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Santa Inc.
Genre	Comedy
Created by	Alexandra Rushfield
Directed by	Harry Chaskin
Voices of	Sarah Silverman Seth Rogen
Music by	Anna Waronker
Country of origin	United States
Original language	English
No. of seasons	1
No. of episodes	8
Production
Executive producers	Alexandra Rushfield Sarah Silverman Seth Rogen Evan Goldberg James Weaver Joshua Fagen Seth Green Matthew Senreich John Harvatine IV Eric Towner Chris Waters Amy Zvi Rosa Tran
Production companies	Rushfield Productions oh us. Point Grey Pictures Stoopid Buddy Stoodios Lionsgate Television
Original release
Network	HBO Max
Release	December 2, 2021 (2021-12-02)

Santa Inc. is an American stop-motion adult animated Christmas comedy television miniseries created by Alexandra Rushfield that premiered on December 2, 2021, on HBO Max. The series is currently available on Tubi as of December 7, 2024.

Premise

The story follows Candy Smalls, a female elf who's currently working as a second-in-command of the North Pole, as she goes for her ultimate goal to become a successor as the first female Santa.

Cast and characters

• Sarah Silverman as Candy Smalls, the highest-ranking female elf and Santa's second in command, who wants to become the next Santa.
• Seth Rogen as Santa Claus, known as Saint Nick (real name Llewellyn Fartini), a jolly, overweight, middle-aged man who distrusts Candy for becoming a successor.
• Leslie Grossman as Cookie, a gingerbread woman and one of Candy's friends.
• Gabourey Sidibe as Goldie, a bisexual reindeer and member of the B-team and is one of Candy's friends.
• Craig Robinson as Junior, the leader of the all-male reindeer A-team and the son of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.
• Nicholas Braun as Devin the intern.
• Maria Bamford as Mrs. Leonard Claus and Big Candy.
• Paul Rust as Jeremy/Grandpa Smalls.

Episodes

Production

The stop motion animation is produced by Stoopid Buddy Stoodios, who also created Robot Chicken.

Reception

Santa Inc. was panned by critics.

Daniel D'Addario of Variety wrote that the series' reliance on raunchy humor led to it "feeling dour and heavy, a televised lump of coal". He felt that telling jokes about reindeer being methamphetamine addicts and Mrs. Claus being a stripper "doesn’t say anything, really; it just suggests a readiness to provoke". He was more approving of plot elements about a female character seeking to rise in a hostile workplace.

Writing for The Hollywood Reporter, Daniel Fienberg praised the parody of corporate culture, but called the sexual jokes "repetitive and self-satisfied". He also did not find the humor to have good shock value, unlike a recent Christmas special of Big Mouth.

Mira Fox of The Forward gave a negative review, criticizing the massive amount of raunchy humor and Holocaust jokes, poor plot, lazy stereotypes of Jews, and ultimately poor message of the show, saying "You might think that this Christmas series made by two famous Jews would have some greater message about antisemitism or Christianity's hegemony in the U.S. But instead Silverman, too, has reduced Jewishness to a handful of hackneyed stereotypes in Santa, Inc.

Joel Keller in an article for Decider wrote that the series is "more raunchy than it is merry", and came close to being "gratuitously dirty", but praised the story and the series' take on gender politics.

Barbara Ellen of The Guardian in a mixed review wrote that the show used "such a relentless bombardment of pointless crudity...the humor is all but flattened", and that ultimately the comedy was "funniest when it's not dirty".

Seth Rogen was subject to criticism when he claimed that the generally negative reception the series received was review bombing by "tens of thousands of white supremacists".

Some viewers also have said that it is similar to Syfy's series "The Pole", another adult animation show about the political power struggle of becoming Santa Claus, the only difference is the rivalry between Santa and his oldest son Jack (calls himself "Black Jack") who only wants to become the new Santa so he could have total control of the North Pole.

Antisemitic backlash

After being uploaded to YouTube, the trailer for the series received over 20,000 dislikes, while its comment section had allegedly been the target of brigading by commenters making antisemitic and Holocaust-denial jokes. Commenters targeted Silverman and Rogen's Jewish background and took aim at the series' supposed "woke" messaging. In response, YouTube disabled the video's comments and hid its dislike count, stating that commenters had violated the site's guidelines against hate speech.

See also

• List of Christmas films
• Santa Claus in film

References

1. Maas, Jennifer (November 22, 2021). "'Santa Inc' Trailer: Sarah Silverman's Elf and Seth Rogen's Santa Can't Stop Dropping F-Bombs (Video)". The Wrap. Retrieved December 15, 2021.
2. Luchies, Adam (November 11, 2021). "'Santa Inc': New Images Released for Seth Rogen and Sarah Silverman Stop-Motion Christmas Series". Collider. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
3. "Shows A-Z – Santa Inc. on HBO Max". The Futon Critic. Retrieved December 2, 2021.
4. Turchiano, Danielle (November 10, 2021). "'Santa Inc' Sets December Premiere on HBO Max, Reveals Full Cast and First-Look Photos (EXCLUSIVE)". Variety. Retrieved November 27, 2021.
5. D'Addario, Daniel (December 2, 2021). "Seth Rogen and Sarah Silverman Can't Save 'Santa Inc.' From Misguided Raunchiness: TV Review". Variety. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
6. Fienberg, Daniel (December 1, 2021). "HBO Max's 'Santa Inc.': TV Review". The Hollywood Reporter. Retrieved December 3, 2021.
7. Fox, Mira (8 December 2021). "Why did Sarah Silverman and Seth Rogen make a Christmas show — and why is it so bad?". The Forward. Retrieved December 8, 2021.
8. Keller, Joel (3 December 2021). "Stream It Or Skip It: 'Santa Inc.' On HBO Max, A Stop-Action Animated Holiday Miniseries That's More Raunchy Than Merry". Decider. Retrieved December 11, 2021.
9. Ellen, Barbara (December 19, 2021). "The week in TV: Santa Inc; And Just Like That…; David Baddiel: Social Media, Anger and Us; Impeachment: American Crime Story". The Guardian. Retrieved December 25, 2021.
10. Kurp, Josh (December 3, 2021). "Is Seth Rogen's New Show Being Review Bombed By 'White Supremacists'?". UPROXX. Retrieved December 5, 2021.
11. Goforth, Claire (November 30, 2021). "Antisemites, Holocaust deniers flood comments on trailer for Seth Rogen Christmas movie". The Daily Dot. Retrieved November 30, 2021.

External links

• Santa Inc. at IMDb
• Santa Inc. on Max

• HBO Max original programming
• 2021 American television series debuts
• 2021 animated television series debuts
• 2021 American television series endings
• 2020s American adult animated television series
• 2020s American animated comedy television series
• 2020s American television miniseries
• 2020s American workplace comedy television series
• American adult animated comedy television series
• Television series by Stoopid Buddy Stoodios
• Television series by Lionsgate Television
• Santa Claus in television
• Television series about elves
• Christmas television series
• Animation controversies in television
• American stop-motion adult animated television series
• Television controversies in the United States