Stream it Or Skip It: ‘The LCD Soundsystem Holiday Special’ on Amazon Prime, With Sitcom Riffing And The Band Doing Some Playing

With the Omicron variant putting an aggravating and scary amount of coal in our public health stockings, maybe the hybridism of The LCD Soundsystem Holiday Special (Amazon Prime), this sitcom format send-up and standalone live performance realized by LCD honcho James Murphy and comedian Eric Wareheim, will be just the balm you need for another decidedly hinky Christmas season.  

THE LCD SOUNDSYSTEM HOLIDAY SPECIAL: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A theme song of plinky keys and woozy sax, and an introductory shot of a typical suburban home. It’s the opening credits of All My Friends, starring Eric Wareheim as “James” – as in James Murphy, leader of LCD Soundsystem – Christine Ko as “Nancy” (keyboardist/vocalist Nancy Whang), Aparna Nancherla as “Abby” (touring keyboardist Abby Echiverri), Jon Daly as “Tyler” (bassist and guitarist Tyler Pope), Cory Loykasek as “Al” (Al Doyle, guitar and percussion), a puppet named “Korey” (percussionist Korey Richey), Tony Cavelero as “Nick” (Nick Millhiser, synths), Rex Lee as “Manager Brian” (LCD manager Brian Graf), Luenell as “Tour Manager Andrea,” and – speaking of Christmas – Macaulay Culkin as “Pat” (drummer Pat Mahoney).

The Gist: “All My Friends is filmed before a live studio audience,” an announcer tells us, and we join a few members of this sitcom fam version of LCD Soundsystem as they hash out a setlist. Broad jokes fly around the living room – even the puppet gets in a few yuks – and before long there’s some quiet piano as everyone learns a lesson about friendship. Awwww. And the action cuts commercial break-style to the IRL members of LCD taking the stage. The spare, funky “Beat Connection” breaks into a full fuzz wig out, and then we’re back to the living room on All My Friends. Uh-oh, spiked eggnog time! The canned studio audience laughter roars.

It continues from there. “I Can Change,” “Other Voices,” and a bit back in the family room, this time with Luenell offering “James” some swearing encouragement to get back on stage and play another jam. “American Dream” (“You took acid and looked in the mirror/Watched the beard crawl around on your face…”), and the extension of a vague storyline – mirrored by the real drummer on the real stage – of Culkin’s “Pat the drummer” having an existential crisis over his ability to play certain numbers in the set. Onward through “Oh Baby,” another cut back to the sitcom – “Chill, bro-ham, you know I don’t mess with egg drinks!” – and “Emotional Haircut,” and, finally, LCD’s sulky holiday single “Christmas Will Break Your Heart.”

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? The LCD Soundsystem Holiday Special is a live set, it’s a Christmas show, it’s a zany take on family sitcom cliche. That’s a novel setup, to be sure. But given Eric Wareheim’s involvement, there’s also his classic Adult Swim outing Tim and Eric Awesome Show, Great Job! to reconsider, as well as its hilarious spinoff, Check it Out! with Dr. Steve Brule.

Our Take: James Murphy’s LCD Soundsystem, his era-specific-singles-having New York City band that broke up big with a 2011 show at Madison Square Garden (as chronicled in the doc Shut Up And Play The Hits), then famously un-broke up with the 2015 appearance of “Christmas Will Break Your Heart” followed by a headlining appearance at Coachella, were most recently performing a 20-date stand at the intimate NYC music venue Brooklyn Steel until COVID’s latest conflagration canceled the group’s remaining dates. So given that wrinkle, and given the season, The LCD Soundsystem Holiday Special might arrive just in time for any fans left out in the cold from the cancellations, or those spending another holiday season cooped up and quarantined. The live stuff here is intimate, well-shot, and sounds fantastic, with the band in fine form and Murphy wailing away in his busted crooner style, like a lovelorn and strung out Bernard Sumner from New Order. Murphy and his band have always reveled in alternate distribution, the idea that the impulse to make a jam can come from one particular or very small thing – a knob tweaked, a dial twiddled, a quiet high-hat, a single keyboard figure – and that concept is well on display here.

As for the sitcom sendup framing, it’s hammy and self-aware to the point of absurdity, and doesn’t really need to exist, but since it does it’s fun to get a few blithe reaction shots from Culkin, Luenell, and especially Rex Lee, who was always the best thing about Entourage.

Sex and Skin: Nada.

Parting Shot: As the set closes out and the band returns to the All My Friends living room, they reflect on how they’ve lived a little, laughed a little, and learned a lot. Everyone leans in for an eggnog toast, the theme music tinkles back in, and the scene becomes a fake still as everyone freezes mid-toast.

Sleeper Star: Christine Ko was featured in a recent installment of Decider’s “Woman Crush Wednesday,” and she’s a delight in the LCD Soundsystem Holiday Special playing the sitcom version of Nancy Whang.

Most Pilot-y Line: “Pat, I know you’re not excited about the setlist, but listen, we believe in you” – much of the sitcom side of The LCD Soundsystem Holiday Special has the feel of SNL sketches from the late 1980’s and early ‘90’s, usually featuring Phil Hartman playing a bland TV dad.

Our Call: STREAM IT. The sitcom riffing in The LCD Soundsystem Holiday Special is a kooky enough concept to keep itself interesting, but the real interest will probably be in the band’s straightforward live performances.

Johnny Loftus is an independent writer and editor living at large in Chicagoland. His work has appeared in The Village Voice, All Music Guide, Pitchfork Media, and Nicki Swift. Follow him on Twitter: @glennganges

Watch The LCD Soundsystem Holiday Special on Prime Video