A Boozy Bob Odenkirk Will Narrate Disco Demolition For 'Drunk History'

By Stephen Gossett in Arts & Entertainment on Aug 22, 2016 6:11PM

Still from "Drunk History"

As we delved into last month, the infamous Disco Demolition has a Rashomon-like tendency to divide interpretation. So perhaps it was inevitable that the much-debated “night disco died” would find itself cast under the three-sheets-to-the-wind historical lens of Comedy Central's Drunk History. In the show, a narrator is plied with booze then asked to recount his or her historical event. According to the Tribune, Naperville native Bob Odenkirk will do the inebriated honors.

In July 1979, disco-hating Loop DJ Steve Dahl and White Sox promotions manager Mike Veeck organized a stunt that has since become the stuff of legend. Ninety-eight cents plus a disco record got stadium-goers admission to a Sox-vs.-Tigers double-header. The collected vinyl was then blown up in the outfield following the first game, prompting a massive rush onto the field and all manner of pandemonium. The second game was forfeited, and disco was declared DOA.

It remains to be seen what details a drunk Odenkirk (Better Call Saul, Mr. Show) adds, omits and exaggerates. But we do know that, at least when sober, Odenkirik looks upon Disco Demolition with fond eyes. He wrote the introduction to this year's Disco Demolition, written by author Dave Hoekstra in collaboration with Dahl, which paints an overall positive portrait of the night. (Disco Demolition has been criticized as racist and homophobic in subsequent years, a charge that was recently leveled again by house-music pioneer—and Disco Demolition usher—Vince Lawrence.)

Odenkirk in the introduction of the book says Disco Demolition was not homophobic “at its core” and considers that version of history “politically-correct twisting of the movement.”

We're huge fans of Odenkirk's comedy, but we at the same time, we thought his take on Dahl and Disco Demolition in the book could've done with a bit more nuance. So we'll be watching with some feeling on conflict. The new season of Drunk History debuts September 27; but Odenkirk's episode does not yet have an airdate. In the meantime, you can pre-game with a trailer for the new season and a video of Odenkirk reading his Disco Demolition intro, from earlier this year.