The 2024 SYSK Christmas Extravaganza!

Summary

Stuff You Should Know: The 2024 SYSK Christmas Extravaganza!

Release Date: December 23, 2024 | Host/Authors: Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant | Production: iHeartPodcasts

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1. Welcoming the Festive Season

The episode kicks off with Josh Clark and Chuck Bryant embracing the holiday spirit, celebrating their annual tradition of the Christmas Extravaganza. They humorously mention the absence of advertisements, highlighting the episode is "brought to you ad-free" and solely by themselves. Chuck reflects on the joy of wrapping up the recording year with this special episode:

Chuck Bryant [00:33]: "That's right. The holiday spectacular. And a couple of traditions here is that this episode is brought to you ad free. And also by no one. Exactly. By us."

Josh expresses his excitement about the combination of topics for this festive edition, adding a playful touch with holiday references.

2. Crafting "Grandma's Christmas Breath" Cocktail

The hosts delve into their featured holiday cocktail, "Grandma's Christmas Breath," a recipe submitted by listener Holly Eitan Miller. Chuck introduces the cocktail recipe, sharing the challenge of sourcing a specific ingredient:

Chuck Bryant [01:53]: "We usually try and source some sort of a holiday cocktail and tell you how to make it. Sometimes we make it and have it on our own. And this year, we had someone send in a holiday cocktail... Grandma's Christmas Breath."

Josh humorously comments on the trope of "drunk grandparents" during Christmas, relating it to the cocktail's boozy nature. They proceed to mix the drink live on air, discussing ingredient measurements and adjustments to balance the flavors. Chuck taste-tests the concoction, describing it as "festive" but advising moderation:

Chuck Bryant [07:13]: "And it's not bad, you know, I mean, it's... It's definitely like a festive holiday drink. I don't. I would not recommend more than one of them."

3. The White Elephant (Dirty Santa) Game

Transitioning to a beloved holiday tradition, Josh and Chuck explore the mechanics and origins of the White Elephant gift exchange, also known as Dirty Santa. They reference an article by Nella Bailey McGough from Southern Living, discussing the game's roots and its connection to Siamese (now Thai) royal customs:

Josh Clark [09:02]: "The white elephant name supposedly came from what is now Thailand, what was Siam back in the day. And the king of Siam was... he might give someone an albino elephant if he didn't like them very much."

The hosts outline the game's rules, emphasizing the importance of setting a price limit to encourage creativity and prevent overly extravagant gifts. They share strategies for gift swapping and highlight common pitfalls, such as taking the game too seriously:

Josh Clark [12:20]: "The cheaper, the lower the price limit, the more creative the people have to be to come up with something."

Chuck adds practical tips, suggesting the cocktail they created could be transformed into a punch bowl addition for parties.

4. Exploring Holiday Confections: Pizzelles and Buche de Noel

Listeners contributed by sending in traditional holiday recipes from around the world. Josh and Chuck introduce two confections: Italy’s Pizzelles and France’s Buche de Noel.

a. Pizzelles

Pizzelles are described as Italian cookies with a rich history, traditionally enjoyed during Christmas and Easter. The hosts discuss the cookie's etymology and variations in flavors, from classic anise to modern chocolate and vanilla:

Chuck Bryant [19:27]: "It shares a root word with pizza, which means round and flat..."

They elaborate on the simple ingredients and the traditional method of using decorative irons to imprint festive patterns. Serving suggestions include rolling them into cones with fillings like Nutella or using them as ice cream sandwich layers.

b. Buche de Noel

Buche de Noel, or the edible yule log, is traced back to medieval French traditions. Originally a real log burned in the hearth for protection and good fortune, it evolved into a cake decorated to resemble a wooden log:

Chuck Bryant [27:04]: "That happened sometime in the late 1800s. Apparently, a gentleman named Pierre Lacam published the first recipe for that in 1890..."

The hosts praise the dessert's artistry, mentioning intricate designs that mimic bark and embellishments like meringue mushrooms. They recommend renowned recipes from Le Grand Véfour and Jacques Pepin, encouraging listeners to seek them out in French bakeries or online.

5. White House Christmas Trees: A Historical Journey

Josh and Chuck take a trip through the history of Christmas trees in the White House, highlighting milestones and presidential preferences. They discuss the evolution from candle-lit trees under Benjamin Harrison (1889) to the first electrically lit tree under Grover Cleveland (1894):

Josh Clark [30:46]: "The first Christmas tree in the White House that anyone knows about was in the second floor oval room... in 1889, which was the Benjamin Harrison administration."

Notably, they mention Theodore Roosevelt's misunderstood stance on Christmas trees, clarifying that he did not ban them but simply did not prioritize the tradition. The discussion moves to record-breaking decorations, such as Dwight D. Eisenhower's 26 trees and George W. Bush’s 47 trees in 1990.

They also spotlight the leading states in supplying White House trees, with North Carolina at the forefront. The segment emphasizes the predominance of fir trees, particularly Fraser firs, in White House selections.

6. The Evolution of Christmas Movies

The hosts delve into the origins and growth of Christmas-themed cinema, tracing back to the late 19th century. They reference early films like "Arrival of a Train" (1896) by the Lumière brothers and George Albert Smith’s groundbreaking "Santa Claus" (1898), the first known Christmas movie:

Josh Clark [40:21]: "Just two years later a guy named George Albert Smith became the creator of the very first Christmas movie... called Santa Claus."

"Santa Claus" showcased innovative special effects for its time, depicting Santa’s chimney descent and magical disappearance. They contrast these early films with modern productions, noting the vast increase in holiday movies, particularly those from Hallmark.

7. Celebrating "Ziggy's Gift"

Highlighting a standout Christmas special, Josh and Chuck discuss the 1982 animated classic "Ziggy's Gift." Originating from the beloved Ziggy comic strip, the special is lauded for its exceptional animation quality and heartfelt storytelling. They highlight its production marvel, featuring approximately 140,000 drawings compared to the typical 35,000 for similar projects:

Chuck Bryant [45:00]: "A half hour animated special at the time had about 35,000 drawings. Ziggy's gift had close to 140,000 drawings."

"Ziggy's Gift" won the Primetime Emmy for Outstanding Animated Program, surpassing contemporaries like "The Smurfs" and "Charlie Brown." Despite its acclaim, the special remains a hidden gem for newer generations, with the hosts encouraging listeners to seek it out and experience its enduring charm.

8. Concluding Festive Wishes

Wrapping up the special, Josh and Chuck extend heartfelt holiday greetings to their listeners, acknowledging their families and crew. The episode concludes with cheerful Christmas music and warm wishes:

Josh Clark [50:09]: "So let's get a little more Christmas music in, and then we'll wish everybody Merry Christmas and happy Holidays."

