12 Best Christmas Podcasts to Check Out This Holiday Season
You’ve heard of watching terrible Hallmark Channel holiday movies in December, but what about watching a podcast about terrible Hallmark Channel holiday movies? There’s a glut of seasonal content on all TV channels and streaming services this time of year, and podcasts are no exception, so I’m here to recommend the best of the best.
From shows exploring dark and strange Christmas stories; reviews of your favorite Christmas movies and TV shows; to an audio dramatization of a script about a university where every year 40,000 Santas fight to the death to become that year’s Santa; these podcasts will help you get into the holiday spirit. One of them is even hosted by the Grinch himself!
Complete joy
The 2015 miniseriesThe Complete Woman introduced us to self-help writer Marabelle May, a 1960s housewife full of toxic advice on how to be a thriving woman in the era. (Marabelle, played by Amanda Lund, harbors an internalized misogyny and contempt for her place in the world.) She also produced a spin-off series,Complete Joy , which is set in 1965 and sees Marabelle as a changed woman (thanks to electroshock therapy and a lot of tranquilizers.) Now she’s on a mission to help women make the most of the Christmas season by planning the perfect parties, buying the perfect gifts and drinking too many cocktails.
Deck the halls with marriage!
“Deck the Halls” (with “Matrimony!”) is a Christmas play for your ears about everything that’s going on in the Regal Bride business. Best friends Emma and Jackie are just trying to survive the festive wedding season when a mysterious and handsome stranger appears on the scene. The writing is dynamic and witty; staging, sound design and acting at the highest level; and the charming characters will warm your heart. It’s just so… cute.
“It’s The Grinch’s Holiday Show”
You’d think the Grinch would be swamped this time of year, but he made time for the podcast It’s The Grinch’s Holiday Show , in which he rants about Christmas and humiliates his guests for liking it. He’s funny, sarcastic, and charming—you could even use the word “charismatic” to describe him. He’s nicer than I thought, that’s what I’m saying. Along with his court-ordered children’s producer Cindy Lou Who (child labor laws don’t seem to apply in Whoville), he asks guests such as Olympic gymnast Shawn Johnson East what their favorite bump or callus was, and nearly breaks down in tears when Bob Odenkirk invites him to Thanksgiving dinner.
Build a prince
If you’ve already attached a tinsel-covered IV to your arm to inject as much of the sugar-coated contents into your veins as possible, add Build-a-Prince to your queue now. It’s the story of Princess Adelaide, who discovers that she needs to get married by Christmas to become queen, so she decides to secretly create the perfect prince out of handsome American commoner Hayden. They fall in love, but not everyone wants Adelaide to become queen. This is a Hallmark movie for your ears.
Christmas is in the past
Excuse me, but what about the nutcrackers? Why do we decorate Christmas trees and what is fig pudding? Any Christmas lover worth his salt should know why we treasure these old, strange traditions so much. Christmas Past is a little podcast that will teach you about those things about the holiday that you might otherwise take for granted—think The Twelve Days of Christmas, elves, and Pfeffernusse (those little spiced cookies that look like snowballs). ). This is a crash course in all things Christmas.
It’s a wonderful lie
You know those newsletters you get around this time of year from people you haven’t spoken to in decades, telling you about their family’s annual events? They can be painfully positive, annoying and… inappropriately interesting. And sometimes they reveal a lot of unintended information if you read between the lines. It’s a Wonderful Lie explores the twisted stories behind those holiday letters as Greg Hess, Holly Laurent and Ashley Flowers read and comically comment on Christmas letters from real people you don’t know, but you’ll feel the same way.
First Mrs. Claus
The First Mrs. Claus is a musical comedy that tells a version of the Santa Claus story you’ve never heard before, told by Hot. Coco, the real brains behind all things Christmas, was betrayed by her boyfriend Ari when he took over the holiday and christened himself Santa Claus, and left her for a more ideal wife. This is the story of Coco getting back what she deserves. This is Christmas camp at its best.
House of Advent Calendar
One of the best things about December is the Christmas TV specials. And if you’re nostalgic for the ones that came out in the 80s and 90s, Advent Calendar House is for you. Mike Westfall devotes episodes to holiday episodes from Alvin and the Chipmunks, Punky Brewster, Mister Rogers, The Smurfs, The Nanny and more.
Santa University
Jamie Loftus is the woman behind some of the best crazy podcasts ever – My Year at Mensa , Church of Ghosts , Aaaack Cast , Lolita Podcast – but even big-headed Loftus may not know that every year Jamie writes an updated version of his long-running podcast. The script “Santa Claus University ” is about a university in which every year 40,000 Santa Clauses fight to the death to become the real Saint Nick that year. Her talented friends (including Behind the Bastards ‘ Robert Evans and other hilarious podcasters and comedians) read the latest chapter cold. The show has been renewed every year since 2017, and it doesn’t look like it’s ending anytime soon. Find it in The Daily Zeitgeist before Christmas.
Weird Christmas Podcast
Of course, Christmas is a warm and fuzzy time, filled with being nice to men etc. But there is darkness lurking there too. In A Strange Christmas, host Craig Kringle dives into the spooky atmosphere of the season: elf folklore, holiday murder ballads and Krampus. This is a look at the history of the occult of Christmas and the surprisingly dark ways in which people celebrate this time of year around the world.
Behind the Christmas hits with Drew Savage
In Behind the Christmas Hits, veteran radio host Drew Savage creates short, enjoyable episodes (five minutes or less) about the stories behind your favorite (or least favorite) Christmas hits. You’ll learn things you didn’t know about everything from “The Christmas Song” to Taylor Swift’s “The Christmas Tree” – great stuff to share with co-workers when you’re stuck at a holiday party listening to “I’ll Be Home for Christmas” on repeat.
Hallmark Podcast
There’s a certain type of person who can’t get enough of made-for-TV Christmas movies, no matter how terrible they are. (Sometimes, the creepier the better.) If you’re one of them, you’ll listen to episodes of the Deck the Hallmark podcast faster than you can watch Catch Me If You’re Claus , Get Out the Holiday , and The Holiday Hotline . and all your other Hallmark “favorites.”