01x14 - Party Animals

[bunniefuu]

(fireworks cracking)

(upbeat music)

- I'm definitely a party animal.

- I've been partying

for 33 years.

- What does it take?

(indistinct)

A complete disregard

for one's own health.

- If I get 10 nuggets instead

of six, that's a party.

- Just embrace your

degeneracy, is what I say.

- The desire to party

is a universal instinct.

It's not limited by

nationality, religion, culture.

- [Narrator] The fact is,

we are all party animals.

In the US alone, 29% of us

throw a party every month,

6% throw one every day.

And that means you

could get invited

to over 19 million parties.

- Over 19 Million.

- 19 Million.

- 19 million parties.

- [Narrator] And any one of them

could change the

course of history.

- Parties have been at the

center of social movements,

they have stopped wars from

happening, they've started wars.

- Parties have been

very instrumental

in shaping what our

society is today.

- [Narrator] This is the story

of how 13 parties

became legends.

The party animals behind them

start with a simple plan.

They don't mean to

change the world,

but you never know where

a party might take you.

And by roaring success

or disastrous failure,

all of them will

go down in history.

(g*nshots firing)

- Ooh, the best party

I've ever been to,

it's my 30th birthday party,

I don't remember any of it.

(upbeat music)

(rocket roaring)

(indistinct radio chatter)

(fireworks cracking)

- [Narrator] So, what

if you just wanna go

to the biggest party on earth?

Five days, more than

600 block parties

and 6 million of

your closest friends.

- People often asked me the

best party I've ever been to,

immediately I can

say the Rio carnival.

It's like nothing else on earth.

(upbeat music)

Brazil generally is a

profoundly unequal society,

but everyone

celebrates carnival.

- The traditions of

carnival go back centuries.

But today the soul

of the celebration

is Samba music and dance.

- The music is really the

sound of the Rio carnival.

- [Narrator] That carefree sound

has roots in subjugation

and resilience.

It's the story of centuries

of musical evolution,

4.9 million Africans and one

out of work sports journalist.

Until the late 1800s,

Brazil is a major hub

for the sl*ve trade.

- More enslaved Africans

were sent to Brazil

than any other country

in the Americas.

- [Narrator] And their

culture comes with them.

- Samba music and culture

started to develop in

black neighborhoods.

It draws on African influences,

but also fuses them with

indigenous Brazilian

and European influences

to create something new.

There was a lot of

pushback from whites,

upper-class Brazilian society,

but the music was just too good.

And it diffuse throughout

Brazilian society.

- [Narrator] By the

1930s, Samba is everywhere

and becomes the

heartbeat of carnival.

- So it's 1932 and journalist

and writer, Maron Filho

is stuck with things

to write about

after the end of

the football season.

- [Narrator] Filho

is already infamous

for hyping football matches,

why not do the same with

Samba in the off season?

- So he decides to

sponsor the first

unofficial Samba parade.

It's a huge success.

Filho is nicknamed "The

creator of crowds",

and this is the birth of

the modern Samba parades.

- [Narrator] Maron Filho

just wanted something

to write about, but he

changes carnival forever.

Today, they parade in

the 2,300 foot long,

90,000-seat, Sambadrome,

the heart of carnival.

More than 70 Samba schools

compete for 12

spots in the finals.

Each school tells a story

using six massive floats.

The schools are

divided into allies,

each with 100 or

more performers.

The drum section alone

can have 200 players.

A top 12 Samba school can

have 4,000 performers.

In total, 30,000

compete over two nights.

- [Shafik] The

performances often make

an important political message.

They're used to raise

important issues.

- Football is life.

- [Shafik] The

winners get a trophy-

- Oh yeah!

- But most importantly,

they get bragging rights in

Rio for the rest of the year.

And you can't put

a price on that.

But I think for tourists

and particularly if that's

their first introduction

to Brazil and Brazilian

culture, it gets you hooked.

You wanna keep going

back again and again.

- [Narrator] Parties just do

not get bigger than carnival.

But sometimes it's

about who isn't invited.

- If you look at history,

exclusivity of a party is

such an important thing.

- Look how cool I am, I'm

on the list and you're not.

- We're gonna think

we're having a good time

because no one

else gets to come.

- [Narrator] But one of the most

exclusive parties

in Hollywood today

starts with 40 folding

chairs and two TVs.

(upbeat music)

It's 1964 Beverly Hills.

Inside the Bistro

Restaurant, Swifty Lazar-

- [Swifty] What do you want?

- [Narrator] And his wife,

Mary, are hard at work.

- So Swifty Lazar was kind of

one of Hollywood's

first super agents.

And he revolutionized his image

when he started throwing

this intimate Oscar party.

- [Narrator] They roll in

two TVs and folding chairs.

- [Swifty] Come on, honey,

put your back into it.

