JAZMINE: He knows when you been sleeping!
MAN: All right. WOMAN: Amen.
JAZMINE: He knows when you're awake!
He knows if you've been bad or good,
so be good for what?
PEOPLE: Goodness sake.
Think about that.
Be good for goodness sake.
Yes.
Whose sake?
CHOIR: Goodness sake.
MAN 2: Speak, sister, speak!
And put 'em in your mouth.
Somebody say "ho, ho, ho."
ALL: Ho, ho, ho!
Nowadays, people think "ho, ho, ho,"
means the Hilton sisters...
standing next to Nicole Richie.
Now, that ain't no "ho, ho, ho."
Somebody give me the real "ho, ho, ho," out there.
ALL: Ho, ho, ho!
Praise Santa!
FedEx, UPS.
They can ship the package.
MAN: Hold on!
I know a man with a different kind
of guaranteed overnight delivery.
He's got his own overnight express.
Forget Airborne Express.
I'll take the reindeer express.
'Cause it's free shipping on Christmas Eve.
Somebody say...
ALL: Ho, ho, ho!
Praise Santa.
CHOIR:
Praise Santa.
: Ladies and gentlemen,
from the North Pole,
may we present Santa Claus.
Merry Christmas, kids.
Hi, everybody. Hi.
Ho, ho, ho.
GIRL: Santa!
SANTA: What a jolly day.
GIRL 2: I love you, Santa!
Hi, Santa!
Hey, Merry Christ--
ALL: Santa!
Yeah, I got your ass, Santa!
RILEY: I'm comin' for that ass!
Punk yo ass!
Uh-oh.
GIRL 2: He's killing him!
What the fuck?
You all just gonna stand there and watch me get my ass kicked?
Nobody had my back, huh?
Nobody's got Santa's back? Ain't this a bitch.
That's fucked up with y'all.
GIRL 2: Santa said the F-word!
WOMAN: Even Santa gets angry sometimes.
MAN: And the sixth day of Kwanzaa
is Kuji--
Ku-- Uh, uh-- Ku--
Wow, this is really complicated.
The sixth day is...
Er, uh... Kuumba.
Kuuuuumbaaaa.
HUEY: Harold Kennedy Uberwitz
was my history teacher.
He was culturally sensitive.
And on Kuumbay-- Uh, Kuumba--
Uh, the elder-- Okay, that would be me.
--leads everyone in the Harambee salute.
And that goes like:
Harambee!
Okay, great.
So who wants to join me in the Harambee salute?
Anyone? Huey?
You sure?
It's Kwanzaa.
Okay, no problem. Here we go.
Harambee!
HUEY: You want me to direct
the Christmas play?
UBERWITZ: Absolutely. I-I think
you'll do a fantastic job.
First of all, I don't give a damn about Christmas.
You don't have to do a traditional Christmas play.
No, you can do whatever you want.
You'll be fired.
Fired? For what?
For being an irresponsible white person.
I would really love to see your vision.
Vision? What do you know about my vision?
My vision would turn your world upside-down,
tear asunder your illusions,
and send the sanctuary of your own ignorance
crashing down around you.
Now, ask yourself:
Are you really ready to see that vision?
We'll give you complete creative control.
I want it in writing.
: And suddenly,
there was with the angel--
GRANDDAD: A multitude of the heavenly
host, praising God,
and saying, "Glory to God in the highest and on Earth,
peace, goodwill toward men."
And that's what Christmas is all about.
Mm-hm.
You hear that, boy?
That's what Christmas is all about.
Actually, Granddad, Christmas is a pagan holiday.
And Jesus probably hates you for celebrating it.
There ain't gonna be no Scrooges in this house, boy!
Look, Granddad, it's clear from the scripture
that Jesus was not born in winter.
The shepherds, who saw the angels announcing his birth,
would not have been out in their fields in December.
The Palestinian winters are too cold.
If you believe in that sort of thing.
The truth is, Christmas evolved
from the Roman holiday Saturnalia,
a winter festival where men gave gifts to each other.
They also would get drunk,
have sex with each other and beat their wives.
People would act so crazy on Christmas,
the holiday was outlawed by the Protestant church
until the 1800s.
As a matter of fact, the United States Congress...
Granddad? Granddad!
I'm sorry, boy. Wh-wh-what was that?
I just explained the entire history of Christmas.
