'Twas the weekend before Christmas and all through the house, if you get a break from festive preparations, we hope you'll spare an hour and a bit for The Mark Steyn Christmas Show, with guests from Hollywood, Broadway, British Columbia, Ireland and beyond.
Canadian rock colossus Randy Bachman, from The Guess Who and Bachman-Turner Overdrive and "American Woman" and "You Ain't Seen Nothing Yet", is on hand to rock around a couple of Christmas classics. Randy's son Tal, fresh from contributing the music to the Peloton Christmas controversy, turns thespian to conjure Dickens' Ghost of Christmas Past. Comedy legend Orson Bean channels Stevie Wonder. Jazz greats Carol Welsman and Russell Malone team up for a shimmering seasonal standard, and Mark and Tony-nominated Best Actress Marla Schaffel do likewise, although it doesn't go quite as planned. And Irish tenor Anthony Kearns returns to the Steyn show for a glorious performance of one of the most touching of Christmas carols.
It's an hour and more of caroling and comedy, and a lot of great music, from "In the Bleak Midwinter", "God Rest Ye Merry, Gentlemen" and "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" to "Blue Christmas", "What Are You Doing New Year's Eve?" and "Rockin' Around the Christmas Tree" - plus a Yuletide song you'll certainly never have heard before. Oh, and "Baby, It's Cold Outside", after a fashion. Click below to watch, starting with our especially seasonal opening titles:
The Mark Steyn Show Band
Geoff Eales, piano; Michel Berthiaume, drums; Jon Geary, guitar; Mathieu McConnell-Enright, bass; Bill Mahar, trumpet and flugelhorn; and Jean-Pierre Zanella, sax and flute.
KEVIN AMOS, musical director
Eric Harding, musical contractor
Directed by Whittaker Ingbretson; produced by Andrew Lawton.
The Mark Steyn Christmas Show was filmed in Montreal before an audience of Mark Steyn Club members. Among the benefits of Steyn Club membership is that you can enjoy The Mark Steyn Show in your medium of choice. So, if you'd rather listen to Mark, Carol, Orson, Marla, Randy et al in audio only, please click here and log-in.
We have more festive entertainment in Tales for Our Time. If you haven't yet heard this year's Yuletide selections from L M Montgomery, they make for a great weekend binge-listen. If Christmas at Green Gables is not to your taste, we also have an O Henry classic, The Gift of the Magi; Holmes, Watson and a Christmas goose in The Adventure of the Blue Carbuncle; and a seasonal sampler from Little Women.
For more information on The Mark Steyn Club, please see here.
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35 Member Comments
I can't be the only one who thinks something is missing about the Christmas season without Bing, Perry and Andy. Mark, your Christmas Special recaptures those memories with music, humor, fun, warmth and Christmas spirits. Thank you so much for brightening our holidays!
What great fun! Thanks, Mark.
Cher Mark,
Joyeux Noël!
I absolutely adored the show! What a treat to see it live! The big revelation of the evening for me was Tal Bachman. We already knew he's an incredibly talented musician, but he really impressed me with his acting skill. He was profoundly moving as the Ghost of Christmas Past, and absolutely hilarious as your lawyer in the "Baby It's Cold Outside" skit. Well done!
Still waiting to sing "Bébé, y fa frette déhors" with you!
Cheers,
Ellen
Mark replies:
Joyeux Noël à vous aussi, chère Ellen. Delighted you enjoyed it. Tal's acting and his accents (especially as the poulterer and lawyer) were indeed brilliant.
Loved the show Mark- the 'Baby It's Cold Outside' segment was a riot! Merry Christmas!
Merry Christmas to Mark and to all the Steyn Club members who make this site so interesting with their intelligent and perceptive comments.
And all best wishes for 2020! And if Santa is still taking wishes, I'd like to request Mark has an opportunity to visit the Canadian West some time in the new year. Things are getting kind of interesting on the Prairies. The recent federal election makes the map look as though we love the Tories, it would be more accurate to say we dislike them the least.
It is Christmas Evening here, and I am cooking, drinking fine cab and listening to this wonderful show.
Merry Christmas! You have made my heart glad.
A very Merry Christmas and a happy, healthy New Year to Mark and all members!!!
Looking forward to watching it Mark. Hopefully today!
Merry Christmas everyone- enjoy my Christmas lights:
https://youtu.be/tVtd35xHcWY
The frills and follies that only a Mark Steyn Christmas show could produce , how glorious.
A special Merry Christmas to Mark and the Crew for a year of scintillating content and thought provoking commentary, we so appreciate all of your hard work that provide a haven of sanity and hopefulness and of course laughter amidst the caucus of confusion media from the deaf left cascade us with!
Happy tidings to you and your loved ones and all the best for an exciting 2020
God bless
Mark replies:
Merry Christmas to you too, Greg.
Orson used to appear often on the Tonight Show with Johnny Carson because he was such a great guest, but I like to think of him as Jimmy Stewart's young defense witness in the great movie Anatomy of a Murder. That movie was made 60 years ago. Orson is amazing.
Thanks for a great show, Mark. Merry Christmas.
Just finished listening to this over the last couple of days during long walks with the dog in snowy landscapes, and it was an utter joy. Can't wait to watch it later. I did feel a pang of loss when I recalled that this was something like what Mark intended his show on CRTV to be: music and gaiety to go along with conservative talk and civilizational collapse. Sort of like Firing Line and the Mike Douglas Show aboard the Titanic. Rather than curse the name of Carry Cats, however, let me instead submit to the holiday spirit and wish him and his entire litter a Happy Hanukkah (if I may presume). If I presumed wrong, sue me (as if he needed the encouragement).
