Why hangovers make for good storytelling and art

In his latest book, journalist Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall looks at intoxication and the historical remedies used to beat the hangover blues. He takes us through some classic hangover scenes from film, literature and music.

CBC Radio · Posted: Jan 01, 2019 9:00 AM EST | Last Updated: January 1, 2019

Hungover is a nonfiction book by Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall. (Sinisa Jolic/CBC)

So you've woken up to a brand new morning, a brand new year and quite possibly a whole new level of hangover.
Before you reach for that aspirin or tuck into that greasy brunch, know that you're not the first — or the last — person to feel this way.

Hangovers are all over pop culture and journalist Shaughnessy Bishop-Stall wanted to find out why. Bishop-Stall has spent the last 10 years drinking (in the name of research, of course). He's been travelling the world to learn how different cultures handle the morning after and testing those remedies himself.

Some hangover remedies are pretty weird, like getting someone to "bury you in hay." You can read more about that in Bishop-Stall's new book Hungover: The Morning After and One Man's Quest for the Cure, which is out now. Seeing as it's the very first day of 2019, we asked him to take us through some classic hangover scenes from film, literature and music. Below are some of his picks:

The Hangover (2009)