But it was booooring, Huey.
You just, "Blah, blah, gay sex. Blah, blah, Congress."
You know, you gotta be interesting.
You're gonna talk me to death. Talk, talk, talk.
HUEY: And that's when it hit me.
The world needed to see my vision.
But I needed to dress it up first.
It needed scale and drama and special effects.
What are you doing?
I'm writing a letter to Santa.
"Dear Santa.
You are a bitch nigga--"
Wait, wait, wait. Hold up, hold up, hold up.
"Dear Santa.
"You are a bitch ass nigga.
"I heard the mall is hiring extra security to protect you.
"That's a bitch move, Santa.
"I'm coming for that ass again until you pay what you owe.
"Sincerely yours,
the Santa Stalker."
JAZMINE: I think you should do a play
about what Christmas is really about.
Christmas is about how Santa died for our gifts
and rose from the dead and moved to the North Pole.
And because of that, every year,
Santa comes down to forgive us our sins
and give us eternal presents.
Man, Santa these nuts!
Where was Santa when we was in the 'hood, huh?
Santa ain't show a nigga no love back then.
I didn't ask for much. Just rims. Not even a whole car.
And what did we get? Nothin'.
That nigga gonna pay what he owe.
Merry Christmas, Mr. Uberwitz.
Are you here to see Mr. Freeman?
Uh...
yeah.
One second. Mr. Uberwitz is here.
Okay. He's just finishing up another meeting.
You can have a seat in the hallway.
Can I get you anything?
Some water?
No, I'm fine. Thank you.
Huey?
Oh, hey, Mr. Uberwitz. This is Quincy Jones.
I've asked him to come in and co-produce.
How are you, man?
I-I-I'm good. How do--? How do you know Huey?
Oh, me and Huey go way back.
And by the way,
I hope you're not gonna be getting strange
with the change on the music budget.
Music budget?
What the--?
ALL: Hey!
Have y'all lost your damn minds?
Opening night is less than two weeks away,
and y'all wanna party?
We're just having some fun.
Fun? Do I look like Charlie Brown?
BOY: No.
Do I look like Charlie Brown?
You know what? All y'all are fired!
What? Fired?
Did I stutter? Beat it!
UBERWITZ: Huey--
But i-it... It's the entire cast.
Are you sure that's a good idea?
Contract.
I'm...sorry, guys.
GIRL: I can't believe it.
Hey, don't be lookin' at me.
Don't look at Quincy Jones.
Quincy Jones ain't gonna help you.
Get your asses out. Now!
Is there any money in the budget for a casting director?
That's right, Bob.
A little bit of the Christmas spirit
is returning to Woodcrest,
as Santa Claus makes his first appearance
since being assaulted by the unknown,
but probably Arab, Santa Stalker, one week ago.
And you're gonna protect me, right?
Now, don't you worry about a thing, Mr. Santa Claus, sir.
I got you covered.
RUCKUS: Now, I know
I'm a very large man,
but I'm a picture of athleticism.
Well, hello there.
And what would you like Santa to bring you for Christmas?
I want a--
Uh, Santa, you got a red dot on your head.
Nooooooooo!
Ow! Goddamn!
That had to pierce a spleen or somethin'.
MAN: God! Medic! Medic!
Merry Christmas, nigga!
Aah! Santa, why?
GIRL: You ruined
my childhood!
You gonna pay what you owe, Santa!
You gonna pay what you owe!
RILEY: Running like a bitch.
Backup. I need backup.
I'm fat. I can't run very fast.
I think I'm having a heart attack
and a couple of light strokes.
Merry Christmas, nigga.
Damn.
HUEY: Okay, now...
for the role of the third wise man,
we have Mr. Fogelbury or Denzel Washington.
I say, Denzel.
Yeah, me too.
Okay, and for the role of Mary,
we have third-grade science teacher,
Mrs. Peterson or Angela Bassett.
Well, Mrs. Peterson gave a serious read.
Yeah, she sure did.
But I say, Angela Bassett.
Yeah, me too.
Guys, how do we afford
Denzel Washington and Angela Bassett?
I don't know.
Have we gotten word yet on Will Smith's availability?
W-whoa, whoa, whoa. we can't afford Will Smith.
Damn the budget!
What we're doing is more important than money.
We will change Christmas
and elementary-school theater forever.
But we don't have the money.
Contract.
