Long-Forgotten Holiday Specials #5

An Evening with Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer
First Broadcast: December 14, 1971
In this live one-deer special, a struggling and clearly inebriated Rudolph attempts to resurrect his career and reach a more mature, metropolitan audience with a series of slurred dramatic monologues, mostly spoken cabaret-style singing and extended Lenny Bruce-like rants on politics, race, religion and "the clap." To this day it remains the only television holiday program to feature a host screaming obscenities at his own reflection in the mirror.

Special guest appearances by Gore Vidal, Black Panther founder Bobby Seale, Chief Justice Warren E. Burger, The Lawrence Welk Show Champagne Music Makers and the surviving members of The Banana Splits.