It’s that time of year again… In six short days, Phish will return to New York’s Madison Square Garden for their annual four-night New Year’s run. Each year, we like to celebrate the season in the days leading up to Phish at MSG with the 12 Days of Phishmas, a daily series that gives you your Phish fix and helps stoke your excitement in the days leading up to the run. In 2016, we took you back to 12 historic Phish performances at The Garden. In 2017, with the Baker’s Dozen barely out of sight in the rearview, we relived the magic and mystery of the band’s historic residency.
For years, we’ve been earmarking some of our favorite Phish interviews, behind-the-scenes footage, and other cool content that we haven’t found the right occasion to share with you…until now. For 2018, we’ve made you a very special Phishmas Advent calendar to help spice up your countdown to showtime. As we approach the start of the run on the 28th, we’ll open up one panel a day and reveal a fun surprise inside—a little something sweet and Phishy once a day until the Garden party begins. No peeking! By the time we’re finished with the calendar, it will finally be time for the gift we’ve all been waiting for: Four nights of Phish on their home court at the World’s Most Famous Arena.
6 Days Til Phish: The Peanuts Magically Conjure Phish For A “YEM” Dance Party On SNL
On the seventh day of Phishmas… Phish gets cartoon-ified by the Peanuts on Saturday Night Live. On December 14, 2002, Phish hit 30 Rockefeller Plaza in NYC to serve as the show’s musical guests alongside the week’s celebrity host, former Vice President Al Gore. In addition to performing their two customary songs (“46 Days” and “Chalkdust Torture”), the band members appeared in the recurring “Jarret’s Room” sketch—a faux web series hosted by a dreaded stoner Jarret (Jimmy Fallon) from his college dorm room—which featured a snippet of “Contact”.
However, the best Phish moment from their 2002 SNL stint came by way of “TV Funhouse,” another recurring sketch that parodied various popular cartoons. In this “TV Funhouse,” inspired by A Charlie Brown Christmas, the Peanuts discover that they can make anything better just by crowding around it and waving their arms. They go on to use their magic to “improve” various staples of 2002 pop culture—like transforming a smoking prostitute into “Dirty”-era Christina Aguilera, giving Ben Affleck bigger hands to better appreciate the derrière of his then-girlfriend Jennifer Lopez (remember Bennifer?), turning Michael Jackson‘s baby into a giant so he avenges his father’s infamous balcony dangle, and more. Not all the jokes have aged well 16 years later, but the overview of circa-2002 send-ups is certainly an amusing trip down memory lane.
The animated group finally makes it to Schroder and Pig-Pen, who are in the process of playing “Linus and Lucy” on their piano and bass. When the Peanuts use their hand-waving powers on the musical duo, they magically turn into—you guessed it—Phish. The cartoon band proceeds to play a few snippets of “You Enjoy Myself” as the whole crew dances along—a Phishmas miracle if we’ve ever seen one.
Check out the hilarious clip below:
Charlie Brown Phishmas on Saturday Night Live (2002)
[Video: Michael Whalen]
We’ll be back tomorrow to open the eighth panel on our Phishmas 2018 Advent calendar. What other Phishmas surprises are in store? You’ll just have to wait and see…
In the meantime, you can go back through the previous Phishmas surprises:
On the first day of Phishmas… The Big Daddy Show
On the second day of Phishmas… David Byrne Interviews Phish
On the third day of Phishmas… Trey Anastasio Talks Fare The Well At The New Yorker Festival
On the fourth day of Phishmas… A Look Inside The Hoist Sessions From Cactus Films
On the fifth day of Phishmas… Mike Gordon Fascinates A Muscle Shoals Legend [ADD LINK]
On the sixth day of Phishmas… Page McConnell Chats in the Streets of London [ADD LINK]
On the seventh day of Phishmas… The Peanuts Conjure Cartoon Phish for “YEM” Dance Party on SNL