Christmas Carol (1978)

December 11, 2018 9:58 PM

Rich Little's Christmas Carol is a TV special that premiered on Home Box Office on December 16, 1979, produced by the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation in 1978. It starred Rich Little in a one-man performance with impersonations of his characters playing the parts in Charles Dickens famous holiday story.
posted by the man of twists and turns (3 comments total)

Let me be the first of hundreds to say: "Mr. Magoo did it better".
After all, the final highlight of Rich Little's career was doing the White House Correspodent's Dinner the year AFTER Stephen Colbert, semi-officially to provide an unoffensive balance.
posted by oneswellfoop at 10:24 PM on December 11, 2018 [1 favorite]

"Mr. Magoo did it better"

This. A bajillion times, this. (see also: Mr. Magoo's Frankenstein)

Even as a kid, I never quite understood why Little was so popular. He just wasn't very good. And he ruined Nixon for all other impersonators because Little was so popular anyone doing Nixon had to do Little-doing-Nixon or they weren't taken seriously.
posted by Thorzdad at 5:27 AM on December 12, 2018

There's a story that Nixon met Little at some event, and Little did his Nixon impression to polite laughter from Nixon. When Little had moved on, Nixon turned to someone and asked, "Who on earth is that man with the strange voice imitating?"
posted by Chrysostom at 9:52 PM on December 13, 2018