The last time I was this entertained by a Christmas special was in lockdown, when Mariah Carey waved, regally, from a sleigh, for what I remember being about seven hours. But that was four years ago and there hasn’t been a decent one since. So Santa hats off to Sabrina Carpenter for coming up with a holiday special that feels entirely of the moment, right down to its starry duets, carefully curated off-the-cuff moments and internet-baiting comedy skits. Netflix has given her an unlimited budget, she says drolly, as long as she goes viral.
What Carpenter has pulled together in A Nonsense Christmas is a buzzy blend of comedy sketches in the style of Saturday Night Live and duets with other pop stars who are similarly hot to go. While every production is a miracle of teamwork, the behind-the-scenes interludes suggest Carpenter has had more input than simply being moved around like a marionette. The comedy is fine, the duets are fun, but it is the Carpenter charisma that keeps it all flowing nicely. Fans will have a field day with clips of her as a toddler, asking for cake instead of Christmas presents, or gags about skimpy costumes, although newcomers may need a primer on a running joke about the ad-libbing at the end of her 2022 hit Nonsense.
The tone is knowing and dry. The show is introduced with a narrative eye-roll that is maintained throughout, a tactic that pre-empts criticism. Everyone does a musical-comedy holiday special, she says. Everyone has celebrity guests. So she is doing it, too. Viewers could be anywhere, she notes, such as spending time with family or volunteering with the less fortunate. “Instead, you’re here, half-watching a big screen while scrolling social media on a smaller screen,” she smiles.
It is another bit of lighthearted self-deprecation – I’m here, but I’m over it, but it’s good to be here – and yet she is selling herself short. The female pop titans dominating the charts this year have been a much more characterful clan than usual – and this is a clear example of that. It is hard to imagine a more bland force carrying it off. The only real joke about her megahit Espresso is a sly refusal to make a joke about it. The programme is camp, although perhaps it is unnecessary to point this out, as she opens the show by descending, like Marilyn Monroe, from a giant, red cake stand, surrounded by female dancers in dinner jackets and male dancers in vests and braces.
It is occasionally bawdy, although only gently; unsurprisingly, the double-entendre potential in “ho ho ho” is wheeled out more than once. In one sketch, she dates an older man named Nick, whom her friends (played by the Hacks star Meg Stalter and the actor Owen Thiele) quickly notice is Father Christmas (Sean Astin). She just thinks he has a dad bod, a job so dull she doesn’t need to know what it is and impeccable gift-giving skills. In another, probably the best of the special, SNL’s Kyle Mooney plays a generic relative, leading to a song called What Do I Get My Brother-in-Law. “Maybe he likes IPAs?” felt very close to the bone.
The guest spots have that random, collage-like feel of social media, in which all eras and genres are up for grabs. Abbott Elementary’s Quinta Brunson and Cara Delevingne appear in a rough Christmas Carol sketch, which features women who have been ghosted by “Ebby” Scrooge (Nico Hiraga) and who teach him a lesson about staying off the naughty list.
But really, everyone is here for the music – and the music is great. Some of it is taken from Carpenter’s 2023 Christmas EP Fruitcake, but she also recruits famous duet partners for covers of the classics. She sings with Tyla on Donnie Hathaway’s eternally popular This Christmas. Shania Twain puts in double time, playing Mrs Claus and singing Santa Baby. (In a sweet aside, you can hear Carpenter saying she can’t believe Twain is there.) Kali Uchis does I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus on a rug by the fire, while Chappell Roan turns up dressed as a gift to sing Last Christmas, by the light of TV karaoke, in the aftermath of a raucous house party.
Clocking in at only 50 minutes, it feels like exceptionally good value. With gags about “Nick” being good in bed, it may not be one to put on for the kids, unless risque jokes sail over their heads. But what Carpenter promises will be the “ho-ho-ho-iest special of all” is a spirited attempt to drag the sometimes fusty Christmas special into the modern age.
• A Nonsense Christmas With Sabrina Carpenter is on Netflix