- [Mary] I am.

- [Narrator] The

furniture is unremarkable,

but the butts in these

seats will be A-list.

- And this party was initially

kind of a creme de la creme

of their personal

friends in Hollywood.

- Jimmy Stuart.

- Hello.

- Gregory Peck.

- Hello.

- Jack Lemmon.

- Hi.

- Billy Wilder.

- How's it going?

- [Narrator] Everyone who

isn't at the Oscars themselves.

- You were with the kind of

old school guard of Hollywood

watching the most important

thing to Hollywood,

which is the Academy Awards.

And so it wasn't really about

the accoutrements of the party.

- Swifty serves

discount beef stew

while they watch the show.

- [Man] This' pretty good.

- [Narrator] And he rules

the room with an iron fist.

- You hear people talk

about Swifty's parties,

and they don't sound

like a lot of fun.

Swifty would shush

you if you talk.

- Hey, shut up!

- Sorry.

The party stays small,

though he adds seven TVs,

but its reputation grows fast.

Swifty wanted an

intimate little dinner,

now people say it's easier to

get a ticket to the Oscars.

- He got a thrill out of now

being this wheeler and dealer

who decided who was

cool and who wasn't.

- [Narrator] And for 28 years,

Swifty Lazar lords

over Hollywood.

When he dies in 1993,

he leaves a huge gap

in the party scene.

(upbeat music)

- His party gets re-imagined

and reinvented by Graydon

Carter of Vanity Fair.

This becomes an A-list party

where all the celebrities

are basically required to go

to see and be seen.

- This suit is so itchy!

- [Narrator] Vanity Fair one-ups

everything about Swiftys.

From 40 people in folding chairs

to 130 at the viewing dinner,

with 500 throughout the night.

From invite-only to $80,000

bid on a pair of tickets.

From nine TVs to eight,

but now there are

giant flat screens.

- Hurray.

- [Narrator] 420 bottles

of champagne on hand,

3,000 roses used in

table centerpieces.

(sniffing)

- [Woman] Smells expensive.

- [Narrator] And 800

In-N-Out Burger served.

A nod to the party's

humble beef stew origins.

- [Man] Mmh, beefy.

- [Narrator] Graydon Carter

wants the biggest

party in Hollywood.

But bigger isn't always better.

(indistinct)

- Okay, having famous

people at a party

adds a lot of boredom,

honestly, they suck.

Oh, have you heard

of my new album?

You're like, okay, relax.

(upbeat music)

- The Vanity Fair party

is almost instantly more

about the red carpet

than the actual party.

- [Musician] Hey, have

you heard of my new album?

- [Narrator] And

once you're inside,

everyone with a

smartphone is a paparazzi.

- It feels more like

a performative party

instead of an intimate party.

- [Narrator] Swifty

had mystique,

Vanity Fair has extravagance.

For the best of both, you

need to travel 2,500 miles

to the Oscars of the east.

(upbeat music)

$35,000 dresses,

$300,000 necklaces,

$800,000 diamond rings.

Just another night

at the Met Gala.

- The Met Gala is

the most glamorous,

avant garde mainstream

party in the world.

- And that's thanks to co

organizer, Anna Wintour,

editor of Vogue for

33 years running,

and inspiration for the devil

in "The Devil Wears Prada."

- [Anna] I'm so powerful,

I can destroy any of you.

- Anna Wintour controls

everything, everywhere,

and the Met Gala

is no exception.

It really is her vision.

- [Narrator] Her exacting

eye and iron fist

have made every year more

talked about than the last.

- But you're not invited, Mel.

- I got the Met Gala.

I have thought about

this my whole life.

- I like what Jaden Smith did,

which is to cut off his dreads

and just hold them in his hand.

- (indistinct) got to

show up dressed as a pope,

or whatever that

dress Rihanna had on

that made her look like

an extra large pizza.

- Excuse me.

- I think I'd wear something

like really revealing,

but made of luncheon

meat, you know.

Like low cut and cold cuts.

- I would want like fur,

but like a live animal.

Just have a couple of mix,

you know, (beep) why not.

(beep) Met Gala.

- [Narrator] In 1960, a ticket

would have cost you $100,

now?

- $35,000.

I think that tells you that it

truly is the most exclusive,

most fabulous party

currently in America.

- [Narrator] Anna Wintour

has taken a humble fundraiser

and made it a guiding

light of the fashion world.

And what about those

smartphone paparazzi?

- So the Met Gala has

this amazing mystique.

Because, once you get inside

to the actual museum itself,

you can't take pictures,

and you are the only one who

knows what happened there.

I mean that alone

is a dream, right?

If I ever had $35,000 around,

I might spend that

on the Met Gala,

just to see it just once.

- I can't see anything.

