Rhetorical Analysis On Drunk History

Comedy Central’s Drunk History abridged television series episodes, “Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks” and “John Adams vs. Thomas Jefferson” feature an inebriated individual that tries to recount moments in history. The Onion’s video clip of “Breaking News: Bullshit Happening Somewhere” mimics a news report of a bear cub being spotted running through a neighborhood. The Drunk History video episodes’ purpose is to slightly inform and entertain viewers of historical moments through a different engaging perspective; the Onion’s video clip’s purpose is to taunt at news reports while retaining their basic sequence and structure. These three videos demonstrate the different use of rhetorical strategies to achieve their purpose while adopting humorous tones to appeal to their viewer demographic.
The Drunk History episode “Claudette Colvin and Rosa Parks” explains how the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) initiates a bus boycott with Rosa Parks after being influenced by the actions and arrest of the young girl, Claudette Colvin. The decision to start the boycott with Rosa Parks demonstrates an ethos strategy as it is “composed of everything that makes an audience consider him or her persuasive” (Austin 664). The video briefly denotes a woman arguing that Colvin is too young, viewers

can infer Rosa Parks was a more suited candidate because she is older, secretary of the NAACP, and personally befriended Colvin. These credentials would allow Parks and her message to become more credible and thus appealing to the white individuals.
The Drunk History episode, “John Adams vs.

Thomas Jefferson” is about the absurd fallacies and rivalry that initiated between Adams and Jefferson during their campaigns for the election of eighteen hundred. Although the two candidates made outstretched claims about one another, they hoped it would appeal to the logical reasoning of the voters. For example, Adams’s claim that Jefferson was dead is a false dilemma fallacy or “The rejection of one choice in such a situation [that] requires the adoption of the second alternative” (Austin 661). Adams hoped the voters would believe Jefferson was dead and therefore make them have “no other choice” than to vote for

him.
The two Drunk History episodes use colloquial language and an inebriated retelling to create a humorous tone. The two episodes utilize words such as ‘fuck’ and work to keep the viewer entertained and interested from beginning to end. The humorous appeal in these videos is not being used to persuade, but it still demonstrates the pathos rhetorical strategy. “Emotional appeals do not have to be manipulative” and the humor in the two episodes is used to connect with the expected viewer audience of Comedy Central (Austin 661).
The Onion’s video clip, “Breaking News: Bullshit Happening Somewhere” is about a fake news clip of a bear cub spotting aimed at ridiculing the structure and elements commonly found in most news reports. This clip demonstrates credibility elements by displaying graphs and having an “expert” speak, emotional appeal elements by having two different emails with contrasting viewpoints, and logical reasoning elements by creating tips on how to avoid bears all while reiterating the “bullshitness” of the news story through the comedic overuse of the word ‘bullshit’. Ethos, pathos, and logos are all satirically illustrated in the video clip and allow the viewers to see the importance of each one and how they work together by “[coloring]…our experience with the work and [affecting] how persuaded we are by its argument (Austin 664). However, this clip also serves as a realization of how the inclusion of these rhetorical strategies can be attached to a nonsensical unimportant story and it is ultimately up to the viewers to decide what’s important and to recognize how others can be easily manipulated through mass media. This ridicule and perspective appeals to the readers of the news satire company, The Onion.
The two episodes of Drunk History and the video clip from The Onion, incorporate different uses of rhetorical strategies while maintaining a humorous tone to appeal to their intended audiences. These videos serve to illustrate the strategies helpful in making solid arguments and effective persuasion pieces.