The Alcoholic: Difference between revisions

{{trope}}

 

He likes his liquor, and in large amounts. He may realize he has a problem, and get on and [[Off the Wagon]], or he may be a [[Drunken Master]], and this is merely a part of his 'training,' or a result of his -- 'skills.'

 

Sometimes, this character is merely [[Drowning My Sorrows|Drowning His Sorrows]], and will bounce back later in the series. Other times, he's been this way from the beginning and has no plans to stop anytime soon. Worried friends may try to help by [[Nailed to the Wagon|Nailing Him To The Wagon]], though this attempt at forcing him to go [[Going Cold Turkey|Cold Turkey]] isn't guaranteed to succeed.

 

[[Real Life]] alcoholics are not always lying in the gutter - sometimes they are just people who drink alone, or for the sake of drinking, but never appearing to drink to excess (due to tolerance). Hollywood, however, prefers the 'gutter' form as it is more obvious and pathetic than the man who wanders around the house with a glass in his hand, constantly in a mild stupor.

 

 

 

 

 

* Berman, of the Magic Bullet infomercials, is quite obviously hungover when he stumbles into the kitchen. He's the drunk of the whole shebang.

 

* Sumeragi Lee Noriega from ''[[Mobile Suit Gundam 00]]''.

* Quent Yaiden from ''[[Wolf's Rain]]''. I'm sure he's been mentioned in a similar context before.

* Sylia Stingray from ''[[Bubblegum Crisis]] 2040'' is definitely abusing ''something.'' She's seen drinking pretty often, but might have a drug habit on the side.

* Arguably Kitsune in ''[[Love Hina]]'' - most of the time she's depicted either drinking or obviously drunk.

** Latvia. Despite being too young to drink - [[Older Than They Look|in human age]]

** Denmark also definitely qualifies as this.

** As well as Russia.

* There are two notable examples is ''[[Monster (manga)|Monster]]'', both of whom are [[Drowning My Sorrows|drowning their sorrows]].

* ''[[Fairy Tail]]'': Cana drinks thirty percent of the liquor from a giant barrel.

* Hiroshi's neglective father in ''[[Domu: A Child's Dream]]: A Child's Dream''. He does nothing but lie around his apartment intoxicated and that's why his wife and son left him.

* In ''[[Brigadoon Marin and Melan]]'' Tadashi is nearly always seen drunk, drinking, or asking for more sake. It's shown to have seriously damaged his family.

* {{spoiler|Mr Legend}} from ''[[Tiger and Bunny]]''.

 

* Howard Nissen from ''[[Give Me Liberty]]'', after having to deal with more than fifty separatist movements in the US and his mostly right-wing secretaries actively opposing him. Moretti may also be blamed.

* ''[[Iron Man]]''

** Tony Stark went through a serious alcohol problem in the comics, which was treated realistically and respectfully. But thanks to [[Never Live It Down]], this is the default portrayal of him in other media. In [[The Movie]], nearly every scene that's not a fight scene has him drinking an alcoholic beverage of some sort. As the sequel was partially an adaptation of the storyline ''dealing'' with the drinking problem, it was [[Foreshadowing]].

{{quote|"Listen... but do you really think it is wise to knock back so many vodkas before you fly that thing?"

"Oh, absolutely, darling. In fact, it's really quite essential... I mean, who in their right mind's going to climb into it sober?". }}

* Katchoo in ''[[Strangers in Paradise]]''.

* Captain Haddock in ''[[Tintin]]''. The portrayal is horrifying in his first appearance - ''The Crab with the Golden Claws'', where he's arguably more dangerous to Tintin than the baddies they're fighting. Although often the subject of jokes, readers are left in no doubt that it's an addiction and has terrible side effects not only on Haddock himself but everyone around him. It's also a running gag that he is so addicted to alcohol, he's incapable of drinking non-alcoholic drinks, especially water. Fortunately, his addiction slowly weakens during the course of the series thanks to a combination of [[Character Development]], horrible repercussions, and Tintin's efforts to keep him away from alcohol.

* Inspector Gill of ''[[Fish Police (comics)|Fish Police]]''. This is even mentioned in one letters section, where a reader points out that Gill went a whole issue without drinking. Moncuse counters that by saying that the violence and sex in that issue make up for it.

