Thetown drunk (also called atavern fool) is astock character in Anglo-Saxon culture, almost alwaysmale, who isdrunk more often than exhibitingsobriety.
The town drunk is frequently depicted in a humorous light, often portrayed as a harmless and lovable character whose social failings stem from their excessive consumption ofalcohol. However, some portrayals can be more nuanced, exploring the social and personal costs associated withalcoholism.
In fiction, the town drunk character serves a number of functions.
The town drunk may serve merely as amoral example and object lesson on the evils ofdrunkenness. This approach to the character is associated with thetemperance movement, and peaked at the start of the twentieth century. The Prohibition filmTen 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 perioddrama working this vein. A town drunk appears inOur Town byThornton Wilder.[1] Pap Finn inThe Adventures of Huckleberry Finn is another 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 thefool as a source ofcomic relief.[3] "Otis" fromThe Andy Griffith Show is this type of town drunk, as is the character ofBobby Singer inThe CW seriesSupernatural, as well as many of the denizens ofMoe's Tavern fromThe Simpsons such asBarney Gumble.[4] In 1971'sThe Andromeda Strain the only adult survivor is a Town Drunk. InShakespeare'sMacbeth, 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 heinousregicide has taken place.
The town drunk 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 thehero 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'sFalstaff, who appears in both parts ofHenry IV and inThe Merry Wives of Windsor. Another would be the drunk who appears inTeam 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 playJeppe on the Hill, the eponymouswise fool main character, declares that "everybody says that Jeppe drinks, but nobody asks why Jeppe drinks"
