Town drunk

The town drunk is frequently depicted in a humorous light, often portrayed as a harmless and lovable character whose social failings stem from their excessive consumption of alcohol.

The Prohibition film 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.

[3] "Otis" from The Andy Griffith Show is this type of town drunk, as is the character of Bobby Singer in The CW series Supernatural, as well as many of the denizens of Moe's Tavern from The Simpsons such as Barney Gumble.

In Shakespeare's Macbeth, the Porter who appears in Act II, Scene 3, is also a type of "comic relief" drunk who serves to temporarily lighten the mood of the play right after a heinous regicide has taken place.

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.