 

* Edward Elric (of all people) in ''[[Fullmetal Lol]]''

* ''[[Ponies Make War]]'' has [[Only Known by Their Nickname|Sir Unimpressive]], who's never seen without a flask of whiskey. Twilight at one point wonders where he keeps managing to get it refilled.

 

* In ''[[Blazing Saddles]]'', Jim, aka the Waco Kid, ever since his Literal Ass Kicking. He gets better.

* ''[[Arthur (film)|Arthur]]'': Arthur Bach is one of the best-known [[Played for Laughs]] examples.

* Eddie (Walter Brennan) in ''[[To Have And Have Not]]''. He may be a rummy but he's a loyal, (fairly) brave rummy.

* In ''[[Khalnayak]]'', Ballu's [[Mommy Issues]] have led to him becoming this.

 

* Sam Houston in ''[[Trail of Glory]]'' is shown as a high-functioning alcoholic, which he also was in real life.

* Harry Driscoll in Adam Davies' ''[[The Frog King]]''.

* Commander Sam Vimes from [[Terry Pratchett]]'s ''[[Discworld]]'' is a recovering alcoholic, though he objects to the term (he was a drunk, he wasn't rich enough to be an alcoholic).

** In fact Vimes actually has a negative blood alcohol level, which means he has to drink to avoid being knurd. Colon estimated that he was two drinks under par and needed a stiff double just to be sober. Of course, he didn't always get the dose right.

* ''[[Harry Potter]]''

** Winky the house elf, who being an elf gets drunk on butterbeer.

** And Professor Trelawney with her cooking sherry.

** [[Emotional Bruiser|Hagrid]] is heavily implied to be one. He swears at least once that he'll never drink again (it doesn't take), and the trio end up [[Man Child|taking care of him]] more than vice versa.

* Johnny Nolan in ''[[A Tree Grows in Brooklyn]]''.

* Charles Bukowski's alter ego, Henry Chinaski. Most of Bukowski's novels are autobiographical, so it's pretty obvious that he really enjoyed beer by the bucketful.

* Bertie's Uncle George in ''[[Jeeves and Wooster (novel)|Jeeves and Wooster]]'' "discovered that alcohol was a food well in advance of modern medical thought." Occasionally "his liver lodges a formal protest" and he goes to a healing center to get cleaned up, only to go back to drinking as soon as he returns to London.

 

 

* Dylan McKay in the original ''[[Beverly Hills, 90210]]''.

* In ''[[The Big Bang Theory]]'' [[Girl Next Door|Penny]] is pretty well stated as having a difficult relationship with alcohol, binge drinking whenever sad or upset. When [[Nice Guy|Leonard]]'s mom, a cold psychiatrist, first came to visit she quickly psychoanalyzed Penny's insecurities and all the childhood issues Leonard had came to the forefront. Needless to say when Leonard was considering "turning to alcoholism as a career path" he visited Penny, who was all ready for downing shots. In the first half of season five it's implied Penny was depressed over her... [[All Love Is Unrequited|complicated]]... relationship [[UST|with Leonard]] and thus showed her to be drinking more often.

* ''[[Mad Men]]'':

** Herman "Duck" Philips from is a recovering alcoholic. {{spoiler|Until, that is, Season 2's "Maidenform," when he falls [[Off the Wagon]] in the middle of his nasty divorce. While somewhat sympathetic and under control at first, the liquor gets the best of him, and by Season 4's "The Suitcase," he is a ''raging'' alcoholic and a ''massive'' dick, too.}}

** While Don Draper has been drinking like a fish since the beginning, he was never shown as really ''drunk'' (lubricated perhaps, but never ''hammered'') until Season 4 (in the wake of his divorce from Betty). After that, he's depicted as being sloshed at least every other episode, even to the point of puking in "The Suitcase." (Hm. That episode was about a Samsonite ad campaign. [[Wild Mass Guessing|Perhaps Samsonite=alcoholism to the writers]]?) At this point, it's fairly clear that we are witnessing Don Draper's [[The New Pornographers|Slow Descent Into Alcoholism]].

* Kitty Forman on ''[[That '70s Show]]'' is a borderline case; she drinks a lot, but never gets completely wasted.

* Abby Lockhart on ''[[ER]]''

* Clive in ''[[Grandma's House]]''

* Adam on ''[[Girls (TV series)|Girls]]'' is a recovering alcoholic who has been attending AA meetings since age 17.

