The Weird Accordion to Al: Ridiculously Self-Indulgent, Ill-Advised Vanity Edition Book Except, The Weird Al Show Episode 12: The Obligatory Holiday Episode
Episode 12: The Obligatory Holiday Episode
Original airdate: November 29, 1997
Today’s Lesson: “When friends want to share their feelings, you should be a good listener.”
When the “War on Christmas” folks behave as if the mere existence of the words “Happy Holidays” represents an unforgivable affront to Christianity, it’s ridiculous because that innocuous phrase is already essentially a more inclusive way of saying “Merry Christmas” by acknowledging that holidays other than Christmas exist.
Holiday parties in the United States are fundamentally Christmas+ parties, the “+” being Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. Despite the inclusive name, holiday parties tend to focus on a small number of widely recognized winter holidays.
No one could actually throw a party that honored every holiday unless they inhabit the wacky, underground rat-infested world of The Weird Al Show. The wonderfully bonkers premise of “The Obligatory Holiday Episode” is that Al and his suddenly emo friends can’t decide which holiday to celebrate for their big party so they celebrate them all.
By “all” I mean Christmas, New Year’s, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Halloween, Thanksgiving, Easter, Passover, Rosh Hashanah, Cinco De Mayo, Groundhog Day, Valentine’s Day, President’s Day, St. Patrick’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Veterans Day, Memorial Day, Flag Day, Independence Day, Labor Day, Arbor Day, Boxing Day, Columbus Day and Bastille Day.
Al wants to throw the ultimate holiday party and is willing to do anything to keep his guests happy except for listening to them or caring about their problems.
To gauge the party’s success, Al has a “mood pie” that changes colors according to the vibe of the room. When things are going well, the mood pie is colorful, but when people are not enjoying themselves it turns black.
In his misguided generosity, Al has invited prominent sociopaths from previous episodes. We are reintroduced to probable clown murderer Uncle Ralphie (Jack Plotnick) and Varna, (Ed Marques), the “Squirmese Chef” who, in “Al Plays Hooky,” tried to murder, cook, and eat Harvey.
Everybody needs to unburden themselves here. That’s not unusual for holiday parties. Emotions run high, leading to drunken fights, drunken hook ups, and drunken meltdowns. In The Weird Al Show, however, this holiday angst manifests itself in characters wanting to talk to Al about their feelings and Al brushing them off in his deluded quest to be a super-duper party thrower.
“The Obligatory Holiday Episode” is not QUITE as bracingly dark as beloved Al carols like “Christmas at Ground Zero” and “The Night Santa Went Crazy,” but that’s not for lack of trying.
The network nixed a Fred Huggins sketch where Papa and Baby Boolie commit suicide rather than listen to Fred sing as being excessively bleak for children. So, instead of Papa and Baby Boolie choosing to end their own lives, the sketch ends with Papa Boolie calling a mental hospital and having Fred Huggins institutionalized against his will.
The Weird Al Show is so gloriously dark that angry puppets having a mentally ill man forcibly institutionalized during the big holiday episode represents a comparatively safe compromise.
“The Obligatory Holiday Episode” closes with a cameo from an American institution very important to The Weird Al Show: Executive Producer Dick Clark.
Clark and CBS understandably had high hopes that Al’s kid-friendly, mainstream charms would work like gangbusters on a Saturday morning kid’s show. They don’t seem to have grasped how ultimately non-kid-friendly, non-mainstream and just plain weird his titular television vehicle would prove to be.
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