RiffTrax: Gifts From The Air (Full FREE Short)

Celebrate the holidays the ole fashioned way - with terrifying animation! Enjoy this free short only on our KZbin Channel.
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[@MattsMovieMadness]

“How the Hell are ya Scramblepuss, Smelly Christmas to ya” is how I’m going to greet all my friends this holiday season

[@Billinois78]

I heard "Ah, hairy Scramblepuss. Smelly Christmas tree".

[@Phens]

I heard "R rated Scramblepuss, Smelly Christmas Treats". I still haven't a clue....

[@TomMSTie1138]

I heard, "Howdy there Scaramouche, smell Christmas Tuvok."

[@MattsMovieMadness]

Honestly I hear: “Hollow headed scramblepuss, Smelly Christmas Tree”

[@FutureBoyEXE]

My sister and I agree that it sounds like something Senor Cardgage would say.

[@redkingrauri3769]

I like that Santa thought to give the kid food but this is one of the rare occasions he absolutely should've given socks and clothes.

[@351cleavland]

He's a bastard that Santa!!!

[@Eisenwulf666]

he can sell the toys to buy clothes, if they are brand new i am sure he can make some money from it

[@HylianFox3]

My thought was "Sure, tuck the kid in. Maybe give him a blanket that isn't rags?"

[@CaptainRufus]

I was hoping for some nice clothes too. Or maybe a real family to adopt him. But at least he got a good meal and some magical toys that can help him survive. Given the timeframe I hope he served honorably and survived WW2 without terrible ptsd.

[@luisreyes1963]

Who needs food & warm clothes, when you have bizarre toys that think they're old time radio celebrities. 🤪

[@HylianFox3]

The fact that the opening title was even long enough for Bill to riff all that is ridiculous in itself.

[@markalexander3659]

As soon as he entered the house and there was a wood-burning fire I honestly thought he was immediately gonna chuck the wooden soldier in for warmth

[@kct1975]

So did I !!!

[@steelmag9]

SAME! 😂😂😂😂😂

[@AMKR4Lyfe]

could be worse; could’ve ingested all over of your troops Pervitin (dextromethamphetamine) 😂🎉

[@nickfarmer2452]

I was distracted by the fact that he had a radio.

[@NeverEvenThere]

Oh man, the 1930's sure sucked, but at least the dying street children got to have festive hypothermic hallucinations. A heartwarming Christmas Story.

[@blankfrankie3747]

Serious "Little Match Girl" vibes.

[@daffers2345]

He got goodies at the end! Hope he's not lactose-intolerant though :D

[@stephen3164]

Things look rough for him as a kid in the 1930’s, but I’m sure the early 1940’s will turn things around for him.

[@Oppeldeldoc1]

"I'll never be as cute as Lupita!" has to be one of their great call back jokes.

[@matthewclark5612]

"No, Lupita!"

[@DerekPower]

Now we know who else got an NEA grant

[@yuvgotubekidding]

Let’s start a Chinese restaurant.

[@MarkSiefert]

Thank Craig for that,.

[@Jangobadass]

Well...she WAS the best child character in a riffed movie... (even if that didn't take much)

[@josephkyle1557]

anything's better than Wizzo the Clown

[@FlintIronstag23]

I didn't realize how deprived I was growing up. I never got a drunken hillbilly riding a duck. 😢

[@HanMasho]

No. You did. He's always been around; he just hasn't chosen to reveal himself to you yet. Those things really like to watch.

[@jamesanthony8438]

I had goats, but none of them sang Bing Crosby songs. I feel deprived of the joys of Christmas, now. =(

[@eddieboyky]

When I was growing up the "Traditional Drunken Christmas Hillbilly on a Duck" was just called "Uncle Phil."

[@3playerpolitics]

Wow, your version of Fresh Prince was way different to the one I know!

[@anonagain]

I always wanted a Bing Crosby Goat, but Santa let me down year after year. Now I'm just a bitter old man.

[@geoentronecromancer]

Y'know, it's funny, I knew some of the celebrity impressions in this, but it's only now that I realize that ALL of the toys are meant to be famous radio stars to one degree or another, which A) explains why they came out of a radio to begin with and B) why the toy soldier says "Calling all stars". I feel like this is obvious in hindsight, but I've seen enough weird Christmas shorts riffed to where lucidity and thematic consistency isn't always a given. XD Also, I guess this is an instance of video SAVING the radio stars.