They encourage everyone to enjoy the holiday season, relish the traditions discussed, and spread love and joy.

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Notable Quotes:

• Chuck Bryant [07:13]: "And it's not bad, you know, I mean, it's... It's definitely like a festive holiday drink. I don't. I would not recommend more than one of them."

• Josh Clark [09:02]: "The white elephant name supposedly came from what is now Thailand, what was Siam back in the day. And the king of Siam was... he might give someone an albino elephant if he didn't like them very much."

• Josh Clark [40:21]: "Just two years later a guy named George Albert Smith became the creator of the very first Christmas movie... called Santa Claus."

• Laughs and banter throughout the episode add a personal and engaging touch, making the content both informative and entertaining.

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This Christmas Extravaganza episode of Stuff You Should Know blends festive traditions, culinary delights, historical insights, and nostalgic reflections, offering listeners a comprehensive and joyful exploration of holiday customs and celebrations.

Transcript

[Chuck Bryant]

Welcome to Stuff youf Should Know, a production of iHeartRadio.

[Josh Clark]

Hey, and welcome to the podcast. I'm Josh. And there's Chuck and Jerry. Trying to come, but she's had car trouble. I guess either way, she's here in spirit. The Christmas spirit. And this is stuff you should know.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right. The holiday spectacular. And a couple of traditions here is that this episode is brought to you ad free. And also by no one. Exactly. By us. And then also we have managed to work it out. I don't know about every year, but it seems like every year where this is the last episode that we record of our recording year. And it's so great and so fun to wind it down this way.

[Josh Clark]

It's such a special tradition. And Chuck, I'm really excited about this particular one. Cause this is a good combination. A good assemblage of stuff, I guess you could say. But, like, add some holly to that.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. And I also realized when you sent your stuff over, I was like, hey, we kind of have a theme for one of yours and one of mine.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

Which is, you know, like, sugary confections from different parts of the world.

[Josh Clark]

Right.

[Chuck Bryant]

So those are kind of fun. Maybe we should do those back to back.

[Josh Clark]

Okay. Yeah, I think that's a good idea. And then also we have another theme. Movies.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, yeah.

[Josh Clark]

Or Christmas specials. I don't know. However you want to put it.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right. Where should we start this year?

[Josh Clark]

Do you want to start with the cocktail so you can get crocked while we do this?

[Chuck Bryant]

Uh, sure.

[Josh Clark]

Okay. I think you should announce what's going on to everybody.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. So what's happening is we usually try and source some sort of a holiday cocktail and tell you how to make it. Sometimes we make it and have it on our own. And this year, we had someone send in a holiday cocktail. A few months ago, we got an email from somebody named Hollywood Eitan Miller.

[Josh Clark]

I think you nailed it.

[Chuck Bryant]

And this is a drink that Holly invented called hang onto your hats here. Grandma's Christmas breath.

[Josh Clark]

That's so great. One thing I've noticed, when you look around and read Christmas stuff and try to find Christmas stuff, Grandma is almost invariably portrayed as a drunk.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, I didn't really. I wasn't sure what the breath would be, but I guess boozy breath. That makes sense.

[Josh Clark]

Boozy breath. Yeah. Like, I found a recipe for something or other. It's like Grandma's version has, like, whiskey and rum in it. Yeah, everybody's grandma gets drunk, apparently on Christmas.

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, our Dear departed Grandma Mary, Emily's grandmother, who was the senior general in the Stuff youf Shooting army, who passed away at the ripe old age of 101. When she was in her 90s, like around Christmas, she would have little Baileys in her coffee.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

Just a touch every now and then.

[Josh Clark]

A little Christmas Iree.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. So I guess Christmas time, I don't know, equals drunk grandparents.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, that's how I'm taking it. I mean, Holly Eitanmiller's the name of her recipe. Just says it all, I think.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. So I asked Holly if there was a story behind it, but I did not hear back by recording time.

[Josh Clark]

So she doesn't want to talk about it.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. You know what I'll do? Through the magic of editing, I'll pause and go get some ice.

[Josh Clark]

Okay.

[Chuck Bryant]

And then I'll be right back. But to your ears, I'll be back in, like, one second.

[Josh Clark]

Okay, hold on.

[Chuck Bryant]

Okay, I'm back, everybody. I have my shaker with ice. Josh, why don't you read out the ingredients and I'll pour them up.

[Josh Clark]

Okay, you ready?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

Prepare. Chuck, one shot of Captain Morgan gingerbread Rum.

[Chuck Bryant]

Okay, so the story here is this stuff is really hard to find, and I had to get, like, a delivery service. Cause I literally couldn't find it anywhere.

[Josh Clark]

Do you remember I tried to get liquor delivered to you as a condolence, like, a year ago, and it just did not work out. I tried, like, five different services and none of it worked.

[Chuck Bryant]

I don't remember that. But yeah, you know what? That's the thought that counts.

[Josh Clark]

I kept texting you, like, are you gonna be home at 6pm? Are you gonna be home at 3am tomorrow? Are you gonna be home at noon today?

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, no.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

All right, so the gingerbread rum just went in. I took a little sniff, and it smells cloyingly sweet.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, it sounds delicious. But I could see that.

[Chuck Bryant]

All right, what's next?

[Josh Clark]

I also, I just want to make a little note here. A shot is very ambiguous. You could make a quart size shot. You could make a little tiny shot. Like a shot is another way of putting one part.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, I mean, I just use a standard bar jigger. So whatever the big side is, the.

[Josh Clark]

Big side is usually 2 ounces.

[Chuck Bryant]

Okay. All right, all right.

[Josh Clark]

This is gonna be quite a Christmas episode. The second ingredient, Chuck, is one shot of Grand Marnier.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, I think you just heard the cork pop. The infamous.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, I hear it's definitely 2 ounces.

[Chuck Bryant]

I'm not saying I'm gonna drink all of this. All right, what's next?

[Josh Clark]

As much orange juice as you wish. I would strongly recommend fresh squeezed. Anytime you're using citrus in a cocktail, just do yourself a favor and squeeze it yourself. It's not that hard.

[Chuck Bryant]

All right, well, can we pause so I can go to the grocery store?

[Josh Clark]

Yes.

[Chuck Bryant]

No. I'm going to open up the old Tropicana that I just bought, and I bought it at a convenience store, or I would have gotten an orange. I'm just going to do one shot of that. Okay, Just go one, one, one.

[Josh Clark]

Okay. I think that's a great idea. And then do you have any ice on hand, or do we need to wait around for that, too?

