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The town drunk typically dwells in a small town, small enough that he is the only conspicuous alcoholic. Larger cities may have more than one, but this term appears to come from around the 17th Century; in the stereotype, when a city grows large enough to house a sufficient mass of town drunks, the area where they congregate becomes known as Skid Row.

1 Uses in fiction

In fiction, the town drunk character serves a number of functions.

• He may serve merely as a moral example on the evils of drunkenness. This approach to the character is associated the " temperance" movement, and peaked at the start of the twentieth century. The notorious Prohibition play Ten Nights in a Barroom portrays the inevitable fall into destitute drunkenness of a person who dared to take that "Fatal Glass of Beer", the title of another period drama working this vein. A town drunk who appears in Our Town by Thornton Wilder is perhaps the most often seen example of this version of the character.
• The town drunk may play the role of the fool, and his antics serve as the engine for comedyComedy is the use of humor in the performing arts. It also means a performance that relies heavily on humor. The term originally comes from theater, where it simply referred to a play with a happy ending, in contrast to a tragedy. The humor, once an incid. "Otis" from The Andy Griffith ShowGriffith as Andy Taylor and Howard as Opie Knotts as Barney Fife and Griffith as Andy Taylor The Andy Griffith Show was an American television series that aired from 1960 to 1968. The series was an immediate hit with its audience, and still enjoys success is this type of town drunk, as are the many of the denizens of Moe's TavernIn the animated series The Simpsons Moe Szyslak (pronounced SIZZ-lack) (voiced by Hank Azaria) is the proprietor of Moe's Tavern ("Where Nobody Knows Your Name"), the regular drinking hole of Homer Simpson Barney Gumble Lenny Carl and others. An Italian i such as Barney GumbleBarney Gumble is a fictional character on The Simpsons voiced by Dan Castellaneta. Barney is the Springfield town drunk, a regular at Moe's Tavern. His desperation for alcohol has been the source of many jokes, and his belch is distinctive. He remains fri from The SimpsonsHomer, Marge, Maggie, Santa's Little Helper, Bart, Snowball II, and Lisa. The Simpsons is the longest-running animated television series and sitcom series in U. television history, with 16 seasons and 338 episodes since its debut on December 17, 1989..
• In a similar vein, the town drunk may serve as a semi-comic proxy for the Wise Old ManThe Wise Old Man is an archetype as described by Carl Gustav Jung. It is also a classic literary figure, and may be seen as a stock character. In works of fiction, this kind of character is typically represented by an kind and wise, older father-type figu. He may disrupt public meetings, either for comic effect, or by dispensing what proves to be wisdom in a garbled and comic form. Or, in this incarnation, the character may introduce the heroThis article is about the type of character. For other meanings, see Hero (disambiguation . Sir Galahad, a prototypical hero In many myths and folk tales, a hero is a man or woman (then often called a heroine , traditionally the protagonist of a story, le to some of the worldlier sorts of wisdom, as well as forming a contrast to his truly heroic character. One prototype for this version of the town drunk is supplied by Shakespeare's Falstaff, who appears in both parts of Henry IV and in The Merry Wives of Windsor. When "Prince Hal" matures into a truly heroic figure, the death of Falstaff is reported in Henry V.