** Dr. McCoy often prescribes alcohol to his patents, seems to store booze in sickbay, and prepares beans with bourbon.

 

* [[Alice Cooper]] was a massive alcoholic at the height of his career. He said on ''[[Top Gear]]'' that after he vomited up blood, he'd decided it was time to stop.

* [[Elvis Costello]]'s "Beyond Belief" is very clearly being narrated by someone on the verge of a drunken stupor: "So in this almost empty gin palace / In a two-way looking glass, you see your Alice." The singer himself once got into serious trouble because of remarks he made while inebriated. The lyrics to "Man out of Time" are also noticeably booze-sodden: "You drink yourself insensitive and hate yourself in the morning.

* Swedish rocker [[Eddie Meduza]]. He was known for his "party hard" lifestyle, which spiraled into full-blown alcoholism in the '80s. Eventually he cleaned up his act in the '90s after doctors told him he would die if he had another drink. Unfortunately he couldn't keep it up and relapsed, which led to his death in 2002. Many of his later songs sarcastically "praise" the "joys" of being drunk all the time.

 

 

* [[Andre the Giant]] was notorious for his ability to drink somewhere in the region of 7,000 calories of booze each day. Thing is, being a giant, it took INSANE amounts of booze to get him drunk—for example, 1,428 oz (that's 119 12-oz bottles) of beer to make him pass out.

* [[Stone Cold Steve Austin]].

* [[Jake Roberts]]: During his original run in the World Wrestling Federation, substance abuse problems began to mount for "The Snake," and came to a head ''after'' he left the organization. By 1996, he returned, having cleaned up and was now depicting himself as a born-again Christian who had left the bottle behind. A feud was created around his newfound sobriety, with [[Jerry Lawler]] playing the shameless antagonist. Lawler – then a mean-spirited, arrogant heel – constantly mocked Roberts and alleged that he had shown up at events under the influence. Roberts eventually had enough and [[Playing Drunk|eventually came to the arena "drunk"]] to lower Lawler's guard.

 

* Jackie "The Jokeman" Martling, Artie Lange, and especially Jeff the Drunk of ''[[Howard Stern|The Howard Stern Show]]''.

* Comedy pair [[Hudson and Landry]] featured a few skits involving drunks making phone calls. Their best known skit is about a already hammered drunk ordering ''more'' liquor.

{{quote|'''Jack:''' One of the judges for this year's Beer Festival was our very own Barry Cryer. Barry sampled several dozens of different lagers, a variety of beers, and one or two champagnes, and as such, never made it to the festival.}}

 

* ''[[Cyrano De Bergerac]]'': Ligniere. He dislikes orange juice and milk, only stays at the theater to drink four glasses of wine, he happily retires to betake again his pet vice in a tavern, and when Christian tries to save him for a trap, he’s advised to left notice to Ligniere at five different taverns.

* Doc Delaney, in William Inge's ''[[Come Back Little Sheba]]''.

* The title character of [[PDQ Bach]]'s ''The Stoned Guest'', whose voice type is described as "basso blotto."

* Eric in ''[[An Inspector Calls]]'' is frequently "squiffy". It's obvious to most of his family, but his mother's in total denial about it.

 

* In ''[[Max Payne 2]]'' it is revealed that former deputy police chief Bravura is a recovering alcoholic, and he offers to take the protagonist to meetings with him. It isn't made clear if he is merely misreading Payne's survivor's guilt or if Max actually has a problem. The upcoming third installment seems to portray Max as being a full blown substance abuser.

* Mr. Galloway of ''[[Bully (video game)|Bully]]'' who is also arguably the coolest teacher in the game.

* Part of the first quest in ''[[Fable|Fable 2]]'' is returning a drunk's lost bottle. The 'good choice' is to give it to his wife, who's trying to make him quit, while the 'evil' one is giving it back to him.

* Granin in [[Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater]]. To the point that he divulges Sokolov's location to Snake while intoxicated.

* Players of ''[[Final Fantasy X]]'' could speculate that the jug of sake hanging from [[Badass|Auron's]] belt was well used.

** Jecht is a better example: Tidus mentions having trouble remembering a time when he ''wasn't'' drunk. This apparently ended when he stabbed a shoopuf in a drunken panic (he thought it was a fiend); after Braska was forced to give the animal's handler all their money, Jecht never drank again. (You can find a recording of the aftermath of the incident around the same area where it happened.)