[Chuck Bryant]

That's what I got in the shaker.

[Josh Clark]

O. Yeah. Chuck's doing the next thing. Everybody shaking grandma's Christmas breath together.

[Chuck Bryant]

Should I have this up or on the rocks? Probably on the rocks.

[Josh Clark]

I don't know. It sounds like you got enough ice in there and this is boozy enough to go up.

[Chuck Bryant]

All right, I'll go up, then.

[Josh Clark]

We'll see. And then we're going to all wait around here to see what Chuck thinks of this. And also, I want to say I'm not drinking booze right now, but I'm putting away a. Most of a quart of eggnog as we speak.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, it's. I mean, the only reason I'm doing this is because I just felt like somebody should try this out on the air. And so here we go, everybody. Post production, drum roll.

[Josh Clark]

Da, da.

[Chuck Bryant]

Okay.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, poor Holly. She's. Her Christmas dreams have just been dashed.

[Chuck Bryant]

No, it's not bad. I mean, it is. It's orangey because the Grand Marnier and the orange juice obviously.

[Josh Clark]

Right.

[Chuck Bryant]

And it's not bad, you know, I mean, it's. It's definitely like a festive holiday drink. I don't. I would not recommend more than one of them.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, is it pretty boozy?

[Chuck Bryant]

I mean, it's pretty. Pretty. Just sort of sweet. Depends on your tolerance for sweet drinks.

[Josh Clark]

Is that rum really coming through or is it getting mist in the orange?

[Chuck Bryant]

It could probably come through a little bit more. So I could probably add a little less orange juice if there were to be a next time.

[Josh Clark]

Or you could add more rum.

[Chuck Bryant]

Well, let's. Let's not get carried away here.

[Josh Clark]

Okay? Well, I say we move on. Speaking of carried away, let's carry ourselves away to the next segment.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

And as per Christmas tradition, holiday show tradition, Jerry's going to add some really nice Christmassy interstitial music. So Take it away, Jerry. All right, Chuck, how are you feeling?

[Chuck Bryant]

Good and big. Thanks to Holly again for this. For this string.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. So we're gonna teach everybody how to play Dirty Santa next. We're doing that with an assist from Nella Bailey McGough. I'm pretty sure that's how you'd say her last name. From Southern Living, who wrote a pretty top notch article on how to play this, why to play it. And they even turned up what. The origin of the name, because it's got a bunch of different names. White Elephant. Apparently, in the south, we're the ones who typically call it Dirty Santa.

[Chuck Bryant]

Never heard of that.

[Josh Clark]

You've never heard of Dirty Santa? That's all I've ever heard it. Well, aside from white elephant, I've only heard white elephant.

[Chuck Bryant]

Interesting.

[Josh Clark]

What about Yankee swap? That one's new to me.

[Chuck Bryant]

No, never heard that one. I've only heard White Elephant when it comes to this kind of game.

[Josh Clark]

Okay, well, I've heard Dirty Santa and White Elephant. But regardless, the white elephant name seems to be the traditional name for this, which is. It's kind of like it's a party game you would play at, like, your holiday party. And in the spirit basically of Secret Santa, where everybody gives somebody else a gift anonymously and then the person tries to guess who gave it to them. It's very nice and sweet. This is not. Well, it's not supposed to be mean or anything like that, but there's a lot. There's some twists to it that make it dirty.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right. Because it involves the trading of gifts, which we'll get to the rules in a second. That can. Well, I'll mention that when we get to the trading part. But, yeah, the origins is interesting because I never knew this as far as the white elephant name. Supposedly it came from what is now Thailand, what was Siam back in the day. And the king of Siam was. If he was annoyed, he might give someone an albino elephant if he didn't like them very much. Right.

[Josh Clark]

Yes. But the key here was to the cordier who received this gift. I mean, this is a lavish gift.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

But it was a lavish gift that cost a lot and took a lot of effort to keep healthy and happy.

[Chuck Bryant]

Right.

[Josh Clark]

So although it seemed like you would really gain the king's favor, the king was giving you a real problem to deal with for the rest of the elephant's life. So it's a pretty. Pretty sharp little idea that Yul Brenner came up with. And that's where the name came from white elephant. Right.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

Okay. So getting on to the modern incarnation of it, I did not see who invented this. I guess the King of Siam did. But the. The modern incarnation, I. I don't know where that came from. But there are basically, wherever you look up, rules for the white elephant game. There's some that are just tried and true. They're just. You're going to find them in any set of rules. One of the big ones is set a dollar limit.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

You don't want some person just showing off their Christmas bonus by, you know, they show up with a bunch of banging Olafs and speakers or something like that. You know, by setting a limit at like 20 bucks, you're making the people get kind of creative.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. And the whole idea here is to have fun. So, yeah, 20 bucks, I feel like, is. I mean, you can set it according to whatever, you know, financial pool you're swimming in, but I feel like $20 is a pretty good round number.

[Josh Clark]

Great. But, yes, the cheaper, the lower the price limit, the more creative the people have to be to come up with something.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, exactly. They give some tips here in this article, which is kind of fun, which is to try and fool the unwrapper by wrapping it. Wrapping perhaps a small thing in some big elaborate package or by, if you get really creative, if you can even reshape something as far as the wrapping goes to where it looks like something else, like maybe a bottle of wine, when it in fact is just like a folded up whoopee cushion.

[Josh Clark]

Yes. Oh, that's a good one. Yeah, That's a great, great white elephant gift.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. Those are probably only like $5.

[Josh Clark]

Right. So you. Well, not in 2024, pal. Yeah. So you want to, in your invitation, specify. Yes. Wrap it. Get creative with your wrapping, but do not put a to or from thing. This is all anonymous.

[Chuck Bryant]

And.

[Josh Clark]

And then everybody comes on the day of the party and they bring their gift wrapped and they put it in a pile. The pool, as some people call it.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

And Nella Bailey McGough specifies, Do not put this area near your own family's real presence because you don't want to mix up like that. And then once the. Everybody's assembled and you're usually sitting around in a circle or something so everybody can see everybody else. You draw numbers from a hat, and the numbers in the hat number from 1 to the number of people playing, and everybody draws a number.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right. So once you've drawn your number and are thus ordered in opening order, person number one is Gonna grab a gift, they're gonna open it. They're gonna show everybody what it is. Oh, my God. It's four whoopee cushions. Cause they're, well, probably three these days to hit that $20 mark. And that's it. They got their gift. Everyone gets a good laugh. Next up is person number two. And this is when it gets interesting, because person number two has a choice. They can pick a new gift from the pile, or they can go ahead and just steal that first gift if that is something that they actually want.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. There's also an alternate set of rules that say everyone picks a gift first, and then the stealing starts. But most of the time, you can steal on that second turn. There's. This is where it gets a little hazy. So let's say that you're five people into this, Right. So person number five, it's their turn if they go and steal person number four's gift. Now it's time for person number four to go steal somebody else's gift, say person number two. Now person number two has to steal a gift, and this can just keep going on ad infinitum. So usually it's the third. The third time a gift is stolen, the last person has to just go take a new gift from the pile. They don't get to steal, or else they just keep going on and on and on.

