Dick Daring hosts his annual holiday variety special, with guest stars Carson Palmer, Ed Begley Jr., and Josh Duhamel; Riley's holiday spirit is tested by Todd and Buzz.
Tropes:
- Anthropomorphic Personification: Carson Palmer’s role in the Christmas special is to deliver Baby New Year to Father Time.
- Ash Face: Dick gets covered in ash from a big explosion that happens while he’s testing the finale stunt...with a small model sleigh.
- Audience Participation Failure: At the beginning of his show, Dick mentions that every year people ask him what stunts have to do with Christmas. He then looks pointedly at the audience, clearly expecting them to ask him that very question, but all he gets in response is silence broken up by a few awkward coughs.
- Bad Santa: The mobster Todd and Riley replace Santa with steals presents from their house instead of delivering them.
- Big Finale Crowd Song: The episode ends with the whole Daring family singing “Holiday Time”.
- Christmas Episode: The Darings celebrate Christmas by helping Dick host a holiday variety show.
- Christmas Songs: This episode featured several, from parodies (“O Come All Ye Stuntmen”) to originals (“Get Your Santa On”).
- Comically Missing the Point: Riley’s response when Buzz tells her he would never mess up the Darings’ TV special so close to Christmas because “you-know-who might be watching”.Riley: Your parole officer?
- Cue Card: Riley gives a moving speech about the True Meaning of Christmas and after her mom compliments her on it, she reveals that she was just reading off the cue cards held by Jacobo behind them.
- Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, and Nixon: Mobster Santa refers to his reindeer Donner, Blitzen, Tony Two-Horns, Willius Sneezer, Jimmy the Beat, Joey Gorgeous, and Louie Left-Ear.
- Foreign Queasine: In the A Christmas Carol skit, Tasumi brings her family’s traditional pickled eel jerky snack to Christmas dinner, which is just a whole rock-hard eel.
- Full Moon Silhouette: In The Stinger, Prince Cinnamon Boots, dressed up like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer, flies through the sky with the full moon in the background.
- Green Aesop: Ed Begley Jr. pauses the show to dispute “the myth of global warming” before he gets pulled off stage by a candy cane Vaudeville Hook.
- I Will Show You X!:
- When Shelton asks her where her holiday spirit is when she’s shooing him and Jacobo offstage, Riley responds “I’ve got your holiday spirit right here!” while brandishing a giant candy cane.
- Todd questions Dick mid-performance about where the Ghost of Christmas Present is and his dad replies “I’ll give you a present if you don’t let me finish this skit!”
- Involuntary Charity Donation: It’s revealed that Todd didn’t give the money from his Todd Foundation telethon to a real charity because he was inspired by the spirit of Christmas, but because he was being intimidated by two police officers hanging around the set.
- Musicalis Interruptus: Jacobo is getting ready to sing a Song Parody of “O Little Town of Bethlehem” when Todd as Ebeneezer Daring yells at him to stop.
- No Celebrities Were Harmed:
- Chuck Winkendale is a spoof of game show hosts Chuck Woolery and Wink Martindale.
- Dustin Dreamlake is clearly supposed to represent Justin Timberlake.
- Noodle Incident: Dick shows a compilation of the big finale stunts from Dick Daring’s All-Star Holiday Stunt Spectaculars 1-4, none of which were seen previously.
- Out-of-Character Moment: When Todd reveals he gave all the money from his telethon to charity, Agent K asks “Who are you and what have you done with my son?” while pointing her Gadget Watch at him. However, the watch just gives him a candy cane and she ruffles his hair with pride.
- Slave to PR: Todd is able to continue irritating Riley while also avoiding her wrath by reminding her “you-know-who” is watching, and so is the audience.
- Special Edition Title: The usual Title Sequence is interrupted by C.A.R. announcing the titular Dick Daring’s All-Star Holiday Stunt Spectacular 5 in the style of a cheesy holiday special.
- Special Guest: Dick’s All-Star Christmas Special really is star-studded, featuring American football player Carson Palmer, actor Ed Begley Jr., and actor Josh Duhamel all playing themselves.
- Spoof Aesop: Todd goes off script for their A Christmas Carol skit to have Scrooge learn that it’s not his own selfish actions that will leave him penniless, but rather global warming and that he just needs to get out of the snow-shoveling business to preserve his wealth.
- Suspiciously Specific Denial:Riley: Todd and I were just wondering what it might be like, if two kids...Todd: Totally unlike us!Riley: ...had the power...Todd: Which we don’t have!Riley: ...to replace Santa Claus!Todd: But we don’t!Riley: Of course not!
- Telethon: With time to kill before the A Christmas Carol segment, Todd tries to host a telethon for the “Todd Foundation” to which he encourages the audience to donate before being pulled off stage by a candy cane Vaudeville Hook.
- That Reminds Me of a Song: When Todd tells him he’s not following the logic of Santa being a stuntman, Dick replies “Then maybe you can follow this song...” before launching into a horribly off-tune Song Parody of “O Come All Ye Faithful” based around the theme of Santa doing stunts.
- True Meaning of Christmas:Riley: ...Christmas is about giving, not just gifts but kindness and consideration.
- Visual Pun: While Riley is saying that running a variety show is “just a matter of spinning a lot of plates, trying to keep all our balls in the air” Tasumi and Shelton walk behind her spinning plates and juggling respectively until they crash into each other.
- Vomit Discretion Shot: Riley ducks out of frame to throw up in Santa’s bag of gifts after eating too much candy.
- Yet Another Christmas Carol: The Daring family performs a rather...condensed version of this story for their Christmas special, with Todd as The Scrooge and Dick as “The Stunt Ghost of Christmas Future”.