- [Narrator] New

York has no shortage

of ultra exclusive gatherings,

but one stands out

above the rest.

The capstone of

1960s high society,

the party of the century.

November 28th, 1966,

the night Truman Capote made

500 friends and 15,000 enemies.

- Truman Capote grew

up in rural Alabama

and he was kind of dumped

off by his parents.

He was very different

from the boys in Alabama.

- Hi.

- And when he gets

to New York city,

he's really kind of angry

'cause he feels like I deserve

to be one of these people.

- [Narrator] He channels his

resentment into his book,

"Breakfast at Tiffany's".

It becomes a sensation.

His followup is

totally unexpected.

- Truman became obsessed

with the m*rder of the Clutter

family in rural Kansas,

where an entire family was

massacred by two th*gs.

- [Narrator] After six years

and 8,000 pages of notes

he emerges with "In Cold Blood".

- And when "In Cold

Blood" comes out in 1966,

it is a mammoth hit.

- [Narrator] "Breakfast at

Tiffany's" sold for $2,000,

"In Cold Blood"

gets him $2 million.

He makes a thousand

times more money.

- So it's the super

high point for him.

- [Narrator] Capote's ready

to crown himself king,

and to plan his coronation,

he calls it the

Black and White Ball,

after his two-tone dress code.

He obsesses over the

540-person guest list.

- Definitely not him.

- 'Cause this

guest list combined

so many different

types of people.

He kind of wanted to

do a science experiment

and stick them all together

and see what happened.

- [Narrator] This

gives him another idea.

Everyone in masks.

- [Narrator] I think

he would have said

that it was intended

to be a leveler, right?

Even if you're a nobody

and that's Rose Kennedy,

you can chat with them

and be on equal footing.

- Capote gets his own

mask for 39 cents,

Candace Bergen's

spends $250 on hers.

Everyone agrees

that people watching

is the best part of the night,

including the few who

actually managed to gatecrash.

- So, Susan Payson and her

date, Jerry Jones from Texas,

see all this fuss and commotion

going on at the Plaza.

And somehow they get into the

actual Black and White Ball.

- You did it, okay,

okay, play it cool.

- [Narrator] All of a sudden

they're seeing Mia

Farrow and Frank Sinatra.

- [Jerry] (chuckles)

No one knows it's us.

- [Susan] Hey, is

that Frank Sinatra?

- [Narrator] As Susan says,

every person in the world

whose face I'd seen in

the papers walking by.

- And Truman comes up to

them and they say hello.

- [Susan] Hello, Mr.

Capote, I'm Susan.

- And he's like,

"Oh yes, of course."

And he sits them down

with all of the folks

who were featured prominently

in the book "In Cold Blood".

And so Susan was just so excited

that she's sitting at the table

with all these real

life characters

she had just read about.

- Weaving in between Mia

Farrow and Frank Sinatra,

Susan, the gatecrasher

dances with the police

detective from Kansas.

And at the stroke of

midnight, the masks come off.

- [Susan] Oh, it's,

still Frank Sinatra.

- It was a bit of a let down.

I mean, you knew who

people were already.

The frenzy to get on the list

was actually much more

exciting than the party itself.

- [Narrator] His guest

list becomes shorthand

for whether you were part

of New York society or not.

One man tells Capote his

wife will commit suicide

if she's not invited.

- It said that he

would constantly say

you may or may not be

invited to everybody he saw.

It was that little outcast

boy really getting his kicks

from making the cool kids

quake in their boots.

- Take that bullies.

- [Narrator] It's been said

that night he made 500 friends,

his coveted guest list

and 15,000 enemies,

the social elite who

couldn't get an invite.

- The Black and White Ball

was really the last hurrah

of this certain kind of

international jet set society.

And it has become this

cultural touchstone

in American history.

- [Narrator] Truman Capote

turns his personal vindication

into the party of the century.

(upbeat music)

But just three years

later and 80 miles away,

another era-defining

party will take place.

The Black and White Ball was

all about keeping people out,

this one will have to

let 400,000 people in.

- This was a time of great

racial violence in the country.

It was a time of

the Vietnam w*r.

Around the world there

were student-led protests

for democracy and

against authoritarianism.

- And in upstate New York,

Michael Lang is

getting desperate.

No one wants his hippie

music festival in their town.

It seems like a garden

variety concert,

an Aquarian Exposition, three

days of peace and music.

But history will

remember it as Woodstock,

the Zenith of '60s

counterculture.

- You have to understand

that they secured

Maxi Yasgur's farm

about five, six days

before this festival.

Woodstock in many

ways was a miracle.

It's also an accident.

They thought maybe they'd

get 100,000 people.

And they would have

been really happy

if they had 100,000

paying people.

- [Narrator] 1 Million

try to get to the concert

and the concert is

not ready for them.

- Move, move it.