[Chuck Bryant]

Right.

[Josh Clark]

And then there's some other restrictions on how many times a gift can be stolen or a person can be stolen from too. Right?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. I mean, you can do house rules, of course, or regional rules, but generally, a gift can not be. Can be stolen no more than three times. If a gift is pronounced dead, that means you can't steal it anymore. And that's after it's been stolen. Right.

[Josh Clark]

Three times.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh. Oh, right. Duh. After the three times, it can no longer be stolen.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. And usually a person can only be stolen from three times as well. And then whatever gift they're holding on, the last time that gets whatever gift, they go steal from somebody else or pick. That's their gift to keep. So you can play strategically here. If there's actually a gift there that you want, like you really want that whoopee cushion, you can choose it as your last gift after you're dead, essentially.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. If your gift is stolen, you can't steal it right back. You have to steal another gift or choose from the pile. And are there any other variations?

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. Essentially, once all of this continues on, once this goes around and everybody say you have 15 people playing after person 15's turn. You're back to person one. Because they had no choice. They had to choose a gift from the pile. Now it's their turn to decide to steal. And if they decide to keep their gift, then the game's over. If they steal, it keeps going on until you finally reach somebody who goes, I'm good. I really love my whoopee cushion. I'm keeping my gift. The party's essentially over at that point because the excitement has been so charged that there's nothing you could possibly do to top it after that.

[Chuck Bryant]

I don't know if you got those whoopee cushions. I say the party's just getting started.

[Josh Clark]

That's true. That's true. I mean, I was thinking you could drink, like, gallons of grandma's Christmas breath and it still wouldn't bring about the thrill that the white elephant game can bring.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. Well, two quick things. One thing I wanted to mention earlier on is I have seen this game go badly. Like, if somebody really wants to keep something and it gets stolen, they get their feelings hurt. Boy, try and park that attitude at the door. This is supposed to be fun. And if all of a sudden you're really getting mad because you didn't get that whoopee cushion, then, you know, do some self reflection on what you're bringing to the table.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, for sure. I mean, you can go buy a whoopee cushion if you really need it.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right. And the second thing I wanted to say, since you said gallons of this drink as I was drinking it, I think this would be really good as a punch. Like, throw it in the punch bowl with some, like, cinnamon sticks and sliced oranges and some other, like, a bunch of ice. Bunch of ice and stuff like that. And I think it would make, like, a pretty. Pretty decent party punch, actually.

[Josh Clark]

Would you add soda water to it?

[Chuck Bryant]

I don't know. How does that hold up in a punch bowl?

[Josh Clark]

Well, very well. I mean, there's like, a whole Sprite high C punch camp that is, like, crazy for that stuff. Yeah, it's carbonated.

[Chuck Bryant]

All right, then I say pour 4 liters of topo Chico in there.

[Josh Clark]

Okay. All right. That sounds good.

[Chuck Bryant]

All right.

[Josh Clark]

Actually, that sounds terrible. That'd be mineral water mixed with it. You just want plain club soda.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. And what's like, a red tinting, like, hi C. Oh, I guess so. But what's something that's not super sweet, like Campari? Would that change the taste a lot?

[Josh Clark]

Yes, it definitely would. I have no idea what that would taste like after that. Point.

[Chuck Bryant]

It would be a little more festive as a punch, I think, if it was red or green.

[Josh Clark]

Yes, for sure. I get what you're saying. I guess it's kind of brown right now.

[Chuck Bryant]

I mean, it's more orange.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, it is actually orange. Okay, good.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, it looks like orange juice.

[Josh Clark]

Okay, well, that's it for White Elephant. There is one quote I wanted to read from Nella Bailey McGough. Do you know the one?

[Chuck Bryant]

I'm pretty sure. Go ahead.

[Josh Clark]

They say that the mixture of gag gifts and gifts people actually want combine to make the nitro that fuels this amazing game. And I guess that Nella Bailey McGough would be a really fun person to play White Elephant.

[Chuck Bryant]

Totally. I love it.

[Josh Clark]

Hey, let's hit that interstitial Christmas music again as we mosey on over to the next seg.

[Chuck Bryant]

All right, I'd say we move on to. Let's go ahead and knock out our two confections.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, okay. Which one do you want to do first?

[Chuck Bryant]

You know what? Let's start with Italy, because this is also another thing that a listener sent in, which is really great. People are starting to help program the show because it gets really, really hard to find new, short Christmas stuff after all these years. But Carl, with a K. Hardin sent in a suggestion to do a short stuff on pizzelles. Pizzell or pizzelle?

[Josh Clark]

Pizzelle. I thought pizzelle. Yeah, you gotta say it like that.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, it's an Italian cookie that is enjoyed, you know, at different times of the year, weddings and things, but really known as a Christmas or Easter cookie.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, I know them as Christmas. I didn't realize they were Easter, but, yeah, they're super Italian. And they're so Italian that it. It shares a root word with pizza. Yeah, pizza, which means round and flat, which is pretty impressive that they fit round and flat into just one word.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, that's true.

[Josh Clark]

The L in pizzell means small, and the ah in pizza means personal pan.

[Chuck Bryant]

Right. Oh, man. Well done.

[Josh Clark]

That was pre thought of.

[Chuck Bryant]

I know, but it was still great. Great delivery. Nothing wrong with writing a joke, my friend.

[Josh Clark]

All right. You feel like such a fraud.

[Chuck Bryant]

No, not at all. Traditionally black licorice or anise is the traditional flavor, but that's sort of the old world stuff. These days. You can flavor it with whatever you want. A lot of chocolate ones. Vanilla lemon's a very popular flavor.

[Josh Clark]

I saw gingerbread.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, sure. I could dip it in this punch.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, sounds good. I also saw a savory one. Lemon dill. I'm not crazy about that, but that was the most exotic one I found.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, I saw an elk one, but that feels a little gamey.

[Josh Clark]

For real? An elk one?

[Chuck Bryant]

No.

[Josh Clark]

Okay. Because I was gonna say maybe it was a recipe from the elks.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, sure, sure. I get you.