* ''[[Touhou]]'': Gensokyo's resident drunkards, [[Bottle Fairy|Suika]] [[Pettanko|Ibuki]] and [[Boisterous Bruiser|Yuugi Hoshiguma]].

** And, to an extent, the series's creator ZUN as well. Pictures of him are hard to find. Pictures of him ''without'' some form of alcohol are nonexistent.

* The eponymous character of ''[[Conker's Bad Fur Day]]''.

* Grayson Hunt of ''[[Bulletstorm]]'' is a revenge-obsessed drunkard. The player can decide to take Ishi's threat to kill him if he starts again to heart, by shooting the bottles of alcohol you see.. or taking a drink, and getting point bonuses for killing enemies while drunk.

'''Baofu:''' The best wines are those that are treated well, but ultimately become spoiled or bad if misused over time. It's the same with humans. }}

 

* Hazel from ''[[Girls with Slingshots]]'' is often drinking or drunk. She writes all of her articles smashed. Occasionally [[Lampshaded]] when she gets so drunk she forgets what happened, or realizes how common intoxication is for her. Such as when she "levels up" her faux sober threshold to ''nine'' beers.

* Kyotoshi Lypha from ''[[Inhuman]]'', starting after his parents were killed in a planet-wide massacre. His fridge contains only vodka and a clean, folded towel.

* Decoy Octopus in ''[[The Last Days of Foxhound]]''.

* Nitrous Blight of [[Zokusho Comics]] could head this way if he's not careful. He is a powerful telepath and alcohol is one of the few ways to dull the volume of the thoughts of others.

 

* Danielbeast in ''[[Lonelygirl15]]'' became an alcoholic at one point, as a result of trying to drown his sorrows.

* Glitch, of the [[Whateley Universe]], who's obviously alcoholic, and a sophomore in high school. He blames his parents for all his problems.

* ''[[Ask That Guy With The Glasses]]'' has a bar for setting. The host has replaced his book with [[A Glass of Chianti]].

* In the "Ask Jack" video from the ''[[The Horribly Slow Murderer With the Extremely Inefficient Weapon]]'' series, Jack reveals that the reason he is still fat despite running from the Ginosaji for years is because he's developed eating and drinking problems to cope with the insanity. During the segment he's trying to eat a plate of spaghetti and drink a glass of wine while the Ginosaji is still slowly beating him to death with a spoon.

 

* In ''[[Futurama]]'', robots are alcoholics by default, as alcohol works as their fuel. However, they stumble around as if they were drunk when they're sober... and at other times (particularly in earlier episodes) they are portrayed binge-drinking human style. Bender himself speaks with a mild slur at all times.

** [[Lampshade Hanging|"You've been drinking too much! Or not enough. I forget how it works with you."]]

** "I don't ''need'' to drink, I can quit any time I want."

** "Bender, you're blind stinking ''sober''!"

* Miriam Pataki from ''[[Hey Arnold!]]'' is a textbook example, though mainly off screen. On screen all she wants is a "smoothie".

* Clay Puppington in ''[[Moral Orel]]''. And how!

* The entire band Dethklok in ''[[Metalocalypse]]'', but particularly Pickles the drummer. Alcoholism and drug use is such a heavy part of Pickles's past and personality that when his former bandmates headlined a [[Straight Edge]]-esque concert with a new singer, he was mortally offended and vowed to crash the concert.

** Brian Griffin is rarely seen without a glass of something in his hand. In comparison he is probably worse than Peter - Peter usually goes out drinking for fun with friends, but Brian often drinks alone, or to 'drown sorrows', or for the sake of drinking.

** Peter Griffin of occasionally.

* ''[[The Simpsons]]''

** Homer Simpson. He can consume more beer (leading into excessive intoxication obviously) more than [[Family Guy|Peter]] can.

* Pickles of ''[[The Oblongs]]''

* Uncle Waldo from ''[[The Aristocats]]''. He is first seen being chased out of a restaurant as an attempt to avoid being killed and eaten as part of a dish called "Prime Country Goose a la Provencale" that apparantly involved him being "stuffed with chestnuts and basted in white wine." And because of the latter, Uncle Waldo actually became ''extremely'' drunk as a result of this.

 

{{reflist}}

[[Category:Characters As Device]]

[[Category:Index of Exact Trope Titles]]

[[Category:Character Flaw Index]]

[[Category:Hard-Drinking Tropes]]

[[Category:Dude, Not Funny]]

[[Category:No Real Life Examples, Please]]