- [Narrator]

Traffic is backed up

more than 16 miles

around the farm.

A two-hour drive

from New York city

becomes an eight-hour gridlock,

but at least 400,000

still make it to the farm.

- So at that point, they

just realize this is free.

Forget making money

now we've got to control

what could be a disaster.

We need to get

enough porta potties

to serve an audience.

And how many porta

potties does any one

porta potty company have?

Not enough.

(toilet flushing)

- [Narrator] They get

600, one for 666 people.

The wait average is one hour.

- [Man] It's an emergency,

it's an emergency.

- It just looks like a huge

mass of people in the mud.

But people just seem to

be having a great time.

- Torrential rain, heat stroke,

inadequate food,

inadequate water,

inadequate sanitation

facilities.

People will go through

hell for that music.

- [Narrator] 32 musical

icons like Richie Havens,

Janice Joplin and Santana

provide the soundtrack

to three days

of peace, love and LSD.

- It helps us symbolize

the spirits of the '60s,

the counterculture.

Even now people

still refer to it.

- And then you'd have people

doing electric Koolaid,

everyone puts in

whatever drugs they have.

So people could be ingesting

LSD without intending to.

- Oh man, I don't feel so good.

- Being dosed with any

drug without your knowledge

it would be the least cool thing

to ever happen to a person.

- I guess I would

just taste the music.

- Maybe they had a good time.

- Oh God, that's terrifying.

- I'm not condoning doing that.

I just wanna make sure

everyone knows that.

- [Narrator] There

are 18 doctors

and 36 nurses at Woodstock.

One for every 7,407 people.

They deal with around

25 freakouts per hour.

(man screaming)

In all, they treat

742 drug overdoses.

Only two people

die at Woodstock.

One of an overdose, one from

being accidentally run over.

Rumor has it two

babies are born.

So the same number of

people left as arrived.

They just weren't

the same people.

- For the other thing

about Woodstock,

besides the incredible music

is people were together

under horrific conditions

for three days,

and there's no

violence to speak of.

- [Narrator] Well,

almost no violence.

It's early Sunday morning,

August 16th, 1969,

The Who has just finished

"Pinball Wizard",

Pete Townsend steps

back from the mic,

that's when social activist,

Abbie Hoffman makes his move.

- [Abbie] Oh man,

there's my chance.

- Abbie wanted to

radicalize Woodstock,

he just couldn't resist.

He ran up to one

of the microphones

and started talking

about the revolution.

- [Abbie] I think this

is a pile of (beep).

- [Narrator] Townsend

drowns him out.

- [Townsend] Get off the

stage you (beep) donkey.

- Pete Townsend took

his fender guitar

and swung and hit Abbie

in the back of the head.

- [Narrator] The Who starts

to play their next song

"Do You Think It's All Right".

- Abbie Hoffman wasn't

seen again at the festival.

- [Narrator] Jimi

Hendrix closes out

Woodstock on Monday morning.

Only 25,000 people are

still there to hear it.

The organizers are left to

foot the bill for their party.

They spent a total

of $3.1 million.

They took in only 1.8 million.

They ended up having

to refund up to 10%

of the 186,000 advanced tickets

to those who never made it

through the traffic jam.

- The festival was a

financial disaster.

And the Woodstock

occurred in August '69,

they didn't recoup

their money till 1980.

- [Hippie] What, I

don't get it man.

- A lot of people think

they got rich quick.

Not at all, they recouped

finally 11 years later.

- [Narrator] But maybe it

was a small price to pay.

They start with a run

of the mill festival

and wind up with the Zenith

of the hippie movement.

The birth of the mega concert.

The cultural experience

of the decade.

(upbeat music)

48 years later,

another party animal

will try to do the same.

Woodstock defines the

spirit of the '60s,

this party defines the age of

social media in the worst way.

Forget 11 years in debt,

it will end with

six years in prison.

- I remember watching

the video and going like,

wow, that looks like, that looks

incredible, I'd love to go.

- [Narrator] In 2017, an ultra

fleek social media campaign

reaches 300 million

people in 24 hours.

It invites them to Fyre Fest,

the cultural experience

of the decade.

Music, models and swimming

with pigs on a private island.

People line up to spend

up to $12,000 on tickets.

- And even then it just seemed

a little bit too

good to be true.

- [Narrator] Behind the

social media curtain,

it's a very different story,

thanks to Fyre Fest

mastermind, Billy McFarland.

He wants the

greatest party ever,

he just doesn't wanna

do any of the work.

He gives his crew six to

eight weeks to make it happen.

- This tells you everything

about Billy McFarland.

Six to eight weeks is like

an absolutely tiny window

in terms of like the logistics

of putting on a festival.

- When hyped up guests

arrive at the island,

the party doesn't exist.

They were promised 10,000

ticket holders per weekend,

they got 5,000.

