97. National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation

Get out your stapler gun and empty your shitter, because it’s time to look at the holiday classic National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation (1989) in extraordinary detail. 

Laci’s seen this film dozens of times, while Matt had only seen it once, decades ago. To prepare, he watched the entire Vacation series, and he has much to say about the merits of the individual Vacation films, despite no one asking him to do this.

Plus, we admire Clark Griswold’s aptitude for concealing his boners and Randy Quaid’s aptitude for lifting giant bags of dog food. Happy holidays, everybody!

Watch this episode in full: https://youtu.be/MNhh7EfxV_4 

Next week: We’re doing a very normal episode about Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971). 

At the end of the month, we’re doing a mailbag. Please submit questions to us. We’ll answer them! Here’s where you do it: https://youtu.be/yzFA8dTPYsI

Time stamps:

00:03:19 — Our personal histories with Christmas Vacation

00:07:45 — Pre-movie predictions

00:18:46 — History segment: The Harvard Lampoon & National Lampoon magazines; overview of writer John Hughes and the Vacation series; career overviews of director Jeremiah Chechik and stars Chevy Chase and Beverly D’Angelo

00:50:34 — In-depth movie discussion

02:08:53  — Final thoughts and star ratings

Artwork by Laci Roth. 

Music by Rural Route Nine. Listen to their album The Joy of Averages on Spotify (https://bit.ly/48WBtUa), Apple Music (https://bit.ly/3Q6kOVC), or YouTube (https://bit.ly/3MbU6tC). 

Songs by Rural Route Nine in this episode: 

“Winston-Salem” - https://youtu.be/-acMutUf8IM 

“Snake Drama” - https://youtu.be/xrzz8_2Mqkg 

“The Bible Towers of Bluebonnet” - https://youtu.be/k7wlxTGGEIQ

Sources mentioned on this episode:

Rolling Stone’s oral history of National Lampoon’s Christmas Vacation: https://www.rollingstone.com/feature/xmas-or-bust-the-untold-story-of-national-lampoons-christmas-vacation-173969/

Chicago Magazine’s oral history of Home Alone:
https://www.chicagomag.com/chicago-magazine/december-2015/home-alone/

Art of the Title’s interview with Christmas Vacation opening titles animator Bill Kroyer:
https://www.artofthetitle.com/title/national-lampoons-christmas-vacation/ 

New Yorker profile of Donald Glover: 
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2018/03/05/donald-glover-cant-save-you

Peter Biskind’s Pandora’s Box: How Guts, Guile, and Greed Upended TV:
https://www.amazon.com/Out-Box-Greed-Upended-Television/dp/B0BJ17328C/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=peter+biskind&qid=1702012570&sr=8-1