Hi Josh, it gives me a pang of loss too. But also look at what we have gained as a result - this club, for instance! Merry Christmas!
Like an intimate party with the best friends ever.
Mark's shtick about how Christmas shows get recorded in July is so true. The military bands in Washington DC have a tradition of doing Christmas music programs out on the National Mall in July, when you can sit on the lawn and enjoy great choral and orchestral renditions of your favorite holuday tunes. They do pop, jazz, and traditional music. You would love it. Great fun.
Merry Christmas to all, and to all a good night!
I loved Orson Bean's Scrooge but I had to wince at the distance I have travelled between Crazy Guggenheim and Stevie Wonder's Songs in the Key of Life! BTW I played Orson Bean in my high school play of, " To tell the truth." Of which he was a regular panelist with Kitty Carlyle. Another existential ouch!
Wonderful show! Perhaps next year there could be a Florida version. Rush must have some extra space around in Palm Beach. Thanks again for such a delightful Christmas show!
Mark, your Christmas Special was especially inspiring to me and my family. My wife is stricken with Alzheimer's. As such, she will "drift off" while watching TV -- whether it's HGTV's "Fixer Upper" or Fox's "Hannity" But during your Christmas show she stayed alert 100% all the way through from beginning to its "rockin' " end. God bless you and all of your guests. They made our day. Merry Christmas!!!
Mark replies:
Thank you for that, Timothy, and God bless you and your wife. I know from my own family experience that, as Alzheimer's shaves away a lifetime's memories, it is very moving to see how music and lyrics can sometimes be the last thing a clouded mind retains. So I am heartened to hear "Blue Christmas" and "It Came Upon the Midnight Clear" held your wife's attention, and glad she enjoyed all our talented guests. Merry Christmas to you, Timothy, and all good wishes to you and yours for 2020.
Looks just as nice on screen as it did in person.
The music especially was just magical. It was a real treat from start to finish, and level and professionalism of all the friends of Mark who came together to make it happen is a real testimony to the kind of artists and individuals Mark calls his friends. Listening to the music live was truly uplifting.
Thanks Mark and Merry Christmas! I really enjoyed the show.
Thank you, Mark. That was delightful!
Orson Bean at 91 years old. Amazing. Thanks, Mark.
Mr Bean put up a one-man-show that he did on YouTube a while back. Discussing his life. Only 15k viewers according to YouTube. That's a shame. Anyone wanting to take a look, search YouTube for 'Orson Bean one man show'.
Amazingly well done, from beginning to end, Mark and everyone!
Great opening number!! Looking forward to watching the full show, uninterrupted.
Merry Christmas!
I'll have to ask someone who attended the live show: what was so offensive about Mark's tie that it had to be pixellated?
Perhaps it is the strobe effect caused by narrow diagonal stripes. But with Mark you never know.
I would definitely travel two thousand miles for the Mark Steyn Christmas Show again!
Hi Fran,
Glad you enjoyed the show and were able to make it!
Still pinching myself, Ellen. By next Christmas I'll be all pinched into a tiny Christmas tree ball, it's that unbelievable that I made the trip. My husband sent me for an early Christmas gift since he knew I get into Christmas music and live shows and air travel. Okay maybe not so much the air travel. But to get out of my little corner of the globe to get to see Mark Steyn live and in action on stage in Montreal, wow!
To get a chance to walk around the city and see all the monuments, the Notre Dame Cathedral and the Beaux Artes museum, the old part of the city, and the archeology museum on the one full free day I had was the cherry on top. Or was the Douglas Murray interview that? No, it was all too huge a treat rolled up into one. I also finally met Laura, Our Clubland Lady of the Links, and visited a bit on the luxuriously warm and cozy shuttle to and from the show with Susan from the East Coast and Beth from the West Coast. Is there anything more to say about it? If I think of it, I won't hold back my thoughts. Hee hee! Oh, yes, you're right about Tal. What can't he do?
Fran & Ellen - while I knew the show was great while we were there in the midst of it, I truly didn't totally comprehend just how wonderful it was until I watched the video. I am embarrassed to admit how many times I have actually watched it but every time I see something or hear something new. Perhaps I am more relaxed back home in my PJs sipping hot cocoa then in the beautiful, sophisticated city of Montreal.
Every song, skit, joke, & musical interlude was superb. The accents were a plus and then add in the wonderful companionship of the attendees, seeing MS Cruise friends again & the superb meal - what a night!
I would do it again in a heartbeat and maybe even bit a more adventurous like yourself next time.
Thank you for the kind words and a shout out to Lori for her kind handling of us Mark Steyn fans.
Looking forward to the next adventure!
I know, Susan, wasn't that the best shuttle ride ever? I was expecting one of those little frigid boxes with metal handles and ceiling bars with seats along the windows like they zip you about from the rental car parking lots to the airport terminal. I was so impressed. I felt like a VIP on my way to the ball that night! Everyone looked beautiful and handsome. No disappointments there at all. Ahhh, the memories!
Look forward to this each year. Thanks for another enjoyable show, and merry Christmas!
Absolutely fabulous and fun!
Ah memories! Baby It's Cold Outside comedy bit almost as good as My Sharia Amour from other shows.
I hear the new Cats movie very weird and doesn't give enough time to the Memories song. Maybe you could parody Cats next time.
Orson Bean as Scrooge the highlight of the show.
Funny and fun show Mark. You should've sung Santa Baby but I guess Harvey Weinstein has that song down when he goes "Think of all the women I have yet to kiss."