First and foremost, we wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year, starting with this great song by The Wildwoods!
We are also well aware of how many people go through an extremely difficult time during the holidays.
Now MUST watch Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol.
It is by far my favorite Christmas special, even more than the Pee-Wee's Playhouse one and a Charlie Brown Christmas.
We're also big fans of the Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol soundtrack.
Next up: this MGM short subject from 1931, THE CHRISTMAS PARTY, which crams a slew of the studio's stars, including the great Marion Davies, into a brief running time. Alas, there's no Lee Tracy. . .
The question on the addled mind of the gang at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog remains what would Christmas be without the McKenzie brothers?
While it won't, unfortunately, be possible to flee the lower 48, head for Toronto, stay there, hang out at Second City and reinvent myself as an expatriate notable for a rather prominent San Francisco Bay Area accent, it is possible to enjoy Bob & Doug's 12 Days of Christmas, which goes great with W.C. Fields style eggnog, once again.
As we toast our tumblers to Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Cool Kwanzaa and a Happy New Year, will close this post with our all-time favorite 12 Days Of Christmas piece.
That would be On The Twelfth Day (1955), directed by Wendy Toye and designed by Ronald Searle. Enjoy!
To celebrate the holidays, both the eggnog and Yule log guzzle a Tom & Jerry - and watch Tom & Jerry!
After all, we eagerly look forward to watching the new Tom & Jerry Blu-ray set - and note that the Bill Hanna worked on the following Christmas season cartoon for Rudy Ising back in 1936.
In 1938-1939, MGM, with high hopes to replicate the box-office success of the Fleischer Studio's epic Popeye cartoons, produced a series based on The Katzenjammer Kids comic strip. While The Captain & The Kids cartoons, unlike Popeye, were far short of a smash hit, they're actually pretty decent, especially when directed by Friz Freleng. Here's The Captain's Christmas.
Believe it or not, Ralph Bakshi Productions made a holiday special, Christmas in Tattertown (1988), a pilot for a series that ultimately didn't sell.
In 1944, a bunch of American animators from Walt Disney Productions, led by director David Hand were offered the opportunity to set up their own studio in Great Britain by J. Arthur Rank. David Hand Productions made the Animaland and Musical Paintbox series. The following, Ginger Nutt's Christmas Circus, is Animaland's Yule offering and pretty darn entertaining.
Several of the talented crew of artists who produced the Animaland cartoons also worked on the excellent 1933 Walt Disney Silly Symphony version of The Night Before Christmas, the studio's followup to Santa's Workshop (1932)
Stop-motion animation, entymologists and bugs absolutely MUST be represented in the holiday entertainment mix, so here's The Insects' Christmas (1913) by Ladislaw Starewicz.
We finish today's Christmas Eve offering featuring a bunch of festive cartoons, including the ever-cheerful Grampy in Christmas Comes But Once A Year (1936), posted by Steve Stanchfield on Cartoon Research couple of years ago. Love how the stalwart patriarch in the first of the cartoons owns a 16mm projector and runs 1930's Terrytoons for the family on Christmas.
Laughs for the Christmas holidays - and buddy, we'll be needing laughs big time - work for this blog.
Having concluded that the best of the best sketch comedy as the 20th century wound down was Late Night With Conan O'Brien, a show with a creative staff of writer/performers, here's Brian McCann as MINTY THE CANDY CANE!
As we extend more love, admiration and resoect for the incredible Dick Van Dyke, now 100 years old, we shall follow Minty with a bit from the Van Dyke and Co 1976 Christmas special, featuring Andy Kaufman.
Speaking of unique comedians, we miss Andy Kaufman and even more, miss Paul Reubens a.k.a. Pee-Wee Herman - and, lo and behold, are thrilled and delighted to watch a Pee-Wee's Playhouse Christmas special.
And yes, Virginia O'Brien, there are DAVID LETTERMAN Xmas shows!
Mad TV was the very, very VERY broad alternative to Saturday Night Live (which at that time featured Will Ferrell, Molly Shannon, Cheri Oteri, Ana Gasteyer, Tim Meadows, Darrell Hammond, Tracy Morgan and Chris Kattan) in the latter 1990's. SNL and Mad TV competed to sign members of The Groundlings. This blogger prefers SNL, but concedes that MadTV had its moments. As far as sketch comedy fans go, there are no half-measures regarding this series. IMHO, the periodic good sketches get interspersed with too many loud skits that go big-big-big and beat the viewer over the head repeatedly in case one didn't get the joke the first time.