[Josh Clark]

So it's also really simple to make, too. It's just like sugar, eggs, flour, maybe butter, maybe olive oil if you really want to get Italian. And then, like you said, some of those flavorings. And then you make it essentially like an old timey waffle where you have a. Like two irons that usually have some sort of like. Like what is it? Bas relief. Emblem or symbol or shape or something like that.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

That the dough cooks into. So it transfers the shape to the dough as you're cooking.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, like the old world way. And I imagine a lot of just sort of traditional Italian families still do it this way. I mean, they make machines like a waffle iron that you could do this in, but is the old school. Two cast iron plates, like you said, that have those decorative designs. And a lot of times it's a snowflake for Christmas. Back in the old days, you could get like a family. Like a family plate made with your. Whatever about you, like your family crest maybe, or a special date in your family or anything that's meaningful to your family.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. A picture of your grandma drunk at Christmas.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, sure. And then you can eat that drunk face. And then you cook those over an open flame, you know, like turning it over, you know, each side, each side, let that thing cool off. And then you can do a lot of things with it. You can roll it up like a cone and put stuff in it. You can just sprinkle it with a little powdered sugar. I saw one where you can use it as a, like, ice cream sandwich layer.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. I don't know where you got this, but there's a Nutella ice cream pizzelle sandwich. I don't even know if this is a recipe, but you just alternate layers of pizzelle. Nutella and whatever flavor ice cream you want to stack it as high as you can get your mouth around. And there you go.

[Chuck Bryant]

It sounds delicious.

[Josh Clark]

Plus, also, I mean, like a fresh pizzelle out of some hot iron sounds really, really good. I mean, even a stale pizzelle is still kind of good.

[Chuck Bryant]

I don't think I've ever had one.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, really? You should. You should order some. They're everywhere.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, I figured this time of year, huh?

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, I would. I would treat yourself and do anise One. The traditional kind.

[Chuck Bryant]

Okay.

[Josh Clark]

It's actually surprisingly good. I'm not crazy about anise, but it's. It's good in this context.

[Chuck Bryant]

Okay.

[Josh Clark]

And then get something else that you know you're going to like. Like lemon or something.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. I'm going to see if there's a good Italian bakery in Atlanta.

[Josh Clark]

There you go. But I mean, even if there's not, I guarantee you can find these at, like, TJ Maxx if you want to. Like, they're everywhere.

[Chuck Bryant]

Right behind the blouse aisle.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. Sometimes mixed in with the blouses. Ooh.

[Chuck Bryant]

All right, so that's the pitzel. Should we move on to your Le buch de Noel?

[Josh Clark]

Yes. I did not expect you to say it like that, but nicely done.

[Chuck Bryant]

How would you say it? What's the correct way, in other words?

[Josh Clark]

I mean, you basically had it. I think it's boosh.

[Chuck Bryant]

The boosh.

[Josh Clark]

I think so. But I know that boosh also is mouth.

[Chuck Bryant]

No?

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, I'm pretty sure. So I could be. Miss saying it. It could be butchie.

[Chuck Bryant]

Okay, okay. Labochie de Noel.

[Josh Clark]

You're right. And it's a yule log, but it's an edible yule log, and it's really closely identified with France.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, it is. And it was not something you would eat in the old school tradition in France. What happened? It dates back to medieval times. And you would get a real log of wood, usually a fruit tree or many times a fruit tree. And you would do that. Let's say you wanted, like, a good apple harvest for the year to come. So you would use, like, an apple branch or log. You bring it home, you put that thing in the hearth, and the hearth is sort of where the family hung out. So it's just sort of the centerpiece there.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. And then there were. I think this actually is like a pagan rite even, that they would. They would light this. And it was supposed to last from Christmas through the new year, so at least three days. If it didn't burn for three days, you did it wrong, and your next year was going to suck. But if you could at least make it three. Three days, yeah. You're. You were probably going to. To choke to death on an apple the following year if it didn't make it three days. But if it makes it three days or longer, great. And so to kind of game the system, usually your yule log would be, like, damp, like very green and very large, because that wouldn't be the only thing you're burning. Like, you needed to cook. You needed to keep warm. So you had fires going this whole time. So to keep this log going for at least three days, it had to be of a certain type.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. And I'm not sure if we mentioned you lighted on Christmas Eve. If you've really done your job well and you picked out the perfect log, maybe soaked it a little bit and game the system like you said, that thing might burn to the new year, and I would guess the whole family just celebrates if that happens.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. And the ashes even are. Were thought to prevent lightning strikes, so you'd want to cover yourself in it anytime you went out in a rainstorm. I'm guessing they would use the coal and, like, medicinal preparations, all sorts of stuff. Right. It was a big deal. The problem is. And our friend. Well, I guess our online friend, this person that we. Whose article we came across, Lucy Rose, beyond broche brioche on frenchly.com wrote a great article about this. And Lucy Rose said that eventually, over time, hearths just kind of started to disappear.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

Like, so the center of the house where the yule log used to kind of do its thing at the end of the year lost its. Its setting. So people still kind of followed this tradition, but they would just set a log on the dinner table and. And just look at it. They didn't set it on fire, so it lost a little something. And then eventually somebody was like, hey, why don't we eat that thing? Let's make an edible version of this and eat it. And that's where the Buche de Noel came from.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right. That happened sometime in the late 1800s. Apparently, a gentleman named Pierre Lacam published the first recipe for that in 1890, and it started spreading around to other cultures. Other cultures that either spoke French or just dug what the French were into. And, you know, you make it. It's like a jelly roll cake, but you've got buttercream instead of the jelly, and you roll it up and you frost it with a ganache of some kind. And then you try to make it look like bark. Like, use a fork and kind of scrape along the outside to make it look a little more like a log.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. And sometimes, like the more modern ones, they'll come in all sorts of colors or whatever, and they look very sleek, like a Swiss cake roll, essentially. But the traditional Buche de Noel is like, you can really kind of go to town with it, not just making that bark effect, but you could make additional smaller jelly roll cakes that you roll up and make as, like, branches coming off of It. Some people go to the trouble of making meringue or marzipan mushrooms, like little toadstools growing out of it.

[Chuck Bryant]

So cute.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, it is super cute. Like a really well done Buchenwell is adorable. So much so that you don't really want to eat it. But from the. The description of the ingredients, I would eat it anyway.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, for sure.

[Josh Clark]

And there's actually. It's not that hard to make. And there's some recipes that Lucy Rose recommends. There's one from LeGrone Wheel, which is a legendary French restaurant in New York. They had one published in the New York Times in 1982. Then the other one she recommended came from Jacques Pepin. His classic, Bouche de Noel.

