Hello From The Magic Tavern - BONUS: Introducing No Skip Christmas - Justin McElroy

Episode Date: November 27, 2025

Check out the first episode of Arnie’s new podcast miniseries No Skip Christmas with guest Justin McElroy!If you like the show it would mean so much if you subscribe to the show on your preferred platform here. (Rating and reviewing would be wonderful too.)Show Description: Building the perfect Christmas playlist episode by episode. Musicians, comedians and podcasters recommend songs and Arnie decides if they’re added to his ever-growing Christmas music playlist or not.Arnie and Justin McElroy (My Brother My Brother & Me, The Adventure Zone) swap Christmas songs to see what does and doesn’t go on their Christmas playlists. Songs from Pearl Baily, Ariana Grande, Bill Murray and more.Creator and Host: Arnie Niekamp Follow him on Bluesky or Instagram or send an Email the show at [e-mail]: Justin McElroyProducer and Editor: Garrett SchultzArtwork: Allard LabanOpening Theme Music: Andy PolandSong Playlists:Playlist of all the songs for this episode hereThe growing list of accepted Christmas songs hereChristmas-ellaneous: all the songs lovingly rejected so far hereAdditional Materials:Demi Adejuyigbe’s September videos playlistSupport No Skip Christmas with a tip of any size hereSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Tis I, Usador, to tell you about a new podcast. Why, it's Push the Roll with Ross Bryant. It's an improvised horror comedy, actual play podcast, with a great storyteller making up cosmic horror stories on the fly. That's right. None other than host and GM Ross Bryant himself. You probably know him from Dropout TV, improvised Shakespeare, and Glass Cannon Network. The Khtulu-inspired horror comes to life through immersive sound,

sign that amplifies cosmic dread and hilarious moments. The whole thing starts with the role of a die to pick an episode title suggested by their fans on Patreon. Then things get very weird, very fast. And they have an amazing rotating cast and special guests like Ashley Birch, Brennan Lee Mulligan, Becca Scott, Colton Dunn, Lou Wilson, Vic McAulis, and Matthew Lillard. Why, I even heard that one of Arnie's friends Matt Young went on there and had a very good time. So search for Push the Roll with Ross Bryant.

wherever you get your podcasts or check out pushtherroll.com that's R-O-L or RustyQuill.com for more details. Hey, happy Thanksgiving. This is Arnie from Earth, breaking in with a little extra something. I know we're taking a couple of weeks off for Thanksgiving, but I wanted to share with you my new podcast,

no skip Christmas. It's a Christmas music playlist podcast mini-series. I've been doing them through November, I'm going to be doing them every Tuesday until Christmas. And if you'll forgive the intrusion, if you'll forgive the interruption, I'm sharing the first episode of No Skip Christmas, the one with the guest, Justin McElroy, here on the feed in case you haven't had a chance to hear it yet. And the episodes that have already come out have included guests Helen Zaltzman from The Illusionist,

Jonathan Colton and Paulin Storm, the Grammy-nominated rapper Megaran. And the new one this week are dear friends, Zach and Jess from Offbook, the Improvise Musical. Oh, they're so good. They're so fun. It's a good episode. Anyway, if you enjoy this, if it seems like something you'd be into, there are links to the podcast feed in the show notes, or you could just look up No Skip Christmas on whatever podcatcher you use.

You can figure it out. I believe in you. Anyway, I should stop entering the show so you can get to the part at the beginning of the show where I intro the show. Hope you doing well. Talk to you soon. Hey, happy holidays. This is no skip Christmas, a Christmas music playlist podcast. I'm Arnie Neekamp.

I love Christmas music. I love the challenge of it. For years, I've curated a Christmas music playlist, and I enjoy the challenge of adding having variety, lots of surprises, but also, and this is the hard part, having it still feel fundamentally Christmassy. So I'm excited to have some of my friends on who I also know are Christmas music enthusiasts, and I'll share some of the songs on my playlist with them, and they'll share some songs with me, and I'll decide whether those songs go on my playlist or do not go on my playlist.

The stakes could not be higher. I'm excited to be joined in this first episode by the great Justin McElroy. Justin, thanks for coming on the show. Hey, Arneen is so, such a big pleasure for me. I love this topic. I love Christmas music in general, but I love thinking about it and talking about it. And not everybody does. You know, it's weird when you start, have you ever start enthusing about Christmas music to somebody who gives you that dead eye like, you know, you might as well be talking about like the potpourri you enjoy?

It's atmosphere, man. what you mean but to me part of what's great about it is it's largely maligned a lot of it is genuinely bad although to be fair some of the stuff that is bad i do like some of it that's bad i really don't like but the fun part is like digging through finding fun stuff yeah so for listeners who aren't familiar justin is a host of many podcasts my brother my brother and me the adventure zone uh sawbones many more but the main reason that i wanted to have justin on is years ago, he posted a playlist of Christmas music on social media somewhere, and I looked at it, and I snagged many songs that I'm sure at some point I'll be recommending on future episodes

of this podcast, and then some that I did not. But that, you know, it had like a high hit rate for me, basically. Thank you. That's so flattering. Do you remember the name of that playlist, Arnie? I do not. Do you? It is called Justin's Christmas Adventure, original motion picture soundtrack. If you find it on Spotify, you can read this description. Justin's at it again, and this time he's bringing the whole gang to the North Pole, joined Justin, Justin McRoy, Stembo the Troll, Kevin Pollock, and their buddy, Darlene, Dame Judy Dinge, as they try to save Santa from the evil carnisgrian, Kevin Sorbo. So that is why, this is why a fictional playlist apparently, I do not remember writing this at all, Arnie. I do not know how this came to be.