They were promised private

villas, they got FEMA tents.

They were promised

A-list musical acts,

they got no musical acts.

All at an abandoned

construction site,

infested with sand fleas.

- [Woman] I am covered in bites.

- Plays that people

were tweeting

and like sharing pictures of

how atrocious the situation was.

- [Girl] Can someone

call me an Uber?

- Fyre Festival was kind

of like a cosmic joke

on all of these influencers

who believed the hype.

- The real victims in Fyre Fest

where the people who

had made contracts

and agreed to provide work,

food for this festival.

- [Narrator] 200

local contractors

were brought in to prep the

festival, none were paid.

They're still owed $250,000.

- Some folks invested their

life savings into this

and got nothing in return.

- Like Maryann Role,

she put down $50,000

to equip her restaurant

for the promised

flood of customers.

She didn't see a penny

and she still owed $135,000.

Meanwhile, Billy McFarland

has caught the

attention of the FBI.

- Yeah, wait, what?

- [Narrator] He is slapped

with seven lawsuits,

sentenced to six years

in prison for fraud

and is forced to pay $26

million to investors.

He starts with the

greatest party ever

and ends up behind bars.

- Fyre Festival was

kind of trying to force

this false community

on a group of people who

had nothing in common

but the fact that they

wanted to have their photo

on social media.

- [Girl] If I don't

look cute, delete it.

- [Narrator] The fact is,

you don't need to spend

millions on social media.

You can start a revolutionary

party with two friends,

one match, and one

can of gasoline.

- [Man] Let there be light.

- Larry Harvey and Jerry James

basically wanna

stick it to the man.

- [Narrator] It's 1986 In

Noey Valley, California,

they hammered

together scrap wood

into an eight-foot human figure.

- And I believe they

made a little dog as well

to go with it.

And they took it

down to Baker Beach.

- [Narrator] There they

soak it all in gasoline

and set the effigy alight.

- Woo-hoo (indistinct)

- [Woman] Did anyone

bring marshmallows?

- First year 40

people gathered around

watching this man burn.

They probably turned

to each other and went,

hey, let's do this

again sometime. (laughs)

(upbeat music)

- [Narrator] Today, it's

one of the wildest parties

and radical cultural movements

on earth, Burning Man.

- It's a temporary

community or temporary city.

- There's art installations,

music, incredible costumes.

- It's really like stepping

into a fancy land for adults.

- Where people

could come together

to create things that really

push their boundaries.

- My daughter was

conceived at Burning Man,

so that was quite a

transformative thing

to happen. (laughs)

- Burning Man is really cool.

Burning Man is like more like

Woodstock than Fyre Festival.

- My friends have built this

big giant robot dragon

every year that spits fire

that they bring down,

I'm not kidding.

- [Narrator] But every year

has the same crescendo,

burning the man.

- [Woman] Marshmallows, anyone?

- [Narrator] It reaches its

highest in 2014, at 105 feet.

There are hundreds of art

installations and shows,

80,000 attendees.

But the most important number

at burning man is zero.

- There's no money

at Burning Man.

You bring gifts with you.

This, can you see it?

I was gifted this ring.

I met an Australian guy,

we were having a really

lovely conversation

and he says, I run my

own jewelry company.

I've brought two prototypes

of this ring with me

and I want you to have this one.

And it's actually making

me feel a bit emotional,

even talking about it.

You bring joy to people and

that joy can be continuous joy

if it's something as

long-lasting as this, I guess.

- But even though the

Burning Man Festival

is against commodification,

things have gotten

really expensive.

- [Narrator] Between

a ticket, vehicle,

accommodations, food, water

and survival supplies,

you're looking at an

average of $1,500 to attend.

So if you want, you

can shell out $16,500

for an air-conditioned

quasi villa.

- It's a lot of money for me,

but the experience that

you get in Burning Man

is absolutely priceless.

- [Narrator] And the

movement is still growing.

There are now 50

burns worldwide,

all sparked from just

two rebellious friends.

- Who doesn't wanna stick

it to the man? (laughs)

(upbeat music)

- [Narrator] Human

beings have been partying

since the dawn of time.

- Probably our earliest

evidence of partying

is the sight of Gobekli

Tepe over 12,000 years ago.

- [Narrator] In 12,000 years,

a handful have become

truly timeless.

Parties that changed

the course of history,

sometimes in surprising ways.

So, can a party end

200 years of w*r?

It's 1520, France and

England have been enemies

for two centuries.

- [Old Man] I'm so sick of this.

- Both countries have

two very handsome, young,

athletic, charming kings,

Francois and Henry VIII.

- [Man] Hot boys.

- Cardinal Thomas Wolsey

is the power behind the throne.

And he's thinking to himself,

how do I get these two young

wild men to come together?

