It’s no surprise that Lin-Manuel Miranda is not only one of the most intelligent, most ambitious celebrities out there, but also one of the funniest too! You can check out WICF’s coverage of his late night extravaganzas on The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon and Saturday Night Live here. This week, Miranda has proven once again he has the comedic chops to go on Comedy Central’s Drunk History to talk about his alter ego, Alexander Hamilton; as well as write a musical satire about millennials with actor Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson.
Drunk History originally started as a Funny-or-Die web series in 2007, hosted by Derek Waters. Ironically, the very first episode of the series was about Alexander Hamilton, drunkenly told by Mark Gagliardi, and starring the ever-awkward Michael Cera (Arrested Development) and Jake Johnson (New Girl). The series became so popular that it moved to television and premiered on Comedy Central in 2013, now produced by Will Ferrell and Adam McKay. Since then, the show has become a place where actors and comedians alike come to drink up and recount the tales of America’s history, now with a budget for lavish costumes, big sets, and cool special effects.
The show came full circle on November 29th in Season 4, Episode 10, when Lin-Manuel Miranda came to talk about Alexander Hamilton’s journey to the colonies, his role in the Revolutionary War, his scandalous affair with Mariah Reynolds, and the infamous duel-to-the-death with Aaron Burr. Basically it was everything and more that the Tony-Winner wrote about in his Broadway musical, but more PG-13. The episode also perfectly casts Alia Shawkat (Arrested Development) as Hamilton, and Aubrey Plaza (Parks and Recreation) as Burr. Highlights include Lin’s hilarious swearing and enthusiasm ("Here comes kick (expletive) Hamilton on a flaming ship. Your (expletive) will never be the same”), Questlovle’s FaceTime session, and a drunken rendition of Semitonic’s “Closing Time”. You can watch the full episode here.
But wait, there’s more! Not only has Miranda been telling stories of the past, he’s writing a new musical about the here and now. More specifically, about millennial culture. Somehow during the time they had to spare while working on the Disney Animated feature film Moana, Miranda and his co-star Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson wrote and filmed a musical about uber millennial girl Crystal: a 22-year old from Brooklyn who works at a start-up company, takes soul-cycle, and tragically looses her phone. This takes her and her social-media deficient friend Jack on a journey from a Yoga-Work-Out-Center/Record-Store/Juice-Bar, to the Electric Dynamite Circus Night Club, to a start-up company making an app that will get you “laid, paid, and bring back Harambe.” It’s a satirical, heart-warming, cringe-worthy, coming-of-age story, where you learn the true meaning of “dank memes” and love in the digital age. What’s next for the musical-writing comedy duo? A play about the rise of Chipotle, where the opening number is called “The Guacamole is Extra But the Love is Free.” Check out the entirety of Millennials: The Musical below!
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