I do not have no memory of reading that part of it. Me neither. I don't know. Maybe you wouldn't have been my first guest if I had remembered. Who knows? It sort of feels like it's in a series of like earnest movies.

Like you've gotten to your interstate Christmas. I wanted my own holiday. This would be the soundtrack to my holiday movie because I would want it to be impeccable. Yeah. But I also love that you're like, you know what? If I did my earnest movies,

I'd be able to pull Dame Judy Dench into the cast. We'd been looking for something to work on together. Justin, what is generally your relationship to Christmas. How Christmas-y a guy are you? Or is it just the music? I grew up in a pretty religious household, and we were very much, you know, go to church Sundays and

Wednesdays. So Christmas... Sundays and Wednesdays, that's... Yeah, and we did the Wednesday night youth group. And then Sundays was like the the real hardcore preaching. But the, uh, we, you know, we obviously observed, it was very very richly observed in my house, I would say my mom went all out with decorating in a style that I think is now called

primitive folksy, you know, a lot of cinnamon and potpourri in the air. It was a big, it was a big deal at our house. It was a full, it was enough of a transformation that my mom got in the habit of having my dad film the decorations at the end of the year before she took them down so she could remember how she got them up the year before the way that she liked up. That's great. I don't know why? Like I'm not a, I'm not a decorate the house person generally, but there is just some energy around, what if I had things in the house that were only out part of the year? Somehow that makes it exciting to me. I can't get, you know, we do decorate for Christmas, but it doesn't, I've, I have started to feel that way with Halloween because I like the idea of making my house

scarier for some reason. That's very thrilling to me that suddenly there's like thrills and chills and otherwise normal setting. That's fun to me. Well, I don't even really like to decorate the outside of the house. That feels like too much of a hassle. So I don't know. Like, I'm just an Ebenezer Scrooge or just only having Christmas inside of the house. And people walking by would have no idea that Christmas is going on inside. That's why you got to get yourself a 25 foot tall Beetlejuice.

Because you do that, no one can say you're not decorating. It's true. Maybe it's, you know, put a garland up on him, a wreath. Perfect for Christmas. Perfect for every year. All year along. All right. Let's jump into the music.

I'm going to start with the first song and look. I know I've sort of hyped up like, ooh, I'm going to have some surprising songs on here. But I do want to start with a baseline of like an old standard that I actually like. And so my first song is Holly Jolly Christmas sung by Burl Ives. Have a holly jolly Christmas. It's the best time of the year. I don't know if there'll be snow, but have a cup of cheer. have a holly jolly christmas i just love holly jolly christmas like it feels like an acceptable

overplayed christmas song and i was thinking about it and i think part of it is so much of christmas music is how much it just hits some weird nostalgia center in your brain it needs to be something that's familiar but not so familiar that it starts that your your body starts to reject it so you know you're for me if i'm looking for like an old christmas standard it's one that i have heard thousands of times as a child, but maybe not hundreds of thousands of times as a child. Yes, I think that that's true. Or maybe ones that were background tracks for you growing up that you really only heard, like, as you got older and thought, and we're able to think of them as like discrete songs, and you didn't like get overexposed. Yeah, absolutely. And it's funny,

I also realized, I had a realization. I was like, look, I don't want to put something on like Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer. I'll put on Holly Jolly Christmas. Not realizing subconsciously, holly jolly Christmas is in the Rankin' Bass, Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer special. Sure, yeah. Yeah, it's a classic. I, as a child, do you remember Burl Ives as Sam the Snowman? He has his weird signature, Van Dyke mustache, an umbrella for some reason, and a bowler hat and a vest. It is amazing to me because by the time I'm seeing that, right, it's a generation removed.

So it's not a snowman that looks like Burl Ives It's Burlives a snowman Who for the rest of living memory Has now fused as far as I I don't think that snowman looks like Burl Ives No that is Burlives as far as I know he's a snowman But even as a child I feel like

I was like there's so much going on with this snowman Yeah there's like a lot of like a person They're doing a lot of there's a lot of paprika On the snowman At the very least I'm like That is not Frosty. That is a difference. They want me to know this is like a different snowman.

He's kind of cheeky. He's kind of cheeky, kind of cheeky, you know. Kissing girls once for him. You know, he's got an old dog. Ho, ho, the mistletoe hung where you can see. Somebody waits for you. Kisser wants for me. Have a holy, jolly,

I also love the line. I don't know if there'll be snow, but have a cup of cheer. What a wild thing for a snowman to say. I don't know. I don't know if I'll be there or not, but please have a drink in my honor. I might be dead, but do not let that make your Christmas any less holly jolly. I think there is something fun about having a Christmas song that swings. I think it's more fun to sing along to as a group.

Because you're not going to get that light. Nobody's going to get off. There's a bit of significant. And you can have some fun with the rhythm. And you can sing along to, and it's fun to sing along to. I think it's fun to hear this is a fun rhythm, I think, also, that, like, can break up the monotony of a lot of the Christmas music that's so much more down tempo.

Yeah, I agree. Cuts through the noise. Is this a song you would put on your own Christmas playlist? I might have it on there. I don't know. Actually, I will say that I watch that special enough that I would probably, probably keep it to that special. I'd probably leave it within Rudolph.

Like, it's contextualized there. I wouldn't pull it out in isolation. Okay, that makes sense. And I'm so excited. I'm actually glad we're getting off on a foot of not just pushing every song through to the playlist. There has to be a little tension as to whether if these are going to make it or not.

