In the fifth episode of season six, Drunk History falls in love! As Valentine’s Day looms only days away, DH tells the story of three couples who refused to let their love be defined or restricted by anyone, anything, or any wall. These people chose to go to extremes to prove and protect their love, and I am here for it.
Photo Source: Drunk History on Comedy Central screenshot by Crystal Spears from The Game of Nerds

Photo Source: Drunk History on Comedy Central screenshot by Crystal Spears from The Game of Nerds

In the first segment Anais Fairweather tells the story of Germany’s “Tunnel of Love,” which was used to help fifty-seven residents of East Berlin find their freedom in West Berlin with their loved ones in 1961. During the course of an attempt to reach his lover, Christa Gruhle, Joachim Neuman dug two tunnels with the help of other engineering students from his college which led to freedom for fifty-seven East Berliners after the construction of the Berlin Wall. Josh Hartnett and Missi Pyle play our lovebirds and I cried real tears at the end as the Berlin Wall was described as “the wall built to keep us apart finally came tumbling down.”

Next, Drew Droege tells the story behind the film Dog Day Afternoon. In this tale of love and sacrifice, a man named John Wojtowicz meets and falls in love with a woman named Elizabeth Eden at an Italian street fair. When she explains that she is transgender he accepts her and their loves blossoms, eventually leading to an unofficial marriage. Elizabeth wants to have gender reassignment surgery so John seeks inspiration from the Godfather films and plans to rob a bank. While the love story between the two is beautiful, the big moment for me here is when John gets out of prison and sees Dog Day Afternoon, in which Al Pacino plays John and he remembers seeing them in The Godfather all those years ago.

Finally, Kirby Howell-Baptiste and Alison Rich talk about burps that smell like farts . . . and then tell the story of Edie Windsor who defeats the Defense of Marriage Act in an homage to the love between herself and her wife, Thea Spyer. On June 28, 1969 Edie finds herself in the middle of the Stonewall Riots. The couple decides that the best thing for them is to remain private about their love, which they do for decades until 2007 when they chose to be married in Canada. When Thea dies two years later, the government refuses to treat Edie as Thea’s spouse in financial matters and she unloads a big bag of freedom on the federal government, where love is affirmed and Edie gets recognition for the union between she and her wife.