Home » Scrooge and his Festivus Accident

From the people who brought you the Flash Gordon parody series comes a comedic Christmas Carol. If you thought the traditional depiction of Ebenezer Scrooge was greedy, this satirical version of the character is a lot meaner than his book counterpart. He’d fit right in at a party for the wealthy one percent.

Scrooge and his Haunting Incident

“The Haunting of Ebenezer Scrooge or the Festivus Incident” released at different times on multiple channels. The first published in 2020, and again in December 2022 on Moonlight Audio Theatre’s podcast. It released again, that following year from the Mindstream Players (now the Radio Reborn) feed.

The plot plays out more or less the same in this version as it does the many iterations of the classic Dickens tale. Scrooge’s late business partner, Jacob Marley, visits Ebenezer and warns him of the three ghosts who will haunt him that night. The ghosts of Christmas: past, present and future, show Scrooge the error of his ways. At least that’s what the original boils down to at the end.

Ghosts Breaking Down the Fourth Wall

The Festivus incident is not that story. From the beginning, Scrooge is not a philanthropic person. By the end, he goes on a killing spree. The cold open of this audio drama oozes dirt down the fourth wall after already knocking it down. Some jokes work. Others do not, and until you get to the ghost portion, there’s not much in the way of even a chuckle.

My first laugh, more an exasperated WTF, was at a Bela Lugosi reference (cameo?) and not a very clever one. For those that don’t know, Lugosi is the Dracula actor who invented the stereotypical vampire speak. The count from Sesame Street is one example of this style of delivery.

A More Absurd Monty Python and a Joke Too Far

The story peaked during and after the ghost of Christmas future segment. A lot of the jokes were made at the expense of people with disabilities, but it just shows you how different and narcissistic this Scrooge is compared to other renditions. Calling Tiny Tim “gimpy” and equating welfare to a drain on society—and, more importantly—Scrooge’s checkbook feels in character, but could’ve been dialed back a smidge.

The last portion to get a laugh was the famous scene after Scrooge’s ghost-filled evening where Ebenezer asks a boy what day it is, turns into an argument worthy of a British sketch show. I mean, most places are closed on Christmas. It does raise the question whether the story takes place closer to modern day. After the back and forth between the street kid and Scrooge, the story devolves into pure unadulterated chaos.

7.5/10 Stars


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