Generally met with unanimous praise for its blending of self-awareness, nostalgia and paying “campy” respect to the past by doing a sendup of it (all characteristics, mind you, in keeping with the millennial’s necessary deflection of real emotion), The Kacey Musgraves Christmas Special coasts on celebrity cameos and “snarky” narration from Dan Levy dressed as an elf.
Commencing with a scene of Musgraves singing an SNL-inspired duet with James Corden in the form of “Let It Snow,” the windows burst open with blatantly fake snow every time they finish a verse. It’s all very zany in an I Love Lucy sort of way. This leads into Musgraves giving a classically elegant performance of “Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas” while wearing a red gown (signaling one of infinite costume changes for each segment). Not wanting to keep political jibes out of the equation, Dan muses, “Kacey Musgraves is getting ready for her favorite holiday–no, not President’s Day. Christmas.”
Much like the recently released Last Christmas, attempts at being “self-awarely” cynical backfire when everything turns to undiluted schmaltz in the end, making one think of how a camp Christmas special truly ought to be done: Christmas at Pee-Wee’s Playhouse.
To immediately dive into that sense of campiness, the notorious horndog Miss Yvonne of course shows up with mistletoe built into her hair, telling Pee-Wee it’s her assured way of getting a kiss from everyone. “Hey Miss Yvonne, come stand over me,” the floorboards pop up and lecherously demand, the inference being that we know full well where he’s going to kiss her. Pee-Wee timely adds to that now off-camera exchange, “Let me put this brick–I mean fruitcake–in the fridge before it gets any harder.”
With the narrative being similar in all Christmas specials, both Pee-Wee and Musgraves are preparing their homes for Xmas Day, each one presented with a different problem. In Musgraves’ case, it’s not being able to find her Nana’s beloved tree topper. In Pee-Wee’s, it’s that he hasn’t found time to decorate at all after making out his 80s era (the special aired on December 21, 1988) Christmas list of pure greedy decadence. Thus he laments, “Now we don’t have any decorations… ‘cause I was only thinking of myself. Christmas is the time when we should be thinking of what we can do for others. I wish I hadn’t been so selfish.” Naturally, Jambi then appears to beautify the playhouse before Reba the mail lady shows up with a giant box to deliver. When Grace Jones pops out of it, Reba suddenly realizes it was meant to be sent to the White House, not the Playhouse. Grace doesn’t seem to eager to go chill with the Reagans, however, offering a rendition of “The Little Drummer Boy” before surrendering to her final destination. And in case you couldn’t tell by now, this beats the shit out of a flaccid appearance by Leon Bridges to sing one of Musgraves’ original Christmas songs, “Present Without A Bow,” as they sit in her study area with a dog painting in the background before “taking it up a notch” by going topsy-turvy. Meanwhile, Frankie Avalon and Annette Funicello are in the playhouse not so discreetly giving instructions to Pee-Wee’s viewers about how to make homemade Christmas cards before Cher shows up to find out what the secret word is for the day (“year”).
For those who would say that Kacey Musgraves can’t offer the same level of kitsch thanks to her country-rooted style, Pee-Wee refutes it with an appearance by The Del Rubio Triplets singing “Winter Wonderland.” Called “one of the campiest acts in show business history,” what would Pee-Wee’s Christmas special be without their addition? Unlike Musgraves, who seems to believe the height of camp is singing a duet of “Mele Kalikimaka” with Zooey Deschanel (the most commodified representation of “bein’ weird and awkward” there is). As opposed to, say, a snowman coming to life and sneering, ‘Take a picture, it’ll last longer’ or Little Richard showing up to attempt ice skating before Pee-Wee’s stunt double outs him about not being that naturally gifted in the sport.
Camila Cabello’s sudden appearance to indulge Musgraves in a collaboration of “Rockin’ Around the Christmas Tree” pales in comparison to k.d. lang’s oddly sexual version of “Jingle Bell Rock” as she takes Globey’s earmuff off and sings it into his ear. Soon after, Pee-Wee takes a call on his videophone from Dinah Shore, putting her on hold to talk to Oprah (then still using the last name Winfrey) and inform her, “I’m gonna have to call you back, I have Dinah Shore on the other line.” Bored by Shore’s long-winded performance of “The Twelve Days of Christmas,” Pee-Wee places a blow-up doll in his place and then goes out to find Charo available for a little ditty he can’t pronounce: “Feliz Navidad.” While he tries to beat a piñata of course.
To round out the catering to other cultures and their holiday traditions, Pee-Wee’s Jewish neighbor pops in to remind him that Jews exist during Christmas, too–and arguably with more to celebrate considering it takes place over eight days. Thus, she whips out her dreidel and announces, “Come on everybody, it’s the Hanukkah portion of the show!” (all of three minutes, but hey, better than nothing in the anti-Semitic climate of, well, every era). And where was Musgraves’ acknowledgement of any other denomination apart from Christianity during the holidays amid these hyper-PC times? Then again, maybe it’s precisely because of political correctness on steroids that one can’t address anything outside of their culture at all.
“Christmas is just a commercial exploitation for big business tryna capitalize on consumer guilt,” Pee-Wee’s puppet, Randy, declares after pulling the plug on the Christmas tree. Pee-Wee scolds, “You seem to have forgotten the true meaning of Christmas.” Something Pee-Wee must find out for himself when Santa tells him he’s asked for so many presents that he doesn’t have any left for the other boys and girls. So it is that Pee-Wee has an epiphany, the same way Musgraves’ little elf does. The one echoing Randy’s sentiments with such sarcastic narrations as, “And so, Kacey had an emo moment in her bedroom. Because sometimes, just sometimes, a great singing career, a bunch of Grammys and an over the top bathroom like this just aren’t enough. Yet as Christmas Eve rolled on, would Kacey get ready in time? Would she sing another holiday ditty that’s overplayed in cafes and shopping mall restrooms? And most importantly, would more celebrity friends continue to make surprise appearances that everyone sees coming but Kacey?” Kacey then interrupts to tell him to pepper his narrations with a little less negativity and a little more cheer. Dan snaps back, “So cheer then? For a corporate holiday in this political climate? Okay.” He peps it up just in time for Kendall Jenner to show up as yet another indication of the lusterless “stars” that comprise the twenty-first century to do a sendup of the title cards that Mark (Andrew Lincoln) slowly unveils for Juliet (Keira Knightley) in Love Actually.
Concluding with “I’ll Be Home For Christmas” featuring a typically subdued Lana Del Rey, the special ends with Dan getting verklempt about the meaning of Christmas and deciding that he ought to go home to be with his loved ones. Musgraves then does her big finish with another original composition, “Ribbons and Bows,” essentially doing her best to out-Mariah Mariah Carey with a new Xmas song that might one day compete with “All I Want For Christmas Is You” (but never will). And, in all honesty, not doing her best at all to infuse camp via a medium that theoretically has far less censorship hurdles to contend with than Pee-Wee did on CBS.
