Hi pals, 

A few years ago, comedian, actor, and podcast host Matt Rogers made one of the raunchiest, most hilarious holiday TV specials-turned-album I’ve ever heard. It’s called Have You Heard of Christmas?. The standout track (imho) is called “Hottest Female Up In Whoville,” and it’s all about the sexual relationship between a character from How The Grinch Stole Christmas and the Grinch himself, and the jealousy she has to put up with in its wake. It’s got the sonic feel of an early-2000s Mariah Carey/Jermaine Dupri collaboration. It’s strange, seductive, and I LOVE it. Unlike most other Christmas albums, Matt’s is looking for laughs, not sentimentality. 

Though he loves Christmas, Matt tells me on the show this week that he knows the entire holiday is a money grab — as is the very idea of a Christmas album. “All these pop stars with Christmas albums, it’s just like a phase of their career,” he says. “Not everyone loves and has a passion for Christmas [such] that they want to do a whole album about it. And yet, they all do. Like it’s another way to monetize and get in there. And I just thought that was funny.” So why not turn the idea of the Christmas album itself on its head, and milk it for all it’s worth? 

I have been thinking a lot about capitalism and entertainment, and whether money grabs can be good. Because I, like you (most likely), have been living through the most successful press tour of a new movie since, well, Barbenheimer: the launch of the film version of the Broadway musical Wicked. It seems Cynthia Erivo and Ariana Grande are EVERYWHERE for this one…

…Recreating obscure TikToks on Jimmy Kimmel…

…Singing “Defying Gravity” in the middle of a grocery store for a Target commercial… 

…Taking lie detector tests for Vanity Fair… 

And the product tie-ins! Too many to list.

There’s even a line of Wicked CROCS. 

It’s enough to annoy, or make one cynical. And yet I love it. All of this energy building up to the release of the film lets me know that we might be in for a monoculture moment. All the capitalist buzz surrounding this guaranteed blockbuster means maybe, for just a few days, a lot of us will all be talking about the same thing, instead of swimming aimlessly in our own disconnected, personalized algorithms. Yes, it’s a money grab, but it might unite us. And I’ll take that. 

The first reviews make it seem as if Wicked has succeeded in more than one way. All that press has the film set to open to some really big box office numbers, and — the critics are saying this thing is actually good. I will be laughing at the press tour and crying at the movie these next few days, fully aware of the duality of this film’s capitalist excess. And fully in awe of it all. 

I am curious: what are your thoughts on the Wicked rollout? And how are you preparing yourself for the coming capitalist onslaught of the Christmas season? Do you like this season? Or does it wear you down? And most importantly: What Christmas movies and music and TV do you return to every year? 

Reply to this email and let me know. And, if you’re looking for a new holiday tradition and you’re in LA, be sure to check out Matt Rogers on his Christmas tour stop at The Fonda, on December 4th. You may just see me in the crowd, wearing my ugliest holiday sweater. 

Be well,

Sam