Patton Oswalt's Minnesota-Kansas twine war, with "Weird Al" in the cast
Colin Hanks and Seth Green act out the fight over which town has the biggest ball of twine, and viewers have a 1989 song stuck in their heads.
Comedy Central
Story of Why this story? The video opened at a pace of 291,643 views a day, 16 times a normal first day on this channel (17,678).
The Biggest Ball of Twine (w/ Patton Oswalt) - Drunk History
Why would "Weird Al" Yankovic turn up in a Drunk History episode about string? The most liked comment under the video answers it for anyone who missed the joke. In 1989 he recorded "The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota" for the UHF soundtrack, so a story about that ball was always going to need him.
The episode, "The Biggest Ball of Twine (w/ Patton Oswalt) - Drunk History," has Oswalt narrating, glass in hand, what the description calls a years-long contest between Minnesota and Kansas over who could build the biggest ball of twine. Colin Hanks and Seth Green play the men on each side, with Steve Agee alongside them. The real balls are well known. In Darwin, Minnesota, Francis A. Johnson wound his alone, starting in 1950. In Cawker City, Kansas, the ball keeps growing because the whole town adds to it.
It passed 200,000 views in its first twelve hours, on a channel where a new upload usually ends its whole first day below 20,000. A short teaser posted the same day, billed as "the second drunkest Patton Oswalt has ever been," drew far fewer.
In the comments, people keep coming back to Weird Al being cast as the ball of twine itself, to how closely the actors copy Oswalt's slurring, and to host Derek Waters asking about the moral of the story at the end. Several viewers from Minnesota say they have driven past the real thing.
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What viewers say
For those missing the reference on why Weird Al was here. It's because of his song "The Biggest Ball of Twine in Minnesota" from the '89 "UHF – Original Motion Picture Soundtrack and Other Stuff"
@chrisspellman5952See it on YouTubeA talking ball of twine with no lines is one of the most Weird Al roles I've ever seen.
@roarmalfSee it on YouTubeDerek asking about the "moral of the story" at the end is diabolical.
@Micah_4DSee it on YouTube
Public comments from the video's page on YouTube
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- Channel
- Comedy Central
- Subscribers
- 12,600,000
- Channel views, last 7 days
- 7,731,620
- Channel views, pace per day
- 939,956 (on a normal day: 944,683)
- Video published
- October 6, 2026
- Video views so far
- 201,369 (less than a day online)
- Video views, pace per day
- 291,643
The numbers
The figures below show how far this episode ran ahead of what a new Comedy Central upload usually gets on its first day.
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Who created and hosts Drunk History?
Derek Waters created Drunk History and hosts it, sitting beside the narrator as they tell their story.