The extremely broad Mad TV was stylistically somewhere between The Ben Stiller Show and In Living Color - and reminiscent of the also extremely broad "Fridays" ABC sketch comedy series of the early 1980's (featuring Larry David and Michael Richards, among others), so we're not expecting Noël Coward. The cast featured such talented improv comedians as Phil LaMarr, Debra Wilson, Alex Borstein, Will Sasso, Mary Scheer, Nicole Sullivan, Michael McDonald, Mo Collins, Stephanie Weir and, towards the end of the sketch comedy show's 14 season run, Keegan Michael Key & Jordan Peele.
Particularly enjoy madTV's sendup of Rankin-Bass.
After madTV, Key & Peele moved on to their own very funny series.
Find the Key & Peele series in many respects comparable to Tim Robinson transitioning from SNL to his incredibly absurdist I Think You Should Leave.
As we soon finish dreadful, godawful 2025, by far the worst year of the nearly 20 years of this blog, it seems weirdly appropriate that the last topic of today's post is a fundraiser for one of the friends of this blog.
In closing, the gang here is happy to be among the supporters of the following Go Fund Me. If one can help a friend or a community in need at this time of year, do so.
Since we will not be able to attend Tommy Stathes' epic Christmas Cartoon Carnival: Santa Claus 4 U & Me program this coming Sunday at Rubulad in Brooklyn, and the annual winter edition of the KFJC Psychotronix Film Festival has been cancelled (postponed for now, returning to Foothill College in Los Altos Hills, California in spring 2025. . . we hope), the gang here shall try to get in at least a somewhat festive holiday mood by watching the following selection of Yuletide comedy sketches.
If you're in NYC and able to attend Christmas Cartoon Carnival: Santa Claus 4 U & Me at Rubulad (338 Flushing Avenue between Classon and Taffee in Brooklyn), here is the teaser trailer for the event.
There will be two shows and pianist Charlie Judkins shall provide excellent accompaniment for the silents.
We wish everyone a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! But first, a commercial. . .
Then, some quality time spent with Shaun the Sheep!
And, inevitably as snow in the U.S. Northeast, here are a few renditions of this blogger's favorite Christmas tunes, starting with the great Alex Chilton of Big Star and The Box Tops a.k.a. The King Of Covers. Alex' ability to play jazz chords on a rock guitar and commit himself 100% to whatever song he's playing still impresses the living daylights out of me.
If it's a rockin' Christmas you want, then it's time for an extended sleighride with The Brian Setzer Orchestra.
Best Blue Christmas? Lowell Fulson! Tough to top "Lonesome Christmas," just one of many masterpieces by the guitarist and vocalist.
This shall be our last post for 2023. See ya in 2024!
Sending best wishes for a very Merry Christmas - and a Happy Hanukkah and Colossal Kwannzaaa - bringing 2022 to a close just right, with family and friends.
Season's Greetings commence with some of our favorite holiday season tunes.
The holidays can be great, but they can also be rough, especially for those who lost family members and friends at Christmas time. The first holiday season without a lost loved one can be gut-wrenching.
Strongly suggest finding a copy on vinyl or CD of this classic 1956 Capitol Records Xmas compilation album (or at least reconstructing its contents via YouTube) to. Even in a difficult year, music will make the spirit bright!
The splendid music of Capitol Records Xmas (Frank, Nat, Dino, Les Paul & Mary Ford and more) goes along quite nicely with traditional Yuletide liquid assistance - and, of course, good company!
Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog wishes all a Merry Christmas with 1960's toy ads!
How do you wish all a Merry Christmas? Of course, with a few apropo and inevitable Yuletide film clips.
Binge-watching comedy is a good way to celebrate the holidays!
For some reason, Bob & Doug McKenzie's 12 Days Of Great White North Christmas gets me ROFL every time.
And, speaking of SCTV, what would Christmas be without Johnny LaRue!
Or Mayor Tommy Shanks!
In closing, here are two standup comedy routines by Patton Oswalt. The first is a rather unconventional look at "Christmas Time Is Here" by David Seville & The Chipmunks.
