Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics

"Mr. Hankey's Christmas Classics" is the fifteenth episode of Season Three, and the 46th overall episode of South Park. It originally aired on December 1, 1999. This episode aired the week after the album with the same name was released.

Synopsis
Hosted by Mr. Hankey himself, holiday songs are performed in unique South Park style. Highlights include Cartman's rendition of "O Holy Night", Satan's own version of "Christmas Time in Hell" and a festive duet with Jesus Christ and Santa Claus performing some all-time favorites.

Plot
Cowboy Timmy sings "Mr. Hankey, the Christmas Poo" with a chorus of South Park children, followed by an introduction by Mr. Hankey sitting in an armchair by the fire in his sewer home. He tells the audience all about what's coming up in the episode; it is a collection of songs dedicated to Christmas and other winter holidays.

Kyle is trying to teach Ike how to play with a dreidel, and sings "Dreidel, Dreidel, Dreidel". Cartman and Stan join in and sing their own verses of the song along with Kyle's, followed by a verse by Sheila Broflovski. Gerald Broflovski adds the last verse, which confesses his love for Courteney Cox. Finally, they all sing their five parts of the song together.

Adolf Hitler is seen kneeling beside an empty tree support. As he sadly sings "O Tannenbaum", he remembers all his years with Christmas trees. Satan happens by and, realizing that Hitler is crying because there's no tree, leads the almost all the other residents of Hell to sing the song, "Christmas Time in Hell".

Mr. Mackey, dressed as a bell, sings all four parts of "Carol of the Bells" himself.

We then see Cartman, dressed in formal wear, in the town of Bethlehem. He sings "O Holy Night", but changes some of the lyrics to be about how he loves to receive presents and sweets.

Mr. Garrison is seen in class teaching the kids about the countries that do not celebrate Christmas, such as the Middle East, India and Japan. He sings "Merry Fucking Christmas" and explains how he goes into each of those countries every year and forces them into celebrating.

Shelly sings "I Saw Three Ships", while Stan and Kyle laugh at poke fun at her behind her back. She keeps warning them, and telling them to shut up, but they persist. At the end of the song, she finally takes the piano she was playing and drops it on them before calmly walking away.

Santa Claus and Jesus are then seen on a stage singing a Christmas Medley. Jesus wants to sing carols about himself, while Santa also wants to sing songs about himself. They finally get into a medley of songs, each competing with the other over the song topics.

We then end with Mr. Hankey, and the entire cast of the episode singing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas".

The episode ends with the anchorman "fighting the frizzies."

References to Popular Culture

 * Before and after every commercial break, a live action segment featuring a news anchor is shown, saying "Fighting the frizzies, at eleven." This is a reference to a bootleg tape of The Star Wars Holiday Special which is the source for most of the bootlegs currently available online. The original tape featured a brief clip at the end from WCBS-TV featuring newscaster Rolland Smith informing viewers, "Fighting the frizzies, at eleven." As a novelty, those who reproduce the tape for others have customarily left this unusual clip intact, rather than editing it out. However, while the original news ad was apparently referring to "frizzy" hair, the ending credits of this episode of South Park features the news anchor boxing a man in a giant fuzzy suit.
 * The song that Santa sings that Jesus says isn't about Christmas is Rio by Duran Duran.References