[Chuck Bryant]

Doesn't get any better than Jacques Pepin.

[Josh Clark]

No. And while you're out at those bakeries looking for pizzelle, try a French bakery and see if they have a Bouche de Noel. And if they don't, but you really want to try it, they sell them online, too.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. Boy, I'm looking at some of these online. These are really lovely.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, they really are. Don't they look cool? Like, do you see any with the toadstools?

[Chuck Bryant]

I see the toadstools. I see the little forked bark. Those look nice. But I see someone who somehow managed to make it look like real pine bark. That looks really great.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, I mean, somebody with the right kind of fork could really go to. So let's move on, huh?

[Chuck Bryant]

All right, so those. Yeah, those are the two confections. And so we're going to hop in our slate. We're going to ride around up in the stratosphere atmosphere. Where are we up there?

[Josh Clark]

I think the stratosphere right along the edge of space.

[Chuck Bryant]

Okay, perfect. And we will be right back after a little Christmas cheer.

[Josh Clark]

Okay, Chuck, so we're talking. I think now we're going to move on to a segment on Christmas trees in the White House.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right.

[Josh Clark]

Those of you who don't live in the United States, the White House is where the President lives.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right. And generally the President's family lives there, depending on, like, how old the kids are and stuff like that, for sure. But there are a lot of traditions over the years. We're not, you know, you can go to whitehouse.gov under the Christmas stuff if you want to look at all these. But I feel like we should maybe concentrate on a few of the more fun ones. Okay. The first Christmas tree in the White House that anyone knows about was in the second floor oval room, which was A family parlor and Library in 1889, which was the Benjamin Harrison administration. And they used real candles to delight the grandchildren.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, apparently so. That was 1889. And I think electricity was brought to the lighthouse two years later. The lighthouse? Yeah. I said the White House, didn't I?

[Chuck Bryant]

You said lighthouse, but I love that.

[Josh Clark]

Okay.

[Chuck Bryant]

It made it light.

[Josh Clark]

Well, white is a light, light color. It's the absence of color, actually, so. But electricity was brought to the White House in 1891, and yet 30 plus 40 something years later, FDR, Franklin Delano Roosevelt still celebrated with a Christmas tree lit with candles.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. Despite the danger. I think like you said, 1891 was electricity. And three years later, Grover Cleveland had the first electrically lit tree. But you know, Teddy Roosevelt, that guy was old school if he was nothing else.

[Josh Clark]

Well, that was Franklin Roosevelt. Teddy Roosevelt has his own interesting story.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, Franklin, of course, he's an older school.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

But yeah, Teddy supposedly banned Christmas trees. That is a bit of a. I think it's just been twisted a bit over the years. I don't think he banned them. He just. It was not a part of their family tradition to have a tree. So he did not.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, that was. I mean, that's it. There's apparently a huge misunderstanding over the years that he was such a conservationist. I guess historians retro. Retroactively reasoned that the reason there wasn't Christmas trees during his administration was because he didn't want them cut down. But the answer is they just didn't celebrate with the Christmas tree that wasn't their jam, which is pretty typical at the time. I mean, people having a Christmas tree in your house when you celebrate Christmas is fairly modern, certainly way more modern than the turn of the last century.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. So it wasn't like everybody was doing it. Although in 1902, Archie Roosevelt did sneak a little small tree, hid it in the closet upstairs, even decorated it and showed his family. And Teddy Roosevelt did not say, get that infernal thing out of here. Apparently he liked it and said, all right, well, the tree can stay.

[Josh Clark]

Yes. Which is sweet, you know.

[Chuck Bryant]

Sure.

[Josh Clark]

And then there was also a record that was set by Dwight D. Eisenhower in the 50s, I think, in 1959, for the. The greatest number of Christmas trees in the White House at one time. And he really macked it out with 26 Christmas trees in the White House. And for years and years and years, no one even tried to beat Eisenhower's record until I think, what was it, 1990, when the George W. Bush administration blew it out of the water.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. He was like, I'm going to take down that record.

[Josh Clark]

Read my lips.

[Chuck Bryant]

Hey, great impression.

[Josh Clark]

It was so. So. But how many trees did he have?

[Chuck Bryant]

He brought in 47, just blew Eisenhower out of the water. The Clintons had 32, also beating Eisenhower in 95. And the younger Bush said, I'm gonna beat daddy.

[Josh Clark]

He did.

[Chuck Bryant]

He brought in two more trees than dad.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. And the Obama said, nice try.

[Chuck Bryant]

Watch us hold my beer.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. 62 trees in 2015. And if you look at all of these different, different competing numbers of trees, these records just being broken and beaten and tossed and dashed over the rocks, they all had themes. I think Clinton's had it. Twas the night before Christmas. The first Bush had a nutcracker ballet theme. The Obamas had timeless tradition. The second Bush had home for the holidays. They all had themes. And they were actually following in a tradition set by Jackie Kennedy back in 1961, who created the first theme Christmas that the Christmas trees were decorated with. Again, nutcracker.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, that's fine. But it was the first one. So technically, I guess she started the nutcracker theme, sure as all themes. But that wasn't the first tree in the Blue Room. That is traditionally where the official tree is now, in the Blue Room. That started in 1912 when Robert, Helen and Charlie Taft, the children of William Howard, put that very first tree in the Blue Room. And they have a competition now internationally. You have to win the state competition first to qualify to see if your tree can be the tree in the Blue Room. And we're just going to go over a few of these leading states now because far and away. Well, not that far and away, but North Carolina has had the most trees since 1961 in the Blue Room with 13.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, I don't know how recent this stat is, but I know that North Carolina was chosen again kind of as a nod to the battering by Hurricane Helene this year. President Biden, I think, chose one from western North Carolina, Cartner's Tree Farm in Newland, North Carolina was the one who is sending the White House Christmas tree this year.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right. And surely not a sympathy pick because like I said, North Carolina pumps out some great trees as they are in the lead. Pennsylvania's in second with 11. Then you have Wisconsin with eight, Washington state with seven, West Virginia with four, and then basically other states with two or one.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, there was one that was anonymously donated from New England, which sounds suspicious.

[Chuck Bryant]

And if you're wondering what kinds of trees far and away, fir trees lead with 52. There have been seven spruces and one pine.

[Josh Clark]

That's the one that's coming out of Cartners this year too. A Fraser fir.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, fir. So it'll be. I guess that'll be the 53rd.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, WhiteHouse.gov needs to get on this.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, that's right. Update your site already.

[Josh Clark]

So, yeah, that's it for White House Christmas trees, huh? I think that was a pleasant little journey. Thank you. Through a political minefield.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right.

