A Colbert Christmas: The Greatest Gift of All! is a Grammy Award-winning Christmas special that debuted on Comedy Central on November 23, 2008.

The plot is that Stephen Colbert of The Colbert Report, while heading to the film studio to shoot his Christmas special with Elvis Costello, becomes trapped in a cabin in bear country (upstate New York or Vermont) when he hears a bear prowling outside. A number of his friends stop by the cabin to sing Christmas songs with him as Stephen tries to find ways to escape the cabin and make his Christmas as special as possible, ending by revealing that the titular greatest gift of all is the DVD release of the special.

Cast

Actor	Character
Stephen Colbert	Stephen Colbert
Elvis Costello	Himself/Bear
Toby Keith	Hunter
Willie Nelson	The Fourth Wise Man
Jon Stewart	Himself
John Legend	Forest Ranger
Feist	Angel
George Wendt	Santa Claus
Madeline Colbert Peter Colbert John Colbert	Colbert Children

Track listing

All of the songs in the special were written by David Javerbaum and Adam Schlesinger, except for (What s So Funny Bout) Peace, Love, and Understanding , which was written by Nick Lowe and Jingle Man, Christmas Boy , written by Colbert himself. Please Be Patient was written to the tune of Angels We Have Heard on High . Schlesinger and Steven M. Gold produced the songs and created the theme music and score for the program.

DVD and music releases

The DVD went on sale on November 25, 2008. The special features include a book burning Yule log, video advent calendar, alternate endings and additional items, including an extra song Cold, Cold Christmas . There is also a laugh track option as the special uses stock audience cheers.

However, the DVD differs from the Comedy Central airing in several ways (compared to its premiere on November 23, 2008, at 10 pm). The DVD s laugh track is not the same as the televised version, and it includes 5-second bumps after each act with the wreathed image of a guest, not seen on TV. The DVD includes two brief parts during the introduction to Jon Stewart and John Legend not seen on the TV version: Jon referring to his having a cabin in the woods a half hour earlier, and John extolling rangerhood by saying singing and the ladies in the audience are OK but his passion is moss and leaves.

On the other hand, the DVD is entirely missing one televised part. Comedy Central puts the credits on split screen, and while the DVD just continues the full-screen credits with music, the premiere has a coda with Elvis Costello helping Stephen finish his Jingle Bells parody and supplying the missing line fighting crime with toys , and then Stephen going to put some coffee on, before cutting to split screen ads. This is not included as one of the alternate endings, or anywhere else on the DVD.

In addition, the DVD is missing the commercial/sponsor (Buff your jingle bells) parody that was shown on TV.

The songs from the special were released as a digital-only format available for download on iTunes. As of 2009, the album has not been released on CD. All proceeds from the iTunes and DVD sales go towards the Feeding America charity.

Operation Humble Kanye

On November 25, 2008, the songs went on sale as an album on iTunes, where, for a short while, it was #1.

This, coupled with Kanye West s belief that he is the voice of this generation of this decade, prompted Colbert to ask everyone watching his show to download his album on December 3 at 5:00 p.m. Eastern Time, in Operation Humble Kanye, an attempt to bring him back to the number one spot and earn him the title of the voice of this generation of this decade . This bumped the album into 2nd place, overtaking West s album. On December 4, Colbert proclaimed Kanye officially humbled.

Reception

The special has received generally favorable reviews. It currently has a Metacritic score of 77 out of 100. Alessandra Stanley of The New York Times wrote that Mr. Colbert is delightful, a few of the song parodies are clever, but over all, the show is too long and more than a little strained, much like the holiday specials it mocks . Some critics noted that the production values of the special were low, but Tim Goodman of the San Francisco Chronicle said that s part of the reason it s so funny . Goodman concluded that it s not a classic, but there are worse ways to spend an hour . The album won the 2010 Grammy Award for Best Comedy Album.

Year	2008
ReleaseDate	2008-11-23
RuntimeMins	60
RuntimeStr	1h
Plot	Join Stephen Colbert and his friends–Toby Keith, Elvis Costello, John Legend, Feist, Willie Nelson, and Jon Stewart –for a yuletide evening of song, dance and nog-induced dementia.
Awards	Nominated for 3 Primetime Emmys, 1 win & 3 nominations total
Directors	Jim Hoskinson
Writers	Michael Brumm, Stephen Colbert, Rich Dahm
Stars	Stephen Colbert, Elvis Costello, Rich Dahm
Produced by	Meredith Bennett, Stephen Colbert, Rich Dahm, David Javerbaum, Matt Lappin, Tom Purcell, Allison Silverman, Jon Stewart
Music by	Steven M. Gold, David Javerbaum, Adam Schlesinger
Film Editing by	Jason Baker, Jake Diamond, Edward Goldberg
Costume Design by	Antonia Xereas
Makeup Department	Kerrie R. Plant
Production Management	Jeremy Tchaban
Art Department	Andro Buneta, Carla Cruz, Scott Heatherly, Leni Herschman, Brendan Hurley, Gerry Hurley, Kristopher Long, Jay Nyffler, Christy Pitre, Pete Rosenberg, Mike Santo
Sound Department	Mike Fisher, Mike Fisher, Hank Huff, Todd Kilponen, Randy Pekich, Geoff Sanoff, Bob Walker
Special Effects by	Matt Brady
Camera and Electrical Department	Edith Blackman, Greg Cangemi, Matt Christian, Noam Cooperstock, Ken Decker, Taylor Dees, Dirk Delacour, John Harrison, Nick Hohn, Ollson Kerstin, Wade Thomas Latz, Constantine Leonardos, Esteban Lima, John Meiklejohn, Dante Pagano, Jack Roche, Cory Schaub, Mike Scricca, Claus Stuhlweissenburg, Randy Treu
Editorial Department	Alex Schwerin
Music Department	Steven M. Gold, David Javerbaum, Mathew Mahoney, Earl Rose, Adam Schlesinger
Script and Continuity Department	Deanna Storey
Additional Crew	Ernest Albritton, Jason Block, Devin Brignoni, Amy Cole, Edward Costello, Hank Flynn, Sandy Garfunkel, Megan Gearheart, John Goldstein, D.J. Gray, Chris Hayes, Monica Hickey, Rich Houseman, Asslam Khan, Tom Kieber, Jennifer Macksoud, Mark Malkoff, Matthew Martinez, Bill Mastorakis, Mark McKenna, Michele Meny Decker, Erica Myrickes, Huascar Pimentel, Jon Pretnar, Giuseppe Restivo, Megan F. Ring, Scott Sanders, Amy Schwartz, Alex Schwerin, Craig Tetuan, Nick Vasile, Adam Wager, Bill Willig
Genres	Comedy
Companies	Spartina Productions
Countries	USA
Languages	English
ContentRating	TV-14
ImDbRating	7.5
ImDbRatingVotes	910
Keywords	christmas,tv special,variety show,christmas in title,exclamation point in title