[@taylorlconner]

I just got the title… “the air”, as in “on the air” 📻

[@lisah-p8474]

Oh wow you're probably right. Some of these pop culture references are just completely lost on us now. I'm sure at the time it was super obvious who they were and everyone would have recognized them instantly.

[@markiangooley]

@@KasumiKenshirou The number of times that people mention Foghorn Leghorn as if he were entirely original, forgetting the Senator predecessor, is astounding… or maybe not. Why should they know radio stars?

[@sarysa]

The entire second half of the film is a carbon monoxide hallucination.

[@l.a.gothro3999]

I'm pretty sure the driver of the fire truck was s'posed to be Ed Wynn, who was a major radio star back then (he played the fire chief in the original "The Absent-Minded Professor"). And there was another radio comedian, Joe Penner, whose tagline was, "You wanna buy a duck?" Radio stars were frequently parodied in these types of short, since radio was the main source of entertainment back then.

[@Oppeldeldoc1]

And one half of the hermaphrodite doll was Kate Smith. I'm not sure about the other half.

[@Froggievilleus]

I sure sounded like Joe Penner as well. Would not surprise me if he did voice the character.

[@Hermititis]

​@@KasumiKenshirou, yep, the actor was Clark Gable.

[@alexgutierrez3500]

@@Oppeldeldoc1 Pretty sure it was supposed to be the band leader Paul Whiteman

[@caesarsalad77]

Yeah, they're all recognizable celebrity impressions for the era.

[@Eisenwulf666]

Well, as far as destitute orphan urchins go, he is not doing to bad for himself! He even has a red hot stove in his shack, which is kind of neat

[@WorldWar2freak94]

And a cute cat.

[@KarlFarbman]

"Hieronymus Bosch painting of a potato" literally made me laugh bourbon out of my nose. That's a first.

[@killeing]

"The boy slumbers- we march at dawn." I love rifftrax XD

[@RobMartens]

6:22 I cannot stop rewatching this bit with the primordial Senor Cardgage. God these old cartoons are fascinating.

[@favoritemustard3542]

Congrabulations Elizagurt! Get a leg up on the grape pile...

[@srbrant5391]

Can you please defect me to the trained stamen?

[@TheLichruler]

Dampy Decemberween, errydoddy. Would you like to get a frungle up all ons the chimdy?

[@EmployeeJoe630]

*inexplicable traffic noise*

[@FlintIronstag23]

6:24 If you turn on Closed Captions, the jack in the box Santa supposedly says, "I had a scrambled puss smelly Christmas tree." I'm not sure why that never became one of Santa's traditional catch phrases.

[@rinoz47]

We've established that we will try to make it, wont we?

[@ImJustSaijan]

Holy crap it really does!

[@ImJustSaijan]

@@KasumiKenshirou nah listen to it even Mike says something about it

[@maniacaldude]

I'm a big fan of Golden Age Animation and animation history in general, and this comes off as more cute and innocent than terrifyingly weird for the most part, but the riffs really help to make it funny. It makes me wonder what other cartoons would make for good riffing material.

[@user-os7ec4dm8x]

It's actually a nice animation, though some of the singing toys are pretty odd and non christmasy. Also the kid has Christmas tree making bubbles and a magic cat so he could've easily been able to make a bit of money for the holiday... Now for true Christmas horror check out Rifftrax Whizzo the Clown !

[@SomeOrangeCat]

@@user-os7ec4dm8x "Whizzo, you piece of shit!" - The single greatest thing ever said to a clown.

[@phoenixlich]

One of my personal favorites is the betty boop cartoon where the professor goes to an orphanage (from the great depression i guess? super dark to think about for more than a second) and all they got was a bunch of donated rubbish toys that break immediately, and the professor hears them bawling from the road and decides to intervene. I'm sure they could riff it easily.

[@maniacaldude]

@@phoenixlich You mean the one featuring Betty Boop's Grampy? I remember that one, too.

[@SomeOrangeCat]

@@phoenixlich The message behind that one was wholesome AF though: All it takes to make a huge difference is one person.

[@InDededebt]

"Electric cat magic did it" is now my answer to everything

[@RotundRager]

Wasn't expecting Phantom of Krankor to pitch in over the Rifftrax opening.

