THE WORST WE CAN FIND - Christmas Advent Calendar: Day 17 - THE RIFFTRAX YULE LOG

Gotta make it a quick one tonight, but it's two hours of sweet riffing by the RiffTrax gang as Kevin tends the fire and Mike provides the feast in The RiffTrax Yule Log!

The RiffTrax Yule Log

Program: RiffTrax

Air-Date: November 20, 2018

That television IS probably too close to that fire.

Plot: It’s Christmas at Kevin’s place and we get a traditional “Christmas Fireplace” video as Kevin putters around the household (you can sometimes see his reflection in the little television set as well as a good tight shot of the seat of his pants every so often as he tends the fire; fortunately, he decided to not go with just the speedos this Christmas).

A small television is to the right and a radio to the left. These are there for a cornucopia of RiffTrax clips from over the years, namely those of movies and shorts that are Christmas-themed. It all starts off with a very nice acapella rendition of “Deck the Halls” and ends with a nice version of “Joy to the World” by the guys. In-between is a mix of songs, clips from previous RiffTrax movies and shorts (mostly Christmas-based) and long moments of the fire crackling (or even longer when Kevin is busy fussing with the fire).

In the final half-hour, we listen in as more and more of the RiffTrax gang turn up at Kevin’s place. Mike arrives in THE WORST BLIZZARD OF ANY CENTURY with an amourous moose he had killed with his bare teeth, Mary Jo and Bridgit arrive after hitting Mike’s car, while Bill arrives covered in moss and looking for shelter. They all join in dressing the moose and the program ends as they raises glasses of moose blood as a toast to the season.

Favorite Riff: Far too many to mention; this really is an extended “best of” collection.

And you're seeing some of the riffs right here anyway.

The Riffing:  Not a whole lot of background to give here.  Of course, the concept is to be much like the traditional yule-log videos most people have gotten at one time or another, where you just let the fire play on the television set as you trim the tree, wrap gifts, or eat moose. Because of this, the breaks between clips where only the fire is heard crackling for long stretches and then suddenly the next clip begins blaring may be a bit too disruptive for some listeners if they were busy concentrating on other things. On the flipside, the television set in the corner is small enough that some viewers may feel they can’t really follow what is happening on the screen (and watching on your phone is probably a no-go if you really plan on watching and not just listening). But those are the only two very minor quibbles for fans who’ll enjoy seeing many of the best moments from the various Christmas riffs done over the first few years of RiffTrax.

On a personal note, this was one of the first RiffTrax features that I ever bought, as it gave me an opportunity to see clips with closed captioning of a few movies that RiffTrax had riffed over the years but could not release due to licensing. That means, besides the clips you expect to see, like Santa and the Ice Cream Bunny, Whizzo, Rudolph, and others, there are also clips from major films the gang has riffed over time, like Harry Potter, Die Hard, Charlie Brown Christmas, and Reindeer Games. It is also a good way to introduce those curious who have never tried out RiffTrax, with the main downside is that you’ll be wanting to see more.

Perhaps the best part for the regular fans is the last 25 minutes of the program, which features the regulars all appearing at Kevin’s house for the holidays. There’s an improvisational air in that last portion that sounds like the team having some fun. The dark, comic turn towards dressing a moose in the house felt like a warm glow to an old Scrooge like me, as it reminds me a bit of the olden days of lore when I would spend hours listening to Firesign Theatre albums. There may be a dead moose on the table, but there’s a lot of good cheer here and it’s worth checking out if you can.