Bad Santa was a funny movie, but I wonder if any mj posters have actually seen one of these Bad Santa's in person? If so, what did you think?
This excerpt is from the Wall Street Journal of Friday, Dec. 15, 2006.
You Better Watch Out
Bad Santas Come to Town, Drunk, Sexy, Even Dead; Calming a Senior Partner
By Amy Merrick
It used to be that Santa Claus made a list of who?s been bad and who?s been good. Now, Santa himself is sometimes more naughty than nice.
Bad Santa is coming to town, as talent-booking services offer Clauses who, to the surprise of many guests, agree to show up smelling of booze, complaining about the food and hurling presents. Unruly Santas are also taking to the streets in dozens of cities around the U.S. as part of a spreading underground event in which revelers dressed in the full red regalia embark on rowdy pub crawls.
While he?s unlikely to overtake the traditional Saint Nick, the surly, bad-tempered Santa is making inroads. In Seattle, the Live Wires entertainment service says actor Rafe Wadleigh?s drunken Santa will make a holiday party ?more Tim Burton than Burl Ives.? IN Las Vegas, the Tao Nightclub at the ornate hotel The
Venetian is hosting its second annual Bad Santa Party on Thursday; photos from last year?s event depict bare-chested men wearing fake antlers and women showing off read-and-white underwear.
Actor Allan Richards figures he?s played the jolly old elf hundreds of times over the past 15 years, but he took the ole to a new level at a Sa Francisco law firm?s holiday party a few years back. He spilled drinks on himself and on guests. He bellied up to the buffet tables and dumped vegetables and chicken into his giant gift sack. He dropped his pants on the dance floor, revealing a pair of crimson shorts. People stared, and one partner had to be calmed by a junior associate.
Eventually, he says, guests caught on. And when he reverted to type and began leading carols and hour or so later, he sensed some disappointment. ?I don?t think they really wanted me to become the boring, traditional, ?ho-ho-ho,? Merry Christmas, regular stuffed-shirt Santa,? says the 65-year old Mr. Richards. ?I think they were having too much fun with me as the overly outrageous, over-the-top, totally off-the-wall kind of Santa.?
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Noreen Requiro thought the Bad Santa at her party went too far. Last Saturday, Ms. Requiro and her colleagues at Extended Day Child Care Center Inc., a Northern California day-care operator, dressed up for a party in the ballroom of the Wyndham Garden hotel in Pleasanton, Calif. As they circulated, she says, the Santa her company had hired sat on guests? laps, flipped candy across tables and made lewd comments to some of the women. ?He was a little obnoxious,? said Ms. Requiro, a company director. ?I didn?t really even want to be near him, because it was uncomfortable. I didn?t eat my candy.?
When told that the Santa had been instructed to act off-color, she responded: ?I had no idea. We were thinking, ?Has this guy been drinking?? It just seemed odd for the type of occasion.?
The iconic version of Santa (jolly, generous and dressed in a red suit) was shaped mostly in the U.S. in the 19th century, through Thomas Nast illustrations and Clement C. Moore?s poem ?A Visit from St. Nicholas.? Department stores and candy stores also used the image to help push products. Mythical gift-giving figures are deeply rooted, going back to winter solstice celebrations that predate Christianity, says Carl Anderson, a psychologist who has researched the character?s history.
Dr. Anderson, who has also played Santa for 18 years at the NorthPark Center mall in Dallas, says subversive Santas play fast and loose with an iconic image. ?It doesn?t sit well with me,? he says. ?After all my years of doing Santa I have a deeper appreciation of what he represents, which is hope.?
This excerpt is from the Wall Street Journal of Friday, Dec. 15, 2006.
You Better Watch Out
Bad Santas Come to Town, Drunk, Sexy, Even Dead; Calming a Senior Partner
By Amy Merrick
It used to be that Santa Claus made a list of who?s been bad and who?s been good. Now, Santa himself is sometimes more naughty than nice.
Bad Santa is coming to town, as talent-booking services offer Clauses who, to the surprise of many guests, agree to show up smelling of booze, complaining about the food and hurling presents. Unruly Santas are also taking to the streets in dozens of cities around the U.S. as part of a spreading underground event in which revelers dressed in the full red regalia embark on rowdy pub crawls.
While he?s unlikely to overtake the traditional Saint Nick, the surly, bad-tempered Santa is making inroads. In Seattle, the Live Wires entertainment service says actor Rafe Wadleigh?s drunken Santa will make a holiday party ?more Tim Burton than Burl Ives.? IN Las Vegas, the Tao Nightclub at the ornate hotel The
Venetian is hosting its second annual Bad Santa Party on Thursday; photos from last year?s event depict bare-chested men wearing fake antlers and women showing off read-and-white underwear.
Actor Allan Richards figures he?s played the jolly old elf hundreds of times over the past 15 years, but he took the ole to a new level at a Sa Francisco law firm?s holiday party a few years back. He spilled drinks on himself and on guests. He bellied up to the buffet tables and dumped vegetables and chicken into his giant gift sack. He dropped his pants on the dance floor, revealing a pair of crimson shorts. People stared, and one partner had to be calmed by a junior associate.
Eventually, he says, guests caught on. And when he reverted to type and began leading carols and hour or so later, he sensed some disappointment. ?I don?t think they really wanted me to become the boring, traditional, ?ho-ho-ho,? Merry Christmas, regular stuffed-shirt Santa,? says the 65-year old Mr. Richards. ?I think they were having too much fun with me as the overly outrageous, over-the-top, totally off-the-wall kind of Santa.?
?
Noreen Requiro thought the Bad Santa at her party went too far. Last Saturday, Ms. Requiro and her colleagues at Extended Day Child Care Center Inc., a Northern California day-care operator, dressed up for a party in the ballroom of the Wyndham Garden hotel in Pleasanton, Calif. As they circulated, she says, the Santa her company had hired sat on guests? laps, flipped candy across tables and made lewd comments to some of the women. ?He was a little obnoxious,? said Ms. Requiro, a company director. ?I didn?t really even want to be near him, because it was uncomfortable. I didn?t eat my candy.?
When told that the Santa had been instructed to act off-color, she responded: ?I had no idea. We were thinking, ?Has this guy been drinking?? It just seemed odd for the type of occasion.?
The iconic version of Santa (jolly, generous and dressed in a red suit) was shaped mostly in the U.S. in the 19th century, through Thomas Nast illustrations and Clement C. Moore?s poem ?A Visit from St. Nicholas.? Department stores and candy stores also used the image to help push products. Mythical gift-giving figures are deeply rooted, going back to winter solstice celebrations that predate Christianity, says Carl Anderson, a psychologist who has researched the character?s history.
Dr. Anderson, who has also played Santa for 18 years at the NorthPark Center mall in Dallas, says subversive Santas play fast and loose with an iconic image. ?It doesn?t sit well with me,? he says. ?After all my years of doing Santa I have a deeper appreciation of what he represents, which is hope.?