[Josh Clark]

Okay, Chuck, it's next. Next up, I'm pretty psyched we're gonna do another two first segment, aren't we?

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, we're gonna hit these Christmas movies.

[Josh Clark]

Yes, but first, how about some more jolly music from our friend Jerry?

[Chuck Bryant]

All right everyone, we're back and we're gonna finish up with a couple of Christmas movies. Well, one a TV special and one not just a Christmas movie, but the er, Christmas movie.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. Ur, right.

[Chuck Bryant]

I don't know how you spell it.

[Josh Clark]

You do. You are. It's like a reference to a city in Sumeria or Mesopotamia or something like that. Like one of the first cities.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, look at you, Mr. Smarty Pants. Er, yeah, we're talking about the first Christmas movies. Shocking stat here. Over 150 new holiday movies are produced annually.

[Josh Clark]

Yep, 98% of them from Hallmark probably.

[Chuck Bryant]

So that may be a real stat, actually, who knows?

[Josh Clark]

It is. They shoot two a days is what they call them. They complete two films from scratch in a day.

[Chuck Bryant]

They should just redress people and recast them and just be like, all right, you're Bill, the local sheriff in this one. And you're Johnny, the local diner owner in this one.

[Josh Clark]

Right? Wait, I thought I was Johnny in this one. No, just shut up. Wear this.

[Chuck Bryant]

But if you're thinking like, oh, It's a Wonderful Life. No, no, no, that's the 40s if you're thinking. All right, March of the Wooden Soldiers. No, no, that's 1934. You have to go all the way back to the very earliest days of putting anything on film to find the inspiration that would lead to the first Christmas movie.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, it turns out that we're going all the way back to the 1890s. But we should go back a little before then in France. France. Apparently. I didn't know this was like the, the er, center of filmmaking. Did you know that that that's where it originally kind of came out of?

[Chuck Bryant]

Sure. The Lumaire brothers.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. So them. There was a guy named Louis Le Prince who is considered as having filmed the first Surviving or the Oldest surviving motion picture, which you've probably seen before. I know you have, but I'm saying you the listener. It's a horse running. And it almost looks like a flip book. It's that primitive.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

And it's referenced, actually. Have you seen that movie? Nope.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, yeah, sure.

[Josh Clark]

Remember when they. When they show up on the set, they kind of give that spiel about their family and the horses and they say that that was their ancestor. That's what they're talking about is that it's just a 2 second long shot of a horse running. A person with a jockey on it.

[Chuck Bryant]

I'd like to see that again.

[Josh Clark]

Nope. Or that two second long shot.

[Chuck Bryant]

No, wait.

[Josh Clark]

All right.

[Chuck Bryant]

I just watched the horse thing again. No, I'd like to see. Nope, again. I saw that in the theater, but I haven't seen it since and I quite enjoyed it.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, it was pretty good.

[Chuck Bryant]

All right, so that 2.1 second horse running. First thing. A lot of films that followed didn't have a narrative yet. They were just literally, people were amazed that they could just see something moving on film. The Lemaire brothers, very famously in 1896, had a 50 second clip of a train coming right toward the screen. Probably the first and last time a train didn't go through a tunnel to indicate intercourse.

[Josh Clark]

Right. Yeah. They hadn't figured that out quite yet. That was the next year, probably.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right. But then that first Christmas movie came just a few years later. Right.

[Josh Clark]

Just two years later after that 50 second clip was called the Arrival of a Train. It really gets across what you're watching. But it was just two years after that a guy named George Albert Smith became the creator of the very first Christmas movie. Uncontested. No one had ever made a Christmas movie before until George Albert Smith came along and put 76 seconds of goodness on film.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right. It's called Santa Claus. It was a pretty groundbreaking film at the time. I guess almost anything you did would be groundbreaking at the time.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. But this, he was showing off almost.

[Chuck Bryant]

No, I agree. Had some pretty decent special effects. It's a story of Santa. Very simple story, obviously. 76 seconds. But it's Santa visiting the home of two kids on Christmas Eve. You can watch it on YouTube. It only takes 76 seconds plus some dumb ad. But you see two kids checking the chimney for Santa before the either mom or the nanny or somebody puts them to bed. They turn off the lights and then the room is dark. And then all of a sudden pops up the first little special Effect is on the right side of the screen, a little circular image of the rooftop, like an insert almost within the film frame itself, where you see Santa climbing down a chimney, but really just walking down some stairs disguised as a chimney.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, right. And then, like, once he gets into the chimney or out of that additional shot that's showing him on the rooftop, all of a sudden he's in the kid's room. And it is. It's like an editing cut. But also it was edited just. Just a little early or a little late so that you can see him coming through the black curtain.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

That he's suddenly appearing from. But again, we're talking 1898, and people were just amazed by this kind of stuff. And then Santa, while the kids are sleeping, he puts little. Little goodies in their stocking and he waves goodbye. And then all of a sudden, poof, he's gone again. And I mean, like, even watching it now, I'm like, that was pretty cool. I can't imagine being alive in 1898 and seeing that and just being like, oh, my God. Yeah, I can't wait till Polar Express comes out.

[Chuck Bryant]

Movie I still haven't seen.

[Josh Clark]

I haven't either.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, let's. Let's keep it that way. Let's promise, let's do a blood oath that neither one of us will ever see that.

[Josh Clark]

I think we also. We talked about that in the Uncanny Valley episode.

[Chuck Bryant]

Oh, sure. We had to have. I will say this about Santa Claus, the 76 second film. Given that most movies from this era look pretty creepy and given that every Santa from this era looks really creepy.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

This Santa creeping through the room over these children. I was ready for this thing to just make my hair stand on end. And it wasn't that bad. A little bit of creep, but it was actually had a little sweetness to it.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, he was a little slim for a Santa. I think that made that added to the creepiness. But, yeah. No, he was nowhere near the creepiest Santa of his time.

[Chuck Bryant]

But we don't know who this guy is, right?

[Josh Clark]

No, he was uncredited. So the first Santa Claus on screen. The first person to play Santa Claus on screen. No one knows. We probably never know.

[Chuck Bryant]

It's not Tim Allen. I know that.

[Josh Clark]

No. And shout out to Justin Childress on Edgeland Today, who helped us with this, did some great research and made a nice little article.

[Chuck Bryant]

All right, how are we going to wrap it up? Oh, wait, we need to get in our slate first.

[Josh Clark]

Oh, okay. All right, here we go.

[Chuck Bryant]

Up in the old sled. And let's go.

[Josh Clark]

Okay. Chuck.

[Chuck Bryant]

Why do you gotta do that?

