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Samantha Bee's 'Christmas On I.C.E' Is The Holiday Special 2018 Deserves

By Tori Preston | TV | December 20, 2018 |

By Tori Preston | TV | December 20, 2018 |


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As much as I unreservedly adore the holidays — the schmaltz, the jolliness, the false sense that by reliving our childish wonder we can ignore for a moment the very real problems around us — it’s kind of hard to get into the festive spirit this year. Which is why I think that Samantha Bee’s surprising holiday special, Christmas on I.C.E., just might be the pitch-perfect programming for 2018. Sure, she delivers songs and ice skating and celebrity cameos, but she doesn’t shy away from just how rotten this year has been, or what Jesus would think of it:

On Christmas we celebrate the birth of a man whose message was one of radical kindness. A man who said, “Whatever you do for the least of these, you do for me.” If you’re not doing your best to show compassion for the poor, the weak, the sick, and yes — the immigrants — then you are doing Christmas wrong, I don’t care what the hell is on your Starbucks cup!

In fact, the whole special is a fundraiser for KIND — Kids In Need of Defense — and Full Frontal is partnering with the organization on a special fund that will help provide legal help and social services to the immigrant families that were separated this summer. So if you want to support a good cause, and watch a show that’s dedicated to the “giving” part of the holiday, this is a great option (and also: DONATE)!

But it’s also OK if you’re just in the mood to watch an adorable kid yell “F*CK 2018!” on ice, because truly — Samantha Bee has something for us all:

She also finds time to rip off the Band Aid-classic “Do They Know It’s Christmas” while knocking eggnog down a peg or two, with an ’80s parody featuring Jon Stewart, Jon Cryer, Bellamy Young, Eric Andre, Nico Santos, Molly Ringwald, Olivia Munn, Matthew Broderick, Jonathan Van Ness, Patton Oswalt, Ana Villafañe, Allana Harkin, and Ashley Nicole Black. And while the whole thing is worth it for the hair and costumes alone, there’s a moment in the middle where Patton Oswalt seems to break character to deliver the perfect description of the true eggnog experience:

“It’s like swallowing something that you half coughed up.”

I mean, I don’t even hate eggnog, but yeah — that’s exactly what it’s like. And now I’m going to think that every time I take a sip.