JAZMINE: Oh, Huey.
You've got a lunch meeting at 11:30
about the sound effects for the dogfight sequence.
Cancel it.
The PTA is threatening a boycott of the play
since you fired all the kids.
Don't care.
And the principal's in your office
to talk about the script.
Who?
First of all,
I just wanted you to know we're thrilled with the script.
Absolutely fantastic.
Brilliant.
Wouldn't change a thing.
We just had a couple of notes.
One or two.
Nothing significant.
PRINCIPAL: Let's see, uh, there's a typo
on page five.
Uh, there's a continuity problem on page 32.
I think that scene's supposed to be at night.
Um, let's see, um-- Oh, yeah, um, and, uh--
Jesus can't be black.
What do you mean he can't be black?
He can't be black.
Maybe we can make Jesus another color.
How 'bout white?
But Jesus was black.
We could probably do Italian.
Jesus was Middle Eastern.
In addition to Arabs,
the Middle East has always had many people of African descent,
whom you would consider black.
Sorry, can't do it.
Oh, right. That.
Best of luck.
Break a leg.
I can't wait for opening night.
Riley? Jazmine.
Riley, you came to see Santa.
Shh!
: Ladies and gentlemen,
from the North Pole,
the reeeeal Santa Claus!
What the hell?
Hey, there, pretty little white children.
Now, look at all them precious little vanilla-colored faces.
I heard this was the only guy they could find to do it.
Now, I know y'all think old Santa Claus
look a little bit darker than he used to.
Ho, ho!
But see, that's just 'cause Santa Claus
got a little bit of re-vitiligo.
See, that's the opposite of what Michael Jackson got.
Don't worry, no Jesus juice up here.
Come on, let's get this show on the road.
That's not Santa!
Okay, who's first?
That's not Santa. It's an impostor!
Beware of the false Santa!
Kids, kids, calm down.
Accompanying parents, calm down as well.
I am the real Santa Claus.
Ho, ho, ho. Look at my belly shake.
The heartbreaker re-vitiligo
is a very serious life-threatening condition.
Hey, I've been in show business a long time, Huey.
This kind of thing comes with the territory.
I know you'll do the right thing.
UBERWITZ: Huey, it could still be
a great play.
We could cut a few scenes. Make some changes to the script.
Huey.
We have to put something on.
Do what you have to do.
Just take my name off of it.
Won't be my vision.
Hello.
Yeah. Yeah, it's resolved.
We'll be ready to put the play on tomorrow.
Why doesn't the real Santa come?
'Cause there ain't no real Santa.
HUEY: We all want to believe
in miracles on Christmas.
All of us.
RUCKUS: No Santa Claus?
Well, I'd expect a heathen nigglet like Riley
to say something like that.
But, Jazmine, I'm surprised at you.
Being a mulatto and all,
you've supposed to have more sense.
Huh?
I'm Special Agent Ruckus.
Shh!
Volunteer Santa Security.
Santa has reason to believe
that your little jungle friend Riley
may be the Santa Stalker.
That makes perfect sense.
Mm-hm. Santa couldn't come this year.
Just wasn't safe.
Maybe next year.
So...he's real?
Real as the Irish blood charging through my veins.
HUEY: But Christmas miracles
only happen
in the lies adults tell to children.
And maybe in Christmas specials.
Mr. Uberwitz put on the play as scheduled.
Not a single word was changed.
And so, by some miracle,
the world saw my vision that night.
The Adventures of Black Jesus
received a 20-minute standing ovation.
It was called "a stunning revolution in theatre"
by the Woodcrest Post Gazette.
Unfortunately, the PTA protest had gained some ground.
Seems that people didn't care about my vision.
They cared about seeing their kids on stage.
Who knew?
JAZMINE: Yay, Huey!
Yay!
Mr. Uberwitz was fired for disobeying orders
and for generally being an irresponsible white person.
UBERWITZ: Harambee!
ALL: Harambee!
Harambee!
ALL: Harambee!
HUEY: ■ He would later become
a professor
of African American Studies at the University of Maryland.
No video exists of the one-time-only performance
of The Adventures of Black Jesus.
Just as well. I hate looking at my old work.
Ahhh!
I heard you work for Santa.
I got a message for him.
Tell him Riley said,
I'll be waiting for his ass next Christmas.
And that nigga better pay what he owe!
Ow!