A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All! – DVD Review

You have seen the the Colbert Report Christmas special, A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All! about a million and a half times on Comedy Central, I’m sure. I can also sense that you are thinking about purchasing the DVD version to not only support charity but to own something else with Stephen Colbert’s face on it. There are reasons to hesitate, sure, what with the million and a half viewings and the recession and your laziness to enter the CliqueClack DVD giveaway, but maybe this review can swing you into your final decision.

CON: At no point do Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert make out or even go for a little under-the-shirt action.
PRO: There’s a short but incredibly funny — much like Mr. Stewart himself — alternate ending involving the both of them. There are actually three alternate endings, but the one where Jon stops by the cabin again made me laugh the hardest, partially because it was ridiculous but mainly because neither of them could keep a straight face. I won’t ruin the rest for you. Also, all the sexiness is provided by that one missing button on John Legend’s forest ranger uniform; asking for more is just greedy.

CON (depends on type): This DVD does not come with a friend to watch with OR The studio audience was incredibly annoying, because I hate hearing other people’s laughter.
PRO: The audience audio that accompanied the Comedy Central broadcasts is purely optional, which I absolutely loved, as I am a surly example of the second CON. It’s good that it’s still there on the DVD for the rest of you though, because if you warm up some blankets in the dryer and turn up the audience audio really loudly to muffle the sounds of your own cries, it may be enough to get you through another night.

CON: It’s tough remembering when Christmas is.
PRO: There’s a fantastic video advent calendar for all the days leading up to Christmas. A lot of them are very, very brief and forgettable, but there are also a few gems in there. For example, we get the full version of “Jingle Man, Christmas Boy” (sans Elvis Costello) and it is twice as poorly written and infinitely more hilarious than you could have ever imagined. It should also be noted that, so far, all of these videos have been uploaded on the corresponding days on the Colbert Nation website, so maybe it would not be wise to buy the DVD just for the advent calendar. Plus: no chocolate.

CON: Stephen Colbert dresses as a cowboy and awkwardly fake-plays a tacky guitar.
PRO: Stephen Colbert dresses as a cowboy and awkwardly fake-plays a tacky guitar. Actually, strike that CON, because this is all PRO. The DVD includes an un-aired video for the bonus song called “A Cold, Cold Christmas,” which is included in the album version of the special. Consider it a creepy follow-up to “Charlene (I’m Right Behind You)” but with less eyeliner and more green screen.

CON: Watching this DVD will take away from my book-burning time.
PRO: There’s a book-burning Yule Log extra that is surprisingly long. Like, legit fake-Log long. The choice of books, ranging from Fahrenheit 451 to Our Bodies Ourselves to an adorable children’s book about bears. You really haven’t lived until you’ve seen an adorable cartoon bear slowly crumble in flames.

VERDICT: This is a must for any hardcore Colbert Report fan. It’s more worthy of ownership than the Best of the Colbert Report DVD, at least, because it has bonus features that cannot be found anywhere else. Actually, the fact that it even has bonus features makes it better than the Best Of DVD. However, any non-it-getters may have trouble justifying owning this after seeing it on TV already. Hint: If you didn’t get “non-it-getters,” then you are one. To play it safe, just get both DVDs and I Am America (And So Can You!) as well.

Clacked by Annie Wu
on Dec 09, 2008 @ 11:00 EST5EDT