Of course I'll throw a party.

This giant celebration

that is part diplomatic

summit, part festival

and all glamor and regal access.

- Ulalaa.

- Most parties that

I have ever been to

have actually

resulted in conflicts.

- Yeah, every time my

friends are fighting

I just make them all get

into a room together.

I just make them fight it out.

- If someone threw

a party for me

and invited somebody

that I didn't like

hoping to bring us together,

that would do the

exact opposite.

- [Narrator] They agreed

to meet in Calais,

at the border of

English territory for

a commitment to peace

and a chance to show off.

They call it the Field

of the Cloth of Gold,

after a fabric made by

weaving silk and gold.

The kings cover their

tents and costumes with it.

- [Old Man] Ooh, looking good.

- [Narrator] It's a ridiculously

expensive olive branch.

- The Field of Cloth of Gold

costs an enormous amount of

money for both countries.

- [Narrator] In total,

about 63,000 pounds

are spent on the Field

of the Cloth of Gold.

In 1520, that kind of money

can get you 165,000

cows or 45,000 horses,

or hire 2.1 million

laborers for a day.

Which is around the

entire population

of England and

Wales at the time.

England's annual income at

the time was 90,000 pounds

and Henry spends 36,000.

- [Woman] Bloody hell.

- [Narrator] He blows

more than one third

of all the money England

had to spend that year.

(horse neighing)

- It was basically a funfair

built in the middle of a field.

And so you had all of

these artificial palaces

and tents springing up.

- [Narrator] The English camp

covers 107,000 square feet

with 2,800 tents.

- [Woman] Damn.

- [Narrator] Henry's is 330

feet long and 33 feet high,

painted to look like stonework.

Inside, is an ornate 12

foot tall fountain of wine.

- [Man] Don't mind if I do.

- [Narrator] Free to

anyone who walked by.

- There's fencing,

there's jousting.

Cardinal Wolsey thinks he's got

a huge success on his hands.

(storm roaring)

- [Narrator] Until a

bout of bad weather

forces these two

party animals indoors.

- You've got two very

competitive Kings

kind of stuck in

a tent together.

- [Narrator] As the rain keeps

falling, they keep drinking.

- This will be

better than France.

- By France you mean England?

- [Narrator] Until Henry

gets the liquid courage

to grab Francois and challenge

him to a wrestling match.

- And by all accounts,

Henry should have had

all the advantages

because Henry was much taller

and in much better shape.

- [Narrator] In

fact, Henry's huge.

- That's why I got massive.

- [Narrator] Six-foot-two when

men averaged five-foot-four.

And he excels at a regional

style of Cornish wrestling.

They step out and square up,

but Francois has a surprise.

- The French king

did some weird trick

where he basically tripped him.

- [Narrator] That trick is

known as the Breton trip.

Turns out Francois is

a crack wrestler too.

- Viva la France.

- And Henry lost the match.

- [Narrator] The

peace doesn't last.

They started with

the most expensive

olive branch in history,

and they end up

back at w*r in 1522.

- Oh, my head.

- [Narrator] And then there's

the type of party animal

who demands your attendance.

- Dictators and

autocrats love flaunting

their wealth and power.

And this also plays into

the fact that many dictators

are incredibly narcissistic

and this plays into

all their fantasies.

- [Narrator] It's 1971,

and the Shah of Iran,

self-proclaimed king of kings

decides to throw a

ridiculous party.

By the time he's done,

$17 million will magically

become 200 million

and the middle east

will never be the same.

- In the early 1970s, the oil

boom was playing a huge role

in Iranian politics.

Oil wealth was helping

to both modernize,

industrialize and

westernize Iran.

- No one benefits

more than the Shah,

whose personal wealth

approaches $1 billion.

- I'm so rich.

- [Narrator] He uses

the 2500th anniversary

of the Persian Empire

to show the world

his new vision for Iran.

- Attracting world

leaders from 65 countries

all around the world

to showcase how

far Iran has come.

- [Narrator] But not

everyone is on board.

- And just who is not on board?

- One of the biggest

critics of the Shah

was the Ayatollah Khomeini.

- For him, this party

was a satanic party,

nothing about it was Iranian,

nothing about it was Islamic.

- [Narrator] The Shah

stages a massive parade

at the ruins of Persepolis,

an ancient Persian city.

He demands a lavish 160

acre tent city next to it,

in the middle of the desert.

- With 54 air conditioned tents

with 18 kilometers

of silk brought in

just to build these tents.

- [Narrator] 150 tons of

kitchen equipment is flown in

for an extravagant banquet.

The Shah orders cool

organizer, Felix Real

to make sure it goes

off without a hitch.

- Steady, steady.

- [Narrator] Right now

he's in charge of the wine

at $3,000 per bottle.

