It’s Never too early to celebrate Christmas, so please enjoy the all-star comedy Christmas Carol, “DO THEY KNOW IT’S CHRISTMAS TIME?”
Sung by Paul F. Tompkins, R.O. Manse, Tig Notaro, Rob Huebel, Patton Oswalt, Mike Phirman, Jimmy Pardo, Brian Posehn & Scott Aukerman, Garfunkel & Oates, Aimee Mann, Chris Hardwick, Paul Scheer & June Diane Raphael, Doug Benson, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Nick Thune, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Cracked Out, Dragon Boy Suede, Natasha Leggero, Thomas Lennon & Ed Helms”
Directed & Edited by Scott Aukerman
Two of my private obsessions intersect here as “Do They Know It’s Christmas?” (as thoroughly dissected in Popular earlier this year) is covered by a who’s who of comedians from the L.A. alternative/UCB scene. R. O. Manse (Chip Pope’s leftover synth-pop character) provides the pretextual fig leaf of having any connection to the original, but the real joy for me is watching Patton pretend to be too big for the project, hearing the comedy rappers update the song with their ridiculous shout-outs, and of course David Bowie.
I’ve listened to this twice now, and both times gotten kind of misty-eyed towards the end. Am I that enslaved to emotional stimulus, or is there something kind of sweetly great about this kind of project?
Which, obviously, unless you’re familiar with the work of the comedians in question, you wouldn’t give two shits about. There’s very little funny here — it’s mostly just a straight reading of the song. Sure, they’re mocking the original’s self-regard, but it’s a great singalong anyway.