[Josh Clark]

Did it work?

[Chuck Bryant]

Josh has been giving me that earworm for 16 years on the reg.

[Josh Clark]

It just. It works really well.

[Chuck Bryant]

All right, so now I'm annoyed. So let's talk about the sweetest Christmas special of all time.

[Josh Clark]

It is sweet, isn't it? Did you watch it?

[Chuck Bryant]

Of course.

[Josh Clark]

Okay, so in 1982, Christmas time, 1982, there was a cavalcade of familiar characters who made their debut in Christmas specials. Right. You had Pac man with the classic Christmas Comes to Pac Land. Yeah, something like it. The Smurfs Christmas special, which actually is quite good.

[Chuck Bryant]

I was too old for Smurf, so.

[Josh Clark]

I went back and watched it, like, last week or a couple days ago, and I was like, this is pretty good.

[Chuck Bryant]

Pretty good. All right.

[Josh Clark]

And then far and away the best of the bunch that came out in 1982. And among the top ever Christmas TV specials, if you ask me, was Ziggy's gift, which is, like you said, incredibly sweet.

[Chuck Bryant]

That's right. Ziggy is the comic strip character. Ziggy, the little short, bald. How old is Ziggy? That was one of my questions.

[Josh Clark]

Ageless. Ageless.

[Chuck Bryant]

I mean, is it supposed to be a grown up, though?

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. Yeah. He's not a kid.

[Chuck Bryant]

Okay. I couldn't tell because I wasn't into Ziggy. But did, you know some Ziggy research and looked back at some of the comics and, you know, Ziggy was beloved because Ziggy was great and Ziggy was sweet and Ziggy was joyful, and Ziggy was not cynical. Ziggy lived with a dog and a parrot. And you might find a Ziggy comic strip that was just a little wry joke. Or you might find a Ziggy comic that is literally just Ziggy smiling and looking at you and saying hello.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. And so he was, like, indefatigable, even though basically his entire life went wrong at every turn.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

And, like, he could be affected by that. He was put off. He was mad. He wasn't. Like, he was some sort of smiling automaton. But he returned back to his, like, upbeat outlook on life very quickly. Like, that was his default setting. And just reading Ziggy cartoons, it's like, it does it to you. You know, it really brings it out.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

And so Ziggy had been around since, I think, in the paper since 1970, and it built up like a pretty good audience by 1982. So it was a big deal when Ziggy was coming to tv. Tom Wilson, the creator of Ziggy, did a bunch of interviews with different newspapers, and everybody was quite excited that Ziggy was having his own Christmas special.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, for sure. And he really pulled out all the stops because not only is it a Christmas special, an animated Christmas special, but it was one that really took the time with the artistry to just knock it out of the park. A typical half hour animated special at the time had about 35,000 drawings. Ziggy's gift had close to 140,000 drawings. They usually have about 50 rough sketches to sort of map out the story. There were 1200 for Ziggy's gift. And for all of this effort, a you got an animated special that for the time again, when you look back now, really good, smooth, Outstanding animation. And it won the Primetime Emmy for outstanding Animated program that year.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah. Beat Garfield. Beat the Smurfs.

[Chuck Bryant]

Take that, Smurfs.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, it beat Charlie Brown twice. Two different Charlie Brown specials.

[Chuck Bryant]

Good grief.

[Josh Clark]

There was just no chance that anybody was going to beat Ziggy's gift that year.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah.

[Josh Clark]

And also not just the animation. I mean, like, people like animation buffs are like, this is a classic masterpiece of animation. But the plot, too, was really good. Like, the thing seems longer than 22 minutes. Not like it drags. They just packed a lot into this 22 minutes, even though it just kind of takes its own time. That's great. It's pretty funny in a lot of places. It's sweet throughout. And all this kind of came together and formed this perfect, sweet, little 22 minute Christmas special.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah, absolutely. When it came time to make the special, they were like, what do we do with Ziggy's voice? Like, how do we cast this iconic silent character? Because you can really ruin, like a comic strip character come to life if you don't get the voice right.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah.

[Chuck Bryant]

And so they decided not to use a voice at all, which was brilliant. And apparently that came from Wilson's daughter, who a few years before said that the reason it's hard to find a voice for Ziggy is because when you read Ziggy, you hear your own voice.

[Josh Clark]

Out of the mouths of babes, you know, amazing.

[Chuck Bryant]

She was 32 at the time, but.

[Josh Clark]

That'S great. So, yeah, the whole thing came together to make this really great Christmas special. But what's puzzling about it is it didn't become an enduring classic. Like, the latest I could see on good old newspapers.com was was 1986. That's when the TV listings for Ziggy's gift around December just dried up. But the great thing about it and the reason why we're doing this, we're covering Ziggy's gift, is there's, like, a couple of generations out there who don't even know this existence exists and are going to be so happy to find this sweet little Christmas special that I hope everybody who's listening, who's never seen it really enjoys. And if you have seen it, it's been a little while. If it's been a day, doesn't matter, go watch it again, because it just gets you every time.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. And get your what Would Ziggy Do? T shirt printed up.

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, that's another thing, too. You could really get into Ziggy after watching that. And there's a lot of great, like, vintage Ziggy stuff. Stuff like stickers of Ziggy catching a rainbow in a butterfly net. That kind of stuff.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. And you could, you know, get Ziggy with it.

[Josh Clark]

Very nice. There's no way to end this better than that, Chuck.

[Chuck Bryant]

It's my last bad joke of the year.

[Josh Clark]

So let's get a little more Christmas music in, and then we'll wish everybody Merry Christmas and happy Holidays. How about that?

[Chuck Bryant]

Let's do it. All right. Well, that is it for the Christmas special. This year, we want to wish everyone a very merry Christmas or merry and happy holiday of your choice, however you choose to celebrate. Yeah, we're Christmas guys, so that's what we do around here. And I'm wishing you and Yumi and Momo a very merry Christmas. And Jerry and Dave and Livia and Dave and Kyle and who else, Ben?

[Josh Clark]

Yeah, the whole crew. And back at you, too. Merry Christmas to you and Ruby and Emily, for sure.

[Chuck Bryant]

Yeah. Thanks, man. And of course, with Jerry, her lovely wife and daughter as well.

[Josh Clark]

Yep. So Merry Christmas to all of you. Happy holidays to all of you from everybody here at Snow Stuff. You should know. We hope it's a great one for you. And go watch Ziggy's gift and feel love. Merry Christmas, everybody.

[Chuck Bryant]

Stuff youf Should Know is a production of iHeartRadio. For more podcasts, my heart radio, visit the iHeartRadio app, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you listen to your favorite show.