Christmas With Dave Foley #5: Newsradio "Stupid Holiday Charity Talent Show"

Newsradio's final Christmas episode is "Stupid Holiday Charity Talent Show" (from the same titling geniuses who brought you "Super Karate Monkey Death Car" and "Spooky Rapping Crypt"). Matthew has been fired by Andrea Planbee, and a wacky sitcom plot ("which, when I think about it now, doesn't even really make sense at all," Matthew says) hinges his reinstatement on the staff winning a talent show.

Dave's embarrassed about all his talents (the tapdancing revealed in the previous season, plus jelly-making and possibly his high-school performance in Grease), so everyone else has to come up with acts. I love watching Vicki Lewis get to sing (which Beth never did much, and you should totally check out Vicki's Christmas album), and it's always nice to see Bill at the piano. Lisa offers to do mental math. Joe hits stuff.

Sidebar: Maybe because it's not mentioned in the dialogue, I don't remember noticing the end of Joe's story before today. During the final scenes, both his hands are bandaged up. I wish the DVDs had deleted scenes.

Double Sidebar: While I'm wishing things, this was the first episode after Khandi Alexander left, and I'd be interested to see Catherine's talent. Catherine is maybe too regal to entertain at a silly talent show, so would she just refuse? Or would she have something surprising to help Matthew?

And so Dave has to pull out his final, genuinely impressive talent: knife-throwing. This episode, of course, is memorable as Dave's reunion with Kevin McDonald, who appears as a perfectly Kevin-ish character, Dave's knife nemesis.

Dave's short-lived confidence leaves as quickly as it came, of course, and so the real hero turns out to be Matthew all along. He pulls out his surprise talent: ventriloquism. And it goes about as well as anything Matthew does, though he gets a depressing holiday surprise: more pity, and his job back.

So Dave's depressed, and we're all feeling sorry for Matthew, and then Dave puts the final twist on the show, and Christmas at WNYX has come to an end. It's by no means their best Christmas show, but it's plenty good, and I still watch it every year.

As a Newsradio episode, I rate this one 6/10. It's got plenty of memorable lines. But the plot is so constraining, and frankly the show had a hard time righting itself after Khandi left. But, a Newsradio 6/10 is a 9/10 for most other shows.
As a Christmas episode, I rate this one 5/10. It's got Matthew singing "Silent Night," in the first and best scene. There are decorations and a little bit more Christmas talk, but not a lot of holiday spirit. When Beth sings, she sings "Makin' Whoopee," which is a great song, but not exactly seasonally appropriate.
As a spotlight for Dave, I rate this one 8/10. Dave Nelson is usually a bundle of nerves, and this whole season saw Dave on edge more than usual (I still love "The Public Domain," for example). It's great to see his dynamic emotional arc in this show -- he's got a roller-coaster of emotions, and Kevin to play off of.