The second Patton Oswalt routine, extremely NSFW but hilarious, has been made into the following animated film. The topic? What is hands-down, the worst, the absolute worst Christmas-related song ever: the unrelentingly dreadful "Christmas shoes." The animation deftly illustrates Patton's descriptions of the content and utter loathesome-ness of the "Christmas Shoes" song.
How is it possible to follow Patton Oswalt? Hmmmm - how about HOORAY FOR SANTY CLAUS from Santa Claus Conquers The Martians?
Ah, darn - after seeing that, simply must watch the Mystery Science Theatre 3000 episode featuring Santa Claus Conquers The Martians in its entirety.
Here we are, downright amazed to be here with the second-to-last post for 2021 - and delighted to wish all readers a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Thrilled to be cheerful and drawing breath on Christmas Eve - and quite busy redefining what can be considered Christmas music.
Sincerely hope that nobody brings fruitcake to your Christmas Eve or Christmas party.
The temptation is to simply recycle our 2016 Christmas Eve post every year, but instead Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog shall go through a few holiday favorites, after swilling Borden's Egg Nog spiked generously with two double shots of Myers Rum and brandy!
Of course, the gang at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog have already listened to Nat King Cole's The Christmas Song, one of our favorites, penned by none other than the ridiculously talented vocalist-actor-drummer-songwriter Mel Tormé.
Now MUST listen to Nat's entire Christmas album and Sinatra's The Christmas Waltz twice!
This great tune, our all-time favorite, was first released on Capitol Records epic Merry Christmas To You! compilation LP (Capitol T-9030).
The great jazz saxophonist Booker Ervin (1931-1970) waxed this blogger's favorite rendition of Irving Berlin's White Christmas in 1966, on his outstanding Structurally Sound album.
Booker's fellow tenor saxophonist and occassional collaborator Dexter Gordon waxed this jazz fan's all-time favorite cover of The Christmas Song.
We now turn to some Christmas-themed animation, starting with Bill Hanna and Joe Barbera.
Across the pond, former Disney director David Hand made cartoons for Gaumont British Animation. Ginger Nutt's Christmas Circus is his studio's contribution to the 2021 Yule log.
The late, great Gene Deitch made many fantastic cartoons, first at UPA's East Coast branch, then at Terrytoons and afterwards from his studio in Prague. Gene directed and/or produced a slew of original and strikingly designed animation gems. One of the best is THE JUGGLER OF OUR LADY.
Based on "Le Jongleur de Notre Dame," THE JUGGLER OF OUR LADY is narrated by none other than Boris Karloff and adapted from the Anatole France's book by R.O. Blechman.
Next up: the National Film Board of Canada. We tip our Santa hat respectfully to friend of this blog, archivist supreme and showman Sci Fi Bob Ekman, who is responsible for this blogger seeing this terrific NFB cartoon, Christmas Cracker.
That said, it's comedy for the writer of this blog throughout the holiday season - and it just wouldn't be Christmas without favorite comedy sketches. Leading off, invariably, from SCTV, is Ed Grimley in The Fella Who Couldn't Wait For Christmas. . . I must say.
We'll raise that SCTV sketch with Liberace's Christmas Special!
Arguably, the single greatest pure physical comic ever to be a Saturday Night Live cast member was the late great Chris Farley.
In the SNL Christmas sketch pantheon, love seeing Chris' motivational speaker character, Matt Foley, as a department store Santa!
And then there's A Debbie Downer Christmas Eve, co-starring one of our all-time favorites at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog, the one, the only Jack Black. Quality time spent with Tenacious D is guaranteed to cheer this blogger up!
That sketch invariably brings the Debbie Downer out of this blogger.
Have mixed emotions about the Christmas holidays and especially the supercharged commercialization, stressing buying stuff you don’t need in the first place. Stan Freberg’s Green Christmas still resonates in a big way.
On the one hand, love the holiday season and especially love hanging out with friends and family. On the other hand, for those whose family members have either all passed away or are gravely ill, the unrelenting ultra-sentiment regarding family gatherings seems quite cruel.
Noting that for those who lost their jobs and/or are stone broke, the mass onslaught of advertising represents a big upraised middle finger, the Debbie Downer "bwaa bwaa" sound effect is definitely in order. Now, after asserting that feline AIDS is the number one killer of domestic cats, it's time for more Stan Freberg records.
We wish all a safe and Merry Christmas, with a touch of mambo!