[@christopherwall2121]

That's the Ice Cream Bunny

[@jochenau9164]

HAAAAA HAAAA HAAAAA

[@matthewszalkowski4719]

All this kid got for Christmas was a few tabs of LSD

[@darrinfromvault801]

At least this has a happier ending than the edge lord Little Matchstick Girl.

[@daffers2345]

Argh! That's an awful story! (Of course, most stuff by Andersen IS depressing anyway)

[@christopherwall2121]

@@daffers2345 Andersen was a very depressed man.

[@TheLichruler]

. That story was read to me in elementary school and I repressed the memory for decades it was so traumatizing and depressing. Thank goodness Terry Pratchett made a better ending for it...

[@wstine79]

I'd like to see them do a Rifftrax of the Max Fleischer cartoon "Christmas Comes But Once A Year. That old man whose inventions are made of junk is oddly adorable.

[@KairuHakubi]

i'm told that is part of the popeye universe. I remember watching it on pee-wee's playhouse, and being kinda disturbed by all the kids' toys breaking so soon.. had kind of a complex about that. kinda still do. and their replacement toys are made out of vital parts of their house, including the stovepipe just like this one.

[@plucas1]

@@KairuHakubi Yep, that one starred Grampy, from the Betty Boop cartoons. Betty Boop cartoons and Popeye cartoons were both produced by Fleischer studios.

[@kevinblount7142]

You remember that cartoon, too?!

[@KairuHakubi]

@@plucas1 ohhh betty boop, okay, not popeye then. easy to mix those up.

[@bobalinx8762]

At least we have a riff from Isle of Rangoon.

[@danielmccormick700]

I bought this one years ago just for the rapid-fire riffs in the opening titles.

[@Adamguy2003]

I loved the names they gave to all the cartoon characters seen in the title screen!

[@angbandsbane]

Is the duck holding you hostage to but riffs? Blink twice for "yes"

[@SomeOrangeCat]

Old cartoons are just *terrifying* beyond words.

[@DanHarkless_Halloween_YTPs_etc]

I loved Mike's "Ash in _Evil Dead II"_ type screaming at 6:57. 😆

[@joriankell1983]

It's the horror of what we once had...

[@BlackMasterRoshi]

that monster's gonna give me nightmares

[@taylorlconner]

“Fat Dudley, you’re alllll wet.”

[@susanpumphrey354]

Oh man, this brings back memories! We had tapes of these kind of OLLLLLD cartoons that I watched over and over when I was a kid, despite them being mildly terrifying. On the riffs note, I was laughing so hard I couldn't breathe. Hubby kept asking if I was okay LOL.

[@somoneelse3488]

Remarkably cheery for an adaptation of “The Little Match Girl”

[@williambeckett6336]

Corbit had me locked with the intro.

[@carriemv2001]

It’s always great to see the orphaned kids who are having a constant hallucination due to eating the weird cactus buttons in the trash and the diphtheria, rickets, and tuberculosis that is slowly killing them!

[@undoneonion90]

I love the stovepipe continuity error 😂

[@blampfno]

In my home town we celebrated Indecent Exposure Mutt year round! I made sure of it.

[@3playerpolitics]

"Fine. I'll do it myself"

[@Princessotaku666]

I love how Scramblepuss sounds like Eddie Cantor

[@fireriffs]

Well, that was a terrifying, incoherent mess.

[@punchfisttop]

Fever dream.

[@xonox_868]

YES MORE OF THESE CHRISTMAS OLDIES

[@xonox_868]

yowza yowza yowza

[@pal5683]

This short is all the more bizarre when you realize it's actually pretty true to life. Toys in the thirties could be pretty terrifying, although I'm fairly sure they didn't sing like old timey radio stars. I've heard tale that even that most nightmare inducing creature of all - the Clown - was considered suitable for children.

[@shenloken2]

“He’s gotta pet and his own place?? Honestly this kid’s doing a lot better than a lot of adults I know!”

[@DonnaBrooks]

Listened to it several times again a year later & this time I heard, "How the hell are you, Scramblepuss? Smelly fishmas sticks!"

[@triadmad]

That... that was deeply disturbing....

[@tskmaster3837]

It took me awhile to figure out what was weird but these aren't parodies of famous celebrities, these are parodies of celebrity parodies from other cartoons. "With WB you know what you're getting but with Mintz, you get what you're getting." "And you like it?" "NO, you hate it!"

