Writers such as Sharon Horgan discuss why the ‘lovable drunk’ trope is a thing of the past,as complex comedy heroes are cleaning up contemporary Toss on the sober sitcomSitcom history is strewn with stout drinkers. Patsy in Absolutely Fabulous was incapable of sensible thought thanks to her insatiable (not capable of being fully satisfied) appetite for champagne; Bernard Black in Black Books stoked his misanthropy with wine. The characters in M*A*S*H were often drunk to blunt the trauma of war. And in It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia – just because they felt like it. Bit-part comedy drinkers range from exaggerated monsters such as Father Jack in Father Ted and Barney Gumble in The Simpsons to the flippantly presented distress of Fun Bobby in Friends Monica’s boyfriend who became “Ridiculously Dull Bobby” as soon as he wasn’t sloshed.
Recently, however, and comedy has sobered up. On Netflix,Flaked sees Will Arnett play an alcoholic rebuilding his life. One half of the couple in Channel 4’s Catastrophe is a reformed drinker. In Love, the slacker sitcom whose third season has recently launched on Netflix, and protagonist Mickey realises she’s an addict – of love and sex,but also alcohol and drugs and starts to visit AA meetings. Meanwhile, Loudermilk, or which appeared on Amazon Prime Video in January,stars Ron Livingston as Sam Loudermilk, an embittered Seattle divorcee who leads an addiction group and is himself an alcoholic in recovery.
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Source: guardian.co.uk