The final time I used to be this entertained by a Christmas particular was in lockdown, when Mariah Carey waved, regally, from a sleigh, for what I bear in mind being about seven hours. However that was 4 years in the past and there hasn’t been an honest one since. So Santa hats off to Sabrina Carpenter for developing with a vacation particular that feels totally of the second, proper right down to its starry duets, rigorously curated off-the-cuff moments and internet-baiting comedy skits. Netflix has given her an infinite price range, she says drolly, so long as she goes viral.
What Carpenter has pulled collectively in A Nonsense Christmas is a buzzy mix of comedy sketches within the model of Saturday Evening Stay and duets with different pop stars who’re equally scorching to go. Whereas each manufacturing is a miracle of teamwork, the behind-the-scenes interludes recommend Carpenter has had extra enter than merely being moved round like a marionette. The comedy is okay, the duets are enjoyable, however it’s the Carpenter charisma that retains all of it flowing properly. Followers may have a area day with clips of her as a toddler, asking for cake as an alternative of Christmas presents, or gags about skimpy costumes, though newcomers may have a primer on a working joke about the ad-libbing on the finish of her 2022 hit Nonsense.
The tone is realizing and dry. The present is launched with a story eye-roll that’s maintained all through, a tactic that pre-empts criticism. Everybody does a musical-comedy vacation particular, she says. Everybody has superstar visitors. So she is doing it, too. Viewers might be wherever, she notes, comparable to spending time with household or volunteering with the much less lucky. “As a substitute, you’re right here, half-watching a giant display screen whereas scrolling social media on a smaller display screen,” she smiles.
It’s one other little bit of lighthearted self-deprecation – I’m right here, however I’m over it, however it’s good to be right here – and but she is promoting herself brief. The feminine pop titans dominating the charts this yr have been a way more characterful clan than typical – and it is a clear instance of that. It’s arduous to think about a extra bland power carrying it off. The one actual joke about her megahit Espresso is a sly refusal to make a joke about it. The programme is camp, though maybe it’s pointless to level this out, as she opens the present by descending, like Marilyn Monroe, from an enormous, crimson cake stand, surrounded by feminine dancers in dinner jackets and male dancers in vests and braces.
It’s often bawdy, though solely gently; unsurprisingly, the double-entendre potential in “ho ho ho” is wheeled out greater than as soon as. In a single sketch, she dates an older man named Nick, whom her associates (performed by the Hacks star Meg Stalter and the actor Owen Thiele) rapidly discover is Father Christmas (Sean Astin). She simply thinks he has a dad bod, a job so uninteresting she doesn’t must know what it’s and impeccable gift-giving abilities. In one other, in all probability one of the best of the particular, SNL’s Kyle Mooney performs a generic relative, resulting in a tune known as What Do I Get My Brother-in-Legislation. “Perhaps he likes IPAs?” felt very near the bone.
The visitor spots have that random, collage-like really feel of social media, wherein all eras and genres are up for grabs. Abbott Elementary’s Quinta Brunson and Cara Delevingne seem in a tough Christmas Carol sketch, which options girls who’ve been ghosted by “Ebby” Scrooge (Nico Hiraga) and who educate him a lesson about staying off the naughty listing.
However actually, everyone seems to be right here for the music – and the music is nice. A few of it’s taken from Carpenter’s 2023 Christmas EP Fruitcake, however she additionally recruits well-known duet companions for covers of the classics. She sings with Tyla on Donnie Hathaway’s eternally well-liked This Christmas. Shania Twain places in double time, enjoying Mrs Claus and singing Santa Child. (In a candy apart, you’ll be able to hear Carpenter saying she will be able to’t imagine Twain is there.) Kali Uchis does I Noticed Mommy Kissing Santa Claus on a rug by the fireplace, whereas Chappell Roan turns up dressed as a present to sing Final Christmas, by the sunshine of TV karaoke, within the aftermath of a raucous home celebration.
Clocking in at solely 50 minutes, it looks like exceptionally good worth. With gags about “Nick” being good in mattress, it might not be one to placed on for the youngsters, until risque jokes sail over their heads. However what Carpenter guarantees would be the “ho-ho-ho-iest particular of all” is a spirited try to tug the typically fusty Christmas particular into the fashionable age.
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