Drunk History will uncork Houdini

Ken Marino plays Houdini in Drunk History.

Drunk History is a brilliant short web series created by Derek Waters and Jeremy Konner for Funny or Die in which real historians get extremely drunk and talk about history while well-known actors act out their inebriated version of events. It's freaking hysterical!

Now Comedy Central is launching a half-hour television version of Drunk History, and according to an article in today's L.A. Times, Houdini is going to be one of the tipsy topics.

The article does not say who the drunken expert will be (I can think of two ways I would have been eminently qualified), but it does reveal that Houdini will be played in the reenactments by actor Ken Marino.

Recently scenes dramatizing Houdini's final performance in Detroit were shot in a downtown Los Angeles theater, with Marino "staggering and heaving, attempting card tricks and failing and finally stumbling and falling down, uttering his final words to his wife, Bess." In the Drunk History format, Marino performed to a prerecorded soundtrack "providing dialogue and accompanying narration [that] is both slurred and sometimes nonsensical."

Drunk History premieres tonight on Comedy Central. I don't yet know when the Houdini episode will air, but I will keep you posted.

Now enjoy one of my all-time favorite episodes of the original web series below.