Nuttier than Nutmeg
Steering away from the typical news desk format which has rocketed him to stardom, Stephen Colbert presents a Christmas special reminiscent of an era gone but not forgotten in television. With guest appearances from Elvis Costello, Willie Nelson, John Legend, Toby Keith, Feist and Jon Stewart Colbert Christmas packs quite a bit into this musical special. How much of it you want to retain is entirely up to you.
The premise is fairly unimportant. Fans of Colbert’s show know that he is deathly afraid of bears, and a grisly bear has him trapped in his cabin despite the frequent visits from several celebrity guest stars as he pines over not having a Christmas special or visit from Santa Claus because of his predicament. What makes this special so remarkable is that Stephen Colbert really branches out as a comedian for this special.
A Musical?
Oh yes, a musical. Featuring Stephen Colbert singing several original tunes, and harmonizing with some of his celebrity guest stars as well. Some of the songs are light hearted and silly, like Stephen’s opening song (which can be heard in completion in the special features section).
Others are sexually laden with innuendo so thick that you often forget that it’s not just explicit and pornographic (I don’t think I’ll ever look at nutmeg or John Legend the same again…) Still others are predictable and just a little over the top (Willie Nelson offers baby Jesus a typical Willie style offering, which is mildly blasphemous, but still pretty funny if you don’t take it too seriously.)
All in all, it took me a minute to immerse myself in the modern day Pee-Wee’s playhouse that was the log cabin of Stephen Colbert for the Colbert Christmas. After I quit expecting anything and just started enjoying the random bumpy comedy ride I found myself having a really good time. By the time Feist appears as an angel and Toby Keith helps us take back Christmas I was smiling and chuckling right along with Colbert’s zany sketches.
Stuff Your Stockings with More Than Just Your Feet This Year
Fans of the Colbert Report are bound to get a kick out of this DVD, and with special pricing on Amazon it’s really a great stocking stuffer. The special features make this worth owning despite the fact that it will air shortly on Comedy Central. The special features include a Colbert style yule log (burn books and logs!), three different alternate endings, a special song a 25-day advent calendar and more!
Production quality was intentionally bad, but that’s part of what made it funny. Things were obviously done using clear wires and green screens… but crappy green screen sketches are part of what launched Stephen Colbert’s career into the stratosphere, so even with a slightly new format he is still up to some of his old shtick!