The Top 10 Christmas Moments That Made Matt Rogers Say, “Christmas Is For Me”
The actor, Las Culturistas cohost, and self-titled Prince of Christmas shares the pop culture highlights that defined his festive worldview.
Matt Rogers didn’t so much earn the title of Prince of Christmas as manifest it. “I willed myself into it,” the actor and comedian says over Zoom on a chilly morning in November. The coronation happened in 2022, when he released Have You Heard of Christmas?, the taped version of his holiday-themed musical comedy show at Joe’s Pub.
The hour-long variety special begat a companion album and this year’s multi-city Christmas in December comedy tour featuring stand-up, sketches, and original songs, with appearances by special guest stars including Jo Firestone, Pat Regan, and Rogers’s Las Culturistas podcast cohost, Bowen Yang. “People need to go back to basics when it comes to Christmas,” Rogers says. When is it? It’s in the tour title. Who is it? Rogers, of course, though Santa Claus and the ultimate Christmas Queen, Mariah Carey, are also in the mix.
When he’s not performing songs like “Lube for the Sleigh” or “Hottest Female up in Whoville,” Rogers is busy expanding the Las Culturistas universe with Yang. Next year marks the podcast’s ten-year anniversary, and the duo’s tongue-in-cheek Culture Awards were recently picked up for a second annual TV slot on Bravo and Peacock after this year’s successful debut. Like Rogers’s royal title, the awards ceremony’s turn from inside joke to televised event proves that if you build it, the Kayteighs, Publicists, Finalists, and Kyles will come.
Below, in Rogers’s own words, those ten crucial moments in Christmas history:
1The Literal Birth of Mariah Carey
“Everyone knows that Christmas is about the birth of someone, and that person is Mariah Carey. Had she not been born, Christmas would not exist as it does today. ‘All I Want for Christmas Is You’ is literally the sound of Christmas. And if Mariah's not born, you don't get that. You also don't get so many songs that came after ‘All I Want for Christmas.’ A lot have been pretty successful. For example, I would say ‘Underneath the Tree’ by Kelly Clarkson is a very good example of a song following in Mariah's footsteps, or ‘Santa, Tell Me’ by Ariana Grande.”
2The Invention of Macy’s
Kylie Minogue performing at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade 2024.
“Number two is the invention of Macy's and, therefore, the world's first good parade: the Thanksgiving Day Parade. Parades have been shit for absolute centuries, there's been no reason for them—they're boring. It wasn't until Macy's was invented that A) we really finally shopped, and B) we finally had a good parade. Where else can you see Carly Rae Jepsen come out and sing George Michael’s ‘Last Christmas’ while mini Oreo bites dance around her? It's not a good parade unless you have a pop star who was mostly popular ten years ago dancing with a life-sized Ritz Cracker.
So, we're thankful for Macy's, mostly for the first good parade, but also because it made shopping, and what is Christmas without shopping? Nothing. We wouldn't bother with it. It would just be religious, and no one would care.”
3Santa Meeting Mrs. Claus
Angela Landsbury as Mrs. Claus in the CBS television musical special, Mrs. Claus, in 1996.
“I imagine that Mrs. Claus is a huge, emotional bedrock for Santa. We hear about her so much, we see her around, and I just don’t think we’d have the man without the woman behind him. I will say that I have tea: I have heard tell that he is shitty to her. I think he lies to her every Christmas Eve. There's actually no way that Santa could make it to every single house in the world in 24 hours. So why lie? Where are you going? Who are you seeing? I think the answer is a lot of people. I don’t think it’s one person, or even one gender.
I have a song called ‘Every Christmas Eve’ where I really dive into Mrs. Claus’s perspective, and I think she might be leaving his ass. She clearly has a lot of skills. She probably manages all the elves, and, in terms of executive function, I think she could work somewhere really big. Bezos should feel threatened.”