- There are over 2,500

bottles of champagne,

a thousand bottles of Burgundy,

a thousand bottles of Bordeaux.

He had to ensure that every

single bottle was free of poison

and free of cork.

- (indistinct),

no cyanide, next.

- $3,000 for a bottle of wine

seems like an excessive

way to get drunk.

- I usually buy my wine based

on size instead of quality.

- I can get a nice

used car for that.

Well, not nice, just a car.

- [Narrator] The banquet goes

on for five and a half hours.

- People were

having a great time.

From the Shah's perspective

the celebration

was a huge success.

- [Narrator] The trouble starts

after everyone has gone home.

- It's time to clean up now.

And because it was

so incredibly hot out

the wait staff, all of whom

were from Switzerland and France

were watching in horror

as the soldiers were

pouring bottles of wine

worth thousands of

dollars over their bodies

in order to cool themselves off.

- Now that's better.

- While other bottles

were being chucked

off into the trash.

- [Narrator] The

staff rushes forward

to try and save as

much as they can.

- Not the wine, not the wine.

- [Narrator] Dumping

money down the drain

is exactly how Iran sees

the whole extravagant party.

- Ah, seriously!

(upbeat music)

- The way that it was

retold exaggerated,

it gave fodder to his

enemies to use against him.

- [Narrator] The numbers

reported in the press

just keep growing.

12,000 bottles of whiskey

turns into 25,000 bottles.

The official budget

is $17 million.

One of the organizers

says it's $22 million,

Time Magazine quotes

it at $100 million.

The French press

says 200 million.

But if there's one item

that tells this story,

it's the caviar.

66 pounds somehow

becomes 330 pounds.

And then one ton, then 50 tones.

By the time the press

is done with it,

there's 1,666 times as

much caviar at the table.

- We were talking about

the tons of caviar.

It's like (indistinct) tons

of caviar on the planet.

- [Narrator] And that

kind of exaggeration

is perfect for

Ayatollah Khomeini.

- He was able to capitalize

on the discontent

that was brewing.

- [Narrator] Until in 1979,

the spark he lit

becomes an inferno.

- You had the Shah

ousted from power

Ayatollah Khomeini

rises to power.

This was the first domino

in a series of events

that would have a huge

impact on the region.

- [Narrator] The Shah wanted

to show off his brand new Iran.

He ends up in exile,

and the Middle East

will never be the same.

(g*n blasting)

It doesn't get much worse

than losing your country

because of a party,

unless of course you're

the Romanovs of Russia.

- Many have said this

is one of the most

insensitive parties in history.

- [Narrator] The

story of the 1903 Ball

ends with seven murders,

and it starts with 365 signs

that it's a terrible idea.

- The turn of the century Russia

is a story of excess

and extreme poverty.

- People were starving

in some cases,

and it was difficult

to access food.

- In St. Petersburg

you still have

this ultra ultra rich

society of aristocrats.

- [Narrator] In 1902, the army

has to be called in 365 times

to crush worker protests.

- Get ready for another one.

- [Narrator] But the

300th anniversary

of the Romanov

dynasty is coming up.

So the Romanovs are

obliged to throw a party

to celebrate themselves.

- They wanted to celebrate

the period of Russian

history in the 1600s

when Imperial Russia was

one of the great powers.

- Those were the days.

- [Narrator] And if

you think the get-ups

at the Met Gala

are over the top,

Rihanna's got nothing

on Russian aristocracy.

- They were wearing

these very heavy capes

and head dresses

covered in jewels

and these heavy, heavy furs.

It said that their necks

could barely be held up

because these headpieces

were so very heavy.

- Nyiet, take that Riri.

- [Narrator] Each

of the 390 guests

wears a meticulously

designed costume.

Some have been valued at

over $10 million today.

For the price of just

one of those costumes,

they could have given

the starving populous

more than 1, 100,000

pounds of butter,

more than 3 million

pounds of ham,

more than 28 million eggs

or almost 280,000 cows.

As beautiful as

the costumes are,

it's not a good look.

- It threw opulence in the

face of people who had nothing.

- By 1905, there

would be an uprising

protesting the royal family.

- [Narrator] 120,000

furious workers

march on the palace and are

met by soldiers who open fire.

The m*ssacre will eventually

lead to the revolution,

driving the Romanovs

from their palace

to a village in Siberia.

Seven of the banished Romanovs

are m*rder*d in

one bloody night.

- Maybe party bad idea.

- [Narrator] There's

a direct line

from their costume ball to

the end of Tsarist Russia

and the beginning

of the Soviet Union.

And believe it or not,

the little village where they

were m*rder*d now throws,

you guessed it, a party

called Tsar's Days.

Proving even the darkest moments

can lead to celebrations.

And now for something

completely different.

1969, New York City.

Being g*y is ill*gal

in 49 states.