Can I ask in this curation? And I think that, like, this is something that I will be honest about in my playlist, I feel like I need to not just like want to hear the songs, but I need to be able to defend it a little bit. Like I need to, there has to be some ego there. There has to be some bit where I hope someone's going to look up and be like, hello. You know, like, oh, what's this? What a savvy pick. It's not even so much for me to the defending. It has to be, yeah, someone looks over and I'm smirking at them like, oh, yes, I did put this on my playlist. So as much as I love Holly Jolly Christmas, and there are standards where I feel like are that can get to that level where it's like you cannot argue with this.

I feel like because of the Rudolph connection, I don't think it is like Titanic enough to stand on its own. That would be my argument. I think that's fair. For me, it's really at the bottom of what I would include. It's mostly me wanting to have a standard and then having, not having one that's so bulletproof that's like, why am I even bothering to put this song on the place? list. You're going to hear this a million times all Christmas, although this is a song you're going to hear a lot every Christmas anyway. Sure, right.

Justin, what's the first song you have for me? A couple of, I will say several of the songs on my list, and not from my personal list, but on my playlist. Came from a really great Christmas music documentary. Have you seen

jingle bell rocks? I have not. I'm grabbing a pen as if I'm not recording this and will not listen to this numerous times in the future. future, but Jingle Bell Rocks. Jingle Bell Rocks is a great documentary about people who comb, like, vintage record stores looking for, like, oddball Christmas singles and, like, oddball recordings and talking about how Christmas music is, like, you know, evolved and the people who love it

and why they love it, et cetera. And this song, Five Pound Box of Money by Pearl Bailey is one that I heard of in that documentary of Jingle Bell Rocks. Hey, Santa Claus, you want to make me happy this year? Listen to me, honey. Give pearl something. There'll be some use to me, like a five-pound box of money. Now, that's a little gift.

It's loaded with lots of sentiment. See, when I ever get blue, Santa, I'm going to think of you. But at the same time, that will change. There are very few songs that I think are actually funny. I think there are very few Christmas songs that make me laugh. I think Christmas Kisses by Red State Update is one, and the other one is five-pound box money by Pearl Bailey, which is a song where she kind of sings, kind of yells,

and it's kind of like a wish list for Santa that is just money. And not any sort of amount of money, but Pearl Bailey wants a five pound box of money, which is she keeps repeating and she says it as like somebody who loves that kind of like abstraction and comedy in the way that like things stop being funny and then start being funny again. She sells it so well. She'll like start singing the song in the middle and then bring it back to it. And then if time allows a five pound box of money. It's really, really funny. Justin, I'm so glad that this is one of the song. songs that you're pitching because this is one of my all-time favorite Christmas songs. And I agree.

It is so funny. I love that it's sort of funny in like five different ways. Like the inherent premise is funny enough. But then also the way Pearl Bailey sings it, right? Like it's such a delivery where it's where people used to have to do this a thousand times a year in front of a hundred. It's that craft where like it sounds cast tossed off and it is, but it is like a hundred people. percent precise like every syllable of it is like so funny and so and so targeted and so in rhythm and like syncopation and and feels right with the music it's wild she's clearly a great singer and she sings a little bit but then like the the most weirdly the most musical parts where she's just kind of like almost feels improvisational but probably isn't where she's just like try me try me saying to try me

like stuff like that i also love how single-minded she is about this five-pound box of money It's so funny at one point that she's just sort of like something like, Santa, you follow on me? All these things I'm telling you. And it's literally she's just been saying a five pound box of money over and over again. It's great. So to review, I want a five-pound box of money. I cannot be worse.

Santa. Can you hear me? Five minutes of money. Oh, Santa. Now, what I want with this dime? Are you kidding? This is a throwaway joke, but I really love where she's like, A five-pound box of money.

Really, how much could that weigh? It's really good, bro. It's really good. It also sonically, I think, is important because it still sounds pleasant. I think that's really so key for a Christmas song is that it can't give anybody in the room that urge to be like, oh, God.

You know, like, and there's a lot of novelty songs where I feel like, oh, gee, like maybe grandma got run over by a reindeer generated laughs at one point. But I feel like at this point, if I hear the opening strains, I'm like sprinting for a knob. I can't just sonically absorb it. Yeah, listeners, you need to know. It's a hard no for me. For grandma got ran over by a reindeer.

I do not need to ever hear that song ever again. I'm so sorry to lead you into that so early. But yeah, it's so funny. And also, yeah, it's kind of like in that time. It's a standard or standard adjacent. So it sort of is in that time period that feels. inherently Christmasy, but then, like, the humor of it and the delivery of it is so modern in a way that doesn't draw too much attention to itself, but it's just delightful. It's really, really funny.

All right, why don't we move on to my next song? This is another one that might be a little obvious, but it's a contemporary classic that I just absolutely love. Growing up, you know, I was a teenager in the 90s and that was one of the times when I was most trying to consume cool music and I remember one of the bands that I tried to get into was this band called low which I guess would be described as like slow core or dream pop you know like beautiful music but intentionally like dreamily slow where a song would be something like I drove past and like a guitar would do like one strum your house one drum beat but you were dead like something like that is my unfair impression of a low song but i feel like if you spit if you invested your own personal

time trying to get into low then you've earned the right to take it one passing swipe at low right you did you did your time in the minds yes and it's beautiful but it just kind of wasn't me i couldn't get into it. But then, and I think I still have this cardboard EP somewhere in a milk crate in my basement. They released a Christmas album called Christmas, Christmas EP. And if I'm being honest, most of the songs were still too slow for my tastes, but I absolutely love. Maybe one of my top two or three Christmas songs of all time, just like Christmas by Lowe. our way from Stockholm It started to snow

And you said it was like Christmas But you were wrong It wasn't like Christmas For me, just like Christmas is such a breath of fresh air, like it's got, it starts with jingling bells, which is always going to give you a leg up in it, feeling like a Christmas song. It has like, I think what is probably a drum machine that sort of sounds like it's playing from a radio, it's got this beautiful organ.

