J’s 25 Days of Christmas: White Elephant Gift Exchange, Regular Show

I may not have watched it as long as Nickelodeon, but once I found Cartoon Network, I loved it just as much. But after Ed Edd n’ Eddy came to an end in 2009, it was the end of an era. I mean that both literally and emotionally. It was the last of the 90s era cartoons to go off the air, and the one I loved most on that channel. There was Adventure Time next year, but that was it.

Then, I found Regular Show.

I may not have liked it much at first, but once I warmed up to it, I fell in love it. Watching the surreal adventures of these two slacker best friends, Mordecai and Rigby, something just clicked. It had a great mix of humor for both kids and adults. I loved it, especially the numerous holiday specials. 

Regular Show did a bunch of Halloween specials, and while those are my favorite, I have a great love for their three Christmas episodes. So, why not? Let’s look at a Regular Show Christmas special.

Full disclosure: this one is split into two segments, so I’m going to do each in a separate article. With that out of way, here’s White Elephant Gift Exchange.

The park gang is getting ready for their annual white elephant gift exchange, which everyone despises. Why? Because every years, Muscle Man steals all the good gifts and leaves them with prank ones. And not just used tissues or gum: we’re talking gloves made out of underwear and sweaters with itching powder.

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So, Benson and the others decide to rig the game this year to make sure Muscle Man won’t steal their gifts and instead open their prank gift. 

It seems like they went overboard, though, with the prank. Especially when Muscle Man reveals he got them a flat-screen TV to make up for being a jerk.

The gang gets banished to the temple of the White Elephant, who chastises them for not getting the spirit of the game: you give gifts you hate, which makes it fun. So, lesson learned about the spirit of the Holidays, they go home and have a fun time, the end.

PSYCH! Muscle Man pranked them again. Sympathy gone, they go ahead with the plan, leading to what has to be one of the funniest moments I have ever seen in a cartoon:

When I first saw this on TV, I couldn’t stop laughing at how funny it was. Seeing Muscle Man’s reaction to one prank after another in slow motion while everyone laughs at payback was funny enough. But doing it over “Holly Jolly Christmas” sung by Burl Ives had me in stitches! By the time the elf elbows him, I was practically rolling on the floor laughing.

This was comedy gold to me. The pacing, everyone’s reactions to the events, the choice to play it over a classic Christmas song was perfect. Some may say it was still pretty mean, but Muscle Man never knew when to stop pranking others. He needed to be taught a lesson for a while, and I doubt he’d hold any ill will over it. This is one of my favorite Christmas episodes, and I hope you like it as well.

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