How ‘Drunk History’ Landed Mandy Moore, Alexander Skarsgard for Season 5 Premiere (Exclusive)
Drunk History is back -- and packed with even more star power than ever before.
In the season five premiere of the Comedy Central series, Mandy Moore and Alexander Skarsgard are just two of the many famous names to re-enact stories about heroines -- museum curator Rose Valland, Revolutionary War veteran Deborah Sampson and American Red Cross founder Clara Barton -- and ET has an exclusive look at the pair as Burton and surgeon James Dunn in a hilarious NSFW clip.
The two actors -- both recent SAG Award winners -- are joined by Evan Rachel Wood (Sampson), Busy Philipps (Valland) and Jack McBrayer (Abraham Lincoln) in the flashback scenes while Girls Trip breakout star Tiffany Haddish serves as one of the episodes' three storytellers, narrating Valland’s story.
“The episode has been dying to be made for a long, long time,” creator Derek Waters says, while revealing just how a star-packed group of talent came together.
A fan of Moore’s since he saw the 2004 teen comedy Saved!, Waters says that he heard the This Is Us star wanted to do that show, but was surprised to find out she was serious. “A lot of people say, ‘That would be fun.’ They’re not really serious. But then he got her,” he says.
As for getting Skarsgard, that's all McBrayer's doing. The two actors are longtime best friends and it was the 30 Rock star who helped get Skarsgard on the show. “I would just hear from Jack that Alex really wants to do it,” Waters reveals, adding that they made sure to put them both in the same episode.
While starring on 2017’s biggest series, Waters credits Wood, Skarsgard and Moore for working next to nothing on Drunk History. “They’re not doing it for the money,” he says, adding that Wood gives it her all in the premiere: “I don’t know who -- male or female -- will ever beat Evan Rachel Wood.”
But perhaps the biggest get for the show is Haddish, who is one of the many famous storytellers this season. However, when she was cast on the show, she was still relatively unknown. Shot over a year ago, Waters only knew her from her small role in Keanu. “Then she comes in and I’m like, ‘Oh my god.’ She’s just someone who knows who she is,” he says, adding that he’s not surprised she’s become such a big star.
While Haddish was a happy accident, season five breaks tradition of not having famous names tell stories on the show. This season, Mae Whitman, Kyle Mooney, Rachel Bloom and Questlove are some of the featured storytellers. But for Waters, it’s all about “what’s the best story and who is the best person to tell it to you.”
Drunk History premieres Tuesday, Jan. 23 at 10 p.m. ET/PT on Comedy Central.
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