131.🎅 Santa Claus: The Movie w/ Longtime Friend Billy D'Elia

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December 28, 2024 • 67 mins

Dan & Manny welcome back longtime friend, Nostalgia Test Podcast all-star, and unofficial co-host Billy D’Elia to this special holiday episode to put the 1985 British-America Christmas Comedy Santa Claus: The Movie to the ultimate test—THE NOSTALGIA TEST!

“ [Santa Claus: The Movie] is all about the 80s crack epidemic in New York." -Dan Dissinger

Dan, Manny, & Billy try to make sense of a movie so bad that everyone they talked to about watching Santa Claus: The Movie forgot how Santa, his wife (Anya), and two reindeer freeze to death seven and a half minutes in. That’s right! The guys realize this movie is all about an elf, played by Dudley Moore, who makes crack cocaine so that John Lithgow can sell it to children, in the 80s! Manny & Billy try to find what they liked about is as kids, Dan talks about Santa being a poltergeist, they try to figure out where they elves came from and how long they were making toys, what’s up with Burgess Meredith’s beard, we talk about our must-watch Christmas movies, and so much more!

Email us (thenostalgiatest@gmail.com) your thoughts about 131.🎅 Santa Claus: The Movie so we can share them on the next episode & we'll send you a FREE Digital Art Print of a quote from this episode!

APPROXIMATE RUN OF SHOW:

00:00 Introduction and Welcome

00:40 Initial Reactions to Santa Claus: The Movie

01:16 Plot Breakdown and Critique

03:39 Historical Context and Reception

05:39 Character Analysis and Performances

06:01 Plot Holes and Logical Inconsistencies

09:05 Comparisons to Other Christmas Movies

11:08 Final Thoughts and Rants

33:20 Discussing a Weird Movie

33:40 Santa's Factory and Quality Control

35:38 Santa's Depression and the Yarn Doll