Like Christmas music, Christmas-themed art isn't always the best, which is why we're so excited by this bouquet of festive animations starring an androgynous cyborg Santa. Decked in fluorescent greens, pinks, and yellows, the shorts by Paul and Matt Layzell echo the best of 4 AM Adult Swim music videos, but with a jolly, bearded hero.Appearing out of no where like the Kool-Aid Man, this version of Santa injects holiday cheer laced with acid into mundane Christmas scenarios. Carolers become a face-melting metal band. Christmas dinner gets revved up with acrobatic pole dancing. A humble reindeer grows into a fire-breathing steed worthy of the fairy godfather of funky festiveness. Originally conceived as bumps for British TV channel E4, the 20-second bursts of trippy absurdism reconcile overbearing holiday cheer with genuine creativity. It's like the opposite of hearing Arianna Grande's holiday covers on repeat in JCPenney.
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If the Layzell brothers' holiday animation seems familiar, it's because it first debuted in 2012. It's racked up nearly 100k views there, plus unquantifiable exposure in GIFs and unauthorized YouTube rips. They describe their partnership as a yin-yang situation. "Matt had a staunch and strictly religious education in animation, and Paul a free-flowing reefer huffing one in illustration, but we work in both fields, merging our respective talents together, like a talent fondu," reads their website. "We want FAME."The duo created the idents in collaboration with Blinkink, a production house that also handles work by PES, Dvein, Jack Sachs, and more. "Watching these insanely high energy, distinctly un-festive idents for E4 is akin to being punched in the face by a drunk tramp dressed as Santa, in the best possible way of course," begins Blinkink's official description of the animations. "Paul and Matt bring their trademark humor and style in spades, making sure every second of these brief films as funny and engaging as possible." Tune in, turn on, drop out, and explode in the video below to make this holiday season a little more balls out awesome.
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