The Christmas Eve closer: a Season's Greetings calypso from Robert Mitchum.
In our last post of 2020, the most miserably misbegotten of years, the gang at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog wishes a Merry Christmas to all. Batting leadoff: the great Chicago tenor saxophonist Gene Ammons. Sounds like Gene is teamed with frequent collaborator Dexter Gordon for double holiday cheer on this super swingin' rendition of "Jingle Bells."
Another great of 20th century pop culture, Christopher Lee, loved Christmas songs and heavy metal - and combined the genres quite well.
As my family traditions at this point have evolved into a hybrid Christmashanukkah, Chanukahchristmas, Christmaschanukah or Hannukahchristmas, the following two songs are most apropo. Always enjoy hearing them. Thanks, Tom! Thanks, Adam!
When it comes to holiday traditions, polka rockstars Yosh & Stan Schmenge of The Happy Wanderers show us how to do Christmas right.
The following Capitol Records compilation of great songs for the holidays will always be a personal favorite, even given that nowadays hearing this gets me a bit choked up, as I think of family members who are no longer with us. . . Boy, do I miss them!
As always, we're suckers for holiday-related cartoons here at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog. Here's a terrific one from Great Britain's John Halas and Joy Batchelor studio.
Indeed, we love Christmas cartoons. The following 1933 Popeye the Sailor opus is about as Christmasy as getting hit hard with a shovel in the face from Bluto, but remains enjoyable just the same. It even includes Oliye Oyl stranded on the ice floes a la Lillian Gish in D.W. Griffith's epic Way Down East. The inimitable William "Red Pepper Sam" Costello version of Popeye saying "this is a day for peace on oyth" always cracks me up, every time.
At least Popeye in Seasin's Greetinks is a lot more Christmasy than the following Famous Studios opus starring Herman & Katnip, key predecessors of The Itchy & Scratchy Show, in which the unfortunate, unkempt, un-graceful and ungainly Katnip ends up strung up with lights like a Christmas tree and plugged into the wall socket while Herman's irritating mousey pals sing "Merry Christmas To You" irritatingly. One sincerely hopes Fred Rogers never saw this cartoon.
Thrilled to still be drawing breath almost a year into a raging global pandemic. Sincerely hope that there is an end in sight, commencing at the point when the grownups (we hope) officially take over from the toddlers next year.
We are happy to wish all of you a Merry Christmas - and nothing says "Merry Christmas" quite like William Shatner a.k.a. Shatner Claus!
Or, for that matter, the McKenzie brothers!
What would Christmas be without Eddie "The Old Philosopher" Lawrence?"
Enjoy watching showbiz king Bing Crosby and the always innovative David Bowie sing "The Little Drummer Boy/Peace On Earth" together every year. Pay no attention to what the scriptwriters for this program penned; Mr. Bowie was an advanced student of music and very likely knew tons more about the songs, instrumentalists, classical music artists and vocalists who preceded him that Der Bingle did. Love David's vocal here and always love Bing, whose 1942 White Christmas album was a staple of our family Christmas playlist and those of millions of other households around the world.
We also find that a bit of funk at Christmastime always makes the holidays go even better! MACEO!
While there are lots of great Christmas flicks, many running in rotation right now on Turner Classic Movies, our favorite here at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog (other than Mister Magoo's Christmas Carol) is the 1926 short subject There Ain't No Santa Claus, produced by the Hal Roach Studio (a.k.a. The Lot of Fun) and starring Charley Chase and Noah Young.
Could there be more jokes about ill-fitting Santa suits and ridiculously long beards? No.
Nothing makes a Cool Yule like Joan Crawford selling Royal Crown Cola! In Joan's case, said cola would be mixed with rum - and plenty of it, possibly along with two shots of Jack Daniels for good measure! Santa, watch your back - Mama's horny now!
To all my family and friends, as well as readers of this blog, lots of Yuletide good cheer! Feel very, very lucky today.
The folks at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog, struck by both a "happy to have made it to this Christmas alive" conviction (note: Mr. Blogmeister is 61 and more than well aware of 2017 passings and illnesses among his circle) and an obstinate head cold - now offering below market rate rental units (both furnished and unfurnished) in yours truly's nasal passages - send our Merry Christmas best wishes.
At this time of year, there's a key holiday season phrase for people who actually like their families: I like things the way they used to be, when everyone was still living and healthy.
