The Space Ghost Coast to Coast Carolers Sang Some Pretty Insane Christmas Songs

The forerunner to Adult Swim was an absurdist 15-minute talk show spoof called Space Ghost Coast to Coast. The concept took a classic 1960s Hanna-Barbera superhero show and gave it a 1990s underground comedy bent that resulted in the realization that there was a market for weird and experimental animated television for grown-ups.

In 1994, the show aired a special Christmas episode featuring a lot of caroling that got more and more insane as it went along. The episode began with a mildly silly rendition of "Up on the Housetop," with evil space mantis/bandleader Zorak becoming fascinated with the "click, click, click" segment that runs through the whole show.

Then there was a Ramones-inspired rendition of "Deck the Halls" that brings in evil lava-man/show director Moltar.

Space Ghost had no problem forcing his imprisoned villains to toil as talent on his talk show, and he even brought on the Council of Doom to sing a bonkers version of "12 Days of Christmas." One of the gifts was "3 reruns of What's Happening?"

Incidentally, this version of Brak constantly screaming "HI, MY NAME IS BRAK!" was so popular that he eventually got two different spin-off shows: Cartoon Planet was a big hit with kids at the time, and The Brak Show was part of Cartoon Network's first-ever Adult Swim animation block.

Finally, it ends with a complete breakdown into utter holiday mash-up madness with everyone singing "We Wish You a Happy Birthday."

These have been the default versions of the songs in my head since 1994. Now maybe they will be in yours, too.

Have a Merry Birthmas and a Christmas New Year!

Andy Hunsaker has a head full of sitcom gags and nerd-genre lore, and can be followed @AndyHunsaker if you're into that sort of thing.