And then Mimi Parker, I believe it's Mimi Parker's voice, just singing these really simple lyrics about, I guess, probably being on tour in Stockholm. It starts to snow. someone says it's just like Christmas and I just love that she sings but you were wrong it wasn't like Christmas at all and then it just goes on to they go to

Oslo there's no snow they get lost they're in they're in beds that are too small but they feel young and then she just sings it was just like Christmas over and over again and it's just a small simple beautiful delight to me I don't know Justin if you

are familiar with this song I had not encountered it before it's really nice I like, it falls into this category of Christmas song that I think is really fascinating that is like a longing for Christmas. Like it's a longing or a pining for something that you're currently experiencing. And I think there is something that I don't know that we like about that bittersweet sort of like face pressed against the glass, like looking at the family inside while you're also the family inside like you appreciate it more maybe or like that you connect with it more because it's so so wistful. But yeah, it's beautiful. It sounds really lovely. And I love, I like songs that are not Christmas songs that explicitly, but are sort of like about that idea, you know, that are not just about Christmas, but, you know, sort of a more outsider perspective.

I mean, it paints this whole tiny, it's a poem, essentially. It paints this whole tiny little story. This song is probably like 50 words total. And at least 14 of those words are just the word Christmas over and over again. But like you said, I love that it's sort of. playing with this Christmas feeling of like, oh, is this Christmas-y? Is this Christmas-y enough? And sometimes it's not, but just how wonderful it is when something does just sort of strike you as it being just like Christmas.

My next song is Santa Tell Me by Ariana Grande. Okay. I don't make me If you're really there Don't make me fell in love again If he won't be here next year Santa tell me If he really cares

Because I can give it I know if he won't be here next year I feel like this song I know that this song is extremely popular And I know that Eric and Grande is pretty well known I think at this point, most people have probably, I would say, heard of Ariana Grande. I don't feel like we have had in the, in recent memory, and by that I mean like this millennium,

a lot of really great, like, iconic top 40 Christmas pop, like where it is a new thing on the radio. And I can, and I feel like you can prove this pretty definitively, like if you were to look at countries that track this more rigorously, you know, You see how often the last great pop standard, which I would argue is Mariah Carey's All I Want for Christmas is You, I don't feel like we have had that caliber of hit. And I would just submit that this song, which came out in 2014, is since All I Want for Christmas is You, the best, like, pop Christmas song. Now, bar of that is the tone of pop music has changed quite a bit, right? So pop music, whatever that means now, is not one that would fit in with a lot of Christmas standards. It wouldn't make as much sense to make Christmas pop music.

It's just not a thing that's done that much anymore, I would say. So it's like kind of a weird dichotomy. But I think for me, it's beautifully constructed. It's fun to listen to. Ariana Grande is doing the thing that she does with her voice. In a lot of these songs, it feels like a melodic, like, it's like keyed up a couple of steps. from other runs that she does in other songs right she's not like reinventing the wheel here

yeah um but there's something about her voice that sounds like winter it's clear it feels like peppermint it's invigorating and sparkly and fun and she is a good enough actor that you really believe that she wants to be making a Christmas song which I feel like

is not as easy as sell like Mariah makes it look easy but that ain't easy either she's she's putting in her her time I just year Santa tell me if you won't be here if he won't be here next year I just don't think there's a lot of great

Christmas pop songs that get written and release anymore and I think this is one in recent memory I wanted to highlight. Justin, it's so wild that I, I know who Ariana Grande is. I haven't listened to a bunch of her music like most people, though. I was delighted by her and Wicked, and, you know, I've seen her on Saturday Night Live. She's very funny, but I haven't really spent much time with her music catalog. As I was listening to this song, I listened to it many times over the last week, I kept being like, this song sounds like.

Why does this sound so like the run in the song that she does? trolls. I kept being like, I've heard, this song reminds me of something. What song does this remind me of? And I think I've probably just heard this song a bunch of times and don't realize it. Like, I think this song is rattling around in the back of my head and I don't realize that I've heard it. Okay. So that may be true. I don't know. But I do, hold on one second, Arnie. Pause podcast. Sure. I'm going to send you a link to something. Okay. It's a song called They don't know. So once this loads, go to like 220 and start listening there.

Okay. There's a run. She does at about 2.30 in that song. It's from the, the reason I know it is it's at a very important part in the Trolls movie. When the princess troll becomes a roller skating princess troll and wins the other, the king troll's heart. So, or the, not the troll, the, you know, the grimals. The bad people I'm trying to tell you honey

But it's a very But it is a very similar run To the run from Santa Tell me Which is a very very long. That may be it. I don't know if you watch trolls with your children, that run would be in your head. But I don't know. I can't accuse Ariad of cribbing off herself. So I don't know. Sure. Yeah, I have seen trolls a lot of times and listen to the soundtrack. It kind of came out at a time when my daughter was just old enough that was like, let's try to listen to some,

it was kind of like acceptable music. Here are my thoughts on Santa Tome. Yeah. On first blush, I'm kind of like, it's a no for me. Partly because, like, I consider myself a pop-tomist. Like, I really do try to, like, embrace all sort of music styles. I do think there is a little bit of this production quality that does slide off of my brain a little bit. Yes, right. So there is that. It just kind of isn't one of my lanes.

