I wish the video didn't give away the surprise, but as you can tell from the screenshot below, it is not even remotely hidden.

Two nights ago, I recorded Stephen Colbert's show because I wanted to see one of the guest.  As I watched the opening monologue, to the shock of the theater audience, a couple minutes in, out walked Prince Harry.  (How he fits into the bit -- perfectly -- has a very funny lead-in set-up.)  And he does quite a nice job, with some good writing.  In fact, several extremely good jokes.

By the way, I've seen some online commentary and articles that refer to him "taking on" Trump and even getting boo'ed at one point.  Well, first of all, he didn't write the sketch (though of course he agreed to it), and secondly, no, he is not getting boo'ed for an anti-Trump joke, but Trump as the butt of the joke obviously is!  (I mean, seriously, folks, do you think Stephen Colbert's audience is booing a joke at Trump's expense??!!)

This isn’t a little-known holiday song in the slightest -- actually, it’s a very well-known one, "The Most Wonderful Time of the Year".  But I’m including it in our Holiday Fest for other somewhat lesser-known reasons.  And that requires a story.
 
In the past, I wrote here about the TV series, Zoey’s Extraordinary Playlist.  The show got cancelled after two seasons, but due to massive fan support, the Roku Channel ordered a movie, which reunited the entire cast and premiered in 2021 – and which the Roku Channel made free to stream by everyone, whether subscribers or not – Zoey’s Extraordinary Christmas. 
 
The premise of the series is that for whatever reason, the main character Zoey (played wonderfully by Jane Levy) has developed the ability to hear what people are thinking at particularly emotional moments in their lives, which they express through song, what she refers to as "heart songs."  And she's grown to hate her "power," as she calls it.  It's not only intrusive in her life -- having people break into passionate songs, often with full choreography, that no one else can see -- but also she's realized that whatever is going on in that person's life, she has to help resolve it, or the songs will continue until she does.
 
As for this song, it comes at the very opening of the movie.  She’s in a mall with her friend Mo, explaining why Christmas this year is so difficult for her, because it’s her family’s first since her father passed away. (Which was a major storyline in the second season.)  And so, she isn’t in the Christmas spirit at all.  In order to be understanding, Mo says she’ll do her best to put aside her own feelings and be low-kay, so as to not cause any problems for Zoey.  And so, the two of them walk through the holiday mall all quiet and matter-of-fact.
 
But of course, no matter how much her friend is sedate on the surface, Zoey can hear her heart song – and those of everyone else in the mall.  Which leads us to this song.
 
But – almost more than all that is something that stands out seriously impressively, even if unobtrusively unless you’re looking for it.  And is the very reason I've posting this for the Fest.  It’s that the huge, extravagant production number that goes all over the mall, up and down the levels, weaving in and around people dancing…is all done in just one take.  Any mistake or error in the meticulous timing, hitting their marks exactly, and they’d have to do it all over again.  And just to give themselves an even bigger challenge (beyond filling the number with lots of little kids who have to get their timing right), the very end of the lavish scene deals with properly balancing a bunch of Christmas gift packages.  If just one of them fell over (and one almost does)…yes, back to the start and do it all again.  And after all that, they still have to get the very last, difficult shot right!

It's a seriously impressive undertaking.  And all the more so when you realize that they had a short production schedule -- including only four days to rehearse the dancing for  all the songs, and there were at least half a dozen songs in the movie, probably more.  It wasn't just a case of "Okay, we have to learn this one production number only and get it right."
 
(Incidentally, the way you can tell that this number is the opening -- is because the TV episodes always began with Zoey frustrated over something, and blurting out a swear word…that always got cut off by the title of the show slamming in.)

Minor fun fact:  another nice thing to look out for is that around the :25 second mark, you'll see a white-haired woman in an untucked, brown shirt and black baseball cap dancing around Mo.  That's the show's choreography Mandy Moore.  (No, not the pop singer-actress.  Same name, different person.)
 
For those who want to see the full movie (for free), you can stream it here, assuming they still have it there.
 
And  now, onto the one-take wonder.  It's worth watching a second time (or more) to catch all the people getting in place, spotting the details even in the far background, and seeing all the meticulous movements of how  they pulled it of --

​If you didn't see Jon Stewart's Monday hosting of the Daily Show, it was an extremely funny, scathing and at times angry look at Trump's very, very bad week.

There's a good article in yesterday's Washington Post about troubles in the MAGOP, ​which you can read here. Though it largely confirms what I've been writing on these pages, so I'm a bit biased.  Though it's good to see it discussed to a massively larger audience...

A few passages stand out, to save you longer reading.
 
"Surprisingly tough Tennessee election reveals House GOP has base problem"
 
It's great to see them say that, though in fairness there was nothing "surprising" about this result showing that the GOP has a base problem.  After all, that's why Democrats have averaged a 16-point gain across all the many Special Elections since Trump took office 10 months ago.
 
 
"'It’s me worried about many of my friends, who it will hurt — some people that only won by one or two or three points. And it’s me worrying about the majority,'” said Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-New Jersey)."
 
His friends should be worried.  And not just his friends who won by "one or two or three points"!!!  Yesterday's election in Tennessee was for a DEEP RED district that Trump had won by 22.6 points -- and Democrats gained 13.7 points!  "One or two or three points"???  If that’s all he’s worrying about, he will be terrified about staying in the majority, once he takes a step back and looks at all the races.
 
 
“Gallup found a seismic drop in approval from Republican voters for the job performance of Congress, down to 23 percent. Back in July, more than 6o percent of Republican voters approved of the GOP-run House and Senate.”
 
Absolutely true and deeply problematic when the deeply loyal MAGOP have such a big drop within the party.  Though again, this was no surprise, since not only do readers here know about that from an article about it a week ago – but I also wrote about the AP-NORC poll three weeks ago that showed Trump’s approval in his own party dropped 13 points to 68%.
 
 
“That’s the type of drop that is usually accompanied by a calamitous event that is considered an act of betrayal by one’s own political party.”
 
I think I may have loved this sentence the most in the article.  Because it put the huge drop within the MAGOP in perspective.  And in what is devastating perspective.  "Usually accompanied by a calamitous event."  In life, this is known as Not a Good Thing.  In politics, which has a much shorter lifespan, this is known as a Reason to Leave Congress Early to Save Your Reputation. 
 
 
“Democrats estimate that about 70 House seats held by Republicans are more friendly than this Tennessee seat.”
 
Bingo!  No, Democrats won’t win all of them, or maybe even most.  But many are at risk, and it’s why my "out on the limb" prediction here a month ago is that Democrats will pick up 30-40 seats.  So, with as risky a guess as that had been, it was nice to see them provide this figure.  What actually happens a year from now, we'll find out.

It could be even worse for MAGOPs.  Not just with worsening problems, but Trump has dementia -- which the press is finally writing about -- and the condition is degenerative.