History books aren’t all that amazing. Sure, if a story is going to find itself inside a history book it probably has to be pretty awesome to begin with. But you also have to take into account that somewhere down the line there are probably some tidbits here and there that are exaggerated. There’s no reason to assume anything you read in a history book doesn’t have a twist here and a turn there that’s added simply for dramatic flare. And when generation after generation passes those stories down it’s going to feel a little more like a game of telephone after each rendition.
With these factors considered it’s fair to suggest that “history” as we know it could just as easily have been written and retold by a bunch of drunk dudes anyway. Which is how we’ve come here to gain a little more insight about Rabbit Bartholomew’s notorious head butting with Hawaiians in the 70’s, and how Eddie Aikau stepped in as a voice of reason. I would love to step in by recounting everything I’ve read about the moment in surf history myself, but that would pretty much contradict every point I’ve made here in the few words prior – for all you know I’m just as full of it as the next guy. The gist of it all is Rabbit pissed off more than his fair share of Hawaiians back in the day, and tensions ran high between them and the visiting Aussies for some time. Eddie spearheaded the effort to quell all the drama, yada yada…you get my point? My version is already boring.
The video above, however, is more entertaining. Whether or not the details are in any way shape or form true isn’t really that important. A few people at Comedy Central thought it would be an awesome idea to get comedians drunk from time to time and sit them down to take a stroll through the history books, sharing the stories those old textbook guys were too scared to be honest about. Plus, this all aired on cable television so it must be true.
