“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” called out a recent news segment on NBC’s “Today” show Tuesday with a nudge and a hearty laugh, indulging late-night viewers with several solutions to the nation’s imminent Christmas tree shortage.
The bit, presented as a midshow break, opened with a three-shot of “Today” hosts Craig Melvin, Savannah Guthrie and Hoda Kotb at the anchor desk, poised to send things off to a commercial but not before they teased an upcoming segment in a bump featuring a topic bar titled “Christmas Tree Shortage” over a lower bar titled “The Late Show Fake News Alert.”
“Are you planning on having a real or an artificial Christmas tree this holiday season?” Melvin asks before Kotb takes our breath away.
“Well you may not have a choice,” she says. “Turns out both are in short supply. So what is a family to do?”
And with that, “The Late Show” kicked off a not-so-slightly modified music video version of the classic Christmas carroll “O Christmas Tree” (you can listen to a much more pleasing-to-the-ears take by Aretha Franklin here).
A tall reading lamp adorned in lights and ornaments can stand in for a Charlie Brown tree, if that’s your thing, the Colbert carroll goes. “Just hit the switch to feel cheer,” the lyrics suggest.
Hanging lights on an otherwise-unused Peloton could also serve as consolation in a tree-less holiday season, the bit says. Or better yet, a drunken grandmother could fill the void. Or wait – maybe “Grandma’s Lit” refers to hanging lights on her, too.
Our mistake. But we are sure a house cat harassed with a tree ornament has no time or patience for it.
You can watch the full “Late Show” segment here or below.
While Colbert uses the “Today” show segment to poke fun at what otherwise might be a lighthearted subject, the country’s Christmas tree shortage is no joke according to reports.
CNBC recently reported an expected lack of supply will impact the availability of natural and artificial Chirstmas trees. Supply-chain disruptions is said to be the root cause and have resulted in higher costs in freight, delivery and consumer-side inflation.
“The goal of a supply chain is to get the right products to the right place at the right time in the right condition. If there’s a disruption, one of those things isn’t happening,” Cheryl Druehl, a supply chain expert and professor at George Mason University’s School of Business, told CNBC.
“Our supply chains tend to be fairly long and have always been vulnerable but the pandemic made it more apparent. We had shutdowns across the world at varying times which caused significant delays and shortages and now as production recovers, the ports, logistics and trucking are all stressed,” Druehl added.