Aside from Bill O’Reilly, there is no greater defender of this holiday than Dr. Stephen T. Colbert, D.F.A. Here’s a clip from 2005 and one from 2006 showing the Great Man in action. .cc_box a:hover .cc_home{background:url(‘http://www.comedycentral.com/comedycentral/video/assets/syndicated-logo-over.png’) !important;}.cc_links a{color:#b9b9b9;text-decoration:none;}.cc_show a{color:#707070;text-decoration:none;}.cc_title a{color:#868686;text-decoration:none;}.cc_links a:hover{color:#67bee2;text-decoration:underline;} The Colbert ReportMon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c Burritos Happy Holidays Colbert at ChristmasColbert [...]
Christmas in Seattle & Detroit
As previously mentioned, Christmas is celebrated in different ways around the U.S. Here are two more. We head out to Seattle where we are reminded that somebody usually ends up having to work on Christmas Day. And sometimes you’re far away from your family (or you don’t talk to your family) and you’ve got nothing [...]
Christmas Music from Scandinavia
Last year, I attended a Christmas concert and I heard the United Voices Scandinavian Youth Choir. A couple of tunes caught my ear and I looked into some Scandinavian holiday tunes. Here are a few for you. One popular number is “En stjerne skinner i natt” (A star shines tonight), which you can see as [...]
Past Coverage of The War on Christmas
There’s nothing quite so festive as mocking Bill O’Reilly. I wrote a little diatribe about his “War on Christmas” in 2005 and it’s pretty much all still true. Here are some classic shots from The Daily Show, from 2005 and 2006. .cc_box a:hover .cc_home{background:url(‘http://www.comedycentral.com/comedycentral/video/assets/syndicated-logo-over.png’) !important;}.cc_links a{color:#b9b9b9;text-decoration:none;}.cc_show a{color:#707070;text-decoration:none;}.cc_title a{color:#868686;text-decoration:none;}.cc_links a:hover{color:#67bee2;text-decoration:underline;} The Daily Show With Jon StewartM [...]
It is, by-and-large, a wonderful life. Mostly.
In 2007, I had a major argument with an acquaintance of mine about whether Frank Capra’s film It’s a Wonderful Life is — at its heart — a life-affirming, warm-hearted positive view of humanity (as she maintained) or a dark, bitter view of a guy who figures out how to carve out a sliver of [...]
The Special Meaning of Christmas (Specials)
The Daily Show With Jon StewartM – Th 11p / 10c The Daily Show’s Very Special Christmas Specials Christmas Special Barack Obama Interview John McCain Interview Sarah Palin Video Funny Election Video Steve Carell breaks it down in The Daily Show’s Very Special Christmas Specials Christmas Special, from December 20, 2001. And a bonus below [...]
“Santa Claus, go straight to the ghetto.”
It always amuses me that most of our notions of a traditional Christmas come straight out of Victorian England. The idea of a Winter festival go back forever, but a lot of the essential elements — sleigh rides, Christmas trees, holiday cards — come from there. What the hell does it really have to do [...]
A Victorian Christmas with Produce Pete!
.cc_box a:hover .cc_home{background:url(‘http://www.comedycentral.com/comedycentral/video/assets/syndicated-logo-over.png’) !important;}.cc_links a{color:#b9b9b9;text-decoration:none;}.cc_show a{color:#707070;text-decoration:none;}.cc_title a{color:#868686;text-decoration:none;}.cc_links a:hover{color:#67bee2;text-decoration:underline;} The Daily Show With Jon StewartM – Th 11p / 10c Produce Pete with Steve Carell – Victorian Christmas Barack Obama InterviewJohn McCain Interview Sarah Palin VideoFunny Election Video A classic moment from December 19, 2002. Tags: Christmas, Steve Carrell, Produce Pete, The Daily Show
Living with disappointment
The Santa-God paradigm is interesting. Both big guys with beards, all-powerful and aware, making judgments on your moral worth. And, you know, you get down on your knees and you express a desire for something and then the Big Guy doesn’t come through. What does that do to one’s belief system? Well, some people become [...]
What Is the Future?
I’ve sort of made my peace with P. J. O’Rourke. In the past, I regarded him as excessively snarky and he’s certainly not in line with my politics, but he’s a clever writer and he was probably right and I was probably wrong about some stuff in the Eighties. Thanks to Kevin Drum, I read [...]