[@fluffdaddyguapo6241]

6:23 greatest holiday greeting ever

[@jongillin327]

For all the toys I want to know - where is Goosio the beloved goose of Malta?

[@graemesmith6721]

Thank you for the Final Justice reference.

[@caucasoidape8838]

The kid screaming with all the animated toys made me laugh.

[@Pygar2]

I recognized Joe Penner and Ed Wynn, the Texaco Fire Chief... and Kate Smith!

[@davidandadamplaygamesphelp3601]

I actually liked this short. The animation was charming, it was cute, and it made me like a kid again watching cartoons over at my grandparents home during Christmas.

[@shannondore]

The Charlie Brown joke...😆🤣

[@kitty1376]

The turkey meat was red, so I'm guessing it was actually red velvet cake.

[@TheRogueWolf]

Or poorly prepared and dangerously undercooked!

[@RIXRADvidz]

legs are dark meat, besides this is way before Hormel started breeding table ready turkey

[@enakuen1]

"How the Hell are ya Scramblepuss, Smelly Christmas to ya" sounds like something Senor Cardgage would say.

[@furonguy42]

Ah, "Gifts From The Air", named for how Santa flies around the world in a sleigh. Except in the film _entitled_ Gifts From The Air, in which case, Santa leaps through radios and the air is largely irrelevant.

[@daffers2345]

I think it meant "air" as in radio waves.

[@strawbarry7834]

these are the kind of nightmares I have whenever I eat pizza before bed.

[@jaketucker2559]

Admittedly those are some pretty elaborate and interesting toys considering the time period

[@Tareltonlives]

Ah yes, back when Macy's had a "Radio Stars of the 30s" toy line. any idea who that Jack in the box guy with a Santa hat and beard was?

[@henrymccoy7171]

That was... *truly demented.* - and for FREE! Thanx, Guys!!

[@drewgeraci8434]

Actually, this short is not bad and I love the art. I still love the riffing, tho' At 6:24, I nearly spit out my coffee!!!!

[@pharmboy730]

Wooden soldiers dancing is pure nightmare fuel

[@shmehfleh3115]

I wish Frank would've guest-riffed on this one. He'd know all the references, not just Bing Crosby.

[@paladinjones1833]

I think the lady at 5:42 is Kate Smith

[@TheRogueWolf]

"This film will always stay relevant and never feel dated." - The creators, apparently

[@phoenixlich]

Actually i can't even imagine their reaction if they were told that in the year 2022 (probably close to 100 years later) we'd be watching their cartoon over the "internet" in a completely "digital" format.

[@daffers2345]

@@phoenixlich Honestly they probably viewed it as more "throwaway" than anything. It's amazing how much we've lost from film re-use, fires, and the like. The fact that this cartoon survives at all is pretty great in and of itself.

[@HylianFox3]

pfft, I've seen films from a year ago that already feel dated.

[@LchanOtakudom]

Awwww, I would love to see RiffTrax take on more holiday shorts! They are great on their own, but with riffing, they become so much more!!

[@ChiralSpirals]

Nooooooo Lupita!! You don't want a dolly that way.

[@RavenHouseMystery]

The best RiffTrax Christmas short ever! Kudos to Kevin for the "traditional Christmas drunken hillbilly riding a duck". Does anyone know what that character is a gag of?

[@andyman1701]

Comedian Joe Penner.

[@DanHarkless_Halloween_YTPs_etc]

@@andyman1701, Raven House Mystery: Thanks! Never occurred to me that that wasn't just a generic character.

[@RavenHouseMystery]

@@andyman1701 Thank you very much.👍

[@weekendmom]

Hector the Polyamorous Chicken?!😄

[@danieldb631]

They warned him not to read from the book aloud, but he didn't listen.

[@cicadathegod8277]

My arms and legs are made of grapes in kids I instill fear 🎶 Ah, a Christmas classic.

[@krombopoulosmichael]

Nightmare inducing. Just what we need for the season. Merry Christmas Rifftax!

[@aaronz7056]

5:26 That character is a caricature of then popular comedian Joe Penner, whose catch-line was "You wanna buy a duck?"

[@lesstalking3007]

6:05 Happy Holidays, everyone!

[@Billinois78]

I heard "Ah, hairy Scramblepuss. Smelly Christmas tree".

[@chasformer3091]

6:06 Is that Ed Wynn?

