December 17, 2010

Comedians of Christmas Comedy Special

The holidays are stressful so we booked a seasonal pick-me-up: an hour of comedy. Including comedians Wyatt Cenac, Mike Birbiglia, Julian McCullough, Jenny Slate, Gabe Liedman and Edith Zimmerman. Musical guests: Dave Hill and Doug Gillard.

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Transcript

Image by Alden Ford. From the stage at Littlefield, the club in Brooklyn where we taped the show.

Prologue

Ira Glass plays Christmas jokes told by third graders, collected by producer Jonathan Menjivar. It turns out there really aren't many holiday jokes (although see our blog post for more), but kids are happy to invent them. (5 1/2 minutes)

By

Ira Glass

Act One

Jesus Has Prison

Wyatt Cenac tells this story about spreading Christmas cheer in Texas. Wyatt is a correspondent on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. (13 minutes)

By

Wyatt Cenac

Act Two

Stocking Stuffers

Two very, very short stories by Edith Zimmerman. Edith is the editor of TheHairpin.com. (2 1/2 minutes)

By

Edith Zimmerman

Act Three

Little Altar Boy

Despite our nation's attempts to make Christmas all about toys and shopping, it is still a religious holiday. Mike Birbiglia tells this story about Catholicism and his mother. Mike is author of the memoir Sleepwalk With Me. (8 1/2 minutes)

By

Mike Birbiglia

Act Four

One Lord A-Leaping

Comedy duo Gabe Liedman and Jenny Slate disagree about the awesomeness of Hanukkah... and about the nature of their relationship. Gabe contributes to videogum.com. Jenny appears in the HBO series Bored to Death. Together they host a comedy show in Brooklyn, NY called Big Terrific. (6 minutes)

By

Gabe Liedman

Jenny Slate

Act Five

The Fight Before Christmas

Stand-up comedian Julian McCullough tells this story about heading to someone else's home for the holidays. You can watch Julian's Comedy Central Presents special at his website, julianmccullough.com. (16 minutes)

By

Julian McCullough

Act Six

The Best Christmas Song Ever, By Dave Hill

We end our program with an original song by comedian Dave Hill. Dave is backed up on guitar by Doug Gillard of the bands Guided by Voices and Nada Surf. You can download the song here. (4 minutes)