Brendon Urie on the night he recited Fall Out Boy’s history—drunk

October 6, 2017

In AP issue #346, we talked to Brendon Urie about that night he got drunk on video and told Fall Out Boy's history. Check out what the Panic! At The Disco frontman had to say about it and (re)watch the video below.

After a night spent raging, most of us reluctantly check our phone to see what sort of social media monstrosity we’ve left in our inebriated wake. Unfortunately for Brendon Urie, his worst night ever is on the internet for all to see: More than five million people on YouTube have watched the Panic! At The Disco frontman, drunk off his ass, recite the history of Fall Out Boy after consuming a blackout-worthy cocktail of Coldcock and Jameson whiskey, Glenlivet Scotch, “numerous beers” and a vodka Redbull for good measure. (“From a legal standpoint, we literally couldn’t put the amount I drank,” Urie explains.)

A riff on the popular Comedy Central show of the same name, Fall Out Boy’s “Drunk History” finds Urie recounting the tale of how Illinois’ pop-punk heroes rose from VFW halls to global superstars. While Urie narrates, a host of characters—including Fall Out Boy themselves—act out his retelling, complete with hideous wigs, drawn-on sideburns and over-exaggerated lip-syncing. It’s gut-bustlingly hilarious as the singer touches on, among other things, Patrick Stump’s “soul voice” and sensitive artist side and Pete Wentz’s leaked nude photos and proclivity for eyeliner (key quote from Urie-as-Wentz: “Makeup is fucking great for a guy because it makes a guy look beautiful…I want to make sure that everybody thinks guys are beautiful.”) in between spitting up into a nearby trash can and, at one point, pouring a cup of beer all over himself.

Urie doesn’t remember much about the night, and for good reason: While the two bands were out on the Save Rock And Roll Tour in late 2013, Wentz had been badgering him for weeks to tape a Drunk History. Urie, at least attempting to be responsible, shot him down repeatedly. “I’m not a drunk guy,” he says. “I’m a buzz guy. I want to feel faded, but that’s as far as I go. I keep it to [two beers] at night, smoke some weed and go to sleep. I don’t want to take it over the edge and black out and get sick.”

Little did he know that behind the scenes, Wentz and the Fall Out Boy road crew were scheming to get him in the hot seat. It started innocently enough, with FOB drum tech (and former Cobra Starship drummer) Nate Novarro barging onto the Panic tour bus with bottles of whiskey and some beer in hand. Under seemingly innocuous circumstances, Urie began to imbibe with his friend—but soon the crowd began to swell, handing the singer more shots by the minute.

From there, the night became a blur: “I don’t remember getting off the bus,” Urie says. “I don’t remember going into the venue. I don’t remember pouring a beer on myself. I get images in my head once in a while of me sitting in a chair facing a mirror while Pete is getting tattooed, but that’s it.

“I woke up at noon totally hung over from puking for hours on the bus,” he remembers of the day after. “I was so sick. When I walked into the venue, everyone was greeting me with applause. Fall Out Boy’s crew, our crew…they were all saying, ‘Hey, buddy. How are you feeling?’ while making sure not to touch me or clap too loud. I watched [a rough cut] and was like, ‘Oh my God. I don’t know who that is. I don’t recognize myself.’ Obviously I saw my mannerisms and stuff; you can’t deny it. It definitely wouldn’t hold up in court if I tried to say it wasn’t me.” [Laughs.]

When asked whom he’d like to get to narrate the “Drunk History” of Panic, Urie wastes no time: “It’s Pete,” he exclaims. “It’s fucking payback. It’s reciprocity. I need it, man. He told me that if I won the Grammy, he would drink only out of the Grammy and then do ‘Drunk History.’ That’s my goal for getting a Grammy now: having it for myself and also having the retribution of having Pete get drunk out of it.”

Watch more: The Making of Brendon Urie – Panic! At The Disco Interview