That said, the more I listen to it, the more I do get into it. Like I, the more, like, it's that kind of familiar. I don't know if I'm just purposely jumpstarting my own familiarity with it to a point where I'm sort of like, oh, yes, this is a Christmas song now. I will say this, Arnie. It was one of them, it was definitely a creeper for me. It was one of those where like, I definitely had heard it like 30 times. And then it was like, I don't know, a realization just sort of settled in like, this is great. Like, I don't know.

I've heard that's 50 times. This is actually extremely great. And I need to note that this is really good. Yeah. And I like, you know, look, I'm always going to love a Christmas song that's a, Sort of about a strange relationship with Santa. This one is a little confusing to me. She's sort of like, Santa, you got to tell me if this guy's going to be.

He's like a confidant. It's like revealed to me the contents of this man's heart. Peer deep into his soul, Santa. If someone told me that this song was originally, written to be about cupid i would not be surprised to learn that it was then changed to a christmas song because there's a lot of honestly arnie what you just said to me i would be shot i would be shot if someone was like i'm sorry max you cannot do a valentine's day song it is not done you must make it about christmas she's just going through her drafts folder i wonder if this

cupid song could just be santa she says don't make me fall in love again Like, a lot of, like... But Santa does do that, right? Like, Santa makes kids' parents fall in love constantly. Yeah. You know, he has that ability. I wouldn't put a person. I would love if there was a Christmas song where it's like,

Santa, stop making my parents fall in love. I would also, Arne, to suggest to you that this is not going to be a family-friendly listening experience until you fully endorse the living existence of Santa. It's really important that you're seeing a-huh. And always really continue to affirm his existence as a living human man. I'm going to try my best to keep this podcast as not explicit, but also, you know, I feel like I do worry every once in while we're going to brush up against the I saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus conundrum that comes up again and again in songs, where it's just kind of like, hold on, I see what you're doing here. Yeah. But I am fully pro-Santa is real in this podcast.

Yeah. One last thing. One of the lyrics, she's like, I fell in love on Christmas night, but on New Year's Day, I woke up and he wasn't by my side. Is it possible that Ariana just need someone to commit a little too fast? That's a very short window of time.

Maybe that's how long it took him to escape, didn't all through the ropes. Honestly, Ariana, maybe you shouldn't start a relationship at Christmas time. That might be the problem. My family is in right now, Ariana. I would love to hang out again, but my uncle Paul is in town and we had plans to go suit shopping.

I cannot be with you constantly. There's also like, I don't think this is in the song, but is there like a she should be in love with Santa instead kind of implication in here at all? I mean, that's always, everyone knows that they wish they were in love with the Santa type, you know, generous, a little bit more mature. Yes. But, you know, it would be great if Santa was just like, oh, I'm trying to help you find love, but sometimes it's fun of you. right in front of you. God, we are probably,

this is probably the script of that Kurt Russell movie. I haven't seen it, but it's probably, I don't know. You're probably right. I think there also might be some Christmas movie

that is called Santa Tell Me and that might be exactly what it is. So here's the thing. I am going to, for now, say this song is not going on my Christmas list. Fair.

But I have a backup list of songs that I keep going back to being like, I don't know, Is this, maybe I didn't give this as much of a chance. I suspect in time this will migrate over to my regular list. I'm sure that will come as a great relief to Ms. Grande that hope lives on. Yes.

She needs my endorsement of one of the most popular Christmas songs of, as you've said, this millennium. Let's move on to my next song, which I suppose is a little bit related. This is from 1983, The Weather Girls, who were, a musical duo that also did the song, It's Reigning Men, released this song, Dear Santa, Bring Me a Man This Christmas.

Hi, we're your weather girl. And have we got holiday news for you? You better listen. This is an open letter to Mr. Santa Claus. Tell him her. From all single girls back on. All right.

Bring me a little. I don't know if it's just fully getting me more, I think me all, I think it's just the 1980s of it all that just fully gets me, I think. I love that it begins with them almost doing like a, hey everybody, this is what the song is going to be, as if they're doing like their guests on a radio station and they're like, hey, this is the weather girl saying. listen to KXRL. They're just kind of like, we've got news for you. Leave the bed there. That's a classic Christmas song thing, right?

There's that 10-second intro of like, let's talk about how we're about to do a Christmas song and then do the Christmas song. I know. Like all Christmas songs, I feel like there's like half a dozen ways that a Christmas song can start. It's either just saying the word Christmas a bunch of times.

It's jingle bells jingling or, yeah. It should be called the chipmunk. Because what it is is, It's that Dave sets up like, all right, guys, son of a gun. We got to record this Christmas song. It maybe partly makes a little more sense for this song because I looked it up. This was not released on a Christmas album. This was just on their first album.

They're like, let's just do a song about how we need a man this Christmas. And so, yeah, it's kitsy, but also, like, it's just legitimately, their voices are great. It's really fun. It reminds me a little bit of my childhood in the 80s. I think that both of their big hits being about summoning men is pretty cool. Like, this is asking Santa to bring them a man. It's raining men. It's just men coming from the sky.

