to Shakespeare's major characters. A fat, vain, and boastful knight, he spends most of his time drinking at the Boar's Head Inn with petty criminals, living on stolen or borrowed money. Falstaff leads the apparently wayward Prince Hal into trouble, and is ultimately repudiated after Hal becomes king.
Barnard Arnold "Barney" Gumble is a recurring character in the American animated TV series The Simpsons. He is voiced by Dan Castellaneta and first appeared in the series premiere episode "Simpsons Roasting on an Open Fire".
A sidekick is a slang expression for a close companion or colleague who is, or is generally regarded as, subordinate to that whom they accompany.
Robert Armin was an English actor, and member of the Lord Chamberlain's Men. He became the leading comedy actor with the troupe associated with William Shakespeare following the departure of Will Kempe around 1600. Also a popular comic author, he wrote a comedy, The History of the Two Maids of More-clacke, as well as Foole upon Foole, A Nest of Ninnies (1608) and The Italian Taylor and his Boy.
Fop became a pejorative term for a man excessively concerned with his appearance and clothes in 17th-century England. Some of the many similar alternative terms are: coxcomb, fribble, popinjay, dandy, fashion-monger, and ninny. Macaroni was another term of the 18th century more specifically concerned with fashion.
Comic relief is the inclusion of a humorous character, scene, or witty dialogue in an otherwise serious or dramatic work, often to relieve tension.
The wise old man is an archetype as described by Carl Jung, as well as a classic literary figure, and may be seen as a stock character. The wise old man can be a profound philosopher distinguished for wisdom and sound judgment.
Harold John Smith was an American actor. He is credited in over 300 film and television productions, and was best known for his role as Otis Campbell, the town drunk on CBS's The Andy Griffith Show and for voicing Owl in the first four original Winnie the Pooh shorts and later The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh. He also did a cameo in The Apartment as a drunken Santa Claus.
Foster Brooks was an American actor and comedian best known for his portrayal of a lovable drunk in nightclub performances and television programs.
"Days of Wine and D'oh'ses" is the eighteenth episode of the eleventh season of the American animated television series The Simpsons. It originally aired on the Fox network in the United States on April 9, 2000. In the episode, Barney realizes how much of a pathetic drunk he is after watching his birthday party video and decides to give up alcohol forever, which upsets his friend Homer. Meanwhile, Bart and Lisa work together to take a memorable photo for a new phone book cover contest.
Dry drunk is a controversial colloquial expression that describes an alcoholic who no longer drinks but otherwise maintains the same behavior patterns of an alcoholic. The objective of groups such as Narcotics Anonymous (NA) and Alcoholics Anonymous (AA) is not just to help their members stop abusing drugs and alcohol. It is asserted in these programs that addiction is more systemic than a "bad habit" and is fundamentally caused by self-centeredness. Long term membership in Alcoholics Anonymous has been found to reform pathological narcissism, and those who are sober but retain characteristics associated with addiction are known in AA as dry drunks. The term is used by AA in relation to feelings of anger, depression and resentment.
Public intoxication, also known as "drunk and disorderly" and "drunk in public", is a summary offense in some countries rated to public cases or displays of drunkenness. Public intoxication laws vary widely by jurisdiction, but usually require an obvious display of intoxicated incompetence or behavior which disrupts public order before the charge is levied.
The wise fool, or thewisdom of the fool, is a form of literary paradox in which, through a narrative, a character recognized as a fool comes to be seen as a beholder of wisdom. A recognizable trope found in stories and artworks from antiquity to the twenty-first century, the wisdom of the fool often captures what Intellectualism fails to illuminate of a thing's meaning or significance; thus, the wise fool is often associated with the wisdom found through blind faith, reckless desire, hopeless romance, and wild abandon, but also tradition without understanding, and folk wisdom.
Otis Campbell is the fictional "town drunk" in Mayberry on the American TV sitcom The Andy Griffith Show. Otis was played by Hal Smith and made frequent appearances on the show from 1960 to 1967 but stopped appearing toward the end of the series because of concerns raised by the sponsors over the portrayal of excessive drinking.
The Shakespearean fool is a recurring character type in the works of William Shakespeare.
Superhero fiction is a genre of speculative fiction examining the adventures, personalities and ethics of costumed crime fighters known as superheroes, who often possess superhuman powers and battle similarly powered criminals known as supervillains. The genre primarily falls between hard fantasy and soft science fiction spectrum of scientific realism. It is most commonly associated with American comic books, though it has expanded into other media through adaptations and original works.
The Drinky Crow Show is an American adult computer-animated cel-shaded animated television series created by Eric Kaplan and Tony Millionaire, based on the latter's comic strip Maakies. The pilot episode aired on Adult Swim on May 13, 2007. The series premiered on November 23, 2008 and ended its run on January 25, 2009. The cancellation of the show was confirmed by a Maakies comic.
In vino veritas is a Latin phrase that means "In wine, there is truth", suggesting a person under the influence of alcohol is more likely to speak their hidden thoughts and desires. The phrase is sometimes continued as, "In vīnō vēritās, in aquā sānitās", i.e., "In wine there is truth, in water there is good sense ." Similar phrases exist across cultures and languages.
Christopher Sly is a minor character in William Shakespeare's The Taming of the Shrew. He is a drunk man who is easily dominated by women, set up as a foil to Petruchio, the central male character in the play.
Bardolph is a fictional character who appears in four plays by William Shakespeare. He is a thief who forms part of the entourage of Sir John Falstaff. His grossly inflamed nose and constantly flushed, carbuncle-covered face is a repeated subject for Falstaff's and Prince Hal's comic insults and word-play. Though his role in each play is minor, he often adds comic relief, and helps illustrate the personality change in Henry from Prince to King.
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