[@sfighter0085]

Fun Short, a feel good yet pretty weird short. lol

[@RobotoSan]

"Gifts From The Air" was originally the codename for the resumed bombing of North Vietnam, but Nixon thought "Linebacker II" sounded more politically correct.

[@MrMrUSMC]

You joke, but the first bombing campaign in Cambodia was called Operation Menu.

[@JamaicanCastle]

@@MrMrUSMC This is why you never plan missions right before lunchtime.

[@SiiriCressey]

The beginning seems a LOT like the beginning of The Shanty Where Santa Claus Lives.

[@HylianFox3]

Right down to the poor kid looking in on other kids dancing around a tree.

[@SiiriCressey]

@@HylianFox3 Precisely. I wonder if the animation was recycled.

[@HylianFox3]

@@SiiriCressey Nah, the animation here is much better. The dancing kids actually have detail and aren't just creepy mannequins.

[@SiiriCressey]

@@HylianFox3 I suppose I should have said, maybe they recycled the.....I don't know the proper term....under drawings?

[@Ammeeeeeeer]

Wait, Santa goes in through the RADIO???!! 🤔

[@lauramaue]

Oddly enough, "Gifts From the Radio" would've been a more accurate title.

[@daffers2345]

I thought it was because the radio = air waves. Kind of an obtuse joke, really :D

[@NickJohnCoop]

In the days when animation didn’t have to have a point.

[@kanna-san.]

It does now???

[@HylianFox3]

The moral of the story is that cats can be used to light up soap bubbles.

[@yazajag]

@@HylianFox3 and knowing is half the battle 😄

[@Nightweaver1]

Hell, kid's doing better than me with his own place. An apartment like that would be at least 3k a month in Boston.

[@trfesok]

They called it the Great Depression for a good reason.

[@classiclife7204]

Kids, the 1930s in the USA were a bad, bad time. People were often cold and hungry. Merry Christmas... (?). Top Riffs though! 😂

[@albrown7977]

7:22 Let's hope that turkey lasts until next year.

[@makim-k5850]

That had me laughing for five min.

[@internetbites]

Welp, looks like I'm not sleeping this week.

[@seanramsdell4117]

That's Ed Wynn on the firetruck and the bandleader was Ben Bernie

[@WindFireAllThatKindOfThing]

Wait, that kid has coal for his furnace?? I thought he was supposed to be one of the poors? I demand an audit. He's hiding assets in a shell corporation.

[@foxymetroid]

He got that coal by doing favors for the naughty kids. He won't say what kind of favors or why those kids got coal, but he always brought a shovel and hacksaw.

[@jakepullman4914]

So the toys have to eat? The kid now has over a dozen mouths to feed? Thanks a lot, Santa!

[@c.w.r.794]

OMG! This was on a Christmas videotape I had when I was a kid. Along with some weird Rudolph cartoon, and some Casper shorts.

[@AgentYami_009]

What a cute animation! Lots of hand drawn frames

[@Rexerman89]

"That was one f'd up cartoon maaan! X-Mas on drugs I think lol!"

[@mybachhertzbaud3074]

Kid takes these one of kind toys, puts them on E-Bay and hauls in about 5 million. Thanks Easter bunny bock bock😜

[@rabapab23]

6:58 🤣🤣🤣

[@ThisAdamGuy]

"Hey Mr. Animator, what did you have for lunch today?" "Drugs. All the drugs."

[@TheFossilFiend]

one of the most disturbing shorts ever riffed!

[@historicradiotelevision-bi2861]

Hilarious. Joe Penner, Ed Wynn, Ted Lewis, Kate Smith, Paul Whiteman, Bing Crosby, Eddie Cantor, The Mad Russian.

[@jaygooese4242]

I miss these old classic cartoons

[@trentlytle7289]

I wish I was that poor, that kid looks like he's having a great time

[@jamesanthony8438]

I've been that poor. This cartoon LIES!!

[@RaoulDuke77]

No Christmas is complete without Milf Moose! 🎄

[@stephen3164]

And THIS is why you don’t vent the fireplace in to the house! I guess Santa’s elves can’t sew some new socks, clothes, and bed sheets. The poor boy can’t even hallucinate about new socks!

[@DevlinDomini]

I love this! What a great Christmas short. Thank you and Merry Xmas!

[@theboombody]

Always fun to see cartoons get riffed.

[@JordanManfrey]

auld lang syne playing at a deafening volume while all hell breaks loose is pretty much the only way this cartoon could have ended