Like, I think they should try meeting something. You know what I mean? Like just getting out there and just making some connections because they're waiting on the weather or Santa or anybody other than just like vulnerability, you know, putting yourself out there. Also, this song apparently was co-written by Paul Sharpton. Schaefer. Freaking great. Fantastic.

I also love, with the Weather Girls intro that you're talking about, it almost feels like a Christmas parody of their own song, which is one of my favorite little subgenres of like, oh, you like that one big hit we have? Well, now we've made it about Christmas, so let's release it again. And this for me is definitely, this is definitely like that conversation starter energy

you're trying to get from your playlist where someone's like, hold on, what is this? And you're like, well, well, well. Yeah, remember it's raining men? They also had this Christmas song. Would you put either just like Christmas or Dear Santa, bring me a man this Christmas, I believe it's called on your Christmas playlist. So, Arnie, I want to say, just like Christmas, that's a really good.

That definitely will go on the list. Beautiful. Sounds beautiful. It's wistful. I love a little bit of like sadness. in my Christmas music. And not because I'm sad, but I like how that hangs in the background a little bit

more easier than like something a little bit more up front. So I would definitely include that. I think my problem with the Weather Girl song is, and the sort of the thing we haven't touched on here is that it is six and a half minutes long. It is long.

That is a very, very long novelty Christmas song. If it was Bing Crosby singing for six and a half minutes, you would probably say that's enough being we have other Christmas songs to listen to. Yes. I will say, as I was re-listening to it this week, I was like making a point of listening to the whole thing, and I was like,

have I ever listened to this whole song intentionally? Have I just been delighted by the first minute or two? Shook my head being like, oh, whether girls, you've done it again and then hit skip. And I think of myself as one of my criteria for my playlist is you don't want to skip

any of them, but I might just be lying to myself. I was hovering over the three little dots. to add that song to my playlist just this moment and the three little dots are right next to the runtime of the song and I saw that 630 I was like well that can't be right

I can't spend I can't dedicate that amount of time no it's 630 but if it's playing in the background you enjoy the first minute and then you kind of like there's nothing just terrible about it being in the background for a while so that's why it's on mine

but I totally I think that is an incredibly valid argument for it not going on your playlist All right, Justin, before you introduce your next song, I just want to say, spoiler alert. I had never heard this song before, heard of this song before. Absolutely love it. Winterman by Clarence Reed? Yes. Yes.

I hear that cold wind blow it through the limbs and the trees. And as I see. stare out of my window I can see the falling of the leaves Hello old man winter I've been kind of expecting you I have my woman here beside me so there's no harm you can do

Winter Man by Clarence Reed is It's not, man It's not explicitly about Christmas Which is huge for me I love that that feels so good In a Christmas playlist To have some things that are not explicitly Christmas But are seasonal

I think is a great way of breaking up the flow This is a song about how hard it is to be alone At Christmas sung by someone who is not currently alone at Christmas But has been in the past So it's like There's a real lovely like generosity of spirit with this song it's like my heart is going out to people who can be like hurt by

the winterman who is where like the personification that he's talking about of like loneliness and how hard it is to be alone during the holidays and it's a really it's it sounds great it's got this like killer organ that it comes in with and that it just sonically doesn't sound like hardly any christmas music which is like something i always try to get more like funk and soul into christmas music because I feel like it's underrepresented and it's such a fun energy to, like, have in the playlist. But this is a great, great example of it for me. I feel sorry for the people you catch alone with no love to call their own. Because only love can keep them out of your hands.

You're mean, oh, you're mean old, you're mean, oh, and a man, you're cold, cold, cold. I absolutely love it, and I agree with you. I like the kind of, like, song about winter that is just Christmas adjacent enough to go on the list. Right. It's weird because I will sometimes get in my head about, like, this song is not a Christmas song about other things, but winter songs really make it for me. And it also helps, like, a soul song, for whatever reason, kind of, there's so many great soul Christmas songs, that that feels, starts to feel just Christmassy to me.

But Clarence Reed later performed as a guy named Blowfly, who was a sort of more of a filthy novelty kind of performer, which is also another one of my favorite things that you have these people who like split, split time between the different careers, but that's hysterical. Justin, I'm so glad you brought that up. I did only, because I was like, who is this guy? This song is fantastic. I did just the lightest amount of research on him, and my mind was blown that almost the first thing I learned was, Clarence Reed released three albums, but then as Blowfly, he apparently released over 25 dirty song parody albums. Yeah, he was the dirty, the X-rated Weird Al.

Reportedly, Weird Al has called him the X-rated Weird Al. We don't know. But anyway, it's a great song. I love that song. There's a lot that could be said about his songs as Blu-Fi, including Blowfly does XX, X, X, X-Miss, but I think- Which I doubt will make your list. Yeah, we'll, we'll, we'll, we'll, will, Maybe save that for another time.

The last thing I'll say about Blowfly is his last album released in 2016 was titled 77 Rusty Trombones. So inspiring. Beautiful. I also wanted to highlight this one because it's one of those that's like, it's just a great song. And you wish that it had been picked up at some point into something that gets like recirculated every once in a while. Because it's like it's kind of buried back there in the annals and it's just like a great, it could be a standard. It's killer. It's fantastic.

And like you said, I love, it's similar to just like Christmas, I love that there's a melancholy, but the song itself is not a downer. Like, it's actually an upbeat song that acknowledges the complicated sadness of winter and Christmas. Yeah. Yeah, it's less maudlin and more like, ah, it's tough. Oh, that's tough. Yeah, it is. That's rough. Maybe Winterman needs to get in a relationship with Ariana Grande.

