First, thanks to all of you who responded to my Help A Guy Enjoy Bones More post yesterday. I received a lot of solid tips on episodes, seasons, and key character traits that are invaluable in my ongoing research into Bonesology 101. So, a tip of my wooly cap to all of you who wrote in!
Now, then: Merry Christmas! And what better way to celebrate, after the presents are unwrapped and copious amounts of food and grog are consumed, than to scan the prime-time listings and see that Comedy Central is providing just the right 8-11 p.m. programming block of oddity this evening.
First, there’s Bad Santa (8-10 pm, EST), the 2003 dark comedy starring Billy Bob Thornton as a grumpy, frowsy, cynical, profane, and alcoholic department-store Santa. It is, of course, the saga of Thornton’s Willie and his little-person pal Marcus (Tony Cox, in a finely calibrated performance of great comic hostility), along with tip-top performances from Cloris Leachman and the late John Ritter and Bernie Mac. (Special music note: it’s not too late to run out and get the new release by Billy Bob Thornton’s band The Boxmasters, Christmas Cheer: cool Yule tunes.) If you ever watch/listen to the DVD commentary for Bad Santa, you’ll hear director Terry Zwigoff apologize publicly for not giving the lovely Lauren Graham much of a role to play, but that doesn’t prevent Bad Santa from being a superb achievement in low-down comedy. (Warning: this clip has bad language as well as a bad Santa.)
And speaking of comedy, if you’re anything like me (and are you, really? It will be interesting to see, as this blog proceeds), you can get behind a little ventriloquism courtesy of Jeff Dunham and his Very Special Christmas Special
(10-11 pm EST). I approach people who make wooden dummies talk on two levels: with leftover childhood wonder that anyone is able to perform this way, and with grown-up goof-on-it campiness that a ventriloquist can still be popular in the 21st century.
Either way, Dunham is an excellent example of this much-maligned profession: he’s a smooth, even slick, ventriloquist, and he’s got a bunch of dummies, each infused by Dunham with fully formed personalities. The best of them is Walter, whose constantly sour mood is just the thing if you’ve reached your limit of Christmas cheer.
Happy viewing!
Thanks for recommending Bad Santa. I was impressed with the film and the director’s comments on the DVD commentary track [especially when he apologized for giving Ms Graham short shrift].
Now if someone would just broadcast The Ref either directly before or after Bad Santa, we’d have the perfect curmudgeon’s Christmas double feature…
I’ve met Jeff several times, and I must say he is as nice off stage as he is on. Friends say that I’m the only person that they have ever seen Walter be nice to. That Made me afraid. They also laugh at me because I was talking “TO” Walter. (Like I didn’t know he wasn’t real)
Thanks for the ummm…article. Badder Santa is the better DVD if anyone is going to pick it up. The Coen brothers are the masterminds behind the movie. It’s Santa’s version of “The Grinch That Stole Christmas”. Did you get paid for this article? Just kidding…
Jeff Dunham is the best thing to happen to comedy in quite a while. We have lost some legends recently (replaced by oblivious hacks who spend most of their time casting witch hunts about who is stealing whos jokes. I can settle that argument. The Aristocrat joke has been used by every comedian, including myself for years. Its called artistic interpretation lets get over ourselves and recognize true talent where it is.) I have never had the pleasure of meeting Jeff but I can only applaud him for bringing much needed art and integrity back into a field that was well overdo for inspiration. As a “traditional” comic myself, I support him wholeheartedly for where he is going and what he is doing for our profession. Thanks Jeff
Jeff Dunham Rocks!