That would be hangin' out at the Christmas tree back in the day - good times, good food, good company, pumpkin pie, eggnog - at the house you lived in that's gone with the loved ones who are long gone. Change happens - and it's not always welcome.
When remembering loved ones who are not with us at this time of year, sadness can be a constant companion. One way to counteract that sadness is to recall a lesser-known Yuletide record or holiday movie that captured everyone's fancy.
One of my family's favorite records was the 1956 Capitol Records Merry Christmas To You compilation, featuring Nat King Cole, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Les Paul & Mary Ford, Margaret Whiting & Jimmy Wakely, comedian Yogi Yorgesson and the orchestras of Billy May, Les Baxter and Johnny Mercer.
Still love this album and wish this was available to buy on good ol' vinyl or CD. There's something about hearing The Billy May Orchestra's cha-cha-cha North Pole masterpiece Rudolf Mambo from a thick vinyl platter on a good quality stereo (HI-FI as they used to say then) and top-of-the-line turntable that's better than freakin' homemade apple pie, washed down with homemade eggnog.
In the case of my siblings and I, that lesser-known holiday movie was and remains On The Twelfth Day, a VERY British take on The 12 Days Of Christmas, directed by Wendy Toye and designed by author, satirist and cartoonist Ronald Searle. Our local television stations ran it in the 1950's and early 1960's, but stopped for reasons unknown.
As a would-be grownup quite a few years later, this blogger discovered Allen Sherman's 12 Gifts Of Christmas, a very funny sendup in the vein of Stan Freberg's Green Christmas.
After swapping out a few topical references, the spoof is not dated; simply substitute the words "Indonesian Green Cell Phone" for "Japanese transistor radio" and think of other gifts a person doesn't want or need. That said, we had at least two Japanese transistor radios - which my dad and I loved and listened to broadcasts of San Francisco Giants games with.
Among additional worthy antidotes to wintertime blues would be the Christmas records by Art Carney, actor, comedian and star of arguably the best movie or television script tackling the commercialization of the holiday season, The Twilight Zone episode The Night Of The Meek, penned by Rod Serling.
There were two Yuletide novelty records by Art Carney.
Wonder if the A-side, "all I want for Christmas is a doodle-li-boop" was among the rhythmic inspirations for the Friz Freleng crew's WB cartoon sendup of Three Little Pigs, The Three Little Bops, produced a couple of years later (featuring Stan Freberg on vocals and West Coast jazz trumpet ace Shorty Rogers). Maybe. Maybe not. The opportunity to ask Stan that question passed a few years ago.
Hands-down, my favorite Night Before Christmas reading is the B-side, although Louis "Satchmo" Armstrong's ranks a very close second.
So, as the old song goes, "we wish you a Merry Christmas!"
And with that, and some holiday cheer from Edward D. Wood, Jr. and the Lugosis, a Merry Christmas to all and to all a Good Night!
Here at Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog, we are tickled to have made it through another year. Feel very lucky in many ways, even if we did not receive one of those exclusive invites to time travel over to Harold Lloyd and Mildred Davis Lloyd's house for a festive Christmas party.
Or find that Clara Bow in a Santa outfit is soon to arrive bringing plenty of good cheer - which we can always use - from the next world.
Prompted by a thoughtful Christmas season post he read on social media, Your Correspondent notes a few important things as the holidays commence and traipse, sometimes stumbling, towards New Year's Day. To paraphrase said post:
It is important to remember that not everyone is looking forward to Christmas. Not everyone is lucky enough to be surrounded by wonderful families and friends.
Many have no one to spend these times with and are besieged by loneliness. Others face the holidays out of work, stone broke, wondering how they will make ends meet in the new year and worried about the future.
In all families, there are times of feeling overcome with great sadness when remembering loved ones who are not with us.
This can be particularly difficult when the first Christmas without a particular loved one takes place and especially for those who lost family members and friends at Christmas time.
We all need caring, loving thoughts right now.
If possible, give a moment of support to anyone struggling with family/relationship problems, health struggles, job issues, financial woes, chronic physical pain and worries of any kind. Let 'em know that someone cares.
Extend a kind word or gesture.
Remember those in need and do what you can.
A shared laugh is good, too.
And with that, Way Too Damn Lazy To Write A Blog wishes all a Merry Christmas and completes this post with a few apropo and inevitable Yuletide film clips.