That will, that's the solution. All right. Let's go to my last song for this episode. This one is December by Earth, Wind, and Fire. I'm just going to play some of this song. It might be familiar to some people. Do you remember the 20th night at December? Love was changing your mind.

All right, Justin, I assume you are familiar with Earthwind and Fires September. Yes, of course, I know Earthwind and Fires September. But what if there was enough? This is a rare song that has a Gus to ask what? There's another month, you know? What if we changed one word three? times in a song and it's just exactly the same song otherwise instead of do you remember the 21st night of september it's do you remember the 25th night of december i want demi to come back

with this next christmas that how how amazing amazing commitment himself to do it a christmas whatever year yeah and part i think part of my part of my affection for the original song september is yeah Demi's great yearly videos for many years of the song September, which maybe I'll put a link in the show notes. If you have not seen those videos, you absolutely should. But I'm going to say I actually don't put the song on my own playlist. This is mostly just a song. It's fun to share with someone,

but you don't want to just have it come up in your own rotation. This is more like, it's funny that this exists and they did this. But it mostly just makes me think how much I like the original and how it's not Christmasy in it. You may not even notice it. first. Like it may seem like, if this kept popped up in the playlist, it may seem like a terrible error. Yeah. And then you got to wait.

It's like, no wait, wait, wait, hold on. Wait to the lyrics start. You're going to love this. I also love literally one of the love that we're still in September and they just, it's still in the song, I'm still there's still in the song. Yeah, they're not going to go back and it's got it. Is that the, was that the inspiration for the love actually, uh, the bill, Bill Nogne. why he's song where he changes the one lyric it's like well yeah that it's it just sounds better the other way it's like yeah well i know but that we're just changing the one word to christmas is all around me all right justin what is your last song that you're pitching for my playlist okay this one i know is a stretch and if it does not make it onto your personal playlist i wouldn't blame

you because it's uh it's kind of an oddball but this is a song called alone on christmas day uh it is It was written by the Beach Boys It was performed by The version I like Is performed by Phoenix In the A very Murray Christmas Bill Murray Christmas special on Netflix

On Netflix It's that I say When you're away From love on Christmas day Why Sadness Got a move on When the shoes

Tell me gladness Keep moving on All you can do is Keep moving on Tell me a little bit about Tell me a little bit about why you like this song My wife and I watched this

this very odd Christmas special which feels like the after party to a normal Christmas special if you've never watched it it's like

Sophia Coppola directed it it's like Bill Murray gets snowed in in a hotel and has a Christmas special that gets canceled

but is stuck at the hotel with him and Paul Schaefer and a Buster Poon Dexter and a bunch of other real singers

and pretend singers and like you got Jason Schwartzman pretending to be a lovelorn fiancé and uh phoenix the band phoenix is in there as the chefs there at the bar that they get snowed in and uh but but they turns out when when the time comes to like entertain all of the chefs happen to know uh instruments and our members of the band phoenix so they come and they play this song when when they're in the bar of a hotel called the carlisle um which i i

Sydney and I love this so much and we actually like stayed there one time on an anniversary because we wanted to like drink have a drink in this bar where this is filmed because it's such a like Christmas staple for us but this is a song that they sing and it's another sort of like I guess sort of sad

ish Christmas song modeling but still kind of nice to listen to there's something so this is like about that connection to that special for me because I love that vibe and that downtown energy there's something that I really enjoy about Bill Murray just like leaning

in on the choruses I think is really funny. I don't I've listened to the original of this and it doesn't hit me the same way but I don't know I just really this one is really I put it on every list just because I really I really dig it. The original song is it a Beach Boys recording

or maybe like the I don't even know that it was released as a recording there's some weird I'm not a beach you know I'm not a, but there's some weird history to it We're like, it was not like a big hit for the Beach Boys or a standard. I think it might have been written by one of them and like, where's a demo? I don't know.

Oh, we're cruising the lonely highway, or jet and mouths have through some skyway. When you reach your destination, oh, waiting baggage at the station, when you see some happy greeters, it can make a bit of sweet. I have a lot of real, it's sad to feel, alone on Christmas Day. I have a lot of affection for the Christmas special, a very merry Christmas. I've only seen it once. I remember really enjoying it. It's definitely got a subdued energy that is part of its charm, although I could see being a sort of turnoff for some viewers that are expecting it to kind of, like,

heighten the sort of cheesiness of what it's doing, and part of what's fun about it is it's the premise is very cheesy and kind of all the things that happen are but it's kind of played more straightforwardly like yeah in a way that I think is fun um I'm going to say I don't think I'm putting this song on my playlist which is a surprise to me because I do love the band Phoenix especially their early stuff if I ever feel better off their first album is one of my favorite songs and you know I'm a I'm a I'm a of a certain age. So I like Bill Murray.

