Johnny Showtime: RICH LITTLE'S CHRISTMAS CAROL

  by JB

Reading about this godforsaken thing on the Wikipedia machine, one would think that it is a beloved holiday classic. I recently watched it and proclaimed it “the worst holiday special and the worst re-telling of Dickens ever made.”

Impressionist Rich Little was all over television during my misspent youth. From The Tonight Show with Johnny Carson to Dean Martin’s Celebrity Roasts to a network show he hosted called The Kopycats, it seems that back then you couldn’t turn on the goddamn TV without seeing Little. He started his career in Canada as a disc jockey and nightclub performer, developed a talent for mimicry, and recorded two popular albums, one of which was Scrooge and the Stars, a version of A Christmas Carol with Little playing all the characters, re-imagined as stars from Hollywood’s Golden Age.

The album was withdrawn two weeks after its release because American President John F. Kennedy was assassinated, and Little had Kennedy playing the Ghost of Christmas Present on the album. At one point Little has Kennedy say, “"Scrooge, my life upon the globe is brief; it ends tonight. In fact, it ends as fast as you can say your name.” Continuing to sell the album was seen as being in bad taste.

Imagine my surprise the other night when, binging all the holiday delights on the YouTube machine, I came across a holiday special made for the Canadian Broadcasting Company in 1978. It was shown on HBO in 1979. It won awards. It’s Rich Little’s Christmas Carol, a warmed-over remake of the Scrooge and the Stars album Little had made 16 years earlier. It is one of the most joyless and soul-crushing holiday specials I have ever seen.

CAVEAT: I do think it’s cool that classic Hollywood had a kind of resurgence in the Seventies. Impressionists were popular, and classic films got a new life on television and in reparatory theaters. Hell, even the doomed kids in the original Friday the 13th attempt impressions of Humphrey Bogart, Mae West, and Katherine Hepburn.

Why? I have never been able to figure that one out. My point is that Little could exploit his audience’s nostalgia for these old-time movie stars BECAUSE PEOPLE STILL REMEMBERED WHO THEY WERE.

I would love to try an experiment. I will gather a group of young people 13 to 30 years old, force them to watch the Rich Little Holiday Special, and ask them all if they know any of the celebrities that Little is mimicking. I think I already know the answer.

The holiday special fails on almost all levels: 1) It is not funny. It was written by Rich Little, but contains no jokes; 2) It has a sluggish pace that kills the comedy; 3) Except for a few scattered vocal reactions from extras, Rich Little is the only actor in the show who speaks. He also narrates; 3) Someone had the bright idea to make this a musical, but the musical numbers and generic and simplistic. They sound like songs written to herald a new grocery store opening. Also, Rich Little cannot sing. This problem is compounded by having Rich Little imitate famous actors who also could not sing, then he has them sing. Say what you will about W.C. Fields, Groucho Marx, and Jimmy Stewart; they were not known for their singing. The musical numbers are a slog; 4) The Dickens’ characters seem to have been assigned to classic Hollywood stars with no rhyme or reason. Little plays Scrooge as W.C. Fields. Scrooge’s old partner Jacob Marley is Richard Nixon. Scrooge’s nephew Fred is Johnny Carson. Scrooge’s old boss Fezziwig is Groucho Marx. Scrooge’s clerk Bob Cratchit is Paul Lynde. Bob Cratchit’s wife is Jean Stapleton as Edith Bunker. Tiny Tim is Truman Capote. The Ghost of Christmas Past is Humphrey Bogart. The Ghost of Christmas Present is Peter Falk as Columbo. The Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come is Peter Sellers as Inspector Clouseau. The two businessmen who implore Scrooge to make a charitable contribution are Laurel & Hardy. John Wayne, George Burns, and James Mason show up as the men on the street commenting on Scrooge’s death. None of this makes any sense. None of the “casting” exists to make any sort of comedic point; it’s just characters that Rich Little is known to imitate.

CAVEAT: I did think Richard Nixon’s Marley, covered with audio tapes instead of chains, was kind of funny. Nixon once stole a piece of America’s soul that we have yet to get back.

Believe it or not, this confused mess was so popular, it won an International Emmy Award and was followed by another HBO special in 1983, Rich Little's Robin Hood, which featured Little imitating Groucho Marx as Robin Hood, Humphrey Bogart as Prince John, John Wayne as Little John, Laurel & Hardy as the Sheriffs of Nottingham, and George Burns as Alan-a-Dale. What, no place for Edith Bunker or Truman Capote?

This is an hour of my life that I will never get back. Rich Little is still alive and owes me. Don’t believe it? Watch it for yourself!