Stephen Colbert tips his hat to Christmas

By George Dickie

Published: November 23, 2008

It’s two weeks before Election Day, and Stephen Colbert is more than ready for the campaign season to end.

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He’s been going flat-out since mid-August doing his political talk-show satire "The Colbert Report,” airing Monday through Thursday on Comedy Central. So naturally, the idea of getting away from politics is an appealing one, and such an opportunity comes this week in the form of "A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All,” airing at 9 p.m. Sunday on Comedy Central.

"I’m pretty excited about this Christmas special,” Colbert says. "What I love about it is that my audience who will be watching it knows who the president is, and I don’t yet. It’s completely apolitical. That’s another thing I love about it, is that I can’t wait to not do politics.”

Indeed, the hourlong special is not "The Colbert Report” with a Christmas tree and music. Far from it, in fact. The story line sets a sweater-clad Colbert in his mountain cabin celebrating Christmas while friends — musical guests Toby Keith, Willie Nelson, Feist, John Legend and Elvis Costello — drop by to perform some original holiday music with titles such as "Little Dealer Boy,” "Please Be Patient” and "There Are Much Worse Things to Believe In.” A DVD of the special will be released Tuesday, with part of the proceeds to benefit the charity Feeding America.

"They were all friends of the show, as we say,” Colbert says of the musicians who agreed to appear. "They’re all people who would come on and had fun before, except for Elvis Costello, who I had met a couple of times.

"But everybody else, Feist and Toby Keith and Willie Nelson and John Legend, they were just people who had already come on and we’ve already had fun with. And I am so grateful. They were all like, ‘Sure, we’re in.’ ”

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