Well, Drunk America finally launched this week, and let me tell you friends, it has been a crazy time getting it ready. The initial idea for Drunk America came after an AV Action News show more than 8 months ago, wherein Jeff Sloniker was interviewing drunk people during the show about their pornography preference (hardcore or softcore). Scott Gimple mused the next day during rehearsal that interviewing drunk people was pretty much the most fun thing you could do, and we all agreed. After many months of not doing anything with the idea (we had way too much other stuff going on) we finally decided to film a few episodes. Scott was the first interviewer; the idea was to create a show like 48hrs or 20/20 that explored the news of the day through interviews with drunk people. We were thinking of maybe making it a live show with pre-taped clips, but finally decided to go the internet weekly series route. Scott wanted the show to be more serious, and not as on the nose, so the name was changed to Joe Six-Pack (J6), and the first two nights of shooting were very serious. Scott asked thoughtful questions on big topics, and we got some decent interviews. The problem was that it was so serious that everyone was sobering up very quickly and realizing they were on camera, and most people rambled on and on, trying to sound as intelligent as possible.

This was a problem, a big problem.

The interviews were almost impossible to edit into a clear and short form. The show was ‘interesting’ but not ‘entertaining’ or ‘funny’. We switched gears and began reshooting. Jeff Sloniker and Joshua Meindertsma were our new interviewers, and they played with the subjects more, keeping them in a happier, more fun-loving mood, and the results were 180degree opposite to what we got before. We are still getting good opinions, and truthful thoughts on different topics, but we are also getting more fun moments. The atmosphere around the cameras is almost like a carnival now- everyone wants to hop in front of the cameras and say their piece. The footage is filled with funny moments and serious opinions, but the whole time everyone is having fun. We changed the overall attitude of the show from “Let’s ask drunk people what they think” to “Hey, want to party with us? Awesome! Now, let us know what you think about things!”. Kevin Ford and Amanda Ohly took over as hosts of the show, and the set went from ‘news magazine’ style to ‘hanging out in a bar’. All in all the tone shifted from a lofty sober view of drunks to an eye-to-eye conversation with them.

I would be completely remiss if I did not spend a moment talking about our theme music. I searched for almost two months for a band that could make the perfect song for this show, and I honestly feel like I have. I was looking on Myspace, and I found “To the Bar” on the profile of the Booze Bazookaz. These guys have been amazing. Not only have they agreed to let us use their song as the theme song for the show, but they have been incredibly stoked to be involved from day one. Every message from them has been overwhelmingly supportive and excited- there has not been a single reservation, complaint, or problem. I really genuinely cannot sing their praises enough, and the song is exactly what I was looking for. Go to their profile now and leave a comment, let them know how awesome they are (you can also listen to the whole track there).

We also have expanded the scope of the show, it is not just a show about what drunk people think, it is a show about what it means to be an American who likes to get drunk. In future episodes we will be doing all kinds of things around the lifestyle of Drunk America, from reviewing user-submitted drinking games, to drunk cooking, to crashing parties, to whatever we think to do. Please send in your ideas (comment here or use the contact form), we will use them and give you credit for them. This show is a blast to produce, and we want to try and share that fun with as many people as we can… so join us! Ep. 2 goes up on Wednesday, please stay tuned to this channel.