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Do you remember when Archie played Santa on Laugh-In?
Rowan and Martin and Archie and Carroll
Picture the scene:
You've got the kids off to bed for a long winter's nap.
You're sat in your kerchief, or maybe your cap.
Santa falls down the chimney, his face is beet red.
He cries out "Don't just sit there. Help me, Meathead!"
You'd think a fellow named Carroll would make a great addition to any Christmas, but O'Connor was famous for playing the Scrooge of all Scrooges, Archie Bunker. There's not a fellow worse-suited for the red suit. The only thing Archie Bunker would be worse at than being Santa Claus is paying honest respect to other cultures' holiday traditions.
But, once upon a Christmas, Archie Bunker himself was Santa Claus on Rowan and Martin's Laugh-In. That's right. The Queens curmudgeon played the holliest and jolliest on one of America's favorite variety shows.
In 1971, Carroll O'Connor guest-starred on the Christmas episode of Laugh-In, where he partook in a Dickens parody. This contemporary "Christmas Story" saw Ebenezer M. Nixon and Spiro T. Cratchit lampooning the classic tale. Next, O'Connor starred as a Christmas tree salesman with only aluminum and plastic trees for sale.
Finally, as the episode crescendos, O'Connor as Archie Bunker delivers a Christmas speech to the audience. Obviously, it's not the Christmas spirit some would suspect, as the speech stays true to Archie's whole philosophy.
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Apropos of that, has anybody here ever seen CO'C's guest shot on Voyage To The Bottom Of The Sea, wherein he played "Old John", a marooned sailor who teaches a spoiled prince how to be a real leader? Worth checking out ...
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I think a visual of Archie as a Santa might help. :
The Roku Channel which are all free as well.
Freevee (via Amazon acct) used to be IMDb TV, not 100% sure but think one could access the same as Crackle and the others.