I think I like the song. I'm a little less into the sort of Beach Boys-esque song a little bit. Yeah. And the Bill Murray of it all, I like in theory, but I feel like if it's playing in the background, it's going to be too distracting to me. It's in the same way that I will rarely put a live recording of a song on a Christmas playlist. except for that one Bruce Springsteen

That's the one that gets the closest to it sometimes goes on It sometimes comes off I wish there was like that's a great recording though too Like the sound of that is awesome That one kind of falls into like I definitely want to hear it during the Christmas season But I'm probably not going to put it on a playlist That I'm going to put on shuffle basically

So that's where I am with this It's also like I kind of can't I kept going back and forth on if I find the lyrics Like charmingly simple or annoyingly simple like there's a little bit of a quality of you know like how they say like comedians once they get reasonably successful all their material is about flying on planes because that they spend so much time doing that there is a little bit of this song that you feel like you can see it being written around christmas time in an airport essentially which isn't inherently against it but there's just something about it I couldn't decide about but I appreciate like how this song is very special to you good because otherwise you'd be kind of a jerk. Yeah, that is true. And thank you for sitting through me being like,

these are the things, I don't know that I love about this song. Good thing about it is, Arne, I didn't do it. So I'm trying to be pretty, honestly, I wouldn't even be that upset if I had done it. It's just, I don't know, it's fine by me. Whether it goes on the list or not. And again, I'm going to,

not all the details are worked out yet, but look, there's probably will be a link in the show notes. There will be a Spotify playlist of my growing list of songs from this podcast series but there will be the growing list of all the songs including the ones that I didn't put on my playlist and likely there will be episode-specific playlist as well so more playlist than you would ever really want to listen to

you. And you guys can cook too. Wow, you're going to be a real catch. Justin, before we go, first of all, thank you so much for being on the show. It's been a real treat just getting to hang out and chat with you. First of all, I want to chat with you about Christmas music. Do you have a tiny tip, a little thing that people can do to make the Christmas season feel a little more Christmassy? Oh, hmm.

I would say that if you have the ability to make a gift rather than buy a gift, it seems silly. and it may feel kind of awkward. It may feel kind of embarrassing. Vulnerability often does. But I tell you, it really does make the whole season feel a lot more special when you spend that time thinking about what you can make for people versus what you can buy them. Although I feel like my guess is I don't know this for a fact

that you're kind of a handy guy. Like you can make things. What kind of things can you make, Justin? Well, I'm a woodworker, and I've been doing a lot of 3D printing, and I have been messing around with a lot of video games and electronics. and stuff making gifts with uh buying these little retro handheld emulator kind of guys and putting a game collections on there i think people will enjoy that kind of like stuff i like i like making baking baking is one that i do for people a lot i have a snack mix that's people dig so i'll make some of that

as as gifts or bake chest bars or things like that for people so that's i do a lot of that kind of stuff justin that is incredible and i now feel bad that my suggestion is get a seasonal butter dish that's how you could you know Arnie in your defense mine's hard and yours isn't buying a butter dish you know I mean

your sounds better to me like because that sounds easy I should have thought of the butter dish dang I would say listener if you don't have a butter dish first of all they're cheap and you know you don't want to like butter in your fridge

that that's ridiculous but also you can get like an old timey looking butter dish and just bring it out around honestly all winter but especially the holiday season. It's just a small fun thing. It's great to have a little room temperature butter up, especially, too, because you don't want to wait. If you want to eat someone on your bread, you don't keep it on the counter. Absolutely. Justin, is there anything you want to plug

before we go? I don't know if we got any more live shows. We might be doing a candle nights thing in December. We usually are doing some sort of holiday thing there. If you go to mackleroy. You can see all of our links to everything there. It's great. People should definitely check out candle nights and find if there's sort of ways of support. Do you want to just say a word or two about what candle nights is? Yeah, my wife is a physician at Harmony House. It's a shelter for people experiencing homelessness in my area. And Candle Nights is a made-up holiday that my brothers and I invented that we celebrate every year to raise money for Harmony House. We have done a video stream in the past. We might do it live again. I don't know if we are doing it live again, just because of

the temporal laws in place here, but McElroydot family would be the URL that I would look at for all of that information, because I genuinely don't know. Well, thank you so much. I think that's great. Believe listeners go and support that. That's great. As for me, I'm doing this podcast also for a good cause. Actually, I said that wrong.

I'm doing it cause I like attention. So thank you everybody for listening. I'm probably. I do have a just cause. Just cause I want to. I probably will edit in after this. All the info you need to know about if there's a social media stream for this and all of that stuff. But before I cut away to that, I just wanted to say again, happy holidays, Justin, it's been a real treat.

Hey, same to you, Arnie. And around here we say Merry Christmas. This has been No Skip Christmas, created and hosted by me, Arnie Necamp. You can follow me on Instagram and Blue Sky at Arnie Neacamp, and you can email the podcast at no skip Christmas at gmail.com. Thanks so much to my first guest, Justin McElroy. You can find out more about his podcast, his books, and more at The Maceroy.comely. You can also get tickets to this year's candle nights,

which is going to be happening virtually and in person this December. No Skip Christmas is produced and edited by Garrett Schultz. Thank you, Garrett. Speaking of Garrett, he picked this song to go under the outro. Oh, Holy Night by the Bear Naked Ladies from their Christmas album, Bear Naked for the holidays. I'm loving it. It's perfect right here at the end of the podcast. But is it going on my playlist?

Huh. I'm going to say no. Sorry, Garrett. Speaking of those playlists, in the show notes, you can find a link to a Spotify playlist of the ever-growing Christmas list of accepted songs. Also, a link to the playlist of all the songs that didn't get accepted, this sort of Christmiscillaneous list. The Christmas Alaini list?

I'm still working on it. And a playlist of all the songs in this episode. What I'm saying is there's all kinds of good stuff in the show notes. Look at the show notes. We dropped the first two episodes of this podcast at the same time, so the second episode with Helen Zaltzman from The Illusionist is already available for you to listen to. And then after that, there will be a new episode,

every Tuesday until Christmas. So subscribe to the podcast, rate and review, tell people, post about it on whatever social media platform you can stomach. But most importantly, thank you for listening. Happy holidays!