Story

Description

A collection of timeless holiday songs handpicked from South Park's Christmas album called Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics. Mr. Hankey serves as the narrator, sitting in a tiny chair in front of a fireplace. After each commercial break, a news anchor announces "Fighting the frizzies at eleven".

The musical acts begin with Cowboy Timmy and a choir of kids introducing Mr. Hankey ("Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo"). Then Kyle, his family, Cartman and Stan sing in counterpoint about playing with a dreidel ("Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel"). Hitler sobs about not having a Christmas tree in Hell ("O Tannenbaum") and so Satan comforts him and all of Hell's residents ("Christmas Time In Hell"). Mr. Mackey performs all four parts of "Carol of the Bells" with his "m'kay" verbal tic while dressed as a bell. Cartman incorrectly sings about the birth of Jesus in favor of presents ("O Holy Night"). Mr. Garrison teaches an infamous lesson about how Christmas is celebrated in different parts of the world ("Merry Fucking Christmas"). Shelley sings her simple rendition of "I Saw Three Ships" while Stan and Kyle make fun of her behind her back. Jesus and Santa performs a Christmas medley of holiday songs as lounge singers. Lastly, Mr. Hankey and the entire cast sing together a final Christmas song as tribute to the late Mary Kay Bergman ("Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas").

The episode ends with the news anchor boxing a frizzy monster while "Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel" plays.

What I Learned Today

"Instead of our normal thing, we're just gonna sit back and enjoy some holiday songs! And if you don't like it, well I guess you can suck my tiny little balls."

Memorable Quotes

• "Joy to the world, for I have come. Let earth receive me." (Jesus Christ)
• "Ah, fuck you, Jesus." (Santa Claus)
• "Stick me in your mouth and try to say 'Howdy Ho, Yum Yum Yum'!" (Mr. Hankey)
• "Sometimes he hangs off the end of your ass and won't fall in the toilet, 'cause he's just clinging to your sphincter and he won't drop off and so you shake your ass around and try to get it to drop into the toilet and finally it does...!" (Man in Portable Toilet)
• "Jews play stupid games. Jews, that's why they're lame!" (Eric Cartman)
• "Let's not forget that for some people, Christmas is about the birth of Jesus." (Mr. Hankey)
• "Oh holy night! The something something something. And is the night with Christmas trees and pie." (Eric Cartman)
• "Merry fuckin' Christmas!" (Mr. Garrison)
• "Un Tannenbaum!" (Adolf Hitler)
• "Courteney Cox, I love you, you're so hot, on that show!" (Gerald Broflovski)

Characters

Mr. Hankey

Stan Marsh

Kyle Broflovski

Eric Cartman

Kenny McCormick

Bradley Biggle

Herbert Garrison

Satan

Adolf Hitler

Demons

John F. Kennedy and Son

Jesus Christ

Santa Claus

Mr. Mackey

Shelly Marsh

Gerald Broflovski

Sheila Broflovski

Ike Broflovski

Princess Diana

Michael Landon

Kim Jong-il

Saint Joseph

Mary, Jesus' mother

Magi

Body Count

Just Kenny, killed by a falling light fixture in the end.

Locations

Broflovski Residence

Mr. Mackey Residence

Hell

South Park Elementary

McKemick's Night Club

Behind The Scenes

Like the episode "Starvin' Marvin in Space", this episode is dedicated to Mary Kay Bergman who was the voice actress for nearly all of South Park's female characters. Because the Christmas album was recorded months before, "Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics" is the last episode in which Bergman's voice is heard.

Where Did The Idea Come From

After having fun with the score for South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut, Trey, Matt and the film's composer Marc Shaiman collaborated again to create a South Park Christmas album called Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics. The album did not sell well because the record label made the mistake of not advertising the South Park brand on the album cover. As a result, Trey and Matt decided to create animated music videos based on their Christmas Classics songs and compile them into one episode.

Pop Culture References

Shout Outs

Cowboy Timmy, the mailman that sings the opening song "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo", is a parody of Special Delivery Kluger from the classic Rankin/Bass Christmas television special Santa Claus is Comin' to Town. In the program, Special Delivery Kluger narrates to the children the origins of Santa Claus.

Kyle's dad joins in the collaborative performance of "Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel" by singing "Courteney Cox, I love you. You're so hot on that show." He is referring to the sitcom Friends, in which Courteney Cox plays a lead role as Monica.

During Jesus and Santa's duet, they slip in some Duran Duran with their cover of the Brit-pop band's hit single "Rio". They also perform snippets of several well known Christmas carols: "Joy to the World", "Up On the House Top", "Away in a Manger", "O Come All Ye Faithful", "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing", "Silent Night", and "Let it Snow".

Throughout the episode are shots of a live-action news anchor who says "Fighting the frizzies at eleven". This is a very obscure reference to a bootleg tape of the 1978 Star Wars Holiday Special, a CBS production about Chewbacca and his family. The special has never been rebroadcast or officially released on home video due to its extremely negative reception. Recorded on TV, the tape also features commercials like a brief clip at the end from WCBS-TV with newscaster Rolland Smith informing viewers, "Fighting the frizzies at eleven". While the original news ad was apparently referring to "frizzy" hair, the ending credits of this episode of South Park features the news anchor boxing a frizzy monster.

Pwn'd

During "Christmas Time In Hell", John F. Kennedy, Princess Diana, Michael Landon, Jimmy Stewart, and film critic Gene Siskel are all shown burning in the fires of perdition, alongside world leaders Hitler, Ghengis Khan, and Kim Jong-il. Andy Dick also gets a quick jab as Satan sings about anticipating his death.

Bonus Factoids

Pointless Observations

• Much like "Chickenlover" and the pre-South Park short "The Spirit of Christmas", this episode is another "Robert T. Pooner" production. This fake alias has also been used in "Merry Christmas Charlie Manson!" as a reporter on TV.
• While most of the songs are featured on Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics, the only song not featured from the episode is Jesus and Santa's Christmas medley. It was going to be on the album, but some of the Christmas carols couldn't be legally cleared in time.
• Hitler's mother uses the same character model as Jimmy's mother.
• The final number "Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas" is sung in tribute to Mary Kay Bergman. Most of the major characters voiced by Bergman (Wendy Testaburger, Sheila Broflovski, Mayor McDaniels, Mrs. Crabtree, and Liane Cartman) are shown singing together.
• After seeing this episode, Courteney Cox thanked Trey and Matt for "mentioning her in that episode" (referring to Mr. Broflovski's line in "Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel") at a dinner for a mutual friend.

Season 3

e1 Rainforest Shmainforest

e2 Spontaneous Combustion

e3 The Succubus

e4 Tweek Vs. Craig

e5 Jakovasaurs

e6 Sexual Harassment Panda

e7 Cat Orgy

e8 Two Guys Naked in a Hot Tub

e9 Jewbilee

e10 Chinpokomon

e11 Starvin' Marvin in Space

e12 Korn's Groovy Pirate Ghost Mystery

e13 Hooked on Monkey Fonics

e14 The Red Badge of Gayness

e15 Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics

e16 Are You There, God? It's Me, Jesus

e17 World Wide Recorder Concert