4Christine Baranski as Martha May Whovier
“A lot of people watched How the Grinch Stole Christmas and thought, ‘Oh, this is an incredible Jim Carrey vehicle.’ I don't see it that way. I see it as a Christine Baranski vehicle.
Christine Baranski plays this character really truthfully. How would it feel to be the only single adult woman in Whoville? Someone who likes to show off their assets and have pride in their presentation? She sleeps around, she fucks the Grinch. Just let them do their thing. They are like the Ben and JLo, the Bennifer, if you will, of Mount Crumpit. If they want to keep going back to each other, let them.”
5Vanessa Williams’s A Diva's Christmas Carol on VH1
“A lot of people don't even know what the hell this is, but they would be really excited to find out that, in 2000, Vanessa Williams starred in the definitive telling of Scrooge. Vanessa plays Ebony Scrooge, a Madonna-like pop star who is a very cruel person. She's visited by her ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, one of which is Chilli from TLC.
I don't know if you can even watch this film anymore. I don't know if it’s streaming. It is truly a phantom of my memory, but it was incredibly impactful for me. I went to school the next day and asked my teacher if she had watched A Diva's Christmas Carol, and proceeded to tell her the story of Ebony Scrooge. I was ten. I would realize I was gay at 11, but my teacher probably could have told me in that moment.”
6Catherine O’Hara Screaming “Kevin!” in Home Alone
“Catherine O’Hara is such an icon, and this is one of her biggest contributions: the screaming of ‘Kevin!’ and the falling back and fainting. We'll never forget her hair. We'll never forget the fact that she left her kid. We'll never forget how much parents probably freaked the fuck out about this. So many people watched Home Alone and thought, ‘Oh, we probably shouldn't have 12 kids.’ This was huge. It was serious birth control. That's actually a Rule of Culture: Home Alone is birth control.”
7Cher Releases “DJ Play a Christmas Song”
“I was recording my album, Have You Heard of Christmas? with my producer, Leland, and he co-wrote ‘DJ Play a Christmas Song.’ So, I got to hear the early demo of it before Cher had even cut the vocal. I actually was in the studio with him when he found out that Cher loved the song and was going to record it. She called Leland and was like, ‘You guys are geniuses, man.’ I remember being like, ‘Yo, if she doesn't want that song, I'll take it.’ It is an absolute bop—a banger.
8Kelly Clarkson and Ariana Grande Sing “Santa, Can’t You Hear Me?”
“Kelly Clarkson and Ariana Grande on ‘Santa, Can't You Hear Me?’ is another undersung Christmas canon moment that people need to talk about more. It’s Whitney [Houston] and Mariah [Carey]'s ‘When You Believe,’ but for Christmas. I don't think people are really wrapping their heads around the idea that Kelly Clarkson and Ariana Grande, who are probably the two best singers in the world, are on a song together. They're beasts. Good luck to any gay man at karaoke who thinks singing this is a good idea. Just leave the room at that point if you're with them. This goes for ladies as well and for anyone besides Ariana and Kelly. Don't try to sing it. Just enjoy it.”
9The It’s a Wonderful Life Line, “Every time a bell rings, an angel gets its wings.”
“This is not one thing, it’s a pop culture moment that's happening every single time a bell rings. I didn't make this up. This is from It's A Wonderful Life, but when I really thought about this, I was like, ‘Wow, that's something we can think about all the time.’ Ring a bell right now. Congratulations. You just made an angel's life. All they want is their wings. It's actually Rule of Culture number 16: All an angel wants are their wings. So go ring a bell, help an angel, lift someone up today.”
10Matt Rogers’s Have You Heard of Christmas? (aka Shameless Personal Plug)
“And, finally, number 10 is Have You Heard of Christmas? by me, the Prince of Christmas, Matt Rogers. This changed everything. It basically said, anyone can do this, because if I'm the Prince of Christmas baby, the sky's the limit for everyone else out there. It's an album. It's a special. It's a tour. It's a feeling.”
Rogers’s Christmas in December comedy tour runs December 3-21. For tickets and more information visit here.
