Drew Barrymore has just reminded the world about Matthew McConaughey’s “wild” bongo-playing parties during the “Drew’s News” segment of The Drew Barrymore Show. Of course, it is always good to bring these little memories back to the fore, where other little nuggets can be added to the picture by those with long memories – such as the time McConaughey recalled being arrested for playing bongos naked the last time Barrymore brought up the subject.
Barrymore starred alongside the Oscar-winning actor in the 1995 movie Boys on the Side, and brought up the topic when McConaughey’s name was mentioned on her show on Monday morning. The former Scream star gushed:
“I love Matthew McConaughey, by the way. We did this film together many years ago called
Boys on the Side.
And Matthew used to drink tequila and have bongo-playing parties.”
This is not the first time the subject has been brought up on her show, as those with good memories – or access to the internet – will recall Barrymore discussing those bongo parties several years ago when speaking to McConaughey via video call during an episode of her show back in 2021. At the time, Barrymore noted that she vividly recalled him playing bongos a lot when they were not shooting, to which McConaughey replied:
Yes I played bongos long before I got arrested for playing bongos.
The incident that McConaughey was referring to is one that he wrote about in his memoir, “Greenlights”, in which he revealed how he went from innocently banging his bongos to being arrested for disturbing the peace – something that everyone is pleased to be reminded of every once in a while.
Why Did Matthew McConaughey Get Arrested?
According to an extract from McConaughey’s memoir, his arrest happened back in 1999 when he decided to strip naked while at home, throw open all of his windows, and partake in smoking a bowl of marijuana. While this would probably have gone unnoticed on any other day, the Dallas Buyers Club star thought that the best thing to do was bop out a rhythmic beat on his bongos for the whole neighborhood to enjoy. McConaughey described it as a “jam session [while listening to] the beautiful African melodic beats of Henri Dikongué play through my home speakers.”
Things headed south very quickly as events then took a turn McConaughey had not anticipated when he found himself suddenly being “body-slammed” to the ground by an Austin cop. He wrote:
“What I didn’t know was that while I was banging away in my bliss, two Austin policemen also thought it was time to barge into my house unannounced, wrestle me to the ground with nightsticks, handcuff me and pin me to the floor.”
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With his famous catchphrase “Alright, alright, alright,” McConaughey first impressed audiences with his breakthrough role in Dazed and Confused.
While the actor was fined $50 for causing a disturbance, he did see the funny side of things when his hometown was very quickly besieged by t-shirts bearing the logo “BONGO NAKED” on them. Needless to say, there have seemingly been no subsequent incidents of naked bongo-playing of note, or at least none that ended with McConaughey’s arrest. Perhaps there are just some things that you really do only need to experience once.