Eight cops and

one resolute woman

are about to spark a party

that is changing the

world to this day.

The Stonewall Inn is

a well-known g*y bar

in Greenwich Village.

They've already suffered

repeated harassment by the NYPD.

June 28th, 1:20 am, eight police

hammer on the

Stonewalls double doors.

- [Police] Police,

open up in there.

- [Narrator] 205 people

inside the bar try to scatter,

but the doors are barred.

The police arrest as

many people as they can,

but a crowd is gathering.

(siren wailing)

- And I can just see

that wall of love

stating that they're

gonna love who they want,

they're gonna identify

how they want.

- While resisting arrest, one

woman shouts to onlookers.

- Why don't you

guys do something?

- [Narrator] It leads to a

riot and then more protests.

- And they said, you know what?

We're gonna party whether

you like it or not.

They laid the work

of the Pride Movement

in New York in 1969.

And this is where we are today.

- [Narrator] In 2019,

5 million people

participate in New

York's pride parade.

- So some of the

sights and sounds

that you're gonna find at

a pride parade, whistles.

(whistle blowing)

- There's a lot of good glitter,

which you will never get off.

- I'm pretty sure I still have

glitter in my hair from it.

- You have to be

naked, that's fun.

- But it's not

like a weird naked,

it's like a wholesome naked.

- [Narrator] Today, there

are still 71 countries

where same-sex couples

are criminalized.

But Pride's message of

freedom and acceptance

has gone global.

From the first parades

in 1970 in Chicago,

New York and San Francisco,

pride spreads around the world.

- Having 150 prides

worldwide is amazing,

but we will not stop until

there can be a pride parade

in every country in the world.

We can change the world,

one pride at a time.

- [Narrator] Parties can

bring change, raise awareness

and make the world

a better place.

But maybe the best

thing about a party is,

you don't need a reason.

And if there's one that proves

we will take absolutely any

excuse to be party animals,

it's Tomatina in Spain.

A party founded on a

prank and a food fight.

- I think lots of celebrations

and festivals and carnivals

have deep roots and

strong political messages,

but Tomatina is not like that.

- [Narrator] At least if

you believe the legend

of how it started in 1945.

(upbeat music)

- The town of Bunol was

hosting one of the mill parade.

There were musicians

and performers

with these giant

(indistinct) heads on,

and there were a

group of cheeky kids

that tripped over one

of these performance.

And the performers they've

got this giant mask

on their head they

can't see properly,

they're stumbling about,

they're crashing into people.

(woman screaming)

- [Man] Hey, watch out.

- [Narrator] Spectators

grab tomatoes

from nearby vegetable stands

and throw them at

the poor performer.

- Initially, the target's

just the performers

but soon everyone is being

helped to big tomatoes.

- Food fight.

- And Tomatina was born.

- [Narrator] That prank

starts a tradition

that's lasted more

than 75 years.

Today, the tomatoes

are still flying,

only now, they need to bring

in 264,000 pounds of them

and limit attendance to 20,000.

With that many tomatoes,

you can also serve 1, 280,000

portions of spaghetti bolognese,

make 640,000 pizzas or

throw about 24,000 tomatoes

at every act at Woodstock.

- Oh, come on, man.

- Party where they

throw tomatoes,

that sounds like a

comedian's worst nightmare.

- I think it's a

waste of tomatoes.

- Why, you want the whole

city smell like a Big Caesar?

No, not for me.

- I don't think humans need

much of an excuse to party.

And I think La Tomatina

is a good example,

if there isn't an excuse to

party, we'll just make one up.

(upbeat music)

We need celebrations, we

need to be with other people.

From small scale celebrations

to large mass community events.

- You see a whole

different side of somebody

when you're at a party.

You see their human side and

you see their playful side.

I'm gonna party hard

until the sun comes up ♪

- Your mind's just open to

sort of sharing a bit more.

- They bring people together

in terms of romance,

in terms of friendship.

- They allow us

to blow off steam,

it's a pressure

valve for society.

- To have fun, to let loose,

to let your guard down.

- You're part of

something bigger,

and ultimately maybe something

bigger than just humanity.

Global, universal, cosmic.

- If I had to describe

a party in one sentence,

I would say a party

as the moment in time

that is second to none.

- Whether we do it for

ourselves, for someone we love,

to change the world

or just to celebrate

another trip around the sun,

the numbers don't lie,

we're wired to be party animals.

- I see no harm in

finding reasons to

celebrate or be happy.

- I'm the life of the party,

so how could I deprive these

poor people of my presence?

- It's just the part of us

as human beings that

needs to momentarily

be outside ourselves and

not be cognizant of ourself

and our ego and all that stuff.

- I think there's always

an excuse to party.

If you break up

with someone, party.

If you get a new job, party.

If you had a bad

week, party, no shame.