According to a new web video by Brooklyn-based improv comedy troupe "PERIODS.," marriage hasn't changed much in the last thousand or so years.
In the troupe's latest webisode, released online this week and entitled "Viking Wives", we learn that these 10th century women share some striking similarities with their modern-day counterparts, "The Real Housewives." The webisode is one in the troupe's series of period-based improv comedy shorts, which have spoofed everything from the Pilgrims to the relationship between Santa and Mrs. Claus.
Just like the privileged pearl-wearing wives of New York City and Beverly Hills, these wives deal with the same drama, philandering husbands and day-drinking problems as reality TV stars -- except it all takes place in the Viking Age.
In the tongue-in-cheek "Viking Wives," Torgard and his wife bicker about his "new pelts" and her habit of drinking with her girlfriends before he leaves on a trip to go "plunder," telling his wife he'll return in "a few moons."
But the intuitive Viking wife suspects that her pelt-wearing husband may be cheating on her during his long trips away from home, and calls on her friends for advice.
"Let's talk about how your husband cheated on you," says her straight-talking friend, Gunvar. "You need to handle it."
Torgard's wife doesn't take the advice well, and like the various episodes of "Real Housewives" we've seen in the past, the two women get into a cat-fight with lots of ugly talk and swearing. "I heard you're a dirty ho!" the Viking wife screams at Gunvar.
"PERIODS" formed two years ago in Brooklyn, New York and has featured guest stings by actors such as Zachary Quinto of "American Horror Story."
Watch the clip above to see the hilariously gruesome conclusion to "Viking Wives."